Curiosity vs. Fundamentalism

Not only is Seth Godin a business and marketing genius, he also has an uncanny understanding of human nature. I could talk/type a long time about his latest book, Tribes (click on the title in my book section on the right to check it out) -- and very well may write another post or two on my ruminations from the book -- but here's what is churning inside me right now. It can be summed up in this quote from Godin:

"A fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to his religion before he explores it; as opposed to a curious person who explores first and then considers whether or not he wants to accept the ramifications.

"A curious person embraces the tension between his religion and something new, wrestles with it and through it, and then decides whether to embrace the new idea or reject it."

It's impossible to read this book and not consider the question of what 'tribe' I belong to. Seth Godin has helped me articulate it. Yes, I'm of the tribe of faith, I'm of the tribe of art and creativity, I'm of the tribe of entrepreneurship -- but I think the best term to succinctly describe the tribe of World to the Wise, it's this:

I'm of the tribe of the culturally curious.

Godin describes curiosity as a desire to understand, a desire to try, a desire to push whatever envelope is interesting. Curiosity has to do with searching for your voice until you find it -- very often against great odds. Many times the curious are punished -- and, sadly enough, nowhere does that happen more often than in organized religion and education.

"What we're seeing is that fundamentalism really has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with an outlook, regardless what your religion is."

This blog -- and everything that is to come out of World to the Wise -- is for the culturally curious. The ones who look at the 'whys' as much as the 'whats'. The ones whose only fear is losing their sense of fascination with this planet and the diversity of the peoples that have been placed on it. The ones who believe that this diveristy is not some great cosmic mistake, but on the contrary, that there is something of the Divine on the face and in the heart of every culture.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the inaugural World to the Wise Cultural Tour, followed by lots of other exciting developments. We're just getting started.

The Best DUI Arrest in History

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Let me explain:

The year 2008 held many challenges for all of us, and I am no exception; in addition to fiscal challenges, the year also saw the passing of my hero/father -- on Good Friday.

In going through some of Dad's files, my older brother came across some poems Dad had written that show not only his wit and wry sense of humor, but also reveal that he also faced his own set of challenges. This poem's message of perseverance is one that most of us need to hear; so to kick off the year 2009, which I believe holds great promise, and in honor of the man who shaped my life more than any other person, I present you with:

To a Cockroach
(Or, Bug Me to Live)

Ah, thou cockroach, you endure
Far beyond my overtures
For you to be exterminated,
And myself emancipated
From the gran ubiquity
Of your creep-and-crawlity.
You resist all tech-damnation
You’d survive e’en radiation
From wars that do mere mortals in.
So tempted, I, to hate like sin
Your shuddery longevity
That points to some eternity –
Until I realize your drive,
Against all odds, to stay alive
Is like the very verve I need
To stand against the word and deed
That tempts me to despair of heart.
Live on, thou bug, and life impart!

– Ron Durham, date unknown

Santa Claus: Christian, Pagan, or Both?

Most of us would be amazed at the way many of our traditions have evolved to their present practices. In North America, many of our traditions have been handed down to us from our European forebears -- and in recent years, many of the American permutations of those traditions have made their way back to the old country.

Most historians agree that the legend of what Americans call Santa Claus comes from Nicholas, the 4th-century Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He is believed to have been extraordinarily kind and generous, so it is not surprising that his persona spawned many different legends and mixed with other historic and mythical figures. In much of Western Europe, St. Nicholas is still portrayed in his flowing bishop's robes.

It was primarily the Dutch who imported the tradition of Sinter Klaas to the colony of New Amsterdam, now New York City, in the 17th century. To this day, the Dutch and Belgians celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas on Dec. 6, with the exchange of gifts and other centuries-old traditions (many of which come from early pagan myths, such as Sinter Klaas arriving on a flying white horse). Following the Reformation, German Protestants preferred the veneration of the Christkindl (Christ Child) on his own feast day, Dec. 25. The Nicholas figure would not die easily, however, and his celebration was eventually attached to the Dec. 25 holiday. The term Christkindl eventually evolved to Kriss Kringle, another name for Santa Claus.

In the United States, it was the popular writer Washington Irving who first explained the Dutch tradition to the American people in his History of New York (1809). But St. Nick became a full-fledged American icon with the publication of the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" -- more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas," by Clement Clarke Moore. Amazing, the effects of a single poem.

