Killing Distraction Potential

 So, I've decided to do an experiment.  What has spawned this experiment is an idea.  I'm frequently that person who will inevitably find himself watching YouTube as I am going to sleep.  However, I want to be clear that 90% of what is on my watch list is intrinsically informational or educational.  This is just a habit I've had with variances in intensity over the course of my adult life.

It's true, there's a lot of good information available on the internet.  There is a lot of good information on things ranging from how to cook the perfect fillet mignon and perform basic maintenance on a vehicle to video series covering a breadth of cerebral topics meticulously broken down into 10 minute easy to understand chunks.  I'm not going to be escaping the world of information any time soon.

I am going to disable the YouTube app on my phone.  I intend for this to prove something that I've been saying for years.  Namely that what seems like an insignificant action can really make a huge difference in the long game.  Disabling or removing an app, while keeping a subscription to an online service has the potential of improving what others critically say is our "relationship" with technology.

If we consider how the word relationship is used in our modern society I think it can't be used to describe our interaction with technology.  I assert that it is a lack of temperance or self control that impacts how much or little we interact with computer based systems.  This lack seems to manifest itself in the modern tendency to prefer escapism and be combined with a careless thrust of ourselves into less cerebral and purely frivolous activities.  What ever happened to occupying our "down time" with taking a walk or reading a book?

So, I am going to do three things:

1. Disable the YouTube app on my phone for the remainder of the month.
2. At times when I would watch YouTube (before bed, breaks at work, performing research) I will instead read a book or take a walk.
3. If I want to watch YouTube I will need to use a computer or the Chromecast device on my TV.

I'm not going to cut YouTube completely out of my life.  What I'm doing is better directing where I watch YouTube.  My hypothesis is that if I'm already in bed, why would I pull myself out of bed, walk to my office, boot up my computer, and launch my web browser?  I already know that I'll see this as a bunch of extra steps that I won't want to deal with.  So, also I'm banking on my preference to do things in the most effort and time inexpensive way.

Wish the best for me.  I'm sure this will require that I come back to write about this again.

Hello Internet? I'm Still Here

It's been a while... Again. I decided to start doing something different. As far as blog posting is concerned. I'm using the blogger app to voice record my my blogs. So far it seems pretty accurate. I don't have to do a lot of editing and it seems to capture how I am speaking with accuracy. Of course, to an extent I will have to go back and proofread, and do some editing.  And it seems to be a good method for capturing for my "thought stream".

I've also decided not to spend so much time on trying to find a picture that identifies my post. I'm not a journalist, or an influencer, or some popular person who's thoughts and opinions are the driving force behind the decisions of many individuals. So essentially I'm going for readability and as plain text as possible.

It seems anyway nowadays that the internet is less concerned with reading blog posts as it is more concerned with 10, 15, or 30 second tick tock videos (this, of course very revealing of the declining attention span that modern internet users have.)

Further, while looking at my blog post over the really the last decade, it seems that there is a mix of life events and " hot takes" , which of course are purely my personal opinion or honest thought on whatever it is I am giving a hot take on. The topics discussed on this blog essentially detail much of topics of interest that I have and I see no reason for that to change.

Sometimes, I have not had the energy, time, or inspiration to write. All of this is okay and I also understand that this probably contributes to the fact that no one really reads my blog unless they know me or somehow against their better judgment subscribe to receive updates every time I post. This too is okay.

It is interesting to note that often times I have the perception that many of my thoughts brilliant or absurd, simply go into the void. In a way that satisfies me. It seems to an extent that maybe my externalized thoughts have no affect on the external world they're evicted into. Now of course that isn't true.  I mean, my thoughts have an effect.  For one thing they're taking up server space! For another thing it might be that somewhere out there on the internet someone is reading my thoughts and maybe giving them consideration. To the effect that my thoughts (on the internet or otherwise) have influence is nothing relevant.

And yet here I am still posting. Still up keeping this blog that was started in 2009. At that time I was chronicling my time as a Catholic seminarian with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. After my time of discernment of the priesthood, I of course attended college as a meteorology student - which unfortunately ended abruptly. Nonetheless, I married my best friend soon after I left my university campus, and now I'm working in the IT field which was my backup career. Of note it is not so different from my second major which was computer science.

As it pertains to the present, I have, after a few years of being absent from a couple of my habits that I had well developed and established over the years, resumed reading books at a fairly good pace. I finally read and completed Frank Herbert's Dune I'm proud to say. At the moment am reading through the fourth book of the "Star Carrier" series by Ian Douglas, which if you haven't read it is a military hard science fiction in a similar vein as Battlestar Galactica. There are nine books in that series, so I've got some reading ahead of me.

If someone had told me 5 years ago that juggling a family life full-time job and several hobbies including astronomy, meteorology, and computer programming would be difficult - I might find myself to be of agreement. However, I found that with a little bit of time management, discipline, and denying myself binge watching YouTube one can indeed find time for just about anything. I think that is a crucial lesson that I have learned in the last 5 years that has been the hardest lesson not in understanding, but in application. Especially with my responsibilities as an on-call technician I have had to learn to deal with one of my personal irritations, that is, being interrupted. And despite this, despite the distractions and interruptions that work and family life often brings to my attention I am still able to find time to read and to pursue my interests and hobbies.

I don't always get to do everything I want to do when I want to do it. That's okay! In fact, in a lot of ways, I'm better for it. In case a lot of people do not know when you are In a technical support role for a tech company. At some point you get used to jumping from task to task to task. You even get used to having days where the frustration level and the chaos of the situation is such that you wonder how and why your company hired you. I think this is what people mean when they refer to Impostor Syndrome - that self-perception that your skills are absolute rubbish. But the most satisfying part of every day is going to bed knowing that I've done my best and more importantly, there's only 24 hours in one day. Again, time management is a skill and a good one to learn at that.

It's Been a While, Where Have I Been?

So I really have been quite absent.  In point of fact I've been virtually non existant.  This has been a good thing, as I've not had the drive or ambition to write anything.  There've been many life events that've come and gone, and by the time I've thought to myself maybe I should write something about this the moment has passed and really not even sure what to say.

Nothing tragic has happened.  In case you're wondering.  Everything is fine.  Everything is super.

To date I've received another promotion at work and am now a technical support lead at my company.  This comes with more opportunities and the responsibility of being on call every few weeks as I work to keep that internet thing everyone likes working.  I recently heard the news that one of my best friends is engaged and I'm completely stoked for that.  I've got a couple of kids and the life my wife and I are building for ourselves in our home is beginning to take shape.

Within that last year I was also blessed to have been a part of the happy marriage of another one of my best friends.  Hearing the recent news of my best friend's engagement has given me reason to reminisce some.  What seems like just a few short years ago was our college days.  Our ambitions and thoughts about our futures (then) are different from what they are currently.  And that's okay.  In fact having caught up with my friends over the previous summer and winter months I can say with confidence that we're all doing okay and succeeding.  But I knew this anyway.  I've always made attempts to surround myself with ambitious people, people who are driven to build their skills and knowledge, and many more times people who are more knowledgeable.  To that end I'm thankful that despite the setbacks and delays in our personal goals, things are moving along

Within the last year I actually gave serious thought to beginning a YouTube channel.  However, after vetting that idea I laid it to rest, or at least filed it away in the recesses of my mind.  If I'm not even able to keep up regularly blogging my thoughts - and even I don't always understand where I come up with them - then when will I ever have time to dedicate to a YouTube channel.

In conclusion, as I sit here with Suite No. 3 in D by Johann Sebastian Bach playing and my laundry rolling around in the dryer, I can only be thankful that the last two years has been a time for growth and opportunities for my many family and friends.  This isn't the same for everyone.  There's a lot of anger out there.  There's a lot of stupidity, ignorance, all of the negative stuff of life.  I remain confident in my conviction that if the only concern you have is to improve yourself, learn something new each day, and make great effort to avoid social and political drama, you're going to be much better off than you would be otherwise.

Dumped Twitter

Twitter Logo

Today I deactivated my Twitter.  I didn't think twice about it.  I'm sure anyone who followed me won't realize I'm gone.

About 6 months ago I deleted Twitter off my phone as an experiment: to see just how frequently I pay attention to tweets and post.  The result:  I don't care about, or use Twitter enough to justify having a username on there anymore.

Let me take a quick second to reminisce . . .

