Lazy Magic versus Deep Magic

April 10, 2011 | Filed Under Micah, Small Talk | Leave a Comment

There are two types of magic. One is limiting, and can be harmful. The other is formational, and brings joy.

The first type of magic, I will call lazy magic (one might just as well call it Disney magic). It is the magic of our fantasies. It is the magic that expects the universe to conform to the perfect scripts we lay out in our own minds. It is the magic of the princess who gets swept away into a perpetual heavenly existence by the perfect prince. It is the expectation that the campfire will light itself.

Common forms of this sort of magic in today’s society include: the American Dream Myth (follow the corporate script, and you’ll be happy), the Soul Mate Myth (find the right person, and love will sustain itself), the Youth is Everything Myth (you can’t be fit, learn, grow, thrive and be deeply in love beyond your twenties), the Love Is A Feeling Myth (once the dopamine high is gone, love is gone), the Pill For Everything Myth (pill popping to solve all of our problems).

Lazy Magic fails to take reality seriously, and inevitably fosters disappointment.

The second type of magic, I will call Deep Magic. It is the magic of reality. It is the magic of a chicken emerging from an egg. The magic of a tree producing fruit. The magic of grass turning into beef. The magic of lovers making love. The magic of a man building his own home. Or of a woman knitting her own clothes. The magic of a father teaching his son how to fish.

Deep Magic is the magic that pervades reality. It is the magic whereby one perceives reality in all it’s glory and mystery. It is the magic that science describes, yet cannot explain. It is the magic that G.K. Chesterton alludes to in the Ethics of Elfland.

The choice between lazy magic and deep magic is a choice between which world one wants to live in: the finite world of one’s own mind, or the infinitely glorious universe* that one actually inhabits.

*if you need reminding of the magic in this universe, go read a fairy tale. That’s what they’re there for.

30 Pull-ups

April 3, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment

This post is not to brag.

It’s to celebrate.

Today I did 30 straight pull-ups for the first time in my life. I’m 32 years old.

All the way to the bottom. Pause. All the way to the top.

I couldn’t do a single pull up 3 years ago.

100% credit goes to P90X and Mark Sisson’s Primal philosophy for showing me how.

An Appeal To Mark Sisson, Re: Primal Blueprint Fitness

March 27, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | 2 Comments

Dear Mark,

In my mind, most people interested in fitness want maximum results for minimal effort. That’s what the Primal Blueprint and Primal Fitness are all about.

Unfortunately, the most successful fitness programs out there in terms of sales volume (P90X and Insanity come to mind) require too much work and take too much time. I know that these defects benefit the company that produces these programs because they can upsell their recovery drinks and various other supplements to fill calorie deficits created by long, intense, daily workouts.

The thing is, these successful fitness programs have four things going for them: 1) they are well produced / well marketed 2) they are motivational 3) they require very little mental energy above putting in a dvd (no need to create a workout plan) 4) they are conducive to those of us who can’t get outside year round.

Because I believe that Primal Blueprint Fitness is the most optimal form of exercise available to modern human beings, I want to see its widespread use. In order to achieve this, I want to encourage you to strongly consider working with a top-notch company (such as BeachBody) to create a series of Primal workout videos (Primal X would be a catchy name). Your friend Tony Horton would be a great, motivational instructor. The videos should be a max of 20 minutes each. Very little stretching. Lots of variety. Maybe even a video full of outdoor workout ideas to pay homage to the primal brand. The marketing should focus around the idea of “Max Results, Minimum Effort”

The basic message I’m trying to communicate is just that you really have something special and should put a lot of effort into building a full fledged workout program that can work for and appeal to the masses – those of us who don’t really want to think about what to do, but just want to put the DVD in and do it. And I think the key to achieving this is going to be working with a big fitness production company.

At the end of the day, I really want to see Primal Fitness made accessible to as many people as possible and, whether we like it or not, I think the four things I mentioned above are key (especially production/marketing).

Good luck!

Reconciling Two Christian Beliefs & Finding Peace

March 15, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | 2 Comments

Most Christians are familiar with the Great Commission. The call to go to the corners of the earth and proclaim the Gospel.

For some the Great Commission feels like a burden. It feels unnatural. Simply because some of us do not have the mental or verbal skills or perhaps the right sort of personality to go out and “save” people. It can make us feel like we are letting God down. But it shouldn’t.

Rather, there is a very basic fact that such Christians should be mindful of:

Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit

Translated this means something to the effect of: Acknowledged or not, God is present.

Remember that God is not placing a burden on us with the Great Commission. He is asking us to share Joy. That’s it. To share Love. To proclaim Love. To live Love.

The first step then in the Great Commission is not becoming great at rhetoric or memorizing arguments or learning to have a likable personality. Rather, the first step is trusting God’s sovereignty and then doing the hard work of living the two most fundamental commandments: Love the people around you and Love your God. Fully. Deeply.

Focus on these two things and you will be taking part in the Great Commission without doing a single altar call.

Be Well Friend

March 15, 2011 | Filed Under Micah, Pictures | Leave a Comment

My Best Stuff

February 10, 2011 | Filed Under Micah, Small Talk | Leave a Comment

My thought is wild and all over the place, but there is something there… I swear… some underlying theme, if you pay close enough attention…

Here’s some of my best stuff. I’ve put the ones that I feel have best stood the test of time at the top. And I continue to think that the first post listed is a fundamental human truth, a foundation for happiness. We must *know how* to love before we can sustain *love*

No Greater Feeling for Homo Sapien
Looking to Nature for Guidance
Reason and Reasons
Beautiful and Broken: A Realistic Idealism
Perceiving God
Fallacies of Eastern Thought
The Absurdity of Being Special

*************

There’s always someone better…
So fragile, these beliefs of ours…
On Watching Sports
Not happy? Sometimes it’s worth making a radical change
Learning To Love Reality
When Grace Fails
10 Things I’ll Teach My Sons About Women
10 Things I’d Like To Teach My Son (Now that I’m a father, and hopefully wiser, I’d make this a lot more concrete… maybe next week)
“Sustained Caring” As A Foundation For Partner-Love
10 Health & Sex Tips For Men