"Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit."-Jawaharlal Nehru
I've been in Australia for a little over a week now and it's already starting to feel like home. Of course there are unfamiliar things surrounding me all the time, but I am already so close with the people I've met here and I've mastered the bus and train routes that I have to take each day. It's still fairly daunting to realize I will be here for three and a half more months. It's even harder to accept the fact that I am in Australia right now. It's like a dream!
I've had a lot of really exciting experiences already, such as seeing the Opera House, taking the ferry to Manly Beach, visiting Hillsong city campus twice in one week, exploring the Rocks during a coffee festival, attending a BIble Conference at Macquarie Uni, enjoying a truckload of laughs over tea with some friends, taking the ferry at night and going under the Sydney Harbour bridge and seeing Luna Park all lit up, befriending three of my neighbors who are old italian ladies…the list goes on. Things aren't that different in Australia at first glance, but the more I interact with people and learn about different ideas, the more I realize there are many layers under the surface that make Australia the unique and interesting country that it is. In time I hope to discover these things and I am looking forward to being stretched and challenged in my worldview. More than that, I long to enrich my vocabulary of God and deepen my understanding of who He is and how He moves.
Hillsong was wonderful both times I have gone so far. The first was a regular evening service, and it was full of enthusiasm for Christ. The second was called The Gathering, which was a special service for young adults. There was a beautiful time of worship followed by a challenging and eye-opening session focused on the psychology of the mind and the process of understanding one's internal functions of emotion and reaction. I loved the Gathering. It was such an encouraging night and I was able to meet such sweet people from all over the globe. Plus, I am learning heaps of songs that have yet to be released, and I am loving it.
In classes we are also talking a lot about the mind and the heart and how culture is driven by what it loves and values over its belief systems. This is something that I had never thought about before, but it makes perfect sense. If you want to truly know me, you must understand what I love and long for. If that's difficult to figure out, perhaps you should look at what I once loved and what sort of events have caused my desires to be hidden, changed, or be replaced. The same goes for culture. Maybe a culture is described in a textbook by a series of facts corresponding with their government systems and national anthem, but a culture is truly known by what it values and emphasizes. When a culture is different from your own, you must ask yourself why the difference is there and what it reveals about what they love. For instance, the Australian Prime Minister is trying to find a date to set elections. He is having trouble because of the big rugby and footy games that are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Not only does this reveal that Australia loves its sports, but that it is laid back enough to not have a set day for elections or an agreed upon system of reaching those sorts of decisions. That is just one example, and there will be many more that I will come across over the next few months.
Even the approach to the science portion of my psychosomatic education class is more holistic than what I am used to. We talked about how amazing the body is today and how we should embrace the times when our body is fighting us and wanting to get rid of all its waste because this is a sign that it's doing its job of reaching homeostasis. We also learned that reaching optimum health is based more so on the mind, because 90% of our body's reaction is due to our psychological state rather than our physical state. I loved the way the lecturer spoke about the body and the mind. She made the point that there is no such thing as a "connection" between the body and mind because it's all one--there is no separation.
Needless to say, the complexities of the mind, body, and heart have been constant companions to me lately. There is so much to process and evaluate, and knowing the sort of mess I am underneath it all, it will be some time before I untangle my internal functions and understand what's going on within me. Hopefully the wise and creative people of Australia with teach me how in more than one way.
Well friends, that is what's going on here in Sydney. I hope my musings and reflections are interesting to you. Perhaps I will talk about what I am seeing and doing more in the future, and not just what I am thinking and processing. But knowing me, I wouldn't count on it.
I've had a lot of really exciting experiences already, such as seeing the Opera House, taking the ferry to Manly Beach, visiting Hillsong city campus twice in one week, exploring the Rocks during a coffee festival, attending a BIble Conference at Macquarie Uni, enjoying a truckload of laughs over tea with some friends, taking the ferry at night and going under the Sydney Harbour bridge and seeing Luna Park all lit up, befriending three of my neighbors who are old italian ladies…the list goes on. Things aren't that different in Australia at first glance, but the more I interact with people and learn about different ideas, the more I realize there are many layers under the surface that make Australia the unique and interesting country that it is. In time I hope to discover these things and I am looking forward to being stretched and challenged in my worldview. More than that, I long to enrich my vocabulary of God and deepen my understanding of who He is and how He moves.
Hillsong was wonderful both times I have gone so far. The first was a regular evening service, and it was full of enthusiasm for Christ. The second was called The Gathering, which was a special service for young adults. There was a beautiful time of worship followed by a challenging and eye-opening session focused on the psychology of the mind and the process of understanding one's internal functions of emotion and reaction. I loved the Gathering. It was such an encouraging night and I was able to meet such sweet people from all over the globe. Plus, I am learning heaps of songs that have yet to be released, and I am loving it.
In classes we are also talking a lot about the mind and the heart and how culture is driven by what it loves and values over its belief systems. This is something that I had never thought about before, but it makes perfect sense. If you want to truly know me, you must understand what I love and long for. If that's difficult to figure out, perhaps you should look at what I once loved and what sort of events have caused my desires to be hidden, changed, or be replaced. The same goes for culture. Maybe a culture is described in a textbook by a series of facts corresponding with their government systems and national anthem, but a culture is truly known by what it values and emphasizes. When a culture is different from your own, you must ask yourself why the difference is there and what it reveals about what they love. For instance, the Australian Prime Minister is trying to find a date to set elections. He is having trouble because of the big rugby and footy games that are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Not only does this reveal that Australia loves its sports, but that it is laid back enough to not have a set day for elections or an agreed upon system of reaching those sorts of decisions. That is just one example, and there will be many more that I will come across over the next few months.
Even the approach to the science portion of my psychosomatic education class is more holistic than what I am used to. We talked about how amazing the body is today and how we should embrace the times when our body is fighting us and wanting to get rid of all its waste because this is a sign that it's doing its job of reaching homeostasis. We also learned that reaching optimum health is based more so on the mind, because 90% of our body's reaction is due to our psychological state rather than our physical state. I loved the way the lecturer spoke about the body and the mind. She made the point that there is no such thing as a "connection" between the body and mind because it's all one--there is no separation.
Needless to say, the complexities of the mind, body, and heart have been constant companions to me lately. There is so much to process and evaluate, and knowing the sort of mess I am underneath it all, it will be some time before I untangle my internal functions and understand what's going on within me. Hopefully the wise and creative people of Australia with teach me how in more than one way.
Well friends, that is what's going on here in Sydney. I hope my musings and reflections are interesting to you. Perhaps I will talk about what I am seeing and doing more in the future, and not just what I am thinking and processing. But knowing me, I wouldn't count on it.
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