When I first joined Twitter in 2009 (or was it 2008..?) it was one of those fun social media outlets where you could find pictures of everything you regretted the night before.  It was the college students safe haven where every perversion and virtue was churned out mechanically for the world to see.  There was no shame or repercussions for tweeting a drunk selfie that in the morning you'd regret.  Hash tagging was fun too as a way to search topics.  More often than not Twitter wasn't a place for any honest or serious chat.  It was just a platform for college students to brag and advertise where and how drunk they were.  Honestly, despite all else it was a quicker distraction that at least for me didn't turn into a rabbit hole.

It's just not fun any more . . .

Anyone who's still around on Twitter, or has been on Twitter in the last 5 years, can tell you that it's a total drama fest.  Everyone is pissed off at everything, offended by everyone, and trying to have serious discussion in 240 characters.  God forbid if you deviate so much as a millimeter from someone else's political perspective or don't have a rainbow emoji in your Twitter profile!

The worst is anything connected to #CatholicTwitter.  Ugh!  Don't get me wrong, there are many good and decent Catholics on Twitter who are examples of charity and civil conversation, however there is the much more vocal and darker side of Catholic Twitter that is hand over fist a cesspool of eternal drama and narcissism.  I speak as one who has been blocked by most of Catholic Twitter (something which at first I thought was a badge of honor.  Yeah, turns out it's not.)  You have Catholics who literally make their Twitter "brand" to uncharitably insult everyone who isn't Catholic, but when asked a question to discuss their post they return ad hominem attacks and sequentially block them.  And don't forget many of these took an eight month long pause (unless Pope Francis said or did anything) to campaign for Trump to the point where it just became annoying.

The cesspool goes deeper still with sedevacantists parading around pretending to be Catholic, an infamous Jesuit and a Bishop creating confusion and division among Catholics, and a self acclaimed traditionalist publication with a vicious, personal vendetta against a community of Catholic Priests and a few other Catholic publications.  Yeah, it's pretty deep.

It's time for me to jump ship . . .

As much as I miss the days of drunk tweets and all the regrets that came with it, I don't think Twitter is going to return.  I think at this point (gee, thanks Trump and all those who encouraged his tweets by replying...) it's clear to say that Twitter has become and exists now to enable those famished for drama and who like missing the point and conflating what they read.  The drunk tweets and regrets have now become a bad hangover and everyone is searching for relief by ripping each other apart, because that is what happy, well adjusted, and mentally healthy people do.

Ciao, Twitter!

Intuition is Good for the Brain

As someone with the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) personality type INTJ my dominate function is introverted intuition (hereafter Ni).  In MBTI typology intuition is a high level perception of patterns.  Simply put it is all about pattern recognition.  In fact it is not just that there are patterns, but there are patterns to the patterns.  Even the patterns to the patterns have patterns.

According to Personality Hacker, 25% (1/4) of the population uses some form of intuition.  Intuition comes in two forms - extroverted intuition (Ne) and introverted intuition (Ni).  These similar but different types of intuition are perceiving functions that are the pathways by which someone learns about the world around them.  For INTJs the perceiving function (Ni) is introverted, therefore external observations are plugged into the internal wiring and structure of the mind and is concerned with reconciling and  the patterns of the "outside" world with the model that exists in the mind.  These patterns are used to speculate about the future.

Those like myself who use intuition are interested in patterns.  Even the patterns have patterns.  There are patterns to patterns to patterns to patterns.  The simple observation of two people walking down the street holding coffee cups in the their hands to many casual onlookers might conjure up the idea that they are just two people walking down the street enjoying a cup of coffee.  This may well be the case, however to the intuitive its more than that.

The pair walking down the street likely came from the coffee shop on the corner.  If they are walking side by side not speaking to each other, they could be looking for a place to sit down.  If they are holding hands, perhaps they are on a date.  What are the expressions on their faces?  Maybe one is giving emotional support in the other's time of need.  Or maybe it turns out to be just one person.  What are they thinking about?

A friend and I sat outside of a Starbucks observing people.  As people walked by we would make up stories about them.  We speculated about where they were going after visiting and getting their coffee.  The fictional tales were mostly absurd, and I enjoyed a good laugh over some of the stuff we came up with, but were a good exercise in intuition.

