I thought I was done with third wave last week...darn thing isn't done with me. It occurs to me that there are probably dozens of lessons to be learned from that "backwards" agricultural age. There is aconcept as basic as gravity. As well known and commonly accepted...yet somehow we have lost the meaning of it in application. It is the law of the harvest. As the spiritual sings, you are going to reap what you sew.
This is the law of natural consequences. When you sew wheat, you harvest wheat...countless generations relied on this basic unquestionable law. Then along came toffler's second wave. We moved away from farms and their natural laws which technology seemed to overide. Technology and medicine sometimes strive to remove or mask consequences. Yet we haven't escaped the law of the harvest. Overeating, credit card debt, immorality and laziness all betray a generation that does not understand the law of the harvest. Every action we take has a consequence. Technology can delay that consequence or shuffle it around, but it cannot remove it. We are reaping a whirlwind of consequences. A majority of children don't live with their biological father and mother. Many people spend more than they earn. People eat more than their bodies need...including things that are known to be harmful. People spend their money on get rich quick schemes, ponzis flourish, lotteries expand and few profit.
Our ancestors would be perplexed if they could watch us continue in unhealthy patterns. How rediculous it would seem to them that with so much variety of food available to us, we still manage to be malnourished. Why, they would wonder, do we buy what we don't need and can't afford? Why should we ignore our spiritual feelings, but jump and run at the slightest physical attraction?
Perhaps the question we should ask is how can we use technology without loosing sight of natural laws?
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
3rd Wave
I recently finished an intriguing book called Third Wave by Alvin Toffler. He details three distinct "Waves" in history. The first is agricultural, the second is industrial..then there is now.
He details the huge changes between the first two waves and talks about how we can use those to anticipate the changes of the future. In discussing the changes between the first two waves he identifies one main force in the changes; the division of production and consumption. In the first wave extended family lived together. The home was the heart of society. Marriage was largely a practical concept...with marriage partners looking for survival skills and health, or in the upper classes aliances. A majority of what was produced by the family unit stayed and supported the family. Time was measured cyclically with the seasons. Education was hard work and primarily at home or with tutors or small groups. Trade was the most common market function.
Then came the second wave. The factory is the primary symbol of the second wave. Mass production separated production and consumption. There was a need for a marketplace-intermediary people. Work was predominantly away from home and with the growing marketplace, and need for intermediaries and management, more people were separated from actual production. Success was measurable and focused on the bottom line. The nuclear family became the norm, with a father, mother and children moving to where the work was and away from their extended family. Public schools took children away from home, and with less property to manage a woman's role was further dimished. Marraige became focused on attraction and romantic love. Time was measured linearly, with progress the goal. Education became preparation for work and schools bear an intentional likeness to the factory with promptness and assimilation being taught alongside reading and writing.
In the third wave Toffler anticipates a Prosumer...people working from home and reclaiming responsibility for their education and production.
What fascinated me most of this discussion was the role of woman. In the first wave a woman worked beside her husband and performed a valuable and necessary role in society. Her role as both producer (in her homemaking) and consumer were prominent and critical for family survival. Her role as mother fit in with this concept of extended family, cyclical time philosophy and the home as the center of society. As the second wave rolled through man's role as provider was drastically changed. He was pulled from the home and separated from most creative production. he was a part of a huge factory machine. Man was in the marketplace though...he had advanced, while generally women remained home. Women stayed in their first wave role and as mothers their lives were more cyclical than linear. They had not "progressed". Suddenly motherhood could be considered a backward function and as it was unmeasurable and out of the market. Public schools took over mother's role as teacher, hospitals-her role as healer, and mass production her role as family seamstress and food production. Stay at home motherhood was effectively outsourced, and motherhood could be considered as backward as those communities who maintain their agricultural age.
Alvin Toffler theorizes that the third wave will revolutionize every aspect of life as drastically as the change between the first two waves. Ecological concerns and energy limitations will demand balance from the marketplace. He quickly passes over changes in the family including a changed concept of marriage. Marriage will become practical and romantic, with a greater variety of types and styles.
