This was on a facebook page I follow called Exceptional Living right after I wrote the last post. This blog heaps that up double. I'm hoping I learn something about the answer in retrospect:
"In 5 years Christopher Columbus opened up a whole new world by discovering the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, and North and South America.
In just under 5 years, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.
In less than 5 years, Shakespeare wrote "Hamlet," "Othello," "King Lear," "Macbeth" and five other immortal plays.
...
In 1961, Julia Child graduated from cooking school with a quirky idea for a TV show. Four years later she won an Emmy as America's favorite TV Chef.
Fired from their home improvement jobs, Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus created a business model called Home Depot and went public with their idea. Just three years after losing their jobs, their annual sales were $1 billion.
At age 30, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was living in a 500-square foot apartment. 5 years later his net worth was $10 billion...
In just under 5 years, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.
In less than 5 years, Shakespeare wrote "Hamlet," "Othello," "King Lear," "Macbeth" and five other immortal plays.
...
In 1961, Julia Child graduated from cooking school with a quirky idea for a TV show. Four years later she won an Emmy as America's favorite TV Chef.
Fired from their home improvement jobs, Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus created a business model called Home Depot and went public with their idea. Just three years after losing their jobs, their annual sales were $1 billion.
At age 30, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was living in a 500-square foot apartment. 5 years later his net worth was $10 billion...
...Where will you be in five years?"
Here's where I was...almost 10 years ago:
July 18, 2002
Both my Bible study (the Sermon on the Mount) and my reading in the Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard today lead me to reflection on what goes on in my mind more than what goes on with my body. I think: what if I were an invalid? My whole being would be my thoughts. I'd have no other self-generated life. What if that were the case now? What if my actions didn't count for anything; my thoughts were everything? Who would I be? Would I be seen as the same basic person? If I've been a relatively honest, open person with others, the answer would be "yes". But if I've been a hypocrite, living a different external life from my internal one, then the answer would be "no".
According to Willard in the book, it is true that "Of all the things we do, we have more freedom with respect to what we think of, where we place our mind, than anything else." (p. 324 He also mentions a quote by A. E. Houseman, "We think by fits and starts." And, he notes that repentance is "nothing but a call to think about how we have been thinking."(p. 325)
Psalm 16:5-11 is also about "thinking" with the goal of "staying our minds" on the right things. Strange thought: does the brain lose its freedom in something like a coma, or does it gain it?
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