I'm going to update this thread pretty much daily. I just started reading this book, and the 'suggestion' is to bounce the ideas of each chapter off of friends one day at a time, one chapter at a time (rather than read the whole thing front to back...it's supposed to take 40 days to read).
So, anyone offended by 'Christian' themes might want to stop reading now, otherwise feel free to post your thoughts on each chapter's 'Point to Ponder', 'Verse to Remember', and 'Question to Consider'
Chapter 1, Day 1:
Point to ponder: It (life) is not about me.
Verse to Remember: "Everything got started in him, and finds it's purpose in him"
Question to Consider: In spite of all of the advertising around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself.
Personal comment:
The thing I liked most in this chapter was that it compared our lives to an invention. In the quest to find 'the meaning of life', we ask ourselves what we think our purpose in life is. If you have an invention, and you show it to someone, the most sure way to find that invention's purpose is to ask the inventor what the heck the gizmo is supposed to do, because most gizmos are not all that intuitive and won't explain themselves very well. Compare that to life, and you have to ask your 'creator' what you are supposed to be doing, not yourself.
Of course, the fallout of that is that without the notion of a 'creator', then life doesn't make a lot of sense. I guess that one 'solution' to finding a purpose if the idea of a creator doesn't fit your view of the universe is that perhaps what is called 'the creator' is a set of universal truths, and any life that is not built around these truths is going to be lacking the natural purpose that we each possess at birth. Ever notice that 'nice' people, whether they believe in God or not, are generally more at peace with their lives, even their mistakes? Maybe 'nice' is a universal truth?
The 'summary' of chapter one was pretty much in the point to ponder. Basically, what Mr. Warren was attempting to convey is that unless you think that you are self-created (in other words, there is no God) then you can't possibly find what your purpose in life is within yourself. A gizmo can't define it's own purpose since its purpose is defined by the gizmo's inventor. In the same way, if you accept that you were created by some sort of higher power, then the purpose you were created for was also defined by that higher power, and isn't something you can create or even change.
In a way, it reminds me a bit of the Presbyterian philosophy of pre-destination, that God created the universe and being omniscient, he knows everything that has happened and that will happen to the end of time. Not being a Pres myself, I'm not perfectly sure I described that correctly, but I think I got the jist of it.
I've had to think about this chapter a lot, because I have always been of the philosophy that ultimate responsibility is always your own, thus, you ultimate choices and actions are yours alone. This chapter challenges some basic beliefs that I have and it's a little uncomfortable.
However, the chapter also distinguishes between what your 'purpose' in life is and what your goals in life are. Goals are things that you set for yourself, standards you hold yourself to, etc. Purpose (as defined by this chapter) is the plan made by God for your life, how it will affect the world around you, and how it will lead you to eternity. I'm hoping that Chapter 2 goes into some more detail on just what 'purpose' is supposed to mean, and how that applies to your view of life (is it something you can come to know, or is it something you take on faith).
The 'purpose' of reading one chapter per day is that in this book, the author (Rick Warren) wants the reader to think about each chapter before reading the next one, because the book isn't so much a 'self help' book as a 'self transformation' book. It's written in a very interesting style, I am finding myself wanting to 'cheat' and read ahead...I think that it would probably be a great 'prayer group' book, though setting aside an hour or so every day for 40 days is a real commitment...
From that standpoint, it would be a very rare individual that can truly claim that all aspects of their life are completely at their own whim, because duties, responsibilities, and relationships are almost as powerful a force in shaping your purpose for waking up and going through the motions of your day as your own will is. So, it's not really a 'slam dunk' that you can say your life is all about you, because your life, whether you like it or not, affects others around you who have formed relationships with you, or who had relationships with you thrust upon them by the simple act of being born to the same family.
In a way it's a bitter pill to swallow, because if you are like me you take full responsibility for every single thing that you do or say (for better or worse), and when you take the full responsibility, you like to think that gives you the right to say you have full control. The reality of life however, seems to suggest that perhaps that isn't quite true.
It's something to think about. It's something I'm having to do a lot of thinking about.
). It is a state you reach when your technique is generally at its best. You do not have to think about it. Usually, it is experienced four days into summer camp when you have been practicing three classes a day plus other assundry workouts. Plainly, you're just too tired to keep doing the techniques wrong anymore. In our culture we tend to call that centered.