Toffler glosses over this and moves on with his focus on world economy. I stopped in my tracks. If such long lasting changes have come form the first to second wave as we directly attacked the man's role as a provider and separated production from consumption...what will happen as we attack the roles of mother and father? Science already makes childbearing without natural conception possible. Adoption and In Vitro Fertilization separate mother and child...sometimes this separation is for infertility, unprepared pregnancy or homosexual parents desiring children. What long lasting effects are there from this fundamental division of motherhood's role? For the father and the mother Toffler predicts greater freedom...but what is the consequence for the child?
Toffler identified a cry for meaning in the industrial age. Greater responsibility in production and consumption do not produce meaning. Reduced social morals do not produce meaning. I value progress. I value science and advancement. I wonder what if the amazing changes of the second and third waves were tempered and framed within the principle that family matters. Fatherhood is critically important. Motherhood is immeasurably valuable. Children are the future. The nurturing, education and raising of future leaders can never be outsourced, mass produced or even randomly made according to whatever feels good and happens to be convenient. Ethical development must outpace and guide all other aspects of human development.
The third wave can be an opportunity to truthfully guide technology and progress towards a gentler society. The stability required for the changes coming in the third wave is to be found in strong homes. The unity possible by information technology must be a natural outpouring from unified families.
He details the huge changes between the first two waves and talks about how we can use those to anticipate the changes of the future. In discussing the changes between the first two waves he identifies one main force in the changes; the division of production and consumption. In the first wave extended family lived together. The home was the heart of society. Marriage was largely a practical concept...with marriage partners looking for survival skills and health, or in the upper classes aliances. A majority of what was produced by the family unit stayed and supported the family. Time was measured cyclically with the seasons. Education was hard work and primarily at home or with tutors or small groups. Trade was the most common market function.
Then came the second wave. The factory is the primary symbol of the second wave. Mass production separated production and consumption. There was a need for a marketplace-intermediary people. Work was predominantly away from home and with the growing marketplace, and need for intermediaries and management, more people were separated from actual production. Success was measurable and focused on the bottom line. The nuclear family became the norm, with a father, mother and children moving to where the work was and away from their extended family. Public schools took children away from home, and with less property to manage a woman's role was further dimished. Marraige became focused on attraction and romantic love. Time was measured linearly, with progress the goal. Education became preparation for work and schools bear an intentional likeness to the factory with promptness and assimilation being taught alongside reading and writing.
In the third wave Toffler anticipates a Prosumer...people working from home and reclaiming responsibility for their education and production.
What fascinated me most of this discussion was the role of woman. In the first wave a woman worked beside her husband and performed a valuable and necessary role in society. Her role as both producer (in her homemaking) and consumer were prominent and critical for family survival. Her role as mother fit in with this concept of extended family, cyclical time philosophy and the home as the center of society. As the second wave rolled through man's role as provider was drastically changed. He was pulled from the home and separated from most creative production. he was a part of a huge factory machine. Man was in the marketplace though...he had advanced, while generally women remained home. Women stayed in their first wave role and as mothers their lives were more cyclical than linear. They had not "progressed". Suddenly motherhood could be considered a backward function and as it was unmeasurable and out of the market. Public schools took over mother's role as teacher, hospitals-her role as healer, and mass production her role as family seamstress and food production. Stay at home motherhood was effectively outsourced, and motherhood could be considered as backward as those communities who maintain their agricultural age.
Alvin Toffler theorizes that the third wave will revolutionize every aspect of life as drastically as the change between the first two waves. Ecological concerns and energy limitations will demand balance from the marketplace. He quickly passes over changes in the family including a changed concept of marriage. Marriage will become practical and romantic, with a greater variety of types and styles.
Toffler glosses over this and moves on with his focus on world economy. I stopped in my tracks. If such long lasting changes have come form the first to second wave as we directly attacked the man's role as a provider and separated production from consumption...what will happen as we attack the roles of mother and father? Science already makes childbearing without natural conception possible. Adoption and In Vitro Fertilization separate mother and child...sometimes this separation is for infertility, unprepared pregnancy or homosexual parents desiring children. What long lasting effects are there from this fundamental division of motherhood's role? For the father and the mother Toffler predicts greater freedom...but what is the consequence for the child?
