The thirty-first of January

Self-transformation is the greatest gift you can give the world^*

Really? Does it matter what I transform into? An evil dictator? A bird?

That was a bit of a cheap shot. True, we could probably all do with a bit of improvement, but should we concentrate on ourselves, trying to be better people, or should we concentrate on doing those things that a better person would do? The former might lead to self-obsession, which wasn't the goal. Maybe the latter option will result in unexpected but welcome personality changes.

Actually, this is a bit beside the point, but in the interest of fairness, I think I ought to question the received wisdom from modern Western Christian culture (or at least my experience of it). It relates to what I said above about us all needing a bit of improvement. This seems to be the accepted position in Christian circles: if you're not in heaven, then you're not perfect yet. But why? If Jesus died to remove our imperfections, then why can't it happen while we're here on Earth? It seems to be assumed that the process begins here, but never finishes here. But why would God take all the newly perfect people away, so that they can't help with the work to do down here?

Perhaps the process isn't completed until we come into closer contact with God in heaven. I don't know. It may be worth noting, though, that not all Christians have always accepted that assumption. It depends on what you mean by perfect, though. John Wesley advocated (and I understand that Methodists still advocate) that "Christian perfection" can be attained before death. Precisely what he meant by this is unclear to me, but you can try to figure it out for yourself; you may wish to start by trying to read his sermon called Christian Perfection.

C. S. Lewis seems to suggest something perhaps similar in Mere Christianity, in the chapter called The New Men:

Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth. … When you have recognised one of them, you will recognise the next one much more easily. And I strongly suspect (but how should I know?) that they recognise one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier of colour, sex, class, age, and even of creeds. In that way, to become holy is rather like joining a secret society. To put it at the very lowest, it must be great fun.

Earlier, though, in the chapters Counting the Cost and Nice People or New Men, he says

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.
He meant what He said. Those who put themselves in His hands will become perfect, as He is perfect—perfect in love, wisdom, joy, beauty, and immortality. The change will not be completed in this life, for death is an important part of the treatment. How far the change will have gone before death in any particular Christian is uncertain.

It sounds, though, like he's thinking of perfection in a broader sense here than what Wesley seemed to claim we could attain in this life; Wesley specifically says that in this life we won't be perfect in knowledge, for example.

I don't know what to make of all this. Let me know if you do.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The thirtieth of January

Determination is not so much a matter of action as of stillness. Such stability penetrates the surface of life and removes the bumps^*

Plenty of words, but I'm not sure what they're trying to say. Trying to visualize the metaphor doesn't help much. Stability penetrating something? Penetration removing bumps?

Determination is perhaps related to how we perceive the benefits of perseverance in comparison to the effort required. If you decide to make a million dollars so that you can own a really big house, or two ordinary ones in Sydney, you might make progress, and discover that it's a lot of work. Then, you might decide that a more moderate house (not in Sydney, and with a mortgage) is quite nice, and buy that, and relax a bit. On the other hand, if you decide to make a million dollars to prove to yourself that you can do it, you might be much more inclined to persevere, depending on your personality. The difference is intrinsic motivation, as opposed to extrinsic motivation. That's one of the things I learnt from my calculus teacher at high school.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-ninth of January

By having an attitude free from blaming others, good wishes are received from everyone^*

Yes, it makes sense to me that people are more likely to like you and wish you well if you don't blame them for things. People also like honesty, though, so don't let your aversion to blaming other people lead you into dishonesty. It may help to remember that even if someone is clearly at fault, there may be extenuating circumstances that you don't know about, so they may not deserve as great a helping of blame as it may appear. In any situation, there's no need to rub blame in someone else's face; you've made mistakes before, too, remember?

