What do I Want from Me?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my future.  These kinds of things happen when one is facing the prospect of graduation from college, which means that the “real world” looms on the horizon.  I have until September before I have to figure out what to do in that “real world”, at least, if none of my dream job scenarios come through.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll hear from the places that I auditioned for a couple of weeks ago.  My application to Western Illinois University is being processed.  I know I have a job from May to September, but after that, who knows what I’ll be up to?

I’ve thought of a couple of other options, but what do I really want to do?  I want to be able to create things.  I want to found my own theatre, but the people that I really want to do that with won’t necessarily be available come the fall.

I also wouldn’t mind being able to write full time.  Or play poker.  The one thing I want to avoid is working a traditional nine to five.  Which probably isn’t a bad thing to not want, mostly because, at least in Michigan, there really aren’t any of those available.

My girlfriend just got an internship, though.  So there’s some hope in Michigan, right?

On the Existence of God

The Ontological Argument for the existence of God is an argument that attempts to make the claim for God’s existence without invoking experience.  That is both it’s strongest point and it’s weakest.

Before I can begin a discussion of what I mean by that statement, it would make sense to briefly explain the Ontological Argument.  To explain, I’ll use my favorite, and perhaps the most famous – the argument put forth by Anselm of Canterbury.

Anselm first gets us to agree on a definition of God that is “the-being-than-which-there-is-no-greater.”  From there, we are to agree that existence adds to a things greatness (for surely, alcohol in reality is better than alcohol that only exists in my mind), and so if we concede that point, we’ve made Anselm’s argument.  For if something exists in reality than it is greater than something which exists solely in the mind, and so God must exist, otherwise there would be a being that is greater than God, who is “the-being-than-which-there-is-no-greater.”

Integrity

I’ve been thinking a lot about politics lately.  I would like a politician that is consistent in their policy making.  I don’t even really need to agree with the policy, but I would prefer consistency.  I don’t want politicians that merely pander for votes, which is slowly but surely becoming exactly what is happening almost exclusively in American politics.

Think about the healthcare bill.  If the democrats had stood up for what was right, we would right now be on the verge of implementing a health care plan that would provide health care for the 45 million uninsured American’s, of which I’m about to quickly become a part of once I graduate from college.  And it won’t be because I’m not working.  It will be because I can’t afford it.

If things work out for me, than I’ll be a work-a-day actor, and I’ll be making enough money to be above the poverty line, but not enough where I could actually afford health insurance.  There are plenty of people that fall within this area.

For more on the health care bill, there was an interesting op/ed earlier this week in USA today.  You can read it here.

On a side note, sorry for my long absence.  I think I’ll be back.  I’ve been missing this for a while now.

Say Yes to Michigan?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I’m going to be doing in the fall after I graduate from Albion College and get finished with my job in Ohio.  Yes, I’ll be working in Ohio for the third summer in a row, as it is the only place I’ve been able to secure entertainment employment.  The story on that in another post.

I feel really hopeful about the State of Michigan.  I think that this could become a fantastic place for the entertainment industry, particularly when you combine it with all of the natural beauty which helps to drive tourism in our state.  If we could build an infrastructure and support for the arts within this state, than that will only work to our advantage as we build up our tourism dollars.

Props to the Snyder Campaign

My first props of the 2010 Michigan Governor’s race go out to the Rick Snyder campaign for being the first ones to reply to a question I tweeted to them.

The exchange went like this:

RickForMI  Generation Y Michiganders pledge allegiance to Michigan http://bit.ly/1oaxdb. Rick will insure that all young people can find work in MI.

asfreeman  @RickForMI How?

RickForMI  @asfreeman Rick has a proven record of creating jobs. Soon he will release his plan to create jobs as Gov. In meantime: http://bit.ly/3FQXzU

I recommend everyone go out and click that link.  I don’t endorse Rick Snyder as a candidate, but I do greatly appreciate his campaign working to use Twitter not only put out news on the campaign trail, but to actually interact and listen to voters.  I hope the other campaigns will follow suit as we enter the year 2010 and the election slowly but surely starts to pick up.  Other campaigns I’ve tweeted at have seemed to ignore my questions.

It should also be noted that I am still waiting a response from the Snyder campaign to my follow up question about his jobs plan: How do creative and performing arts jobs figure into this plan?

I call on all of the gubernatorial campaigns to answer that one simple question.

Marriage/Dating

Sometimes I feel like I’m just copying what Noel is doing over on his blog.  However, since he’s one of the pastors at the church I attend, it would make sense that the things he’s talking about are the things that I’m thinking about.

This weekend, he gave a wonderful sermon about submitting like Jesus.  (You can hear it here.)  As a part of that sermon, he talked about submission within the context of a marriage, a message I had never really heard before.  Within his own message, Noel referenced a message from Matt Chandler on the idea of submission within marriage, which you can listen to here.

There are a lot of interesting things in these messages for married couples, and it left me trying to figure out what they meant for the rest of us.  I’m not married.  Some day, I probably will be, so I mean, I can look forward to putting these messages to good use then.  But is there any way that these messages apply to me now?

Why I Have to tell you about Jesus

This video from Penn of Penn and Teller is why I have to tell everyone I meet about Jesus, beyond the great commission.  I agree with Penn.  If you know Christ, how much do you have to hate a person not to share the Good News with those around you?  It’s an area that I struggle with, but I can’t let myself anymore.

If you want to talk about Him, let me know.  Let’s talk.

Tradition

“I am opposed to bleached faith – the empty symbolism that diminishes the power of real belief.” – Steven Goldberg

How many times do we find ourselves doing something because “it’s what we’ve always done.”  That is a meaningless reason to do things.

One of the things I lvoe about theatre is the tradition.  Live performance is an act that ties something I’m doing today all the way back tot he Greeks, the founders of western civilization.  That’s wildly cool to me.  But I also don’t want to do somethign because it’s what’s always been done.  I want to do things with meaning.  Things that will change everything.

The question we’re always supposed to ask in the theatre is “why?”  I’m going to start asking it about life.  I invite you to do the same.

Let us ask “why?”

Let us not answer, “because that’s what we’ve always done.”

Religion in the Public Sphere

I’m literally two pages into a new book that I’m reading, and already there’s something I want to share.  The book is “Bleached Faith: The Tragic Cost when Religion is Forced into the Public Square” written by Steven Goldberg.  Primarily, the focus of the book appears to be on ten commandments cases, and the book itself is written from the perspective of constitutional law.  Here’s a couple of quotes to think about:

“It is a sign of weakness – an admission that religion needs artificial life support – to push religious symbols into the smothering embrace of government.  If the push succeeds, religion is weakened further when it is distorted to fit governmental desires.”

Prosperity

The video below is from John Piper – I discovered it trolling through the archives on Noel Heikkinen’s blog.  I really think that this is something many Americans need a good reminding of, myself included.  We must serve and suffer for Christ, helping to elevate those that need our help to live better lives.  The creation of prosperity is not how we win salvation, and it is not a sign of God’s favor.  Serving those that are less fortunate than us, serving others as Christ would serve them, knowing and living like Christ is enough, that’s what we need.

God bless you.