Another thing I am researching is resources for people to use to pray while at their desks -prayer breaks, so to speak. These come in various types: meditation; intercession; offices (that is forms of set-liturgical prayer like morning or evening prayer). Below is what I found today. I have an impression that I have seen others, but my bookmarks show no others and search engines show few others that I'd trust. What I've got less of is bible-devotional sites and, of course at this time, other faith traditions. I would rely on you, dear Reader, to advise me or at least make further suggestions. I'm hoping to produce an 'Amidst the Day Prayer' page myself in due course which would use the structure of the Lord's prayer as it's framing principle and having Northumbria University people as its target users in the first instance.
Meditational prayer sites.
Re:Jesus have a daily prayer site which is more reflective or meditational in feel and will often have things to do as part of their suggested journey of prayer. It also is time-aware, so adjusts to the time of day.
Quiet Space (which seems to be based in Australia) has an 'exercises' approach to a reflective time in front of your monitor based on an examen pattern. . Supported by lots of white space and 'calm' graphics to give a sense of 'space'. They also have a useful gospel reflection page which has sound files.
In the same spirit the Irish Jesuits have Sacred Space, with a similar ethos and approach; this has been quite a popular site and probably inspired most of the others we find of a similar ilk. Their visual presence is even simpler and the use of fade between items is quite calming in effect too. One nice feature is that the scripture passage has an option with it to get a few more thoughts to help reflect on it, or you can simply move on when you are ready.
Also in a similar vein but with a title that may inspire others is 3-Minute Retreat which does what it says. It has a sound track for the meditation of quiet guitar playing -which may be important to know if you're doing it at your desk at work!
Explore Faith has some interesting options for meditative prayer: through visual art; music; poetry; reading.
Intercession or petitionary sites.
Re:Jesus also have a virtual candle-lighting stand where you can manipulate graphic candles and write a prayer for someone (and even post an email to let them know you've done so if you wish) and the candle will burn down virtually over time. By touching the candles on the stand you can read the petitions of others and pray for them you can click the candle and in so doing add an 'Amen' and these are totted up so you can know for any prayer how many people have 'amened' it.
The commendable 24-7 Prayer network have an online prayer wall which invites you both to leave a request and to pray for one someone else has left. I quite like, too, their invitation to join them in dropping everything at 12nn to pray the Lord's prayer. Not least because this imitates a Christian practice going back to the early church.
Office-prayer.
The Church of England has pages for morning and evening prayer which have all the readings and Psalmody for the day collected together along with the prayers that go with that day -so no fiddling around with lectionary and collects; it's all there, ready to go.
Recently-formed the Order of the Black Sheep has a daily prayer feed which includes video embeddings of songs (with a tendency towards metal style, as that represents their cultural context) as part of the liturgy.
A traditional Breviary approach which is adjusted for the day offering a menu for the various times of the day and Roman Catholic reflections and sanctorale is at the Universalis site. The site gives guidance on how to produce your own monthly e-breviary from the resources on the site. Similarly the Mission of St Clare has an online office which gives you the control of moving through the sections with a menu of the elements on the left hand of the page. At the Explore Faith site you can choose your time zone and be presented with the office that most closely fits your time of day. These are very simple and short with a lot of scripture in them.
Anglicans Online gives a set of links to various options for daily office-style praying: one of these is the much-used and loved Celebrating Common Prayer (modelled after the Franciscan office) which has links for the various days. What it doesn't do is intergrate the readings so you have to make separate arrangements for that side of things. The online Breviary linked to from here is another version of the CofE's Daily Prayer but on a simpler page format.
I like this site because it links to a simple aural office based on the NZ prayer book. This is great if you don't want to read or find it challenging but would like to hear the prayers and readings. The reader is not heavily-accented NZ.
A basic Divine Office with readings inserted can be found here, it's Catholic in feel and offers all the hours.