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-eighth of January

Simply deal with the situation as it stands rather than waste time with why, what and how^*

This is good advice sometimes, but only sometimes. Often it's a very good idea to understand how a situation came about, in order to know how to deal with it properly. Even if decisions need to be made quickly, and you do decide to take today's advice, it still might pay to think afterwards about how you got into the situation, so that you can avoid it or repeat it in future, depending on whether or not it was a good situation.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-seventh of January

With the aim of excellence, I bring beauty and quality into each word and action^*

Yes, I'll agree that aiming for excellence is the best way of achieving it. That makes sense to me. The words "each word and action" perhaps suggest perfection, though, rather than excellence, and I don't think we can expect to achieve that all the time, no matter how hard we try. Failure to achieve perfection shouldn't be construed as failure, especially not if excellence is a by-product of the effort.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-sixth of January

Respect is received when it is given^*

I'm not convinced this is universally true. Wait a minute; it doesn't say that the same person who gives respect will receive it in return. I think that's what it's trying to say, though. I think I agree that usually the most successful way of getting respect is to give it. I don't know if I can think of anything else useful to say right now.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-fifth of January

Optimism and a clear conscience are signs of a well-balanced life^*

I'm really not sure that I'm qualified to say much at all about a well-balanced life. I'm not sure I really know what people mean by that, or why such a thing is desirable. I'm actually not sure whether everyone who talks about a well-balanced life is sure what they mean, or whether such people mean roughly the same thing as each other.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-fourth of January

Anger destroys the beauty of the heart as well as the beauty of the face^*

Indeed, people are (in my opinion, at least) a lot better-looking when they're smiling, which doesn't usually happen when they're angry. And I'm sure that holding on to anger can lead to changes to your relationships with other people and your personality — changes you might not like.

However, I don't think anger in itself should be (or even can be) completely avoided all the time. For a start, it's an emotion, and I don't think we have complete control over our emotions. We can control how we act on our emotions, though. Along these lines, we have in the Old Testament:

A fool gives full vent to his anger,
but a wise man keeps himself under control.—Proverbs 29:11 (NIV)

And in the New Testament, Paul says (in 1^st Corinthians 13) that love is "not easily angered", and James encourages people to be "slow to get angry" (James 1). None of this is an outright condemnation of anger, and I don't think it should be.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-third of January

Let's see if I can finish this one on time.

Thoughts are like seeds. When they are strong and healthy, words and actions are likewise^*

We talked about thoughts just two days ago. Yes; I'll agree that thoughts affect words and actions. I don't know what else I can say about this one.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-second of January

I'm really running late this time.

In order to maintain dignity I stay in the sunlight of contentment and keep out of the shadow of desires^*

I've already talked about contentment a bit, so I thought I'd concentrate on the desires bit. I think it's often very difficult for us to control what we desire, even if we can control which desires we act on. I don't think you can just decide I don't want liquorice if you really do want it. Possibly the only way to control what we desire is indirectly; if you put the liquorice in a cupboard, instead of on the table, then you won't think of it so often, and consequently won't desire it quite so often. Of course, not every desire is necessarily always bad.

As for the connections among dignity, contentment, and desires: the one thing I can think of that links them all is greed. Acting on every greedy desire would be a bit undignified, but if you're content with what you've got, then greed can't get so much of a foothold.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twenty-first of January

Thoughts take more time and space in our lives than actions^*

I don't know whether or not today's saying is universally true, but I am inclined to believe that allowing too little time for thoughts can result in unpleasantness. I'm not sure how much space thoughts take. Mind you, I do tend to pace up and down sometimes when I'm thinking.

Jesus had some interesting things to say about thoughts:

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! …
“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”—Matthew 5:21–22a,27–28 (NLT)

Sounds difficult to me. It's a good thing we don't have to earn our way into heaven by being good.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twentieth of January

The true nature of every human being is kindness^*

From the Bible:

So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.—Genesis 1:27 (NLT)

So if we're designed to be like God, then what's God like? I'll certainly agree that He's kind, but I don't know if the word "kindness" quite captures it. "Love" is closer to the mark, but unfortunately, the English language uses that word for a number of different ideas. So what kind of love have we been created for?

