Being vs. Doing

A major discussion in Christian leadership today is being vs. doing. It was a major emphasis of my last term at Fuller Theological Seminary. Thus it is said that Christian leadership is not about what I do, it's about who I am. Part of the reason for emphasising being vs. doing is that doing has led to widespread ministry dropout (an emphasis on achievement, with negative consequences). However, it seems to me that being and doing are merely different aspects of the same. Those phrases "what I do" and "who I am" have one word in common: "I". I have called this an inordinate emphasis on self. I think that this is the real, underlying problem.

Only Bootable Thing

I travelled to a distant place, ready to do some writing -- and my computer failed to boot. The only bootable thing I had on me was UNIX (pictured). I've tried it out before, but I haven't needed to depend on it. So far so good ...

POSTSCRIPT: And UNIX got me back to Linux.

Statement re My Abduction

In 2018, I was seized by gunmen in Bantry Bay, Cape Town. I made a complete statement to eminent attorneys, which was protected by the Public Disclosures Act 26 of 2000. This week, I made my first and probably only public statement (affidavit) about that terrible incident. It might surprise some people—I focus only on what happened to my original statement. IPID is the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. You may click on my affidavit to enlarge. 

Vygie

I took the photo earlier in the day. I am squeezing a vygie ("little fig"), which is in fact a succulent -- very common in South Africa. It tastes something like ... a fig! It is a treat for children, and often used to make jam.

Two Kinds of Racism

There is a kind of racism which I discovered -- perhaps I should say first fully realised -- only several years into a multicultural ministry. There is racism that seems to be racist behaviour towards a person of other ethnicity -- and then there is racism that does not seem to be racist behaviour towards a person of other ethnicity, but because persons of another race are different, it is. So one might easily do something that is normal in one's own culture, but represents abuse in another culture. OBSERVATION: Sometimes this is overcome simply through awareness and understanding. Sometimes it goes deeper than that.

Unparalleled 50% Off

My publisher's special offer -- an unparalleled 50% off my book -- expires in three days' time at (click here) Daily Philosophy. Details appear underneath the title of my article. OBSERVATION: My article has done quite well there -- an article on mind. It is currently no. 2 among Daily Philosophy's Classics.

Church Government

Our president said something to this effect at the ruling party's national conference: the party should act more responsibly towards the people, so that its fortunes may be restored. While this is not too bad an idea, it is not in the first instance about the party's fortunes. The same it is with the Church. Good governance is not there to support the fortunes of the leadership, or the Church's material manifestation. Rather, one governs the congregation for their own sake, full stop (period), sometimes to the detriment of the leadership in fact.

Unknown Influence

I had a childhood friend who now rules a patch of the planet which is more than a third of the size of the USA. I find myself thinking, "I hope I didn't influence his China policy," or "I hope I didn't cause the trouble in the judiciary." I like the fact that he wants to fight for the survival of the Republic, which has suffered greatly under climate change. That was a major policy change. OBSERVATION: My father ministered in the Church where his father was a deacon. Who knows what influence we have. (He appears among my Facebook friends).

Earthquake Detector

Associated Press has an article today on the effectiveness of the latest earthquake warning in California. One man claimed he had had only ten seconds to get out of the house. Well, that's all one has. I have designed a number of earthquake detectors. Here is one. This detects P-waves and S-waves, before an earthquake hits. At 30 km or 20 miles from the epicentre, one would typically receive 6 seconds' warning from P-waves. Considering that it may realistically take only this long to get out of doors, and perhaps only 3 seconds to get under a table or other stable structure, this could be a life- sav­ing warning.

Christmas at Woodlands

I visited this Church at Christmas 2017 (see the small Christmas tree in the background). It is the Congregational Church in Woodlands, an outstation of Kruisfontein Congregational Church in Humansdorp, on the southern coast of Africa. The photo shows a brick-built Church, a step above the typical corrugated iron Churches in the subcontinent. Yet one sees that this is attached to a poor community. The Church is sparsely appointed, with an old carpet, plastic seats, a simple communion table, and so on. This Church has been plundered recently.