When at its best intuition analyzes patterns and makes sense of where those patterns will eventually lead to.  It is a perceiving process that is not concerned with the goings on of the present moment, but with the future.  As its focus is entirely future oriented it uses real time and past data to assess what is going to happen.  This is sort of like a skeet shooter at a gun range.  In order to successfully shoot the clay target as it is moving through the air, the shooter must watch the target and aim ahead of the target.  This method is similar to the intuitive cognitive process analyzing the future.  Intuition users are naturally curious about what the future holds and are willing to forge into the unknown.

This process of seeing into the future makes those who use intuition difficult to understand.

Sometimes, the high level of pattern recognition is worrisome to others.  The 75% of people who are not intuitive (sensors) may view intuition users as odd, strange, hard to understand, and even arrogant at times.  We must understand that users of intuition are not the lofty, cognitive vagabonds that they often times appear to be.  The different wiring has given them a different set of gifts and skills that have their niches.

Often we may find those with intuition working in technology and various scientific disciplines.  They are likely book worms and some have attention spans that can enable them to discuss complex topics for many hours until every stone and pebble has been thoroughly examined.  Among the intuitive book worms are your INFPs, INTPs, INFJs, and INTJs.

Unfortunately intuition users can be seen as arrogant.  This could not be further from the truth!  It is much too simplistic, and unfair, to say that they are arrogant (although INTJs and INTPs have been known to be easily tempted into a superiority complex.)  Much more accurately intuitives who have developed and regularly tap into their intuition have also developed a healthy self esteem and confidence.  This should not be punished or misinterpreted as arrogance - as odd as it can be to see an intuitive in their "zone."  Instead we ought to value the insights and perspectives that intuitives bring to the table whether they are our coworkers, family members, or friends.

Here is the best part about intuition.  We all have it to a degree.

In MBTI it is easy to get stuck in the dichotomies of introvert vs extravert, intuitive vs sensing, thinking vs feeling, judging vs perceiving.  In order to have a healthy psyche we need to have both extraverted and introverted cognitive functions.  To be a complete introvert or a complete extravert would be for one to be a neurotic mess at best or a psychopath at worse.  So each person has perceiving functions (intuition and sension) and judging functions (thinking and feeling), and during late childhood into adolescence (my observation: age 12-18) these functions develop into their dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior positions.  INTJs lead with a dominant Ni, then have auxiliary Te (extraverted thinking), tertiary Fi (introverted feeling), and inferior Se (extraverted sensing).

Did you notice the pattern?  The cognitive functions for INTJ are Ni, Te, Fi, Se.  Note that what is introverted and extraverted seem to alternate to make sure the psyche is well balanced.  If you label dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, inferior positions as 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively you will notice that what is introverted in position 1 will be extraverted in position 2.  If your dominant function is extraverted, then position 1 will be extraverted and position 2 will be introverted.  The high level of pattern recognition of Ni is guided by the logical analysis of Te.  Te is a safeguard to make sure the INTJ is not completely stuck in their head (even if we just want to live in abstract land!)

There is much more that can and has already been written about intuition, but this will serve a primer to hopefully grow the seed of interest to take the plunge and discover not only more about intuition, but to learn about your own internal wiring.

Reader Questions #1

Shawn writes:

"you cofuse me. your blog supposed to be a intj so im guessing that personality stuff or something? but i see a lot of posts on here about being catholic. So k i got 2 questions, and sorry if i sound like a idiot to you cause your blogs go like way over my head most of the time. Are you engish.? why you all fan boy for the pope stuff? you know pope Francis talks about latin and all that holier than thou stuff is rigid and not the way to bring your jesus  homeboy to people?"

Hey Shawn, I'll start with the easiest question to answer: No, I'm not English.  Also, I'm sorry that I'm not always clear in the way I present things.  Sometimes I'm in a rush writing an entry and just assemble according to the order in my mind.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a complete disaster.   On the contrary there have been times where I have started writing a blog entry--only to throw it away.  (These of course are the thoughts that do not survive long enough become immortalized in digital format.)

On to your question about what this blog is supposed to be about.  Your comprehension of my blog isn't very far off from the intended point.  In brief, I took a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment years ago in school and according to that assessment I just happen to score as the personality type of INTJ (Introversion, iNtuition, Thinking, Judging).  While my personality is not the complete 100% of who I am, it is part of the substance of my humanity.