There's a page on the Taize site with basic liturgy but it's not a fully integrated multimedia thing though elsewhere on the site are resources for learning the music.
The Northumbria Community office is available online and with some helpful advice on how to pray it. It has links to open the readings in new windows when you get to them. My main beef with it is that it doesn't do seasonal variations and what they call a canticle isn't; it's a prayer.
19 July 2011
18 July 2011
Labyrinthine wondering
Yes I know the title might look as if it should be "wandering" but -see what I'm doing here?- it's a near pun because I'm trying to collect together a bunch of what seem to be useful links about this. Y'see, I'm currently in discussions with our counselling service to put on a couple of days events on 'mindfulness' and the labyrinth has been accepted as something we should do as part of that. The thinking is that mindfulness meditation has developed a body of research-based affirmation as something that can help mental health. It was mentioned that Edinburgh University has a permanent labyrinth which I must go to see, it raises intriguing possibilities, of course ...
So, one of my resulting tasks (self-offered) was to research some resources that we could put into the hands of students and staff of the university. This in turn means that I need to be able to select a good set of websites which have something for (nearly) everyone as our equality and diversity approach means that such resources need to be accessible as widely as possible and reasonable.
So, what have I been finding?
One page "The Labyrinth" takes a more general view, perhaps with a New Agey feel where there is something of a personal development focus and edge though some of the pages seem more Christian. It's part of a bigger site called 'Lessons4living' which is something of a clue about that. It has a number of links to further pages giving succinct information in each case. One helpful page -for the purposes of my research here- is on building a labyrinth. One of the things it mentions is having people work together to build one as the culmination of a labyrinth workshop. There is a further link to constructing a labyrinth here if you can put aside the 'mantic'/shamanic approach informing the general site (for me the main thing to take away was the need for 8 or 9 metres of space). For the context I'm thinking of using it, it was intriguing to find a page on using it with youth, "As a part of their training they were to walk a seven-circuit labyrinth and to reflect on the meaning of the labyrinth as a symbol for life's journey. In small discussion groups they listed their insights and then shared them with the larger group. " and it lists some of the things that came out of those discussion groups, for example:
Life is a journey in which every day doesn't necessarily bring you closer--sometimes
you're closer to your goal than others, sometimes you're further away, but ultimately
you'll get to where you want to go if you stay focused.
Beginning, middle (center) and end are connected with the same thing (God or whatever it
means to you).
Sometimes it seemed like you were in the same place you had been, but you weren't. (Life
doesn't end once you reach the focus or center.)
On the path, you pass people who have been where you are, other times you have been
where others have been, but you're never at the exact same place at the same time.
Many twists and turns around rocky journey of life.
There seems to be some validity in keeping in mind a certain cross-cultural and spiritual poly-valency of the symbol/practice; "from Northern Europe to India a common pattern appears: the labyrinth is a symbol of a distant, more or less mythological, city, destroyed in the past. Although the identity of the city symbolized by the labyrinth varies, it is never a nearby or contemporary city" (from here). This would fit with the medieval Christian usage as a kind of substitute for actual pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
In terms of some Christians (normally EPCs) there can be mistrust of the use of labyrinths. This is well and succinctly articulated on this CANA site. The articulation is to be commended because it is reasonable and simple and boils the problem down to basics. Nevertheless, I think that there are responses that could be made and I hope to do so in due course (if I don't find another site that does so -and this one hyperlinked, is quite nice in terms of a theological reflection and even comes up with a very intriguing take on the Garden of Eden story in the light of Ouroboros myths). The tenor of this article contrasts somewhat with this one which from a Christian PoV questions the craze for labyrinths but does so by the dubious tactic of choosing a position which doesn't necessarily seek to engage with the concerns the writer's audience are supposed to have and to dismiss the whole thing by disposing of those positions. This, of course, misses the possibility that there may be legitimate reasons for using the 'tool' in terms that might be acceptable to at least some EPC Christians. The tactic is like dismissing Christianity because of unbecoming behaviour of a few people in a prayer meeting (cf the Toronto Blessing). Admittedly it doesn't help that some of the protagonists of labyrinth walking within the church are a bit 'eccentric' theologically, but the solution to misuse is not abuse ... Perhaps part of the response to these detractors is to read a good attempt to appropriate the practice in a reasonably orthodox Christian way, like here.
