‘"Change? What do you mean "change"?’

Changes in Our Lives and in the History of Christian Belief

presented by Stephenie Rose Cooper

• Connected because something about this world doesn’t feel real

• Matrix is example of a film that you either "get" or "don’t get" … all because of your personal paradigms
 

What is Reality?

• "Most of us assume we are seeing the world the way it really is." – Ned Herrmann

• "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." – Philip K. Dick

• "This that appears to you as a barber's basin is for me Mambrino's helmet, and something else again to another person." – Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote to Sancho Panza

• We all construct our own reality. Personal paradigms are derived from shared paradigms – cultural beliefs, values, etc.

– Helps you sift and label your "rights" and "wrongs", your "facts" from "fiction".

• Personal paradigms influence the decisions you make, the life directions you decide to take

– A person’s world view or action logic influences what they notice, and therefore what they can describe and change. They become habits of thought.

• Audio Media: Vinyl records ΰ Tapes ΰ CDs

• Telephone: Rotary dial ΰ Touchtone ΰ Cordless ΰ Cellular

–Wired ΰ Wireless

• Many political values (certainly not all!) are not moral issues. One nation’s foreign policy values may be grounds for intense discussion and may serve to separate people into liberal or conservative parties. However, your individual stand on most political issues probably will not get you labeled moral or immoral.

• Do you believe there’s such a thing as a "just" war? What are the criteria?

• How should the lands in the Middle East be divided up among Jews and Muslims? Who has the right to do the dividing?

• What do you think today about conquest via war? About colonialism?

• Do you have think that the types of clothes you wear, the amount of money you earn, and the stores where you shop can classify you as moral or immoral?

• Do you avoid buying products made in certain countries?

• Do you avoid products containing certain substances?

• Do you actively or passively practice recycling?

• What is a normal home? What do you expect to find in a normal house or condo or apartment?

- Example:  How do you react if the toilet is in a hallway, or the entrance is in an unexpected place?

• Should the government provide certain services for everyone, like health care?

• Do you think that the types of food you eat–-only vegetables or only meat-–will define you as moral or immoral?

• Do you avoid certain foods? If so, is it for health reasons for moral reasons?

• Are there any foods that you consider to be taboo? Do any of your friends have food taboos?

• Do you think the government should maintain current requirements for food labeling? Do you think more is required? Do you make buying decisions based on what’s on labels?

• Do you think people ought to dress in certain ways for certain professions?

• Do you think people ought to dress in certain ways for certain occasions/events, like going to church on Sunday, going to a funeral, going to a concert?

– Remember when girls could only wear dresses to school?

– Remember the days before "business casual"?

• What is a "normal" family? Should the "head of household" always be male if a male is present?

• What is your attitude toward divorce?

• Do you think that same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples?

• Do you think that certain occupations should be restricted to certain genders?

• Do you believe in creationism, evolution, or something in-between?

• Should lay persons distribute communion?

• Should lay persons preside over the Eucharist?

• Should the altar be placed in the center of the sanctuary?

• Are human beings basically good or basically evil?

• Is God a personal God who intervenes in individual lives?

• Do angels exist? What are they like?

• And the big question …

• "The Life of Pi", a book by Yann Martel, challenged ideas about the limits of possibility

– Many cannot accept the possibility of a boy surviving at sea for 200+ days sharing a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger

• The main character, Pi, embraced Hinduism, Christianity and Islam equally.

9. What is the attitude toward drinking? gambling?

10. What is the normal pattern of work (school) days and days off? What are normal working hours -- for men? for women?

11. What are the important holidays? How is each observed?

12. How do people get married? Who makes the arrangements? What is the attitude toward divorce?

13. What is the principal religion? Is it a state (official) religion? What are its basic doctrines? Who are its originators and shapers?

14. What is the attitude of believers in the principal religion toward other religions and their followers?

• If you won the lottery or somehow had your financial needs taken care of, how would you want to spend your life? What would be the purpose of your life?

• Helen Keller was born blind and deaf. Her reality, her paradigm of how the world worked, was shaped by touch and intellect.  What do you think reality would be like for you if you never had sight or hearing?

• Autistics confuse dreams and reality. Many are unable to convey or comprehend information by using gesture, miming, facial expression, bodily posture, vocal intonation et cetera. What do you think reality would be like for you if you were autistic?

"I, Chuang Chou, once dreamt that I was a butterfly. I flitted about, from flower to flower, on a lazy summer day, drifting merrily around and about. I did as I pleased--and was ever so happy! I knew nothing about any Chuang Chou--and didn't care a bit! Then, I awakened, a Chuang Chou with all his human trappings! Now, here is the real question: Did I, Chuang Chou, dream that I was a butterfly? Or am I a butterfly, dreaming that I am Chuang Chou?"