Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why?

Read a cool book recently: Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. It's about people in crisis situations, survival situations and how our minds and bodies react. How we can best train ourselves for survival situations. The author has done heaps of research and tells lots of stories in the book about survival situations, both where people have survived and where people have died. It was a fascinating book that I would highly recommend, to anyone interested in how the human mind / body reacts to stress / crisis situations, not just to outdoors orientated people.

Amazing and scary, the book goes through how our minds can lock onto what we expect to see and see that and nothing else. People have the ability to apparantly make completely irrational decisions when lost or panicking. It is easy for us to think we would never do that, but will we get to find out until its too late?

Its got me thinking lots about how firstly I can interact with life and risk. There is a fine balanced line to walk between experience making life safer, and experience leading you to let your guard down. Secondly how I percieve the world around me. How much is actual observation, how much is my mind seeing what it expects to see.

Read the book

Ponderings

Well, its been a while since i posted here. Since then I've spent several weeks rock climbing at Arapalies in Australia along with many others things. However I've also been pondering about life. Watching people hurt, watching people search for love and satisfaction. In the news 33 people shot dead in America. Hundreds dead in Iraq. Then i go to churchs' and hear sermons on committing to God, on setting ourselves apart for him and opening up to him, about not being afraid to step out and do his work. Then i read my bible about Jesus hanging out with the sinners, the prostitutes, societies scum. Those that are not loved by many. I see a shortage of people willing to just go and love these people. Probably cause they are hard to love, embarassing to love at times. It's with a mixture of fear and excitement i realise God has chosen us, me, you, in fact everyone to love as his children. Excitement: how amazing this is. Fear that i struggle to reciprocate this. I can never love him back as much as he deserves. Possibly worse still, I can never pass on this love to others as well as I wish i could. However bring on this journey. After all, we have nothing to fear but God, and perhaps fear itself.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in" - Greek Proverb

I hope this day and this life of mine i manage to do deeds i know i shall recieve joy from, other then the realisation i have passed on just a tiny fraction of God's love