charlie's journal

On Sunday I'm flying to Japan. The trip will involve nearly two days of being awake if I don't sleep on the international flight, so I'm determined to sleep. On arrival I will be greeted by the head of the English Department, and the Vice Principal of the school.

There are so many unknowns. I don't know what my students will be like, or even what my schedule will be. And I don't know what they're abilities will be, but I'm really looking forward to finding all that out. In the oddest way I want to be a foreigner. I want something new. I want to have all of my preconceived notions challenged, to make new friends, hear new stories. But I'm also scared that I won't be able to hold my own in this new place.

I've seen many students "study abroad" and regress into isolation and shyness. And I know this is a normal stage of culture shock. I know the first three or six months are going to be impossible. But I'm determined to beat that stage, and do a good job during it, even though I have no idea what that will be like.

Mostly there is a huge chance for failure, a huge chance for success, and whole lot of unknown. Hopefully I'll have more concrete details next post. :)

I've posted this entry to my blog. And although it's fairly docile, I'm hoping to infuriate some of the more conservative Christians who read my blog.

I think those Christians are also presumptive enough to think that only Christians read my blog, and I know that about 1/3 of my readers don't believe in Jesus as anything more than a good historical figure.

The post is about four virtues that all people generally agree on. Although, the first two seem to be generally overlooked by conservative Christians.

Conservative Christianity is kind of like the mafia. You can't always see them, you're slightly intimidated, but you're pretty sure they're out there somewhere watching you. I'm hoping to at least get some of them out in the light.:)

My mother is the one who was always reading. The one who taught me to be well rounded in art, history, literature and music. She is the one who taught me to consider all things (or did I just infer that on my own?).

I saw the Da Vinci Code this weekend with some friends. I spent Sunday and Memorial Day with my friends. After some talk about the plot of the movie my mother said,

"I've never read the book, and that's kind of on purpose."

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"Because I don't want to even consider things that might be contrary to the truth as I see it."

I was speechless. My mother from whom I have gained nearly all the tools by which I view the world censors her own knowledge. She is willfully ignorant of some world views! on purpose!

"Oh." Was all I could muster. End of converstion.

Was this a rash generalization? We all do that from time to time. Perhaps she ment that "at this time this idea is to close to home for me to consider in an unbiased fashion." But some how I don't think so.

My mother has usually been full of consisitency and integrity, a trait I have always looked up to. But it's easy to be consistent if you never consider truths other than your own!

I can't believe this, my mother, who - although not thrilled - was supportive of my choice to go to Japan. She even researched about Japan on her own to be more informed.

If you don't consider other people's ideas (whether those people happen to be there in person, in writing, or in film) you're just presumtive. That's something I hate the most! presumtive people! (Although I have been know to be that way occasionally)

After college, I had(and am still having) the WORST time finding friends who are not presumtive. They cannot even consider my taste in alcohol or music or food or leisure activities. And yet of course their choices are okay. I didn't have trouble finding friends who would consider new things in college. Out here I feel perhaps more alone than I have ever been - because no one really wants to get to know me, they just want to know of me. In such a short moment, home was turned from a place where I felt welcome, to a place I feel alone.

Perhaps I'm overreacting.

I was discussing with some friends the origins of the idea of body and soul. One friend mentioned that the Greek philosophers were some of the first people to conceive of body and soul as two distinct and seperate entities.

Second idea, what if the Greeks were wrong? What if the state of the body is inflenced by the state of the soul, and vice versa? What if training of the body is a stepping stone towards training of the soul? Until some form of Helenization, Romananization or Westernization overcame most of our ancestors, we all the believed body and soul were closely linked.

So take this a little further. I lost my job six months ago. I've been having a problem with time management and motivation. When I moved in with some friends, I was also able to piggyback onto their household health club membership. It has been less than a week, but I have woken up every morning and read a scripture. I repeat this scripture over and over again to myself while I'm doing my laps or my reps. Such memorization/mediation has lead to better retension and insight (although it doesn't help me count laps. I think I need to concentrate more evenly). And it seems easier to find the will to do my daily responsibilities.