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.—Romans 5:6–8 (NLT)

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The nineteenth of January

When the power of discernment is sharp you can help according to the need^*

That seems fairly straightforward. That's not the only benefit of accurate discernment, either. For example, you can avoid getting yourself or other people into difficult situations. In fact, it reminds me of the saying from the sixteenth. I suppose that's something I didn't mention at the time: observation is one thing, but interpretation of what you're observing is an important skill to apply at the time. Observation is a very good start, though, regardless of what you're trying to discern. However, instinctive feelings applied to those observations can often be just as useful for discernment as logical reasoning.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The eighteenth of January

To be free from desire for prestige and regard is a sign of greatness^*

This reminds me of my favourite verse in one of my favourite hymns: Be Thou my Vision

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Be Thou mine inheritance now and always;
Be Thou and Thou only the first in my heart;
O sovereign of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

I've come to the conclusion that it's quite difficult to avoid heeding man's empty praise.

A lot of things that will get you prestige are actually worthwhile things to do, so feel free to try to do something worthy of prestige, but remember that you might not actually get recognition for it. Also, don't make the prestige your goal, because unfortunately not everything that gets popular recognition is actually worthwhile (a number of reality TV shows come to mind).

As I said, I don't think it's really very easy to avoid the desire for prestige, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The seventeenth of January

Those with a flexible nature will adjust and create harmony with others^*

This seems similar in spirit to the saying from a week ago. I don't know if I have much else to say. Since I mentioned it then, I'll note that it talks about "those" this time, instead of "I". Also, it talks about one of the possible consequences of flexibility: harmony. Just remember that dishonesty can cause disharmony, so be careful about the particular way in which you're being flexible.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The sixteenth of January

If you calmly observe, you will more clearly see situations for what they really are^*

Yes; I think I'll agree with that. If you're too busy talking or participating, then you might miss out on seeing the whole situation. Of course, you'll probably want to participate in at least one or two things during your lifetime, and doing so will probably help you to know what to look for next time you're observing. However, when you really want to figure out a situation accurately, then observe first, and after that, maybe say your bit.

There is more hope for a fool
than for someone who speaks without thinking.—Proverbs 29:20 (NLT)

Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent;
with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.—Proverbs 17:28 (NLT)

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The fifteenth of January

Protect yourself from useless and negative thoughts by maintaining a positive attitude^*

Easier said than done.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The fourteenth of January

Let me take responsibility for myself and not have expectations of others^*

This sounds to me like advice to mind your own business. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with it.

In the Bible, we have Paul's instructions in 1^st Corinthians 5 about how to deal with immorality specifically within the church, and he certainly seems to be expecting certain standards. Also, I think people often respond well when something is expected of them, perhaps thinking If they think I can manage that, then maybe I can, and consequently making more of an effort.

In contrast, we have Jesus expressing something perhaps quite similar to today's saying:

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”—Luke 5:41–42 (NLT)

(This is in the context of judging other people, if you care to have a look.) Note, though, that Jesus does suggest that you will, in some circumstances, be able to help your friend with the speck in their eye.

Also perhaps relevant is the famous instruction Jesus gave (recorded in John 8) to save a woman from being stoned for adultery: “let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (NLT). Interestingly, this story finishes like this:

Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”—verses 10–11 (NLT)

He still gives instructions for her not to sin.

Perhaps Jesus agrees with today's saying as far as encouraging us to be primarily responsible for ourselves, but not as far as encouraging us to be exclusively responsible for ourselves.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The thirteenth of January

I'm running late again.

To welcome an enemy is to take the opportunity to expand my heart^*

Indeed. Welcoming an enemy can have several benefits, for example:

• You might discover that your enemy isn't so bad after all
• Your enemy might discover that you're not so bad after all
• If your enemy really is out to get you, then they'll have trouble accusing you of being completely evil, if you've welcomed them in good faith.