Linux Recovery

My computer memory card (SanDisk) had been through enough, so I replaced it for safety's sake. Alas, the new card (also SanDisk) soon failed -- my entire Documents folder gone! I tried Linux testdisk to recover it, which had worked previously. It failed! I tried various other data recovery methods. They failed! Finally, one worked. Called Linux foremost, it separated the file types into a confetti of separate folders -- and thousands of files with inscrutable numbers! OBSERVATION: However, foremost didn't know all the file types that it should find. I had to spoon-feed it with hex. File recovery typically recovers far more files than one ever wanted it to. Be warned! They are still there. foremost found, instead of hundreds, thousands.

Only This

My customary post was delayed today, because I took ill. And by the time I recovered, there was only this!

Christmas Packages

Most years, under my ministr(ies), the minister handed out Christmas "packages" to needy members -- which is, cash. This was a great pleasure for me -- of course! By some standards, these packages may not have seemed much, yet they were enough in some circumstances to pay a month's rent. OBSERVATION: The most typical recipient was a hard-working Church member who was struggling to survive. Most of the needy cases were, I think, discovered through my visitation -- but anyone could suggest recipients. Potential recipients were then discussed on the diaconate. The sources of the cash were various, but a large component in one Church was a bequest.

White Elephant

I bought this battery today at the corner store. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a white elephant as ...

white elephant
/ˌwʌɪt ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt/
noun: white elephant; plural noun: white elephants
a possession that is useless or troublesome,
especially one that is expensive to maintain
or difficult to dispose of.

About the Author

The author of my new Foreword is the British philosopher Mel Thompson. His many publications include philosophy titles published by Teach Yourself books (Ethics, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Eastern Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science), and textbooks for Religious Studies, including Ethical Theory, Religion and Science and An Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics in Hodder Education's Access to Philosophy series.

Considerable Process

As of yesterday, my book started updatng worldwide, with a new Foreword. The director of publications decided to remove Martin Cohen from the book, by reason of "ethical obligation". Here is my new cover (see the bottom right hand corner). I had kept the details under wraps, because it was a "big deal".  The new Foreword is by one of the best known British philosophers, Mel Thompson. OBSERVATION: Replacing the foreword was a considerable process, but could surely not have turned out to better advantage.

Recruitment

I have spoken a few times about recruitment of Church officers or volunteers. Here is how I have done it. Typically -- though not always -- I as minister, with a mandate, have approached the person concerned. I have told them why we think they are suitable for the task, spiritually and practically. I have asked them to pray, and to consider whether they are spritually gifted for the task, and called to it. I have told them I will hear their answer in (say) a fortnight's time. If the answer has been yes, Church members have confirmed the appointment. OBSERVATION: This might seem to be too much of a hands-off approach. However, we were seldom short of officers. Occasionally we made a general appeal.

Sardine Sunday

I stumbled upon this photo today: Sardine Sunday in (I think) 1979 in Cape Town's Atlantic Area. On this Sunday, all the neighbourhood Sunday Schools united (like sardines). OBSERVATION: Some fifteen years later, only one of several Sunday Schools was left in the area -- there were perhaps three children left -- and some fifteen years after that, the children's work in the area revived.

Frequency Lock

I mentioned that I was working on a dual-channel metal detector. Today, with a dozen components, I built a dual channel prototype that is able to detect a Victorian penny (just) at 250 mm, and a pin (just) at 100 mm -- and it is solid -- there is very little drift. This is very good -- however, intuitively, I feel that it is far short of potential. At this stage, frequency lock has stopped me. In other words, reality is overpowering my theory. OBSERVATION: The currents causing frequency lock are so tiny, I am not convinced I shall overcome the problem. They are unmeasurable on my oscilloscope. I only see the symptoms.

More Ratings

There was a lot of interest over on Twitter: I reported that ratings of my book had risen to six on Goodreads, with an average rating of 4.83. One could do worse. It's a cumulative 29/30. OBSERVATION: It wasn't easy to create such a grand synthesis and to make it make sense. I'm pleased that it has made sense to readers -- so far! Much of my thinking is original, and may come as a shock -- says the Foreword to the book.