This is not to say that this "proves" a connection between body and soul - I'm not even sure how to define soul. It may simply be that I have found a better learning style, or that I feel better about myself. But it is interesting.

I started thinking about the whole meditation thing when a cousin of mine started talking about Christian Zen. Evidently, Christian Zen is the idea that Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life, may be the same concept/idea/spirit as the Way described by Buddha. The jury is still out on that one. But it did get me thinking about mixing the two traditions in a way I could use. And I have found that the rot skills of memoriaztion and reflection are much more useful when taken in the form of meditation.

A further step, the Protestants have often been critisized - at least in America - for being too heady, too theological. And I think this focus on theology is due in part to a cultural bias towards the seperation of body and soul.

Let's take the example of a poor single woman who is pregnant out of wedlock (an increasing demographic under the Bush administration). The stereotypical Protestant approach would be to counsel her. To make her understand the logical problem that her soul is sinful and she needs Jesus to clean it - this is the root of the problem with her unborn child. She would then be counseled to choose against an abortion since abortion is considered wrong in the Bible.

On the other hand, the stereotypical Catholic approach would be to counsel the woman against an abortion, provide some sort of adoption or support program, and encourage here to join the community of a parish or perhaps even a nunnery (forgive me, I'm not Catholic, I'm less familiar with the details in this scenario).

Which one provided for the body and soul of the woman? In which scenario would the woman be more open to listening to the Way of Jesus?

If the body is closely linked to the soul, the Protestant church must change it's mindset. And if the soul can be trained by training the body, we must change our mindset - both personally and as a society - to include both the physical and spiritual components of a whole person.

***
If you made it this far, thanks for listening to the idea that has been snowballing around in my head for the last week.
***

I've commited a cardinal sin while moving in with my new housemates. They had a jar of peanut butter and so did I. Both were half full.

So I scooped out my peanut butter, and put it in theirs. The problem is: my peanut butter was chunky, but theirs was creamy. Mixing the two is definatly a party foul.

My housemates have poked fun of me for it, and I've been sentenced to eat the whole mixed jar myself.

A lot has changed in the last few months. I'm now working as a barista part-time. The job is great, but the pay sucks. I work mornings and lunches, and waking up at 6am isn't sucking as much as I thought it would. I have a lot of spare time to do things like web design, so that works out. And I actually spend most of my tips going out for coffee or drinks in the evening anyway. Most everyone I work with is nice, but sometimes I feel like I'm in a Sim Dating game or something.

I have one vegatarian co-worker who hates everything. One who is a tree hugger and works way to hard - she cleans everything, and she is adopting a siberian husky, donates to saving the tundra, cuts up plastic six pack holders into bits, etc. One is sixteen and trying to hook me up with her older sister who still lives at home and commutes half an hour to work in a nearby city. But this girl actually dispisses her sister because she always have to live up to her. She wants to study abroad, but her parent's response is, "your sister never needed to do that. And you're still young and irresponsible". But honestly, I would have guessed this girl was nineteen when I met her, she's pretty mature. Oh, and one who is an acting student and is always smiling, but I get the feeling she is acting all the time.

I moved in with some friends to save some money. But they are relativly new friends. They're way into fitness, and order. But I'm not that way so much. So we'll see how it goes.

It is nice to be living with people, and even though a house is a lot more work, it's nice to be able to share the work with someone.

The other thing about these new friends is that they are not very open minded. I honestly don't think they comprehend that people can have other lifestyles and beliefs besides the ones they hold. I'm sure I'll post a rant about that later. But I'm looking forward to telling them off already. :) ...in a way that won't get me kicked out of the house.

No word on Japan yet, if I don't have something my the end of March, I'm pretty much screwed for this school year, but I'm still hopeful.