I should go to bed.

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The twelfth of January

So I've heard back from the publishers again. It sounds promising. They're happy to give limited permission, if I acknowledge the permission for each saying. However, they want to review the situation after a month.

Simplicity of character is the most natural result of profound thought^*

I'm trying to figure out what "simplicity of character" is. Perhaps I just haven't been thinking profoundly enough. In my experience, serious, deliberate thought results either in frustration or in a better understanding of what you were thinking about, and perhaps the discovery of something new, that you've never realized before. To me, those seem to be the most obvious possible results of thought. I don't know if either of them could be called "simplicity of character", though.

Perhaps it's talking about the long-term results of regular profound thought. I agree that could affect your personality. I'm still struggling with "simplicity of character", though. Maybe it's meant to mean predictability? Probably not. Honesty? Maybe, but it's a stretch, and "simplicity of character" is a fairly obfuscated way of saying it, too. Any other ideas?

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^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com

The eleventh of January

By seeing life as a game, your lightness of spirit will make problems seem easier

I'll agree that a good mood does make things seem easier. I might even be inclined to argue that it makes things actually easier. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with seeing life as a game, though.

Partly, it depends on what sort of game. Most actual games that I can think of right now are what the economic game theorists call zero-sum games: each player or team can improve its own position only by putting its opponents in a worse position. Don't think of life as that sort of game. Some things in life are like that, but a lot of things aren't like that.

There are non-zero-sum games, too, but the only ones I can think of at the moment are ones that are normally only used by economists and philosophers to help them think about commerce and rationality and things like that. Funnily enough, such games are often described by simplifying a situation from real life. Monopoly could go either way, depending on which way you look at it. True, everyone could make money in a given round, but in the end, the point of the game isn't to see how much money you can make, but to see who can bankrupt all the other players. Only one player can do that each time you play. I suppose games you play with small children, like peek-a-boo, tend to be non-zero-sum games.

Anyway, if you do look at life as a game, remember that relationships matter: relationships with your family, with your friends, with your neighbours, with your colleagues, with the shopkeeper at the corner dairy, and with God. The last of those might turn out to be particularly important when the game is up.

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The tenth of January

I adjust myself to every situation as easily as liquid gold flows into a mould

You know, I don't think I've ever seen liquid gold flow into a mould. I assume that if it's hot enough, it flows quite easily.

I find the wording of this one interesting. The other ones that have talked about people so far have talked about "you" or "those", or "the ones", but this one is about "I". Is there a particular reason for the difference? Perhaps it's trying to avoid saying everyone should be like that. Perhaps it's trying to suggest that only a few people achieve such proficiency at adapting to everything.

I think I'll agree that it's good to be able to cope easily with change. After all, change is going to happen whether you like it or not. Remember, though, that adjusting to a situation doesn't necessarily have to involve changing who you are. When gold is poured into a mould, it's still gold. It's still the same colour, regardless of the shape of the mould. (It may change colour depending on temperature — I don't know — but that's beside the point.) It might be more pure, for having been heated, but it's still gold.

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The ninth of January

In order to create harmony let there be a meeting of hearts, for only then will love emerge

That sounds all very nice, but what does it actually mean? How do we arrange a meeting of hearts? How should we change the way we think or act? This is, perhaps, a good example of what Rosie was talking about: nice words without specifics. Then again, I could just be missing the obvious. I do that sometimes.

When I was trying to figure out what it might mean, the best I could come up with was that it was encouraging us to be honest with each other. There are clearer ways of saying that, though. As always, feel free to write a comment if you have any other ideas about what it might mean.

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The eighth of January

True freedom means to be beyond the influence of people and possessions

Being beyond the influence of people sounds dangerous to me. As far as I can tell, a lot of what makes the world run smoothly is social pressure to act in a vaguely moral way. Don't get me wrong; I think people have a natural sense of morality, and usually an inclination to act morally, but I do think that social pressure is often an important part of people's decisions to act morally. It can work the other way, of course; there can be social pressure to act immorally, but I'm still inclined to believe that it's dangerous to be beyond the influence of other people.