It's intriguing to find that Islam doesn't have much on Labyrinths, but there is something -though latent, as the article says.
Here is one example of a Jewish use of labyrinth which seems to illustrate the idea that this is a tool whose metaphors are usable by a number of religious (and indeed non-religious) traditions. I found intriguing the idea that the Jewish history with labyrinths is more verbal than actual; more info here.
As for Sanatarma dharma, well, there's some intriguing info here and there is some evidence for links with Buddhism too.
There's a fairly well-known thoroughly Christianised version produced originally by Jonny Baker and friends. The site has a diagram of how to make it (it is useful if you want stations and a separate exit and entrance, the only downside is that it is so square and blocky. a curvier alternative would be good).
There is also an online labyrinth, as in a virtual walk, on the re:jesus site. This uses the YFC format and so the main content is essentially a version of the prayer stations that feature in that site. Pretty much the same thing on the Labyrinth site by Jonny Baker and friends.
So, one of my resulting tasks (self-offered) was to research some resources that we could put into the hands of students and staff of the university. This in turn means that I need to be able to select a good set of websites which have something for (nearly) everyone as our equality and diversity approach means that such resources need to be accessible as widely as possible and reasonable.
So, what have I been finding?
One page "The Labyrinth" takes a more general view, perhaps with a New Agey feel where there is something of a personal development focus and edge though some of the pages seem more Christian. It's part of a bigger site called 'Lessons4living' which is something of a clue about that. It has a number of links to further pages giving succinct information in each case. One helpful page -for the purposes of my research here- is on building a labyrinth. One of the things it mentions is having people work together to build one as the culmination of a labyrinth workshop. There is a further link to constructing a labyrinth here if you can put aside the 'mantic'/shamanic approach informing the general site (for me the main thing to take away was the need for 8 or 9 metres of space). For the context I'm thinking of using it, it was intriguing to find a page on using it with youth, "As a part of their training they were to walk a seven-circuit labyrinth and to reflect on the meaning of the labyrinth as a symbol for life's journey. In small discussion groups they listed their insights and then shared them with the larger group. " and it lists some of the things that came out of those discussion groups, for example:
There seems to be some validity in keeping in mind a certain cross-cultural and spiritual poly-valency of the symbol/practice; "from Northern Europe to India a common pattern appears: the labyrinth is a symbol of a distant, more or less mythological, city, destroyed in the past. Although the identity of the city symbolized by the labyrinth varies, it is never a nearby or contemporary city" (from here). This would fit with the medieval Christian usage as a kind of substitute for actual pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
In terms of some Christians (normally EPCs) there can be mistrust of the use of labyrinths. This is well and succinctly articulated on this CANA site. The articulation is to be commended because it is reasonable and simple and boils the problem down to basics. Nevertheless, I think that there are responses that could be made and I hope to do so in due course (if I don't find another site that does so -and this one hyperlinked, is quite nice in terms of a theological reflection and even comes up with a very intriguing take on the Garden of Eden story in the light of Ouroboros myths). The tenor of this article contrasts somewhat with this one which from a Christian PoV questions the craze for labyrinths but does so by the dubious tactic of choosing a position which doesn't necessarily seek to engage with the concerns the writer's audience are supposed to have and to dismiss the whole thing by disposing of those positions. This, of course, misses the possibility that there may be legitimate reasons for using the 'tool' in terms that might be acceptable to at least some EPC Christians. The tactic is like dismissing Christianity because of unbecoming behaviour of a few people in a prayer meeting (cf the Toronto Blessing). Admittedly it doesn't help that some of the protagonists of labyrinth walking within the church are a bit 'eccentric' theologically, but the solution to misuse is not abuse ... Perhaps part of the response to these detractors is to read a good attempt to appropriate the practice in a reasonably orthodox Christian way, like here.
