Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8: 12 Revised Standard Edition)
Jesus spoke in parables and utilized metaphors often. Since much of their culture as well as their environment contrast significantly to ours, we don't always catch the full significance of his picturesque literary language.
"Light" is one of those metaphors that is used in the Bible numerous times. Yet I have wondered sometimes if it might not also be literal.
I find it fascinating to listen to earlier cultures with their limited knowledge about the secrets of science try to explain phenomena that they observed but didn't fully understand anywhere to the degree that we do now, e.g. the writer(s) of Exodus trying to explain how a burning bush could be glowing as if on fire without being consumed. While I don't know how satisfactorily to explain such a burning bush, the possibilities I might consider can include radioactivity, fusion, chemical reaction, solar flares, aurora borealis, or UV lighting, -- choices that were beyond their awareness. While not clear to many of us today, at least we are aware that the concept exists and open to possible results or by-products.
And by the same token, if one believes that there is a God who created the world and universe, the more we become aware of scientific concepts, the more I personally have to believe that God would also be the author of these concepts. Further, if He is the author, then it seems reasonable to me that He would utilize these concepts.
Obviously, as we learn more in the realm of science, the more we realize how much more is out there that we do not yet understand.
But what if there were a literal component as well -- one that can only be explained by scientific concepts -- authored by God, the Creator -- that we do not yet understand?
There are other unexplained Biblical stories centered on light: Moses coming down from the mountain needing to be veiled to cover a face shining so bright that others could not look at him, Jesus coming down off the mountain after the transfiguration, or flames above the disciples head on the day of Pentecost.
There is one more mystery of the Bible that is not likened to light, but perhaps could be: the trinity. Many of us are not able to envision how God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit can be both one and at the same time, three separate entities.
I have heard metaphors such as water -- that water can be a gaseous vapor, a liquid, and frozen ice. All are water, and yet each can be unique. But that metaphor did not seem satisfactory to me -- it did not give me an example of how all three could be blended together simultaneously.
For me, light would seem like a better metaphor.
Imagine a room that is totally dark, but equipped with three lights -- each spaced at distinctly separate places in the room. Each light can be turned on separately, or in pairs, or all three.
Lighting can be combined -- different in some cases, a red light and a blue light can combined as a distinct blend that is different from either source, or it can be white lights that are impossible for most humans to distinguish separately.
To the average layman, we don't understand how light can combine instantly -- essentially the same, and yet brighter, stronger as another light(s) is(are) added, and at the same time, can just as quickly be separated -- unlike chemical reactions, or physical mixtures that often can not be easily or immediately undone. Essentially for us non-scientists, it is something we do not fully understand, yet easily accept.
Perhaps this metaphor can help us religious laymen to also better accept the notion of a trinity that is both one and separate at the same time.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Doing Time ...
Do the hands of the clock ever actually move? I watch and watch and watch ... sitting there and watch. Still, I don't see them move. Still, that is all those hands are: still. Has time frozen?
I don't even know why I am here. I didn't do anything wrong ... no matter what anyone says.
Actually, I don't have that much time left -- but it seems like I have been here already forever. I just don't see how I can bear this final leg ...
It's 2:58, there are only 17 more minutes till the middle school kids go home. This is the last Friday for this school year. All the others are outside running around and signing yearbooks. The others here in five of the classrooms are stuck with detention.
15 minutes now ... will time ever pass?
I don't even know why I am here. I didn't do anything wrong ... no matter what anyone says.
Actually, I don't have that much time left -- but it seems like I have been here already forever. I just don't see how I can bear this final leg ...
It's 2:58, there are only 17 more minutes till the middle school kids go home. This is the last Friday for this school year. All the others are outside running around and signing yearbooks. The others here in five of the classrooms are stuck with detention.
15 minutes now ... will time ever pass?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Leave No Patient Dead
This is a re-print of an article that I wrote and was published in the Washington Education Association's WE monthly journal in December 2003:
Leave No Patient Dead
Reporter M. Naive
with apologies to Art Buckwald
An interview with Surgeon General Undersecretary Phil N. Blank
Reporter M. Naive: First of all, congratulations on your promotion from Assistant to the Undersecretary of Education to Surgeon General Undersecretary.
Undersecretary Blank: Thanks.
Reporter M. Naive: What prompted you to move to the political realm of health from public education?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, after our success with passage of the ESEA, the “leave no child behind” act, which insures that all public school students will meet standards within 12 years, I needed a new challenge.
Reporter M. Naive: And so that is why you authored the AMA, “leave no patient dead” act?
Undersecretary Blank: Yes, precisely, more or less.
Reporter M. Naive: How did you convince the White House to sponsor this bill? What made you think that you knew more about medicine than our nation’s doctors?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, President Bush himself explained to us that since almost all Americans at one time or another have self-prescribed headache medicine, put band-aids on family members, or used a thermometer, that we were just as qualified to critique doctors as was anyone, who ever coached little league sports, a Sunday School class, or taught a child to tie her shoes, qualified to critique public school teachers. The president is clearly a man of vision!
