1.  Feb 28, 2023 A private Lear jet takes off at Logan without clearance and forces a commercial Jet Blue flight to break off approach. The pilot of the private plane was told to wait before crossing a runway, did in fact read the order back to the tower, but crossed the runway anyway, creating havoc for the commercial flight. It has been proven that wealth creates in the rich and powerful a sense of entitlement, and simultaneously destroys a sense of respect to others. The owner of the Lear jet was, no doubt, in a hurry.

2.  That very same day I went to a local Walmart and saw first hand what an unjust society does to people, in terms of broken spirit, poor health, and economic hardship. The contrast with the Lear jet could not have been more stark.

3.  Declining church membership is a good sign. People are realizing that the traditional story line about Jesus dying for our sins, is not only nonsensical, but also horrific.

4.  Tiktok is changing our brains. Short entertaining videos about everything and nothing are replacing our capacity to think. Thoughtful, long term analysis could become impossible. Remember, evolution is a neutral concept: there is no guarantee that homo sapiens will advance. Of course, AI can do our thinking for us.

5.  It’s easy to understand how the concept of mind/body dualism arises in human beings. There just seems to be a “me” that is different from the matters of my body.

Our body in many ways is a defined given, and everyone is different from everyone else. This is pretty much obvious. And this body also changes. The body that I was is not the body that I am. This also is obvious. For the young, we change for the stronger. For seniors, our physical presentation continues to degenerate. We look older, and can’t do as much.

How about the “me” that I think I am? Is that a constant? Not really. The person that I thought I was a decade or two ago, is not totally the person I think I am today. Partly the same, but not totally. Just as my body is in flux, so also is the “I” that I think I am.

The challenge, of course, is to realize the changes, of both body and mind, and act accordingly. Whoever we are, we need to think about where we came from, where we are, and where we are heading, both physically and mentally, and who helped [s] us get there. To deny who we were, who we are, or what may be, is to deny our own self. So too, forgetting those who helped [s] us along the way is also self-denial.
 

Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith,   The Void and the Vision and  The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT.