Most of us are creatures of habit, so we go on from day to day and week to week going through the same routines, whether it be at home or in our place of work. Seldom do we stop to consider, is there a habit, a diet, a shopping practice, a workout routine, or something else that I need to change? Would a better way of doing things enable me to achieve my goals, assuming that we have set some! With soaring prices for energy and food and with recession coming on, it is perhaps a good time to ask that question!
In industry they might say we need a ‘paradigm shift in thinking’! During my former engineering days I remember being part of a committee looking in detail at machinery we manufactured and its function, to see if we could manufacture it more efficiently or replace it all together by changing the system for which it was designed. But any ideas we had pale into insignificance when compared to the countless examples of ‘people ‘thinking outside the box’ in the fields of science, healthcare, space exploration, art and engineering, and almosy every other field of expertise that you could mention!
One example of ‘thinking outside the box, unique to Scotland and indeed the world, is the ‘Falkirk Wheel’, which we recently visited with friends from the Argentine!
The Falkiirk Wheel that links the Forth and Clyde canal with the Union canal’ (which sits 35 Metres above) allows vessels to sail through the sky thanks to an amazing piece of engineering and art! The energy to turn the wheel is said to be the equivalent of that used to boil just eight kettles of water!
We visited in summer, so the wheel was busy as many boats were passing through the canal. It’s a great place for a day out as there are loads of things to do with shops, museum, restaurant and toilets etc. You can try Archery, Mini Golf, Boating for kids or even a Canal Boat Ride that will take you up to the Union canal and back! We also took the advice on the notice above, and visited the Kelpies to feed the horses!
Admission is free to the Falkirk Wheel site and also the Kelpies, but if you travel by car there is a parking charge of £4.00.
Reflections: Thinking ‘outside the box’ can be a challenging experience in every area of life, not just in the making of things! Puting your new thinking into practice can often be life changing, and have implications for relationships and careers, and change our goals and path through life. I have recently read Prof. Neil Thomas’ book, ‘Taking Leave of Darwin‘ – A Longtime Agnostic discovers the Case for Design. In his prologue he speaks of being struck by the thought, that if a group of tenured academics and other responsible scientists could no longer support the claims of Darwinism on which the worldview of much of the West rests, then he must investigate the subject for himself. His detailed investigation which he spells out in the book is fascinating, bringing him to a conclusion which the title of his book well summarises – ‘Taking leave of Darwin‘. It’s certainly worth a read, but how will Neil Thomas’ book go down with his fellow peers and academics?
Another well known writer and agnostic David Foster Wallace, somewhat ‘rocked the boat’ by his speech in the US to the graduating class of Kenyon College in 2005 when he said, ‘You get to choose what you worship. Because here’s something that’s weird but true: in the day to day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god … to worship .. is that pretty much anything else you choose to worship will eat you alive.‘ He goes on then to speak of money, your body and beauty and sexual allure …power and intellect … ‘They are the kind of worship you just gradually slip into day after day … without ever being fully aware that that’s what you’re doing.’ (Emphasis added) His message was received with a loud round of applause. David Foster Wallace did not disclose who or what he worshipped, tho’ one might guess. And one must wonder if he had slipped into a worship he was warning others to avoid? Very sadly just three years later this talented young man committed suicide at the age of 46. It does raise the question, what god are you and I worshipping?
I think for many the day comes when we start wondering if life is passing us by, and we still have not found our true role, or meaning in life, or faced up to the fact of our mortality. Is it time for me to think outside the box? The story of Antartic Explorer – Ernest Shackleton’s advert for crew members perhaps illustrates the point.
MEN WANTED for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success. Ernest Shackleton
Five thousand men are reputed to have responded even although the terms were far from attractive, and the possibility of achieving the goals of the expedition were in doubt, with your life itself being in question. People desperate to find meaning in life?
Personally as most of my readers will know, I am a worshipper of the great Triune `God of the Bible – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You may think that sounds like something for the weak, the old and the unsophisticated, and YES you are right, for God calls everyone – rich and poor, educated and uneducated, young and old, healthy and sick, everyone to come and follow Him. The terms Jesus the Son of God laid down for His followers is set out in these words of his – Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? The early disciples were in their day accused of turning the world upside down. God still calls such men and women today! Every morning I read a Christian Mission magazine and am constantly amazed at what God is doing through ordinary people all around the world – amazing!
In a day when many people are looking for meaning and authenticity, Jesus offers the forgiveness of all our sins, relief from a guilty conscience, a new life in all its fulness, guidance and direction by his Spirit and through his Word. We can know an inner joy and peace, and a personal relationship with him, which will ultimately take us home to heaven – No ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’. How is that possible you may ask? Because the Son of God loved each of us, and gave himself for us. At the cross the great exchange took place, your sin placed on Christ, and if you come and confess that sin and give your life to Him, His righteousness becomes ours, so that exchange becomes a reality in a new life.
In the search for meaning and purpose we as Christians have found and believe that this is only possible when we find our rest in God.
Thinking of stepping ‘outside the box’?
Best wishes – Matthew
Matthew McKinnon's Blog 