It's intriguing to find that Islam doesn't have much on Labyrinths, but there is something -though latent, as the article says.
Here is one example of a Jewish use of labyrinth which seems to illustrate the idea that this is a tool whose metaphors are usable by a number of religious (and indeed non-religious) traditions. I found intriguing the idea that the Jewish history with labyrinths is more verbal than actual; more info here.
As for Sanatarma dharma, well, there's some intriguing info here and there is some evidence for links with Buddhism too.
There's a fairly well-known thoroughly Christianised version produced originally by Jonny Baker and friends. The site has a diagram of how to make it (it is useful if you want stations and a separate exit and entrance, the only downside is that it is so square and blocky. a curvier alternative would be good).
There is also an online labyrinth, as in a virtual walk, on the re:jesus site. This uses the YFC format and so the main content is essentially a version of the prayer stations that feature in that site. Pretty much the same thing on the Labyrinth site by Jonny Baker and friends.
17 July 2011
Transitioning back to reality after holiday
This is the time of year to consider this, though it may be too late for some to take this piece of advice: "Take an extra day before heading back to work. I like to think of this spare day as the vacation from my vacation. It’s the day to get reacquainted with your routines."
If it is too late (and that's a life-tactic we discovered for ourselves a few years back -in fact we try to take a couple of days if possible), then at least this other piece of wise counsel may be helpful: "Give yourself a free day the following weekend. Playing catch-up with your life can be exhausting, so take a weekend day to sleep in, leisurely drink a cup of coffee, catch up on items around the house, or do nothing at all. If you have kids, this applies to them, too."
And how about this: "Arrive an hour early to work. You’ll want to get a solid footing on your day before you’re bombarded by co-workers asking about your trip and giving you more things to do."
Now I'm wondering whether anyone has any other useful advice to add?
Transitioning back to reality after vacation | Unclutterer
If it is too late (and that's a life-tactic we discovered for ourselves a few years back -in fact we try to take a couple of days if possible), then at least this other piece of wise counsel may be helpful: "Give yourself a free day the following weekend. Playing catch-up with your life can be exhausting, so take a weekend day to sleep in, leisurely drink a cup of coffee, catch up on items around the house, or do nothing at all. If you have kids, this applies to them, too."
And how about this: "Arrive an hour early to work. You’ll want to get a solid footing on your day before you’re bombarded by co-workers asking about your trip and giving you more things to do."
Now I'm wondering whether anyone has any other useful advice to add?
Transitioning back to reality after vacation | Unclutterer
Setting up Good Diagrams for slides
This has a lot of sensible advice to improve your visual communication. Definitely worth viewing if you do projector slides reasonably often.
There's a good sense of typographic nous shown in these which are not produced by a professional designer, just someone who has reflected on what they have seen and done.
How to make Awesome Diagrams for your slides
How to make Awesome Diagrams for your slides
View more presentations from otikik
There's a good sense of typographic nous shown in these which are not produced by a professional designer, just someone who has reflected on what they have seen and done.
How to make Awesome Diagrams for your slides
05 July 2011
Voting in elections is stressful
Followers of this blog (and incidentally, apologies for a long gap -I've been moving house) will know of my interest in Electoral Reform. And so it won't surprise you to learn that this piqued my curiosity.
Voting in elections is stressful -- emotionally and physiologically:
There are two things I want to say in response to this. And they're just initial thoughts; this is a 'watch this space' sort of thing. The first thing is that this was conducted in Israel. The question (perhaps naturally) is whether this would replicate in other societies, and under other electoral systems. My suspicion is that conditions in Israel might mean that the results are an unusually high stress response. And what's more is that this could be because of one or both of the fact of the kind of stakes involved in Israeli politics, and/or the very wide multi-party choice and the electoral system. Might it be less stressful to vote in France, or the USA or New Zealand, or the Czech republic or Bolivia?
