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Being the random thoughts of a middle aged overeducated physician, father, and citizen. James M. Small MD PhD. Send me a reply to jmsmall @ mycap.org.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Saudi Exports 

Take a look here if you like freedom.

Monday, February 14, 2005

The competition for our soul 

Dennis Prager writes a series on Judeo Christian values. I like his style, his honest inquiries. Take a look at these:

Judeo Christian Values I
II III IV Index (NEW: V VI VII)

Reminds me of what I think is a Dosteoevsky quote, although I can't Google it. It goes something like, "If there is no God, everything is permissible." Where, indeed, would you find the idea that the Nazi's were wrong other than "opinion" if not from moral tradition, which comes from JudeoChristian religion?

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Screwtape Letter 4. 

For previous letter and links: 3
"It is high time for me to write to you fully on the painful subject of prayer." So begins letter 4.
Obviously the first effort is to keep the patient from praying seriously at all. For Lewis, prayer is concentration of intelligence and will, not just a "vaguely devotional mood." It should be regular and planned. And the bodily position actually matters: "They are animals...whatever their bodies do affects their souls."

And I plead guilty but less than last year. Most mornings I actually do sit down (often in the hospital chapel) and try to hold a conversation.

If that doesn't work, try turning the patient's focus away from God and to himself. I read somewhere that if you pray, you need to talk to God, not yourself. For me, that's more of a struggle than one might think. It's pretty easy to get stuck thinking it's just an internal soliloquy. I've even tried turning an empty chair around to imagine someone sitting there with me, which brings us to the next diabolical weapon...

It is easy for us to create mental images, Lewis' "composite objects," for our prayers. In the previous chapter, he talked about trying to separate the patient's prayers for his mother's "soul" from anything resembling the real mother. Similarly, in today's chapter he talks about praying to the composite object (created by the human) rather than praying to the person that created him. Again, it seems important to Lewis that prayers be directed to something real and concrete.

One of the lines that struck me strongly came from this section:

"if ever he consciously directs his prayers 'Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be'..." This was a watershed for me. I can pray to my subjective image which allows me to focus my "will and intellect," but still can confess that I'm just using my images for better focus and that I really want to pray to God.

Finally, a warning that we humans probably don't want real nakedness in prayer as much as we think--"There's such a thing as getting more than they bargained for!"

There are some more references on prayer that I went to after this. Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer is a series of letters later in Lewis' life. My middle daughter found me a signed copy! Also, Foundations of the Christian Faith has a good chapter.

Time for bed.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Academic Freedom 

Here are some interesting contrasts.

First, the president of Harvard (not a conservative by any stretch) raised the hypothesis that there might be biological differences behind the lack of women at the highest levels of physical and mathematical sciences. Women walked out, a firestorm erupted, and he was forced to retract.

Second, a University of Colorado professor wrote a stupid article equating the financial services workers in the World Trade Center with Adolf Eichmann of the Nazis. A conservative law school prof writes that he shouldn't be fired; he is tenured. Free speech and all. Frankly, I agree. This guy is such an obvious nutcase, or stupid, or hysterical. We're taking him way too seriously. Just widely distribute what he says, and then laugh at the poor sap.

Third, the University of Oregon forced an employee to remove a yellow ribbon magnet saying "support our troops" from University vehicles, saying it was political speech, forbidden. This one I really don't understand. Are professors at the U. of Oregon state employees? Is political speech forbidden to the faculty? I hope not; they wouldn't have much to talk about in the Poli Sci dept!

So I guess if you say something that isn't PC, there is immediate censorship by the left. Funny how they squawk when one of their own, even a wacko who may have fraudulently made up his Cherokee "ancestry" might be held to account.

I am in favor of the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [note: nobody has the right to "not have their feelings hurt." Look it up. There is no such amendment in the Bill of Rights.]

That means all of us. If it were up to me, I'd protect all speech, but since I was in college in 1972, I've known that conservative speech is less protected. The chickens are coming home to roost, lefties. You're not going to get much sympathy any more, now that we know that your opinion is that free speech is only OK if it doesn't hurt anybody's feelings. Well, Churchill hurt someone's feelings and he's feeling the heat. It's a sad day, following many sad years. I hope we come back.

Friday, February 04, 2005

The Bleat 

Just read The Bleat. What a hoot. I particularly loved the part about how his daughter didn't want to have a baby because she wants to stay thin, and she's only five. Since I have three daughters, and have been through some of the neuroses about thinness, made me smile. But it's a wistful smile. How sad, that an essential part of the human life cycle, that creates new life with all the excitement and beauty that entails, should be reduced to "it will make my tummy big."

I think pregnant women are beautiful. There, I said it. I do. They are. (daughters, if you are reading this, don't go out just yet and get pregnant! Read the previous post!) Curves are cool, in my eyes. If you're naturally cylindrical, that's OK too, you'll look right. But if you naturally have curves and you starve yourself into thinness, it will show.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Sexually transmitted diseases 

Just ran across a report from a physician who specializes in sexually transmitted diseases, and it is alarming. I'm going to see him speak Thursday this week and will pass on more (guess that isn't the best way to phrase it!) later. In the meantime, seriously consider whether sex outside of marriage is in your best interests. He (Dr. McIlhaney) says his saddest encounters as an OB-GYN were with married women, made infertile by STD's caught in their younger days. I remember from my schooling watching a young lady crying on the phone as she spoke with her fertility doctor. And that's not even mentioning the fatal STD's like HIV, Herpes (for your baby), undiagnosed syphilis, cervical cancer, etc. Condoms help some, but only some; sex is still like Russian Roulette, using a condom just takes a few more of the bullets out.

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