I'm back. Did ya miss me?

(Notes:
Now I am in Edmonton until Dec 31. Come visit me.
I hope you like the new look on the blog.
What follows was typed yesterday.)

I am in a great mood. I am sitting now in LAX waiting for my flight to Edmonton via Calgary. So I’m sure that that is part of the reason. Another reason is probably the great conversation I had yesterday with my friend Britta. We talked about all sorts of things, including environmentalism, politics (including Darfur, Iraq and Israel), and other stuff I don’t remember. Also, this morning I listened to a sermon by CS Weirsma. It was fantastic – first discussing global warming, and then relationships. So yeah. I’m walking around the airport with a smile on my face, and everyone is looking at me sideways, because people in airports are supposed to be quiet, not look at anyone or make eye contact, not smile, just keep to themselves and their own business in a pensive or focused way. So my behavior which messes with people’s expectation only serves to heighten the enjoyment I get out it.

So my quarter is over. Now I’m doing the “looking back” things. It’s been a wild 3 months. It’s hard to assess what I learned. Part of me thinks that I learned nothing, part of me thinks that I learned a lot. I think a good deal of my learning came from outside of class. This program is extremely expensive, and sometimes might seem hard to justify. But I think there is real value. The environment asks a whole different set of questions. I think this is the most important part. The way you think is shaped by the questions that are asked of you and the questions that you ask. And so far, the combination of seminary and psychology has forced a whole different set of questions on me, which is exciting. And I doubt I could it anywhere else. I mean, yes, every other place I would go would give me a unique set of considerations. But not every set of considerations are of equal value.

I have not found the program to be quite at the level of intensity I had expected it. But I think that’s okay. I think my anticipation was shaped from listening to Melissa talk about her optometry program. And it seems she is going full tilt, 95% of the time. This program hasn’t quite been like that. And parts of me were disappointed, and feeling like it’s not challenging enough, not intense enough, and can I really be getting good value. Yes, I could have worked harder, in my classes, no doubt. And I haven’t done much in the way of research. So the intensity will only increase. I hope that my efficiency increases to a corresponding degree. But those factors notwithstanding, I think that a program at a slightly more relaxed pace is of benefit in two ways: First, when I think about my values, I don’t want to be working at something all the time, with high intensity, high stress and high pressure (e.g. this summer at StatsCan). And second, when you have a little bit of leniency with your time, you have more time to read about your own interests, and get involved with other activities that can contribute to your learning in a way represented by Mark Twain’s quote, “Don’t let your classes get in the way of your education.”

(Now I am the airport in Calgary) I think another reason for my good mood, probably a large part of the reason, actually, is this book that I’m reading. The book is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. I decided to start reading it following a very brief conversation amongst a few of us on the type of books we enjoy and different styles of writing, (e.g. Catcher in the Rye as stream of consciousness). Istvan, a guy in my program, was trying to remember this book and said something about Zen and Motorcycles. For some reason this triggered some faint wisp of a memory of talking about this book. I still haven’t been able to place that memory. But often when I get confirming suggestions from very disparate sources, such this one, I strongly consider taking them. And no that I have gotten through about 160 pages of it, I am glad I did. The book is fascinating. It is the story of a man on a motorcycle trip with his son and two friends, which is the context for a journey of self discovery and a discussion of philosophy. The book is particularly meaningful in light of the unexpected presence of philosophy in which has penetrated my pedagogical experience at Fuller. Most notably is the tension between modernism and postmodernism, as each of these philosophical positions plays a large role in shaping past and current scholarship in psychology and theology. I don’t know nearly enough on anything in philosophy to speak of it in an educated manner, but I am excited to be reading about it and I can see that could become a central feature in my formation as a clinician and a theoretician/researcher and, more broadly, a person.

Okay, a sudden ending. But enough. Merry Christmas.