Credentials

I see there has been special interest in my credentials lately -- after a scandal involving a colleague's credentials. My credentials are all fine, and always have been. OBSERVATION: My postgraduate studies were interdisciplinary, though, so that they are not that simple to characterise: 

• I have an MA Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, which was ⅓ theology, ⅔ leadership, in their Department of Intercultural Studies (my major ca. 100-page paper was titled Final Integrative Paper, since it integrated various aspects of the degree. I called it a "theological paradigm")

• I have an MTh from the South African Theological Seminary in Johannesburg, which was about ½ theology and ½ linguistics, in their Department of Systematic Theology (my ca. 160-page thesis was titled A Deconstuctionist Critique of Christian Transformational Leadership, where deconstruction is basically semantics). 

And then there's all the rest ... to be seen on my Facebook page, for example.

Christmas In Africa

I have spent many Christmases in rural Africa. Christmas in rural Africa amounts to the Christmas sheep, slaughtered and roasted on an open fire. One year, it was antelope. While there are Christmas services in cities and towns, rural Africa is different. There is no service. Christmas trees are unknown. Christmas presents are unknown. Presents run counter to the culture anyway -- one doesn't give presents to children in particular. Therefore the Christmas that Europeans know is all but non-existent in rural Africa. OBSERVATION: But I need to say, the rural Africa that I know. There are Christmas traditions in other rural parts of Africa. (Just recently I reviewed a book on African Christmas traditions).

Organ and Youth

I loved the organ in my city ministry, and its hissing and popping when one switched it on.  We had, though, a problem of ... sequence, in that our very chaotic youth met on Friday nights, and we often had funerals or weddings on Saturday mornings -- and of course, Sunday services. Organists would often practice on Friday mornings when the office was open. In a worst case, we had youth unplugging organ pipes and blowing into them! Then, when they put them back, they were off key.  Some organists were quite laid back. They switched on and said, "OK! Let's fire this baby up!" and such like. But there was one organist who got terribly upset to discover what the youth had done the night before -- not least, playing with stops. One night they smashed the lightbulb at this organist's feet. One polite organist said to me, "Do you hear what I hear? But look, I can switch it off with this stop!" OBSERVATION: We tried heroically to prevent any tampering with the organ. The images show some of the organ's innards.

Foreword (Closing Words)

I ran the closing words (about a minute) of the new Foreword to my book through Adobe's animation service. It is a well known philosopher behind the words, who wrote the new Foreword. OBSERVATION: There are some memorable phrases!

POSTSCRIPT: Some of the words in this recording are garbled. A computer turned them out.

Dual-Channel Prototype

Well, it's nice when something works. I thought up a dual-channel metal detector (of the Beat Balance variety), and just built one of the two channels. It worked first time -- just the tuning is a bit too responsive. I checked it with an oscilloscope, and there was a perfect trace. Then I checked it with a radio, and the signal was dirty. OBSERVATION: That doesn't add up -- but the oscilloscope is almost certainly correct, and the radio is almost certainly junk. I'll prove that once I have built the second channel. It has always fascinated me how a design in the mind works in reality.

Local Parks

Children's parks in South Africa have often been pillaged. Many are sealed off, while others have become encampments, and sometimes riotous places. Most of the chains in this park (photographed this week) had been stolen. OBSERVATION: The purpose of parks seems to have been forgotten.

Street Witness

Here's a "missions" project my city Church undertook: a street sign (see photo). I wrote at the time:

"The photo hardly conveys the size and brightness of it. We mostly display Bible verses, in various local languages, which we seek to keep encouraging and pacific. Many thousands of people pass the sign every day, and many stop to read it. OBSERVATION: We ordered it with time and temperature displays. I was keying in new Bible verses one day, when a woman stopped for an awfully long time to watch me. I said, 'Are you waiting to see the new verses?' She said, 'I’m waiting for you to get through so that I can read the temperature!'”

Successful Article

It's good to see that my article on mind is currently at no. 5 out of 74 at "Best of Daily Philosophy". At the bottom of the article, one can still obtain 50% off my book, valid for another 18 days. The article: Passing Beyond Descartes. OBSERVATION: Through the article itself, my thought was further advanced.

POSTSCRIPT: My article is at no. 2 among "Daily Philosophy Classics".

Metaphysics Best Seller

My book has been in and out of the Kindle Metaphysics 100. This technically makes it a metaphysics best seller, although one can't lay too much store in such figures. OBSERVATION: My book is momentarily doing much better—on Kindle—than all of my publisher's best sellers—on Kindle. (Their best seller list is separate from Kindle, which makes it look quite different).

Little-Faiths

The words of Jesus are familiar -- oft-repeated in the King James Version: "O ye of little faith!" I especially like His words in the Literal Version: "You little-faiths!" This is arguably the most important "depth issue" in any Church. Is faith in God to be found -- in connection with everything? And yet faith cannot be generated or imitated or even recognised by those who do not have it. It is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Therefore it is there or it is not, depending whether the Spirit is there or not.

Sharing Ideas

I received a tentative suggestion last week from a foundation, that I visit Europe to share my ideas. It is good to learn that there are people who understand the importance of my ideas. OBSERVATION: I think the ideas are not that difficult to understand in themselves, but it is few people who understand them in their historical and geographical context, and so on.

Testing Nomad BSD (UNIX)

I fired up a form of UNIX on my laptop today, called BSD—specifically, Nomad BSD. It works without critical errors—which actually says a lot for it. It is similar to the Xfce desktop environment, but with a Mac-style dock (pictured). What I notice is tight integration between all components of the system. Installing new apps (all free) was slow—and hit and miss in a South Africa overrun with power failures. A big plus is that it is portable: plug it into any computer you like. It certainly doesn't baby you. It seems to say: "Here. Figure it out." But it is not that hard to figure out. OBSERVATION: Stat Counter says that BSD has 0.01% of market share worldwide. Naturally, I posted this with BSD.

Ministers an Insurance Risk

Do ministers represent an insurance risk? The answer is yes, quite a serious one. Statistics, however, are few. In the UK, The Guardian reported in 2001, "Being a priest (Anglican) may be the most dangerous profession in the country." This according to a survey by the Home Office. OBSERVATION: A significant reason for the risk is that ministers have few buffers between them and the public, yet they deal with (quote) "deranged, drunk, drugged, and abusive people" all the time. Sometimes, such people may be associated with the Church, or may be within the Church. Judging from my own experience, what The Guardian reported in 2001 is about on target. All in all, it amounts to what Jesus called "suffering for my name's sake". Few people seem aware of this.

External And Internal Indices

If one is piloting a plane, one needs to keep a fairly constant watch on both external and internal indices -- such as weather conditions (external) and fuel level (internal). I have done that continually in ministry: the priorities and tasks of ministry (external) versus my own energy level and moods (internal). OBSERVATION: As the years have gone by, I have done this more and more instinctively -- although I didn't do it early in ministry, and ran into trouble.

Another Niece

This cute photo is a niece. She is about three years old. She is a bright, gregarious girl, with a pleasant nature. When I took out my camera, she took off her slippers and held them up like this, as if to hide. But she didn't hide.

Reducing the Pressure

It is four years ago now, but I was traumatised when I was seized by gunmen. This makes it very difficult for me to address anything that has happened in that connection. The gunmen interrogated me -- and during interrogation, dropped a name, and only one name. Then my Internet accounts were hacked. Google identified a hacker's IP address, and three geolocation services identified the same building. The name worked there. Today I delivered the data to authorities, but requested no action. Even if I did: is the data reliable; is it a fluke; is the connection a fluke? OBSERVATION: I do not want to see anyone taken to task, but I do need to cast off the pressure and threat I have been under. (I took suitable precautions before I took up this matter).

POSTSCRIPT: The same day, a psychologist responded to this as follows. The name, incidentally, was central to my false arrest at the close of my city ministry. Work that out.

From Whole to Details

In various fields of thought, we tend to work from the details to the whole. In my metaphysics, I tend to work from the whole to the details. Here is an example of how it could matter. I dropped this analogy on Daily Philosophy today (still subject to moderation), in answer to a comment on consciousness:

"Suppose that we have a motor car which, when we turn the key in the ignition, springs to life. Now suppose that we seek to descibe this car by means of various theories. Such theories have various limitations. First, some are short of being comprehensive. Let us suppose that one of them comes very close—that it describes all but half a meter of wire in the car. Or there may be theories which describe the car at the wrong level, or theories which are insufficielty accurate, and so on. So every time we examine one or the other of these theories, it just doesn’t explain why the car springs to life when we turn the key. There is a problem, though, with this analogy. A car is presumably a closed system, which we can describe exhaustively, at least in itself. The mind, I would think, is an open or global system, where no theory will ever get close enough to why it springs to life."