On the topic of MBTI I suppose you are correct that I don't approach the topic very often in writing.  Related to that I am currently thinking about doing a series of how each of the cognitive functions for the INTJ personality type are experienced by me.  So thank you for bringing that to my attention.

To answer your final question, I encourage you to visit my On the Issues page where I address this question.

Second Promotion

Source: https://xkcd.com/806/

I am happy to announce that for the past month I have been working in a different department.  As the title suggests I have been promoted.  Again.

It has been less than a year since I left my old job as an Optician and began working at an ISP in technical support.  Moreover the two promotions, first as a residential tier 2, and then to a business technical tier 1 analyst have both come as tremendous surprises (as well as new challenges).  Regardless, I transitioned well into the residential tier 2 position and so far as a business analyst I'm getting along with my team and building upon my knowledge base and skill set.

Mkay, so what exactly do I do?

Essentially I do the same thing I was doing for residential clients.  I trouble shoot reported issues and assist end users in solutions that resolve their problems.  But I also do so much more than I did when I was in the residential department.

With our business clients I give technical support for their phone systems, email, and general web hosting.  To say that each trouble ticket is more involved than I have previously worked with would be an understatement.

A simple issue of internet being reported as down also means that the phone systems that I support will likely also be effected.  The work that I do for a lot of trouble tickets usually involves more than just myself.  Since I am supporting everything from small businesses to medical facilities.  This means that every second counts.

I think this is the first company I've worked for where I can say with confidence that I love my job and I look forward to commuting to work every day.

An Open Letter to Our Bishops

"The Denial of Peter"
Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1873

Dear Your Holiness, Eminences, and Excellencies,

My name is Kevin, and I have been a Roman Catholic for 35 years since my birth.  I was born to a mother and father who handed down the Faith to me and even sent me to Catholic school when I was a child.  I have questioned and even for a time doubted the Faith I have inherited.  I have recovered from my doubts, discerned the Priesthood for a time, and in God's time have found myself happily married with a beautiful daughter who will be two-years-old in the next year.  I am also a lay member of a Society of Apostolic Life recognized by the Holy See as well as a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus.  I mention my background not to flaunt my Catholic experience and continued service to Holy Mother Church, but to offer an accurate perspective of who I am.

I write all of you out of a sincere spirit of respect for your offices and full recognition of Pope Francis as Vicar of Christ and Sovereign Pontiff of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  I write as one who is devoted to the Catholic religion and practices his Faith and rightly wishes that his children be raised to practice the same Faith that was given to their earthly father.  However, I write with grave concern and much urgency.

Your Holiness, Eminences, and Excellencies, it does not take much effort to realize that the Catholic Church is in crisis.  No doubt in your Sees you have seen crisis manifest in different ways.  However, it needs to be said for clarity that the Church is in crisis.  The Bride of Christ is weeping.  The Bride of Christ hemorrhaging from a wound inflicted by an assailant.  The Bride of Christ has been afflicted by a malaise which has weakened her immune system, and so is vulnerable to the spread of disease.

Every day.  Every headline.  Every piece of "click bait."  Every personal take on social media.  Every celebrity "theologian" and "academic."  Everywhere you go, no matter if it is at the newspapers, social media, or nightly news it is there, and it is presenting itself as a bully waiting for you after class behind the corner.  There is no escaping it.  Every day it is another scandal, another Priest or Bishop, another victim, another tale of oversight, another exposure of a Seminary program turned frat house in the 1970s.  Another hit piece from a Jesuit publication slamming, ostracizing devoted Catholics for requesting their local Pastor to use the Latin text of the Agnus Dei at Mass, or using Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum to request from their Pastor or local Ordinary that use of the 1962 Missale Romanum (otherwise known as the Latin Mass, Usus Antiquior, Traditional Latin Mass, or Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite).

The mess, the malaise, the swamp.  I am confident that you are aware, for all of this is going on under your watchful, pastoral gazes.  I am confident that you are also becoming exhausted if not are growing weary of the tremendous Cross that seems to have come upon the shoulders of the Church.  It is a great Cross indeed.  At times this is cause for anxiety and fear.