Toffler identified a cry for meaning in the industrial age. Greater responsibility in production and consumption do not produce meaning. Reduced social morals do not produce meaning. I value progress. I value science and advancement. I wonder what if the amazing changes of the second and third waves were tempered and framed within the principle that family matters. Fatherhood is critically important. Motherhood is immeasurably valuable. Children are the future. The nurturing, education and raising of future leaders can never be outsourced, mass produced or even randomly made according to whatever feels good and happens to be convenient. Ethical development must outpace and guide all other aspects of human development.
The third wave can be an opportunity to truthfully guide technology and progress towards a gentler society. The stability required for the changes coming in the third wave is to be found in strong homes. The unity possible by information technology must be a natural outpouring from unified families.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
anger management
The more children I've had I've discovered I'm a far better student and volleyball player than I am a mother. I prefer controlled environments..at least to practice in until I'm ready! Children don't exactly offer that! They don't wait to grow up while you figure things out.
For years I have tried to completely change my way of speaking with my children. Sometimes I yell and almost always it is because I am tired or hungry! I have tried all sorts of things...studied many different ideas. One of the most humbling was when I asked my children to say a prayer for me when I knew I was loosing it.
This past summer has been ... unexplainable. Chris' dad died, we moved, lived with his mother for a while, then moved again to Texas. The emotions and stress don't seem to be explained in those few words.
During this time a wonderful friend started a book group. We read Corrie Ten Boom and Ghandi and Mother Teresa...each inspiring me to turn to the scriptures again (which during this time of transition has been a challenge). It was Ghandi who made the most obvious impact. Despite all of my studying and pondering and prayer, I still thought yelling worked. Technically it does, in the short term. Children move when I am angry. I was wrong. Yelling doesn't work. it doesn't really do what I want it to do. It offers short term results but doesn't offer the environment for my children to truly change their hearts and want to do what is right.
For one thing violence is not specific! We are angry because we are hungry, tired, frustrated with all number of things...so when I get angry with my children how do they know what is behind my anger...Angry acts through history show this so clearly. We wonder and question why so and so did such horrible things...but Rosa Parks? No one wonders why she wouldn't leave her seat. Her meaning is PERFECTLY clear!
One poignant episode from Ghandi's life is so creative and masterful...yet so simple. He walked for 24 days, 12 miles a day. He dipped in the ocean and picked up a pinch of salt...he had just broken the law! It was a gainst the law at that time to acquire salt in any other way except through the huge British Salt company. His protest was so simple and clear-not a drop of confusion. Had he bombed a salt mine people could wonder if it was the owner of the mine, the location, the product, the country, perhaps he was hungry and tired...anger isn't specific enough to make a difference!
For whatever reason all of this reading and this summer has brought a dramatic change in my parenting. I'm still not getting the dishes done every single night -- our schedules still need some adjusting -- please don't ask about the laundry or much of anything else...instead for the first time I am basing my parenting on a truth...peace and love are the ONLY things that allow for the growth and change I want for my children.
My children are still completely human, as am I. Whiny voices, tantrums, and fighting occur...but I am now being an adult and learning to be a peacemaker.
For years I have tried to completely change my way of speaking with my children. Sometimes I yell and almost always it is because I am tired or hungry! I have tried all sorts of things...studied many different ideas. One of the most humbling was when I asked my children to say a prayer for me when I knew I was loosing it.
This past summer has been ... unexplainable. Chris' dad died, we moved, lived with his mother for a while, then moved again to Texas. The emotions and stress don't seem to be explained in those few words.
During this time a wonderful friend started a book group. We read Corrie Ten Boom and Ghandi and Mother Teresa...each inspiring me to turn to the scriptures again (which during this time of transition has been a challenge). It was Ghandi who made the most obvious impact. Despite all of my studying and pondering and prayer, I still thought yelling worked. Technically it does, in the short term. Children move when I am angry. I was wrong. Yelling doesn't work. it doesn't really do what I want it to do. It offers short term results but doesn't offer the environment for my children to truly change their hearts and want to do what is right.