So more studies in a variety of cultural settings supplemented, I think, by more qualitative studies in the perceptions of voters (and perhaps non-voters as a control?). Stress is at least partly due to the way that the stressed frame things, so examination of those frames would be important.
The other thing that could be interesting therefore, is whether there are voting systems that are less stressful for voters and whether that correlates with voter participation. I suspect that systems that involve less tactical voting may fare better, but I'm not sure whether the Israeli case tends to confirm or discount that.
Voting in elections is stressful -- emotionally and physiologically:
A new study, conducted by scholars from the University of Haifa and Ben-Gurion University in Israel, has found that the level of cortisol -- a hormone released when a person is under pressure and helps the body cope with threats -- in individuals immediately prior to casting a vote was significantly higher than in the same individuals in similar non-voting conditions.
There are two things I want to say in response to this. And they're just initial thoughts; this is a 'watch this space' sort of thing. The first thing is that this was conducted in Israel. The question (perhaps naturally) is whether this would replicate in other societies, and under other electoral systems. My suspicion is that conditions in Israel might mean that the results are an unusually high stress response. And what's more is that this could be because of one or both of the fact of the kind of stakes involved in Israeli politics, and/or the very wide multi-party choice and the electoral system. Might it be less stressful to vote in France, or the USA or New Zealand, or the Czech republic or Bolivia?
So more studies in a variety of cultural settings supplemented, I think, by more qualitative studies in the perceptions of voters (and perhaps non-voters as a control?). Stress is at least partly due to the way that the stressed frame things, so examination of those frames would be important.
The other thing that could be interesting therefore, is whether there are voting systems that are less stressful for voters and whether that correlates with voter participation. I suspect that systems that involve less tactical voting may fare better, but I'm not sure whether the Israeli case tends to confirm or discount that.
25 June 2011
Freaky job interview questions
It's hard to see it getting asked in many places but how's this for an interview question.
Crazy job interview questions: "UBS: If we were playing Russian roulette and had one bullet, I randomly spun the chamber and fired but nothing was fired. Would you rather fire the gun again or respin the chamber and then fire on your turn?"
It's hard to second guess what they'd look for: at face value exhibit your knowledge of statistics. But I think my answer might be, in the spirit of the response on the referenced site:
I think that I'd file the request as harassment and report it to HR. There's no way that such actions could pass health and safety and the macho culture that would generate such a scenario in the workplace is likely to be one which generates bullying. So I'd rather not do either of the alternatives: I'd rather reframe the situation altogether. And then, would I want to work for UBS if I'm likely to be shot?
Crazy job interview questions: "UBS: If we were playing Russian roulette and had one bullet, I randomly spun the chamber and fired but nothing was fired. Would you rather fire the gun again or respin the chamber and then fire on your turn?"
It's hard to second guess what they'd look for: at face value exhibit your knowledge of statistics. But I think my answer might be, in the spirit of the response on the referenced site:
I think that I'd file the request as harassment and report it to HR. There's no way that such actions could pass health and safety and the macho culture that would generate such a scenario in the workplace is likely to be one which generates bullying. So I'd rather not do either of the alternatives: I'd rather reframe the situation altogether. And then, would I want to work for UBS if I'm likely to be shot?
24 June 2011
The hell of aural leakage and imposition
A thought provoking piece from Kester, here: Kester Brewin � Tsskk Tsskk… Why Do Kids Play Music on Buses?