Not only does it sound dangerous, it sounds callous, too. It reminds me of Paul Simon's song I am a Rock.

I'm too tired to write any more right now.

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The seventh of January

When you feel tired, remember things of happiness and you will regain strength

No. Sorry; it just doesn't work. Not for me, anyway, and I think I've got quite a bit of experience with tiredness. On the other hand, if I talk about happy memories with someone, rather than just thinking about them, it's more likely to work, but in those cases, I think it has more to do with who I'm talking to, rather than what I'm talking about.

If I've got any energy at all, I sometimes find that doing something I enjoy will help me feel less tired, but sometimes you just have to spend a bit longer sleeping.

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The sixth of January

I realize it's already the 7th in most of the world, including here, so I'll have to write this before anyone notices. You would think I'd have more spare time on Saturdays than during the rest of the week. I just don't know where my time went, but this often happens to me on Saturdays. I didn't even sleep in very long. Anyway, I'm rambling.

Those who have a high degree of self-esteem can easily remain content

At first, I wanted to say "Well, it all depends on what you mean by self-esteem. And content.", but I decided this would be a cop-out.

I'm reading Ecclesiastes at the moment, which was written by a guy who calls himself the Teacher. He seems to be searching for contentment, which you can read for yourself, in chapter 2, for example. He seems to think everything is meaningless (or fleeting, or vanity, or smoke, or ..., although this all depends on what you mean by הכל, of course). However, he doesn't seem to be lacking in self-esteem:

I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.”—Ecclesiastes 1:16 (NLT)

On the other hand, I was recently in a situation that particularly troubled me. It troubled me because I didn't know how much I could do to fix it. I was feeling pretty down about it, but then I remembered that I was a child of God. I realized that even if I completely messed everything up (which seemed scarily possible at the time, though not probable), I would still be a child of God. I still wasn't happy about the situation, and wasn't sure if some of my previous decisions had been particularly wise, but at least I felt better about myself. Thinking about that time, I find it hard to distinguish between my self-esteem and my contentment. But of course, it all depends on what you mean by self-esteem and contentment.

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.—Galatians 3:26 (NLT)

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The fifth of January

The ones who share peace through their thoughts are truly great donors

I'm not sure that I entirely understand what this is trying to say. It's fairly clear that it's trying to say that spreading peace is a good thing. It seems to be implicitly suggesting that this is at least as good as giving large sums of money to a good cause. It may even be trying to draw a comparison to blood donation and organ donation; I don't know. Jesus esteemed the establishment of peace quite highly, too. He says this:

God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.—Matthew 5:9

What really puzzles me about today's saying is "through their thoughts". I just don't know what it's intended to mean. Again from the Bible, this time from James:

Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?—James 2:15–16

Do any of you have any better idea what today's saying might mean? If so, leave a comment, so everyone can read it.

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The fourth of January

To simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

Depending on your experience with mathematics, you may find it hard to believe what I'm about to say. When mathematicians learn something new, they often like to express it in the simplest, most elegant way possible. In doing so, they usually get a clearer understanding of what they learnt, and maybe even discover an interesting relationship to another part of mathematics, or figure out a nice way of improving on what they just learnt.

When I read today's saying, I thought it was a brilliant description of simplicity. I still do. I just don't know what else to say. Perhaps I'll give the last word to Albert Einstein (who was a physicist, not a mathematician).

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

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The third of January

First, an update about the copyright issues. I've heard back from the publishers, and they seem reasonably happy to give me permission to do this, as long as I acknowledge that they've given me permission to use their copyrighted material. We haven't quite sorted out every detail yet, so I can't yet say "reproduced with permission...", since I don't quite have their permission yet. In the mean time, so that the flow of posts isn't interrupted, I'll continue, since this is still fair dealing. Without permission, though, I'll have to stop at some point; perhaps the end of the month.