It's easy to see why we are so confused in our Christmas celebrations today. Now that my children are grown, I sometimes wonder how they arrived at any true understanding of Christmas. I also now wonder what I will tell my yet-to-be-born grandchildren. Even what Christians today consider to be a 'pure' Christmas celebration is often riddled with extra-Biblical tradition and conjecture.

Yes, I enjoy the warm fuzzies of the Christmas season, to a degree. But when all is said and done, one thing I know: Santa Claus -- or even St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, can't redeem this sinner's life.

And that's what I'll tell my grandchildren, if nothing else.

It's Your Planet -- Go See It!

If you have been a reader of mine for any length of time, you know at least a couple of things about me: I love this planet we're on -- its beauty, its diversity, its people; and I love the adventure of entrepreneurship and the importance of developing multiple streams of income. So in order to provide YOU with a one-stop travel shop -- and to open up an additional stream of income for World to the Wise, I now have my very own TRAVEL PORTAL:

http://www.worldtothewisetravel.hemitc.com/

No, I am not a licensed travel agent, nor do I intend to become one. Instead, I have linked arms with Hemisphere Travel, the world's largest private travel provider, with a search engine twice as large as Expedia, the next largest online travel provider. They are the ones making your travel arrangements for you, and they are the ones you will contact directly with customer services issues; but when you book your travel through this website, not only will you find true concierge service, you'll be supporting World to the Wise as we develop into a multi-faceted organization.

Nothing else needs to change for you -- simply save this URL in your Favorites and go there instead of the other guys, knowing that you'll get the same competitive prices and be apprised of some pretty amazing specials from time to time. And when you hear the signal for the first World to the Wise cultural tour, your travel will be booked through this portal.

Check it out: http://www.worldtothewisetravel.hemitc.com/ -- whether it's to book flights, cruises, rental cars, hotels, group trips, or ski vacations, we've got you covered. I'll tell you about some more cool features in future posts.

It's your planet -- go see it!

Thanks for Thanksgiving

As an American, I'm not always particularly proud of our cultural exports. Halloween, for example, came into vogue in Europe while I was living there; and not all of Hollywood's values make me want to stand up and say, "That's us!"

Thanksgiving is different. And what is ironic is that I don't know of other countries besides Canada that have instituted this tradition on a national level. (Prove me wrong by posting a comment!)

On this 4th Thursday of the month of November, we stop to remember how blessed we are. Not that celebrations of thanksgiving have never been held in other cultures; harvest festivals have been a tradition of cultures worldwide since recorded history began. But the feast that has become an annual holiday in the United States is generally attributed to an offering of thanks not for copious material blessings, but for mere survival. The Pilgrims who had come to the New World from England in search of the freedom to practice their religion in the way their convictions dictated were thankful just to have made it through their first winter. And this would not have been possible were it not for the providential help of a Patuxet Native American named Squanto. You should take a moment to read this remarkable story some time.

The first national declaration of Thanksgiving was made by the Continental Congress in 1777, but it was not declared an annual holiday until 1863, when Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of a civil war that was tearing his nation apart, made the following resolution:

"... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union...."

How radical and completely counter-intuitive. In some of the darkest days of this young nation's history, a leader urging his people to unite on two principles -- gratitude and penitence.

The tough times we're facing right now are a cake walk compared to many of the ordeals our ancestors went through. Is it possible that one of the divine laws of the universe might be that gratitude not only comes after deliverance, but also precedes it?

Here is one thankful heart that a day has been set aside for something that is actually intended to be a way of life for us.

May we all live lives of gratitude.

On the Offensive

Why am I not sitting down to write this blog post on a typewriter? Because people like John W. Mauchly envisioned a future of electronic word processing. At a gathering of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers in 1962, Mauchly stated, "There is no reason to suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer." It wasn't until six years later that Hewlett Packard first took the risk of using this term to describe their 9100A.

We are wired to innovate. Culture is wired to progress. There is an innate drive in man to produce, to improve, to outdo himself.

Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers, says if we give in to paralysis in the midst of this economic slump, we will only prolong it. If we stop investing in the future, we will find then, and only then, that those who say we're in for a long economic winter were right. If we allow the media to dictate our attitudes -- at this or any time -- we will find ourselves constantly on the defensive.

Don't let the doomsayers dampen your creativity. If there was ever a time for innovation, it is now. Be offensive.