Faith Practiced At Work Turns:


Bosses into people developers,
Business leaders into job creators,
Educators into spiritual directors,
Entertainers into change agents,
Farmers into servants of the hungry,
Financial advisors into stewardship counselors,
Grocers into health and nutrition suppliers,
Healthcare professionals into gentle healers,
Insurance agents into wise advisors,
Journalists into voices for the least among us,
Manufacturers into stewards of the earth,
Parents into co-creators of life,
Pastors into spiritual internists in Christ's body,
Politicians into justice brokers,
Public servants into community builders,
Technology experts into relationship managers,
Writers and publishers into dream weavers

http://www.urbana.org/petehammond/faith-practiced-at-work-turns

Internet crime fighters?

I did not know that anything like this existed. If you are a tech junkie, or just interested in odd and unusual things, check out this organization.

http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/

Seriously. This seems like something out of Tom Clancy.

I love Gmail

I love Gmail. And this is definitely one reason.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/so-you-want-to-be-gmail-ninja.html

Any other aspiring Gmail ninjas? Thoughts from Gmail ninja haters?

Socrates on Inherited Wealth

"...I asked the question [about whether the person he is speaking with had inherited his money] because you seem to be not overly concerned with money, an attitude generally associated with men who have inherited rather than made their fortunes. Those who make money themselves love it with a double intensity. They love what they earn the same way poets love their poems or fathers their children. Money for them is not merely useful. It is the chief evidence of their own creativity. The result is that they become bores; money is their only enthusiasm." - Socrates to Cephalus in Plato's Republic Book 1

I do not know that I have ever met anyone whose wealth has come primarily through inheritance. Maybe it is just that I have been so young that those who had an inheritance coming had not "come into it" yet. Whatever the reason, I know exactly what Socrates means by this. We love what we feel we "create". If we focus our energy on creating money, it would be easy to come to love that. Some people trace the development of professional business managers to the late 19th century, with the development of the massive railroad empires. However, rich people have had stewards as long as wealth has existed. However, playing with money was considered a vulgar thing. Rich people had slaves who handled their finances. People wanted to luxury of having what they needed without the onus of thinking so much about it. What has happened to us? How much has this really changed, and is this change really for the better?

Economic downturns and Value reappraisal

Homes are not the only things being reappraised because of the downturn. Many people are rethinking what's important in their life. The New York Times has been following this, and has even created a new blog called "Happy Days" with the purpose of facilitating just that: reflection on what makes a good life. Here are a couple interesting posts:

The most recent, an author living in Kyoto (from Happy Days) http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/the-joy-of-less/?em

Of interest to those who enjoy working with their hands
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?scp=1&sq=case%20for%20working%20with%20your%20hands&st=cse

I like the second one in particular. Of course, it might be because it just sounds fun to be a philosopher-mechanic.

Proverbs & Songs from Antonio Machado

Dedicated to Jose Ortega y Gasset
Hat tip to Poemaday

I The eye you see is not an eye because you see it; it is an eye because it sees you.

II To talk with someone, ask a question first, then -- listen.

III Narcissism is an ugly fault, and now it's a boring fault too.

V Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.

XV Look for your other half who walks always next to you and tends to be what you aren't.

XVII In my solitude I have seen things very clearly that were not true.

XIX Only one creed stands: quod elixum est ne asato. Don't roast what's already boiled.

XX Sing on, sing on, sing on, the cricket in his cage near his darling tomato.

XXI Form your letters slowly and well: making things well is more important than making them.

XXXI Pay attention now: a heart that's all by itself is not a heart.

XXXIII He caught his bad man: the one who on sunny days walks with head down.

XXXVI Sunlight is good for waking, but I prefer bells -- the best thing about morning.

Helpful quotes from The Rule of St Benedict

"We must, then, prepare our hearts and bodies for the battle of holy obedience to his instructions. [T]herefore we intend to establish a school for the Lord's service." - The Rule's Prologue

"These [the list of Biblical principles Benedict just laid out, such as not being proud, not paying back evil for evil, and never losing hop of God's mercy], then, are the tools of the spiritual craft. When we have used them without ceasing day and night and have returned them on judgment day, our wages will be the reward the Lord has promised: What the eye has not seen nor the ear heard, God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9)."

"For monks who in a week's time say less than the full psalter with the customary canticles betray extreme indolence and lack of devotion in their service. We read, after all, that our holy Fathers, energetic as they were, did all this in a single day. Let us hope that we, lukewarm as we are, can achieve it in a whole week." [Editor's note: Intense.]

"We must know that God regards our purity of heart and tears of compunction, not our many words. Prayer should therefore be short and pure, unless perhaps it is prolonged under the inspiration of divine grace."

"For nothing is so inconsistent with the life of any Christian as overindulgence."

"Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading."

"When they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks. Yet, all things are to be done with moderation on account of the faint-hearted."

"During the time of Lent each one is to receive a book from the library, and is to read the whole of it straight through. These books are to be distributed at the beginning of Lent."

Sometime later I will post why we ought to read old books, like the Rule of St. Benedict.

The Waybook begins

What is a waybook? Well that you ask. It is just a journal that you carry with you when traveling to record noteworthy thoughts, adventures, or sights that you encounter. It is all at once a memory bank, a travel log, and a source of entertainment. It is not in itself a companion, but it should be shared with companions. A waybook is how those who cannot remember everything interesting they read, hear or see can share them nonetheless with their companions to spark conversation. After all, when there is no television, video games, or internet, and when your iPod has run out of batteries, conversation or card games are really your best options for entertainment, and conversations have so much more potential to be memorable than card games.