So We Only Use 2% Of Our Brain’s Capacity?
My brain never really stops. I used to think everyone was like this, and perhaps they are, but I’m not totally sure anymore. Please help me put this issue to rest by answering the poll to the left.
Even at night my brain clacks away. Sometimes in the mornings I’m wiped due to the subconscious having propelled me through a slew of exhausting dreams.
Most of the ideas flitting through my cranial cage aren’t profound enough to be worth thoughting, or writing down. Few are even original. They’re mainly re-conglomerations of various content I’ve been consuming. Content that includes not only books, media, and articles, but also social interactions with people and observations from life.
But here are a few recent ones… free food for thought.
Just How Much Do You Remember?
I heard recently (forget where) a guy say that books didn’t impact him, but sentences did. Guess he was right, because that sentence stuck with me, though nothing else he said did. Not even his name, so he could get the credit.
If it’s just sentences that impact us, why don’t we publish quotes instead of books?
I think the reason is because we need the filler content for context. Like in public speaking, the point of the introduction should be to prime the audience to get mentally phsyched and emotionally synched to the mood and style of the orator. Then, when it’s time for the message, they’re ready to be hit over the head.
Then again, sometimes all we need is the quote. Here are a few unrelated sentences I’ve read recently that made me think:
- "A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees… filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man…" Mark
- "The people God can use are different than the people the church can use." (Miller)
- "The church in America is led by scholars… The first disciples were not [scholars], they were fishermen, tax collectors and at least one was a Zealot. We don’t know the occupation of the others, but Jesus did not charge educators with the great commission, he chose laborers." (Miller)
- "If You’re Stuck, Ask Questions" (Barnes)
- "Christian evangelists will often talk about the ’God hole’ – the place in your heart that only God can fill. The ‘God hole’ is actually a lot bigger than you may realize. God’s Word says that He… wants to be your All in All” Snyder
- "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…" Peter
- "My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Paul
- “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life…" John
I’m curious, are there any sentences you’ve heard recently that were meaningful and stuck?
I think another reason there are “books, not just sentences” is that any categorical statement is so easy (and tempting) to pick apart and dissect. Therefore, much of the passages surrounding key sentences are explaining, equivacating, hedging, and qualifying. Or, supplying context, as you mentioned.
One opening passage from a book I re-started recently has stuck with me for years:
“It was my devil’s own temper that brought me to grief. My temper and a skill with weapons born of my father’s teaching.”
It’s not meaningful in any way, but it does make me excited to keep reading… 🙂
Good old L’amour. Think I’ve only finished one of his books in my entire life: Last of the Breed, which isn’t even Western.
But I’m not going to disparage him at all, because of the wisdom in another profound sentence, “Don’t disparage Louis L’amour, or anything else you don’t know much about.”
This reminds me… I was planning to hook you up with another book soon. Do you know how long it takes for a package to reach Afghanistan? Have you seen many brown UPS trucks driving around there?
You can-not amputate your history from your destiny. – Moore
Courage is not the denying of a problem, but rather denying it’s authority over
me. – Moore
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the understanding there is something more important at stake. – Moore
To live for the greatness of God is to live the great life. – Moore
Everyone of us who embraces the glory of God as our purpose will end up doing great things precisely because we do God-things. His holy hand resting on the least act renders the ordinary extraordinary. – Moore
(I’m currently in a Woman’s Bible study, lead by Beth Moore, thus all the quotes by the same person)
People are the ministry – Holcomb
People don’t care what you know until they know how much you care – unknown
God moves suddenly, not quickly – Middleton
Psalm 139 (whole chapter)
Ps 62:7 – “In God is my Salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.”
Jer. 1:5 – “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
Ps. 56:11 – “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”