Your Holiness, Eminences, and Excellencies, I pray every day as a son of the Church that you do not let the anxiety of the present crisis afflicting the Church weigh you down into apathy.  Rather, I hope that you are running into the arms of our Blessed Mother Mary, and throwing yourselves upon the Sacred Heart of our blessed Lord.  I hope too that my prayers and the prayers of the many Catholics praying for all of you are also an encouragement and comfort in this time.

As I may hope I am yet disappointed.  You see, I find myself in agreement of a particular point of view.  That point of view is that we the lay faithful who depend upon our Shepherds to lead us to Jesus Christ have been given over to lies, cover ups, and the type of childish gimmicks and antics one might expect from a children's television show.  Because many other more eloquent bloggers have shared specific examples I will refrain from adding to the litany ad nauseum.  But you also know what I am speaking of.  Or at very least you should.

So let us set aside the hyperbole and superfluous and allow me to answer what may be a question among you:  So, what do we expect the Bishops to do?

Simple.  Be our Shepherds.  Be a man after God's own Heart!  Love us lay faithful enough to sacrifice your own personal ambitions and take on the ambitions of the Sacred Heart--that is daily remind yourselves of salus animarum suprema lex.  As I, a husband, was taught on my wedding day by the words of St. Paul, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it."  If I am so charged with loving my wife to the point of giving up my life for her, how much more are the Pope, Bishops, and Priests called to do the same for the Church Christ founded and gave to their care?

The salvation of our souls is the primary work that you are called to do as our Shepherds appointed by Christ.  This work is accomplished by offering the Sacrifice (not a communal meal) of the Mass.  We, the lay faithful, need the Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass offered for our souls and in propitiation for our sins.  We also need to be reminded daily of that Sacrifice.  We need our confessions heard and then to be given penance for our sins, and not because we scrupulously are recklessly aiming for spiritual ruin, but because we have offended God, and we need to be told that without all the sugarcoating.  St. Paul even says that "all have fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  So how is it that we have turned the Sacrifice of the Mass in many areas into a festival celebrating banal human achievements that cannot measure to the Mercy and Justice of Almighty God?  How is it that depending on the personal style of the Pastor some of the lay faithful grow well in the faith and others do not?  Yes, I understand that original sin affects us all, but are not we supposed to grow in faith and not away from it?

The second work is to confirm the Faith.  This coincides with the first work as being the salvation of our souls.  Confirming the Faith does not mean giving us a puppet show in place of a well thought out, well prepared sermon/homily that brings the Gospel to us, but also raises our minds to contemplate Heaven and the good things that only God can give us.  Only God can give us a Pope, a Church, a Priesthood, the Eucharist.  We need to know this and be reminded of this weekly.  We need our minds and souls inspired to "seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness" (Matthew 6:33) by prayer and sacrifice.  How can we do this when Father processes into Mass dressed as a clown and tells us to avoid being like those "rigid" Catholics with their Latin hymns?  I must insist with honesty that once I discovered the heritage of my Faith in the traditional Liturgy I did not become "rigid" as many have accused.  On the contrary I found a treasure, the pearl of great prize, and a "stone rejected by the builders" that quickly became a formative part of my Faith.  It is because of the rich traditions of the Church that I have come to truly love the Church and defend her against attacks from without and unfortunately within.

Your Holiness, Eminences, and Excellencies I will refrain from further asking you to restore the traditional liturgy according to the 1962 Missale Romanum, in part because I know that not a few requests are perhaps received by you daily.  However, I encourage you to make the traditional liturgy available, per Summorum Pontificum, to the lay faithful who desire in faithfulness to the Church and to the Holy Father, to use the formula of the Sacraments as passed down through the centuries by your predecessors of happy memory.

I will conclude by pleading with not only yourselves, but also your Priests serving in parishes, schools, visiting the sick and dying, and even in the missions.  Enough is enough!  The flock of our blessed Lord needs fed.  We are starving and suffering spiritual undernourishment!  The flock needs fed not with the ice cream and candy of a faith that is little different from a Hallmark greeting card or nostalgia of a teenage slumber party, but with the Faith of our Fathers.  A Faith founded upon the faith of St. Peter of whom Christ said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church." (Matthew 16:18)  This is an unwavering Faith.  It is time that we hear of the Faith that gives us our spiritual meat, potatoes, and vegetables.  Dessert can wait.  The faithful who have not yet deserted Christ are waiting.  We are waiting like sheep for our Shepherds to wake up and defend us from the wolf prowling around us waiting to strike.  Unfortunately, the wolf has been striking and has a voracious appetite.  Please, dear Fathers, Bishops, Cardinals, and Holy Father step up, defend your flock, defend the faith, and feed the lambs of Christ!  Otherwise, to whom shall we go?