For one thing violence is not specific! We are angry because we are hungry, tired, frustrated with all number of things...so when I get angry with my children how do they know what is behind my anger...Angry acts through history show this so clearly. We wonder and question why so and so did such horrible things...but Rosa Parks? No one wonders why she wouldn't leave her seat. Her meaning is PERFECTLY clear!
One poignant episode from Ghandi's life is so creative and masterful...yet so simple. He walked for 24 days, 12 miles a day. He dipped in the ocean and picked up a pinch of salt...he had just broken the law! It was a gainst the law at that time to acquire salt in any other way except through the huge British Salt company. His protest was so simple and clear-not a drop of confusion. Had he bombed a salt mine people could wonder if it was the owner of the mine, the location, the product, the country, perhaps he was hungry and tired...anger isn't specific enough to make a difference!
For whatever reason all of this reading and this summer has brought a dramatic change in my parenting. I'm still not getting the dishes done every single night -- our schedules still need some adjusting -- please don't ask about the laundry or much of anything else...instead for the first time I am basing my parenting on a truth...peace and love are the ONLY things that allow for the growth and change I want for my children.
My children are still completely human, as am I. Whiny voices, tantrums, and fighting occur...but I am now being an adult and learning to be a peacemaker.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
snow and sun
The other day I was shoveling our driveway. We have had extra helpings of snow this winter and we haven't kept up with snow removal. Under the layer of freshly fallen snow was a rather large layer of ice. I chipped away at the ice, tried to ply it up with the shovel and used a lot of elbow grease. I worked at it the ice for over two hours with the aid of two neighbor boys. We had cleared one fourth of the driveway.
The next day it was sunny all day and the snow was gone.
I wonder how many times I have tried to change myself, diligently worked and set goals. I have made charts and programs and expended lots of effort. How much more changed would I be if I spend more time with the Son?
The next day it was sunny all day and the snow was gone.
I wonder how many times I have tried to change myself, diligently worked and set goals. I have made charts and programs and expended lots of effort. How much more changed would I be if I spend more time with the Son?
Monday, October 8, 2007
Home as Temple
Quite a few years ago, as a young mother I studied about how homes should be like Temples. I thought and thought...then I went out and bought silk flowers! I wish I were kidding. That wasn't the only change I made in my home, but to this day it still makes me laugh. Yesterday's conference talk renewed my desire to make my home more like a temple. I'm not planning on going silk flower shopping this time, but I am working on plans...
1-the spirit- I need to carefully and prayerfully invite the spirit into my home. I need to keep it there with my thoughts and actions. I need to inspire my children to preserve the spirit of our home. I need to monitor the media in our home, so that it invites the spirit.
2-welcoming-In the temple there are welcoming people smiling everywhere. Helpful people, friendly people, gentle people; I would like to be like that and encourage my children to be the same.
3-order-I had to get to it some time...the temple is orderly. It is clean and keeps a schedule. Most of all it is simple. There are very few things in the temple. There are useful things (chairs and tables and such) carefully placed, and there are beautiful things...that's it. I want to simplify my home...cut out clutter. Order takes effort and discipline.
4-love-There is a high standard associated with the temple. There are requirements to enter, then a certain way things are done inside. All of this is encourage and supported by wonderfully cute grandparents. These kind older people set you up to succeed.
As much as I laugh about those silk flowers from long ago, they still remind me of the temple...they stay in my home for no other reason!
1-the spirit- I need to carefully and prayerfully invite the spirit into my home. I need to keep it there with my thoughts and actions. I need to inspire my children to preserve the spirit of our home. I need to monitor the media in our home, so that it invites the spirit.
2-welcoming-In the temple there are welcoming people smiling everywhere. Helpful people, friendly people, gentle people; I would like to be like that and encourage my children to be the same.
