First Blog

It's that gifting time of the year. So, I thought to take a closer look at the gifts I have already. Not just the kids, car, house, and health, but the real gifts, as in those I was born with. They are many, so many it is troubling why I have them. Among them is the gift of problem-solving. Another is the gift of curiosity. This article  is about them all, with a closer look at faith.  December 20, 2022 Gifts to Humankind by G Donald Allen Upon us now is the season of giving. Just as important is to inventory those gifts we have been given. And they are many. At Thanksgiving, we count our blessings. Today we travel well beyond counting to those wondrous gifts given to us at birth. These gifts co-mingle, coalesce, contravene, and entangle to make us what we have become. Not material, nor theoretical, and without position or location, they are undeniable. They are within the domains of psychology, chemistry, and sociology, forming our very human foundations. Evolution or design

  Many problems seem to persist, despite our best efforts to solve them. There are several reasons. Here are a few types. ·         We don’t have the tools (yet) to solve them, intellectual, theoretical, and/or instrumental. Example. Many a problem begins this way. ·         We don’t know what the real problem is. Example. Explaining matter - from antiquity. ·         We make a solution. It catches on. It becomes the solution until it fails. Then we begin again. New failure. Begin anew, and on and on. Example. Explaining planetary motion took several tries. Fads! ·         We assume what the solution should be and persist in using it even though it fails. ·         Special types of problems, called wicked, are so rich in variables and options, there is no unique solution in almost every sense. What are contrived is a collection of answers, inadequate all, but with no consensus. ·         Politicians intervene in the process, corrupting it, and leading to incorrect solutions. Examp