Prayerfully in the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
A faithful Catholic concerned to see his Holy Mother Church weep

Surrounded By Hypocrites

As humans we are capable of amazing feats.  It was not that long ago when we were putting our first steps on the moon.  We have made innovations throughout history that have taken us from dwelling in caves to now populating the Earth.  We have gone from drawing stick figures on the faces of rock to writing blogs and connecting through social media.  From hunter gatherers on the plain to sitting in Athens discussing goodness and truth, indeed humanity is capable of so much positive and good in this world.  In a sense we should be compelled to congratulate ourselves for all of our accomplishments thus far.

But we have one of the most invasive pests in our midst.  A pest so clever that even after hundreds and thousands of years we have not be able to shake loose from its luxurious accommodations.  Hypocrisy is a disease, and unfortunately there is no cure or vaccination for this.  It seems as though we are stuck in a continuous cycle of great achievements followed by some of the most embarrassing follies we can devise!  What is more astonishing is that we take more pleasure in performing our hypocrisies than we do in those things we do well.  Rewarding and intellectual pursuits such as science, philosophy, and theology seem to take the back seat to our hypocritical pursuits.  For an unknown reason we much enjoy playing the hypocrite more than those things that make us reach higher than ourselves.

But, why?  Why is it easier for us to give in to hypocrisy time after time?

The short answer is because we are human.  It is an intrinsic property of our natural state of being.  However, I think we like the simple answers because humans are prone with ready heart and mind to accept overly simplistic answers and solutions.  We do not like long winded explanations, or dissertations.  We have not the patience for those things which may require a bit more effort, and yet we repeatedly implore others to have more patience with us than we are ready to render to them.  How is that morally correct?  It is not.

Use of reason vs. our ego

It is interesting to note that we are the only known species that we are aware of that has the amazing ability to reason.  We use the neurons in our brain to form words and attribute meaning to them.  We call this language.  We use it to communicate, but only as we will.  When we are angry or have some sort of grievance against another we find very clever passive aggressive ways of coping with our perceived feeling of being rejected, offended, or forgotten.  In our self complacent pride we endeavor to be at the very top of those around us.  It is subjectively desirable to be perceived by others as morally and virtuously superior.  None can dare upset the equilibrium of our egos.

We are unknowingly as gods unto ourselves, and anyone who so much as threatens our self complacency and confirmation bias are as devils proudly exclaiming "Non serviam!" (I will not serve!)  Ergo, our response to the disgusting parasitical demon that is our fellow man is the same as is attributed to St. Michael the Archangel: "Who is like unto God?"  The irony is that what we really think with our subconscious inundated by our ego is: who is like unto me?  This is where any basic form of communication truly becomes void and impossible.

The conspiracy theorist

Then we have the conspiracy theorist.  Ironic we use theorist, a word used to indicate someone of scientific intelligence, to describe the nonsensical rubbish that oozes from the mouths of the self obsessed.  It is hypocritical to be a conspiracy theorist because it goes completely against reason.  Let us examine a likely position he may take.

As much befits the attributed stereotype this man has a vendetta against technology.  Technology is some evil force that is responsible for Original Sin and therefore is used against society as the weapon of choice for the government--who is a tyrant--which has allowed the erection of all the "big box stores" and "big tech" corporations to exist entirely to spy on him, and take away his freedom.  It is not inaccurate to say that the man here in our example takes to social media--that is to use technology--to announce his "great" discovery that only a 30 pack of cheap beer can inspire.  Of course let us not dismiss his use of social media to share political sound bites and articles written by fellow conspiracy theorists.