3-order-I had to get to it some time...the temple is orderly. It is clean and keeps a schedule. Most of all it is simple. There are very few things in the temple. There are useful things (chairs and tables and such) carefully placed, and there are beautiful things...that's it. I want to simplify my home...cut out clutter. Order takes effort and discipline.
4-love-There is a high standard associated with the temple. There are requirements to enter, then a certain way things are done inside. All of this is encourage and supported by wonderfully cute grandparents. These kind older people set you up to succeed.
As much as I laugh about those silk flowers from long ago, they still remind me of the temple...they stay in my home for no other reason!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
the family-closing of the american mind-rambling thoughts...
Allan Bloom is a professor. When he discusses the student he discusses how a university professor can teach a modern student. As an aside he discusses how the modern student got to be the way he is...not really enjoying reading, or looking to books for wisdom and learning. As he talks about how a modern student became so closed minded to real classical learning he presents his view on the family. Some of his thoughts are:
"Its [meaning the family] base is merely bodily reproduction, but its purpose is the formation of civilized human beings"
"The parents must have knowledge of what has happened in the past, and prescriptions for what ought to be, in order to resist the philistinism or the wickedness of the present."
"The family, however, has to be a sacred unit, believing in the permanence of what it teaches, if it's ritual and ceremony are to express and transmit the wonder of the moral law, which it alone is capable of transmitting and which makes it special in a world devoted to the humanly, all too humanly, useful."
What fascinating thoughts! The third quote has been the focus of my thoughts. Moral law is extremely difficult to transmit without religion. The child or student comes to understand that the moral law can change with opinions and situations and is therefore practically meaningless. When moral law is connected to religion, that law is fixed, unchangeable and therefore powerful. Most religious people understand the concept of a rare exceptions, as those examples exist in most sacred texts; but what power is the moral ideal.
This stabilizing power is the basis of civilization and is best taught in the family! What a powerful thing a family is. That two people can meet and fall in love does not require education. The can marry, have children and become, for all intents and purposes a family. Somewhere along the lines education. Financial principles must be learned and applied, cooking, car maintenance, nursing skills, I frequent wish for drawing skills, along with a slew of other specific parental wisdom. In addition to this practical wisdom, history, science, geography, math, language are all applied in parenthood. Most importantly religious education becomes a necessity. Children come with a multitude of questions, create a multitude of moral dilemmas and demand to know the truth. What an inspiring and very humbling thought to consider a parents role to learn truth and teach a child how to then learn truth for themselves.
"Its [meaning the family] base is merely bodily reproduction, but its purpose is the formation of civilized human beings"
"The parents must have knowledge of what has happened in the past, and prescriptions for what ought to be, in order to resist the philistinism or the wickedness of the present."
"The family, however, has to be a sacred unit, believing in the permanence of what it teaches, if it's ritual and ceremony are to express and transmit the wonder of the moral law, which it alone is capable of transmitting and which makes it special in a world devoted to the humanly, all too humanly, useful."
What fascinating thoughts! The third quote has been the focus of my thoughts. Moral law is extremely difficult to transmit without religion. The child or student comes to understand that the moral law can change with opinions and situations and is therefore practically meaningless. When moral law is connected to religion, that law is fixed, unchangeable and therefore powerful. Most religious people understand the concept of a rare exceptions, as those examples exist in most sacred texts; but what power is the moral ideal.
This stabilizing power is the basis of civilization and is best taught in the family! What a powerful thing a family is. That two people can meet and fall in love does not require education. The can marry, have children and become, for all intents and purposes a family. Somewhere along the lines education. Financial principles must be learned and applied, cooking, car maintenance, nursing skills, I frequent wish for drawing skills, along with a slew of other specific parental wisdom. In addition to this practical wisdom, history, science, geography, math, language are all applied in parenthood. Most importantly religious education becomes a necessity. Children come with a multitude of questions, create a multitude of moral dilemmas and demand to know the truth. What an inspiring and very humbling thought to consider a parents role to learn truth and teach a child how to then learn truth for themselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