As a teacher Kester is rightly concerned in this article to understand the thing from the participant-actor's point of view. First of all on 'aural imposition' (my term): "Some students who were interviewed for the piece didn’t think that playing music was antisocial, just that the bus was too quiet and they wanted something to listen to. However, a sociologist sees it being more about marking out ownership of space. This can be done physically – by lolling out and taking up a number of seats. It could also be done graphically by ‘tagging’ around various places. But the most immediate and obvious way of stating that you have control over a space is aurally because it flows so widely."
Now this is relatively rare in my experience (mercifully). And I think that I disagree with the sociologist's interpretation. Drawing on my own youth when, I confess, I went through a phase of doing rather similar things (only the technology was different -remember cassettes?) what I was doing was not claiming space. In the exuberance of youth I wanted to share what I enjoyed musically. I just didn't really have any idea that -as I now realise- if others didn't really like Wishbone Ash or Pink Floyd that I'd be vexing them greatly. So that's what I've assumed is going on. However, it hasn't helped me devise an intervention that I could feel would work without getting awkward or nasty. Sometimes bus drivers intervene to enforce no-music, often not.
Aural leakage, on the other hand is when someone has the ear-buds in but they are in the process of going deaf (and there is a chicken-and-egg conundrum in that) because the thin, tinny, escaped sound is irritating fellow passengers. Sometimes I've seen this challenged, particularly in the quiet carriage on a train. It seems easier to challenge: after all the user by having ear-buds in signals that they are trying to be considerate of others, so there is a basis on which to approach them to ask for the volume to be turned down.
So maybe the leakage scenario helps us to understand the imposition scenario. In the latter there is clearly no attempt to use means to minimise intrusion on others: it is desired that we should hear. Well, perhaps not always; quite often what is happening is that a handful of teens (in my experience) are sharing snippets of stuff they like with one another; perhaps they aren't really considering the wider impact at all, or if they do they may consider that they are educating the rest of us in what real music is.
I'm considering carrying around a set of those cheap £1 earbud sets and offering them to the polluters so they can share in private.
As a teacher Kester is rightly concerned in this article to understand the thing from the participant-actor's point of view. First of all on 'aural imposition' (my term): "Some students who were interviewed for the piece didn’t think that playing music was antisocial, just that the bus was too quiet and they wanted something to listen to. However, a sociologist sees it being more about marking out ownership of space. This can be done physically – by lolling out and taking up a number of seats. It could also be done graphically by ‘tagging’ around various places. But the most immediate and obvious way of stating that you have control over a space is aurally because it flows so widely."
Now this is relatively rare in my experience (mercifully). And I think that I disagree with the sociologist's interpretation. Drawing on my own youth when, I confess, I went through a phase of doing rather similar things (only the technology was different -remember cassettes?) what I was doing was not claiming space. In the exuberance of youth I wanted to share what I enjoyed musically. I just didn't really have any idea that -as I now realise- if others didn't really like Wishbone Ash or Pink Floyd that I'd be vexing them greatly. So that's what I've assumed is going on. However, it hasn't helped me devise an intervention that I could feel would work without getting awkward or nasty. Sometimes bus drivers intervene to enforce no-music, often not.
Aural leakage, on the other hand is when someone has the ear-buds in but they are in the process of going deaf (and there is a chicken-and-egg conundrum in that) because the thin, tinny, escaped sound is irritating fellow passengers. Sometimes I've seen this challenged, particularly in the quiet carriage on a train. It seems easier to challenge: after all the user by having ear-buds in signals that they are trying to be considerate of others, so there is a basis on which to approach them to ask for the volume to be turned down.
So maybe the leakage scenario helps us to understand the imposition scenario. In the latter there is clearly no attempt to use means to minimise intrusion on others: it is desired that we should hear. Well, perhaps not always; quite often what is happening is that a handful of teens (in my experience) are sharing snippets of stuff they like with one another; perhaps they aren't really considering the wider impact at all, or if they do they may consider that they are educating the rest of us in what real music is.
I'm considering carrying around a set of those cheap £1 earbud sets and offering them to the polluters so they can share in private.
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