On with the show:

Give to others from the heart and in turn many things will come to you

I think I agree that this is generally true. However, I don't think it's always absolutely true. That's ok; it's a proverb-like saying; proverbs don't have to be always absolutely true. Consider

Early to bed and early to rise
makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

We shouldn't consider this useless just because we find a healthy weathly wise night-shift worker.

Anyway, I was busy commenting on today's saying. I think it's actually a little dangerous to rely on it, sometimes. What if we assess that the good we expect in return isn't worth it? Will we stop doing good? What if we're disappointed by not getting as much in return as we expected? This will happen sometimes; we don't always get what we think is fair. I suppose what I'm saying here is that it isn't a good basis for doing good things; it's a bit too shaky.

One more comment: if you're only doing good things because you expect good things in return, then are you really doing good? It sounds more like a bargain, to me: a bargain with God, or with karma, or with Adam Smith's invisible hand, or with whatever else you expect to underwrite your investment.

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The second of January

Don't let the distance to be travelled deter you from taking the first step – today

Brilliant advice. Advice I should probably heed more often.

It pays to keep in mind the scope of the advice, though. There are other possible reasons not to take the first step today. For example: the time of day. A less frivolous example might involve having something more important to do that has to be finished by tomorrow morning.

Also, don't forget to consider reasons for and against whether to travel the distance at all. Jesus told this parable:

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace."—Luke 14:28–32 (NIV)

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The first of January

Happy New Year! And welcome to my new blog. The title of this blog refers to a gift a friend gave me recently. I thought the gift was so wonderful that I just had to write about it all year long. It's called "Wisdom for the Day: Timeless Calendar", and it's published by Brahma Kumaris.

The word "timeless" in the title refers to at least two things: first, the calendar has a page for each day, with a short proverb on it ("timeless wisdom"); second, the days of the week aren't listed, and the 29th of February is in there, so the calendar should remain useful until the next calendar reform.

I intend to comment briefly on each day's proverb. Since I'm a Christian, you might find me coming from a Christian point of view, and perhaps even quoting the Bible every now and then.

"But", I hear you ask, "how will we know what saying you're commenting on?". Well, I suppose I can quote it for you each day. "Surely that will breach copyright!" Interestingly, I can't find any assertion of copyright anywhere on the calendar. Perhaps the sayings (or at least some of them) are already in the public domain. I've written an email to them to ask their permission anyway, because I don't think you need to assert copyright to retain those rights; I'm not sure. Unfortunately, I haven't heard back from them yet, but I intend to post my comments for at least January, regardless, and assert that this constitutes fair dealing in Commonwealth jurisdictions, and fair use in the US.

So, let's get going:

Enjoy the present moment because it is the future in the making

At first, I had trouble figuring out what this meant; in my experience the present moment all too soon becomes the past, not the future. In the end, I decided that it was trying to suggest that our actions and attitude in the present affect our enjoyment of the future. I can agree with this.

However, I don't think that the enjoyable thing right now always leads to the most enjoyment in the future. If you never try anything difficult, or always give up trying something when it becomes difficult, then you'll never have the satisfaction of finishing a difficult task. If you never bother to do hard work, you might find yourself in quite a sticky situation in the future. Of course, difficult tasks and hard work can be enjoyable in themselves, and we can partly affect this just by our attitude to the task, but you can't rely on always enjoying everything you have to do.

I do agree with the sentiment that it's usually good to enjoy whatever you're doing, and (when appropriate) to actually put aside time to enjoy the present moment. If you never enjoy the present moment, then you'll never enjoy yourself at all; you'll never benefit from all that hard work you've done for the sake of the future.

Don't worry; I've peeked ahead a little, and I won't be this critical every day.

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