Reporter M. Naive: Explain for our readers the key component of the AMA.
Undersecretary Blank: Basically, just as we have legislated that public schools will have all students up to standard within 12 years, we no longer are going to tolerate doctors who can’t cure all patients. Simply put, all medical practices are going to be expected to cure any patient, no matter the injury, condition or mental status.
Reporter M. Naive: Other than guiding passage of the Bush Administration’s bill through Congress, how exactly can you guarantee that all patients will indeed be cured?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, thanks to legislators in Washington State who introduced a bill that would have mandated teaching phonics for any fourth-grade students not passing their state assessment, we have hit upon the idea that any patients not cured within 48 hours, will be medicated with penicillin.
Reporter M. Naive: All patients?
Undersecretary Blank: Sure! Just as we know that all student problems in reading are attributed to phonics, we have come to realize that penicillin is the perfect cure for infections, broken arms, stomach ulcers, strokes, and the common cold. Sheer genius!
Reporter M. Naive: Will there be any other consequences?
Undersecretary Blank: Definitely! Any medical practice failing to cure all ills will be taken over by “charter clinics.” They will be staffed only by self-appointed doctors that have not been tainted with university training and state licensing procedures.
Reporter M. Naive: But won’t this cause a shortage of people willing to join the medical profession?
Undersecretary Blank: Nah, just as in public education, we firmly believe that raising teacher certification standards, establishing high-stakes student assessments, while withdrawing financial support will cure all educational ills, we can do the same with doctors. You just have to be firm and set the right tone. The president has assured us it will work.
Reporter M. Naive: This is so fantastic! But after the AMA passes, what will you do?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, the President pulled me aside recently, and talked to me about creating similar legislation that would guarantee that no business will be allowed to fail, go bankrupt, or have declining shares on the stock market.
Leave No Patient Dead
Reporter M. Naive
with apologies to Art Buckwald
An interview with Surgeon General Undersecretary Phil N. Blank
Reporter M. Naive: First of all, congratulations on your promotion from Assistant to the Undersecretary of Education to Surgeon General Undersecretary.
Undersecretary Blank: Thanks.
Reporter M. Naive: What prompted you to move to the political realm of health from public education?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, after our success with passage of the ESEA, the “leave no child behind” act, which insures that all public school students will meet standards within 12 years, I needed a new challenge.
Reporter M. Naive: And so that is why you authored the AMA, “leave no patient dead” act?
Undersecretary Blank: Yes, precisely, more or less.
Reporter M. Naive: How did you convince the White House to sponsor this bill? What made you think that you knew more about medicine than our nation’s doctors?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, President Bush himself explained to us that since almost all Americans at one time or another have self-prescribed headache medicine, put band-aids on family members, or used a thermometer, that we were just as qualified to critique doctors as was anyone, who ever coached little league sports, a Sunday School class, or taught a child to tie her shoes, qualified to critique public school teachers. The president is clearly a man of vision!
Reporter M. Naive: Explain for our readers the key component of the AMA.
Undersecretary Blank: Basically, just as we have legislated that public schools will have all students up to standard within 12 years, we no longer are going to tolerate doctors who can’t cure all patients. Simply put, all medical practices are going to be expected to cure any patient, no matter the injury, condition or mental status.
Reporter M. Naive: Other than guiding passage of the Bush Administration’s bill through Congress, how exactly can you guarantee that all patients will indeed be cured?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, thanks to legislators in Washington State who introduced a bill that would have mandated teaching phonics for any fourth-grade students not passing their state assessment, we have hit upon the idea that any patients not cured within 48 hours, will be medicated with penicillin.
Reporter M. Naive: All patients?
Undersecretary Blank: Sure! Just as we know that all student problems in reading are attributed to phonics, we have come to realize that penicillin is the perfect cure for infections, broken arms, stomach ulcers, strokes, and the common cold. Sheer genius!
Reporter M. Naive: Will there be any other consequences?
Undersecretary Blank: Definitely! Any medical practice failing to cure all ills will be taken over by “charter clinics.” They will be staffed only by self-appointed doctors that have not been tainted with university training and state licensing procedures.
Reporter M. Naive: But won’t this cause a shortage of people willing to join the medical profession?
Undersecretary Blank: Nah, just as in public education, we firmly believe that raising teacher certification standards, establishing high-stakes student assessments, while withdrawing financial support will cure all educational ills, we can do the same with doctors. You just have to be firm and set the right tone. The president has assured us it will work.
Reporter M. Naive: This is so fantastic! But after the AMA passes, what will you do?
Undersecretary Blank: Well, the President pulled me aside recently, and talked to me about creating similar legislation that would guarantee that no business will be allowed to fail, go bankrupt, or have declining shares on the stock market.
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