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| How ya'll doing out there in cyberspace? For those of us who are still in school, finals must be now upon you and you are looking to the blessed day when they are all over. I'm currently working on this paper (or I should say, still doing the reading...don't worry, I still have time to finish it) for Japanese History and perhaps due to temporary disengagement from the topic, I began a moment of reflection. I'm not quite sure what led me to start thinking about this. Maybe its because I was reading about "unequal treaties", "modernity", "historicism"...blah blah blah. I smiled and then thought, perhaps with more chagrin, how did I ever end up in academia. So then my rushed back to my first undergrad class in Chinese history when I was first exposed to some of these terms. I was always intrigued back then by the tremendous international faux pas' that inexorably lead to war. I at times fancied myself as someone who help mediate between divergent viewpoints but I think post 9-11 actually gave up on my pollyannaish views of the word and committed the ultimate academic heresy: my views became teleological! Of course the Greek root of the word, teleos, conjures notions of the divine. The word itself suggests design, intention and an end that we, mere mortal men, have no control over. Well, perhaps my views on the end of the world are more correctly categorized as eschatological since one should never be asked to separate faith from life. In some ways, I have just walked into an intellectual trap. Well maybe not that deep but 9-11 may have been catastrophic but was it the portend of the beginning of the end ? It certainly was a transformation or a point of departure for a new posture in American foreign policy that caused me to question many of the IR theories I had studied in college (all except 'realism'). So, if all theory is essentially thrown out the window, what are we left with? Irrational state actors that move by pure self-interest? Not exactly a formula for world peace. Recent years, however, have shown that even the bull from Texas can be tamed and taught the virtue of relying on institutions and multi-lateralism. There you have it, constructivism actually at work! I will admit it, it pains me at times to think that I had countless opportunities to throw myself into this world of diplomacy yet chose not to do it. Perhaps I felt that there are better ways to help the cause of man and still keep an international focus. You must be asking, is it academia? | | |
| Short entry, but for the first time I've finally admitted to myself that the best thing I could possibly do for China is on the spiritual front. I am sitting here reading some accounts from China's tumultuous Cultural Revolution and even though I've been over this stuff before, the thing that keeps hitting at me (and even the scholars recognize this) is the spiritual vacuum and emptiness that exists in people's lives there as a result of the post-communism breakneck economic development they have been experiencing. I know this may strike some of you as odd that I would be so fixated on one place...believe me, its odd for me too. I sometimes ask myself why can't I just be "normal" coming out of college...get a job, make money, have a family, white house and picket fence...the whole nine yards. Of course that is more fiction than reality since most of our lives are not like that and life is full of unexpected curves and turns. Yet, I still feel that I am living the shadow of the convictions I had in undergrad with the recurring impression that I have not done anything about it and am perhaps wasting my life. Melancholic? Yes, I know but I lack the courage, faith and direction to do anything about it. For now, back to reading mayhem I go. | | |
| I thought I would share with you my good, but unfortunately distant friends out there some things that I have been pondering all the more since my move out to California. The physical act of moving itself can be rather jarring particularly when you consider everything you've left behind and the challenges that lie before you. Most people move because they are looking for a change. They move out of a genuine desire to get a fresh start in their lives. Well, perhaps this is more true of our parents generation. Most of the 20-somethings I know move far more than they would like and often times not just across the state. So what am I complaining about? I guess I'm asking for some continuity, for something familiar; to be able to hold onto to something, no matter how fleeting it may be, across the miles and virtual distance of even cyberspace. I want to be see you, share in the joys...and pains of your life; to rejoice with you when you overcome and pray with you when it's just a little too hard to handle. I know you would do (and are doing) the same for me. At some point though, I do have to recognize that I am the sole arbiter of my decisions. I often put lofty, distant goals above more easily attainable ones right in front of me. Sometimes I achieve them, sometimes I don't. That's the gamble of life and oh! the things that I gamble. And know I'm faced with yet another gamble of sorts with naturally higher stakes. So before I wager it all in a desparate attempt of vain glory, I have to ask myself, why?? Why keep studying? What am I attaning? Who am I helping? So I turn to Ellen G. White who, unexpectedly, had some amazing counsel. Messages to Young People (MYP), pg. 30--"Divine wisdom is to be a lamp to your feet. Be true to yourselves, be true to your God." ...."Through the gift of the Holy Spirit moral power will be given you, and not only will you have your former intrusted talents for the service of God but their effciency will be greatly multiplied."---How often do we doubt God's ability to use us in His service? "But their are young men who will make a failure because they have not determined to overcome natural inclinations, and they will not listen to the voice of God in His word." pg. 31 "O that every one might realize that he is the arbiter of his own destiny! Your happiness for this life, and for the future, immortal life lies with yourself." "What will be the influence of my action upon the minds of those who have had much less light and evidence as to what is right?" pg. 32 "The world needs mend of thougt, men of principle, men who are constantly growing in understanding and discernment.", pg. 34 "Have you thoughts that you dare not not express, that you may one day stand upon the summit of intellectual greatness; that you may sit in deliberative and legislative councils, and help to enact laws for the nation? There is nothing wrong in these aspirations....Aim high, and spare no pains to reach the standard." pg. 36 "It is also a fearful thing to fold the talent intrusted to us in a napkin, and hide it away in the world...God claims our service. There are responsibilities for every one to bear; and we can fulfill life's grand mission only when these responsibilities are fully accepted, and faithfully and conscientiously discharged.", pg. 37 And she wrote so much more in that one section. Hmm, I wonder if any of this resonates with you as you go on life's journey. What are your dreams and how do they line up with how your life appears to be heading? Well, thanks for taking the time to read this but befor I go here is a recent picture of me next to really strange tree! 
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| I'm not sure if you are aware, but if you can please lift up a prayer for the safety of the Korean missionaries who are being held hostage in Afghanistan. Time seems to be very short for them as their captors have no hesitancy in taking their lives. As of today, there is a very rescue mission underway by Afghan authorities. My heart breaks to think of what the hostages must be going though, not to mention their families and friends at home. ...so sad | | |
| I managed to listen to a sermon online where it was brought to my attention of the newest New Age wave hitting America...a book and DVD called "The Secret". Have you guys heard about it? Here are some quotes, apparently from the book, that I found online..... "You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet" (p. 164).
"The earth turns on its orbit for You. The oceans ebb and flow for You. The birds sing for You. The sun rises and it sets for You. The stars come out for You. Every beautiful thing you see, every wondrous thing you experience, is all there for You. Take a look around. None of it can exist, without You. No matter who you thought you were, now you know the Truth of Who You Really Are. You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life. And now you know The Secret" (p. 183).
"You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Gen. 3: 4-5 And lo, how the sin of he who caused the first couple to fall wraps itself in modern packaging. Isaiah 14: 13-15 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Oh, may we be vigilant. | | |
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