Young Visitor

We have a young visitor with us, from the country. It is her first experience of the city (she declined the use of knife and fork for dinner). She is here for an interview with a training college. She is my father-in-law's brother's granddaughter (in short, a daughter). OBSERVATION: The photo was taken in very low light, due to a blackout (called load-shedding here).

Church Litmus Tests

There are various "litmus tests" that people apply to the Church -- rules of thumb as to how it is with a Church's health and well-being. For instance, Church attendance, Church finances, or a Church's commitment to missions. A vital litmus test, for me, is the cultural composition of a Church -- paradoxically, not because it is important, but because it is not. I have attended many Churches -- Black, Coloured, White -- some of which stood in the midst of mixed parishes. Yet, as I have already revealed in the last sentence, they were Black, Coloured, White. OBSERVATION: Why should cultural composition be so important? In many Churches which tend towards monoculturalism, the following tends to be true: Christ is not large enough to put culture in the shade, the priesthood of believers (ministry by members) is not seriously applied, and the principle of being Spirit-filled is not central.

Reveal It or Not?

Many years ago now, I conducted a service for someone who committed suicide. I thought it would help the congregation to know what had happened, and why -- and many were appreciative, afterwards, of what I said. But in the service, someone stood up to disagree with me about what had come to pass. What he didn't know -- I think nobody knew -- was that I had spoken with the deceased at length about suicide. I decided in that moment to let it be. OBSERVATION: "What the minister knows" is in fact a larger problem that I have discussed elsewhere on this blog. The tension comes in when he or she needs to decide: do I reveal this, or not? Take a classic example: someone is nominated for Church office, but the minister counselled him for domestic violence. Does the minister reveal it?

Small Print

Some books have very small print, but it looks to me that the Anglicans have perfected the art. This is a "manual for ministers", opened on the order of service for infant baptism. If you should find a priest stumbling over their words, perhaps this is why ...

Don't Press

An enduring principle of mine in ministry has been: don't press people into positions, and don't let them press themselves into positions. Absolutely not -- and yet so many Churches do it. There are spiritual reasons for this: the calling must come from God, and God's calling is confirmed by the Body. The practical aspects matter, too, although they are less important. Among them: one doesn't want an unwilling or tired worker (not to speak of those around them), and people are not the best at recognising their own gifts, or their own motivations.

State and Clan

Something that is seldom noted about lobola (a set of African marriage customs, through which one negotiates a marriage) is that it is not merely a once-off act, but it continues to regulate married life. In the West, it is essentially the state which regulates everything that a marriage contains or could contain: adoption, domestic violence, maintenance, and so on. Through lobola, it is the clan which regulates these things. OBSERVATION: It stands to reason. A relatively short time ago, there was no Western-style state in Africa, so that traditions have been carried through, and continue to bear some authority. This authority is far from invasive. It is applied only on key points. (This is the house where I negotiated lobola).

Eternal Ideas and ...

I shall spare us the photo. A certain news service with 20,000+ readers reports on my latest article on mind with an advertisement for pink panties at the bottom. I have joked about my "eternal ideas" being juxtaposed with pink panties. The original article (not the news report) is here: https://daily-philosophy.com/thomas-scarborough-passing-beyond-descartes/ OBSERVATION: Our world has become like a tossed salad where (for example) philosophy and underwear may be mixed -- which differs very greatly from a generation ago.

Published in Hong Kong

I had a major article published today, on mind. I argue that current philosophies of mind are, as the image suggests, tinted by the mind itself. They are fundamentally on the wrong track. Published in Daily Philosophy today (click here): https://daily-philosophy.com/thomas-scarborough-passing-beyond-descartes/. OBSERVATION: Daily Philosophy is an up-and-coming philosophy weekly, edited by Dr. Andreas Matthias in Hong Kong.

Musk and Ministry

I have the sense that Elon Musk finds himself, with Twitter, in a situation many ministers find themselves in: on taking up a new position, one shouldn't rock the boat -- yet things are so precarious that one has to. OBSERVATION: I would think this tends to happen more in ministry than in business, and it may not be through any ill intent. My own approach would then be: put good policies in place, focus on the vision, and stay the course.