It is nice to connect with you. I cannot say I am happy to meet you, because the Internet is for making connections, not actually for meeting.
I recently finished my sixth year as a college professor in the area of Theology and Ethics. Before that, I spent a few years in Chicago, getting my Ph.D. degree. As a child I wanted to be an actress. Perhaps that is how I eventually found my way into teaching. I often think to myself that there is only a minimal difference between those two professions.
I love college students because they have so many questions to ask. When they run out of questions, they simply put their foreheads to the table and take a nap.
I think most os us are haunted by an irrational fear of good questions. Somehow we think they want to steal our sense of security about the things we believe. But, really, when we hit on the most solid answers in life, we can ask all the questions we want. It does not change the answers. In fact, the closer we come to those answers, the more we realize they were the reasons we had been asking questions all along.
When I was a student myself, I always thought it was disgusting when teachers spit during their lectures. Now I do it myself. Sometimes. I guess that is what happens when you are passionate about life on the stage.
I am a painfully slow writer, but I like it best that way. It gives an incredible sense of joy to uncover in writing what I did not understand when I first had an idea. John Irving likes it best that way, too. He says he always knows the last sentence of a book before he has completed any of the first sentences. It is like that in most aspects of life anyway. The end is what we know. Getting there is how we mature.
A few years ago, one of my academic colleagues retired early and gave all his books away. I was shocked because I love my field and could never part with my books. They are literally like pillars in my life. No matter what I will be doing between now and leaving this world, I will always be a theologian. Not all academics feel this way about their field. I consider that a sad thing.
Mother Teresa is my hero. There was no messing around with her. It was mostly because of her freedom in Christ that people listened when she spoke. Which is why I often thought of her as the only real man around. She was fearless of this world. That is how she changed it.
I generally think men’s biggest problem is fearfulness. To me, Mozart and Bob Dylan are history’s greatest male musicians. Because they both have that rare combination of talent, intelligence and fearlessness.
I believe men and women are equals. Therefore, I am not a feminist. Rather, I agree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said that God gave the first man and woman to each other so they could not just behave in any way they wanted. This, Bonhoeffer also said, is why they loved each other. Like Adam, all of us are restless because we need to know our own limit in order to know who we are. And it is always another person who is the solution to this need. That is why we are all equals and all need each other.
My friends are to die for and I could not live without them. Not that I have very many of them. Nobody does. I am always suspicious when people say otherwise, because friendships are not to be taken lightly. In fact, they take a lot. Time in particular, which is why friendship is for life. But, the mystery of being friends is that we do not need to be together all the time. Because friends do not go away.
I grew up on a farm and drove a tractor before I could read. My best friend was a cow. When my father sent the cow off to be slaughtered, my world fell apart. But that is what happens around such places. Driving is still one of my great passions.
I say the creed when I need to remember what I believe. Many think it was formulated by a bunch of white men with a long outdated kind of patriarchal authority. They say it is time we start believing for ourselves. But then I read Dorothy Sayers. She wrote mystery novels and knew how to disarm men on iffy missions. For her, the life of faith was a matter of creed or chaos. I agree. Besides, it is no man’s fault that God has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I would not do a good job in public office. Political charades rub me the wrong way. Every Sunday morning, I miss Tim Russert more than I care to remember. He knew how to ask real questions. David Gregory is good, but he cannot quite pull a real checkmate on those political wolves. If he learned to listen better, I think perhaps he could become better than good.
I have no idea how I would survive life without my massage therapist. As his eyesight continues to degenerate, he becomes better and better at his job. His hands are as big and as sturdy as frying pans. I am positive that massage therapy is the best preventive medicine available.
Speaking of health, I used to have terrible constipation. Then I did a colon cleanse and it changed my inner life. Out of continued care for my colon, I have Udo’s Oil every day. When I pour it over my salad, I like to lick my plate after I am done eating. Because Udo’s Oil is expensive. Except, I refuse to do this when there are other people around. Therefore, you have no idea whether or not I actually do lick my plate.
I have one blue and one brown eye, am six feet tall, and wear a size 11 shoe. I am proud of it all, because my mother taught me to always think of any “difference” as an “extra charm.” Still, it does put shoe shopping in the nightmare category.
Animals talk to me when I sit on the porch and work. They look at me in a way that gives me a certain kind of hope. Especially when I start talking back to them. Perhaps this was the kind of experience Adam had before he fell asleep. He thought he would find among them what he was looking for.
I know for a fact that I would be a chain smoker if I had ever started smoking. How thankful I am that I never had that first cigarette! My most interesting recurring dream is the one where I know for sure I have become a smoker. This dream is both my favorite and not my favorite. Add to this that I cannot have the first bite of sugar, because then I would eat all the sugar in the whole world. Chris knows these things and says I have an addictive personality.
If you want to pronounce my last name correctly, think “Icing on the cake.” That is how to say it. Icing. It is Danish. Although you should know that - as a person of Denmark - I am not a Danish. I am a Dane. If social researchers tell the truth, this means that I belong to the happiest people in the world. Still, I think what Danes do better than most other people is to think for themselves. That is not always a good thing.
I do not have children. I am not married and never was. Nor am I sexually attracted to my own sex. One implication of these things is that I have never been divorced and do not fear losing my life partner. I am very thankful for that.
I love the fact that St. Augustine was black and wired for passion as well as confession. The world is simply a better place because there are priests who take confessions. My secret prayer is that God will be generous when it comes to giving these priests the gift of holy forgetfulness.
Does it make life easier to believe in the God of Christians? No. In fact, it often makes life more difficult. But I desired to believe, and one early afternoon, faith took hold of me. Now, even if I wanted, I would not be able to shake it off. Trust me, I tried. I tried very hard. It did not work. Hence, I know it is wrong to hold believers responsible for the fact that God both exists and reveals himself. Ask him, not Christians, for an explanation. Believers only believe what they have seen.
This brings me back to the issue of asking questions and finding answers. Thinking backward through generations of human history, all the way to Socrates, I venture to say this. Asking questions is a form of art. But why? Because answers are never static. Answers are the heartbeat of truth, and truth is never anything close to static. Truth is a person.
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