19 August Weekend Summary

This week has been a very good one for me. I think the blogging has helped me organize my time better and focus my stray thoughts. This post is going to be a summary of what I have done in my first "real" week blogging. I know now that I need to keep up this pace for the first two months or so to solidify the writing as a habit, but that after that a less rigorous schedule will help me from posting more inane things.

The first post was the background to my goal of posting regularly.

The second post was a quote from a new hero of mine: Asa Gray.

The third post expressed my reaction to the killing in the Sikh temple, and how that translated into a family home evening for us.

The fourth post was a short summary of what has happened since my neurostimulator was put in.

The fifth post was a few quotes from David Lack on evolution, randomness, and belief in God.

I will continue to look for good things to post about. I think to keep the ideas floating I will find some cool quotes and discuss why I think they are cool. I also have some analogies I have promised, but have not felt up to doing them justice just yet. Don't expect too much (I'm not meaning to raise expectations because they will likely be mediocre), they will be new for me, though important to me.

Biologos Requotes from David Lack

Today I'm requoting some statements from biologos.org:

Behind the criticism that Darwinism means that evolution is either random or rigidly determined lies the fear that evolution proceeds blindly, and not in accordance with a divine plan. This is another problem that really lies outside the terms of reference of biology. It is true that biologists have inferred that, because evolution occurs by natural selection, there is no divine plan; but they are being as illogical as those theologians whom they rightly criticize for inferring that, because there is a divine plan, evolution cannot be the result of natural selection. -David Lack (source)

And from the same source:

Mutations are random in relation to the needs of the animal, but natural selection is not. Selection, as the word implies, is the reverse of chance. -David Lack (source)

I am glad to find that someone could put this so succinctly. It is an important concept that is misunderstood by non-biologists and "obvious" to biologists. It is good he has bridged that gap.

How I recieved a Material Miracle.

I have chronic neuropathic pain. This means that my normal day consists of significant amounts of burning, stabbing, nauseating pain in my lower legs. Not fun. To help with this I am on a significant amount of medication, for someone my age. At least I think so; I'm not too knowledgeable of other peoples' medicinal regimens.

Anyway, over a month ago I had a neurostimulator put in to help with the pain. This is a device that puts an electrical pulse on my spine in a place where it causes noise for my brain thus masking the pain signals. It has a rechargeable battery that receives its charge through a conductive pad I place on my skin. The recovery from the surgery part, which left me in the hospital overnight, went really well and took about three weeks. At that point I was basically receiving no benefit and some discomfort as my back muscles knitted back together.

Two weeks ago, yesterday, I met with a rep to program the device, as there are multiple leads that focus the current on different parts of my spinal cord. He gave me a number of different variations and I have been testing them and their intensity.

I feel no pain. I have extended times where I am pain free. I have actually held my older son without pain. The first time ever and he is three. I am able to go back to work regularly rather than lay in bed in the fetal position. I actually have to take it slow sometimes as my muscles are out of condition, but I can walk more than 200 yards without feeling like I have to sit and stay sitting.

It does not always work 100% and sometimes when the pain is really strong I have to increase the intensity of the stimulator to compensate. This makes my legs stiff and sometimes I am unbalanced. But to know that 1) I can take control of my pain and 2) it is not from popping a pill that will take effect in the next 30-40 minutes and most likely carry significant side effects, makes me feel incredibly empowered.

I am grateful to a God who can inspire man to help me. Many times the Lord works through men and my body now consists of things both God and man created. I feel I have received a material miracle.

Sikhism's Value

On Mondays, our family has weekly activities to give us an opportunity to teach our children the Gospel and other life lessons. We have young kids so the lessons tend to be very simple.

As a result of the shooting almost two weeks ago we had a lesson specifically on how everyone on earth is important and should be treated with love and kindness. We colored crowns to show that we are all important and that God loves and wants the best for us. He is equally the Creator of us all.

It struck me that this lesson was not inspired directly from my own faith, but by the memories of when I studied Sikhism in a comparative religions class. They have a richly symbolic and beautiful faith. A strong belief in and history of defending those that are less powerful. I think we can learn a lot from these people and we benefit by having them in our society.

All are created from the seed of God. There is the same clay in the whole world, the potter (God) makes many kinds of pots. -Guru Amar Das, Bhairo (source)

Asa Gray's Christian Calling

I am currently reading a biography of Asa Gray. I was turned on to it from a series of posts at biologos.org. The posts themselves are pretty good, but I have been more interested in who Dr. Gray was. Asa Gray was a professor of Botany at Harvard University and was a contemporary of Charles Darwin (and Emerson and Joseph Smith, some of my favorite people). Many consider him the first defender of Darwin’s Origin of Species in America. He was also an orthodox Presbyterian throughout his life and saw his science as truly important and not at odds with his faith. In fact neither really did Darwin, he just struggled for other reasons.

Many years earlier, when Gray first moved, theologically, from a more material rationalism to a more fervent orthodoxy he made the following statement about his Christian calling:

 Whenever I see clearly that my duty calls in any other direction I shall throw up science as a profession, if not without a sigh, yet without a moment’s hesitation. Meanwhile I feel that the labor of years would be wasted if I did not turn the knowledge I have acquired to the greatest account. (pg. 46 of the 1959 hard bound edition) 

That really resonated with me as I feel most people serve the Lord by being good at their profession and integrating their professional life with church life. By this I mean using those skills and influence obtained in the “secular” world to advance the cause of the gospel. Dr. Gray is a good example for this and I am really enjoying the 50 year old plus biography. I’m only part way through it and may return to themes I get from it. One is his example of living the Sabbath, important for this coming Sunday’s lesson.

2 of 66 down

A new future

So it has been a rough start for the blog. I have a goal to make it a habit of publishing regularly, the problem is I am afraid that regular, but not every day will make it difficult to establish a habit. In researching what it will take to establish a habit I thought first of the general statistic of 21 days. Apparently this was based off of completely unrelated issues (how quick an injured person could adjust to the loss of a limb). In 2009 some research showed that on average it takes 66 days, but depends on the task in question.

Well lucky for me I can combine the two :) I recently had spinal surgery and while I didn't loss a  limb I now have a neurostimulator with a remote that feels like a limb and I am slowly learning to rely (more on that soon). So hopefully somehow that will help me with my unrelated goal of blogging.

I think I was over-analyzing the blogging thing, I know now I needed to just relax, at least in my mind, lets see how well it translates to my emotions. As a result I think some of the posts will be sort thoughts (with bad spelling) and others will be more fleshed out ideas. Like a censored and sometimes extended journal. I do have a few analogies/parables I have been working on and hope to share shortly.

So here is day 1 of 66!

Elder Ballard on Consecration

“I urge you to make a commitment to yourself and to Heavenly Father to dedicate your life and consecrate your time and talents to the building up of the Church of Jesus Christ in anticipation of the Savior’s Second Coming,

“Let the motive of your thoughts and actions be to glorify God and to bless your fellowman. Let this desire inspire you to greet each new morning with enthusiasm. Let it fuel your thoughts and actions throughout each day. If you do this, you will be blessed in the midst of a world that is fast losing its way, and you and your loved ones will be secure and happy.”

Elder M. Russel Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. BYU-Idaho commencement (source)