We see the flaw in his argument (and in the method he chooses to deliver his argument) in that it is the utmost of absurdity.  It is absurd because it can be very quickly deduced by reason that the government is not spying on him, and quite frankly has no care for who he is.  However, this man will be the subject of his own self fulfilling prophecy when he accidentally says something with the intention of arousing the interest of the authorities.  The man is a lunatic and consequently cannot be trusted, and yet he is somehow able to inspire trust by others.

The reason the conspiracy theorist is able to inspire trust in others is of course due to the propensity of man to be gullible, as well as experience periods of mental dullness.  The details in his conspiracy theory are so incredible, vague, and yet are subjective enough that disproving his claims would appear to take more effort and dedication than is warranted.  Therefore, to the gullible his claims are true.  However, to those who are willing to set aside the temptation to be hypocritical and dishonest the reward is a very well done refutation that brings light to the darkness that the conspiracy theorist brings.

Conspiracy "theories" do not just have to be about technology either.  Any range of topics can be used for conspiracy theories.  Climate change, politics, education, religion, vaccines, university fraternities and sororities, among many other controversial and "hot button" topics can easily fall victim to the undermining efforts of conspiracy theorists.

The emotionally reactive

Imagine if you will someone of reasonable wealth and affluence who will never be able to be bothered to help one of the many homeless in their city and is always ready to profane and demolish anything and everything that does not digest well with their personal fantasy of how the world should work.  Enter the emotionally reactive.

The emotionally reactive is a hypocrite in much the same way as the conspiracy theorist.  Both are more satisfied with their own ego and confirmation bias than they are with actually having experienced any form of civility or rational thought.  They thrive on their buzz words such as "tolerance," "equality," "racism," "shaming," "gaslighting," and other words that ignite a passionate reaction to protest the littlest inconvenience or distressing moment some person, somewhere in the world, God forbid, might experience.  In fact they may even genuinely feel like something has to be done because of reasons A, B, and C.  If formulated in an otherwise rational state of mind in a calm, introspective demeanor it could be argued that perhaps some thing should be done about this or that situation.

However, on the contrary we find that everything is reactive.  Their coffee is a degree hotter than expected.  Bring on the lawyers and blame the employee for discriminating against their veganism!  The level of absurdity flirts with the boundary where most psychologists would agree delusion begins and a healthy mind ends.  This is serious.  It is serious because the many, many individuals who experience this type of hypocrisy may never become fully aware of it.  The reason for this is because self preservation and even herd mentality not only go hand in hand but magnify a perceived threat to be bigger than just something that is noticed.

Similar to the conspiracy theorist, the emotionally reactive have the flaw of absurdity in their argument.  This happens when we make an argument based on emotion rather than reason.  It could actually be argued that the source of all disagreements in the colorful history of humanity that have either escalated to total war or long term animosity is precisely the human temptation to let emotions take the lead on decision making.  This tendency needs to be tempered otherwise the great ambition of humanity of living among the stars may never come to fruition.

How hypocrisy is resolved

Let it be revealed to our minds that there is no easy remedy or solution to hypocrisy.  Hypocrisy is going to continue to infect the human condition as the bubonic plague infected millions in Europe during the 14th century.  It is a most unfortunate Achilles heel to the foot steps of the human species that if left uncontrolled will mean the slow, progressive destruction of everything that we possess any affection for.  Your trip to Starbucks.  The freedom to worship Almighty God.  The ability to acquire an education or provide for your family.  All of these things which every day we take for granted could be snuffed out like a candle or left to rot like road kill if hypocrisy is allowed to persist.

Indeed hypocrisy is an integral part of human nature, and as such demands our attention and respect.  Respect for the destruction it can bring to our own lives and to our society and culture.  Attention to its symptoms will help us to recognize how we too are in need of introspection and self examination.  When do we say what we think is right, but when given the opportunity do anything but what is right, and then give our selves every excuse?  When do we give in to false information, become enraptured in the hype of a news story, or allow our passions to become inflamed over some trifling thing?  Ah yes, hypocrisy is like an unattended fire in the wilderness.  All that is required is for one action to spark a reaction that destroys hundreds of acres of beautiful landscape, and thus this is what hypocrisy does to the soul of every person who has ever traversed the world.

How Can I Socialize as an INTJ?

You're not an introvert, you're too social.  This is a misunderstanding that I get from time to time.  It is a misconception that demonstrates a lack of understanding of what introversion really is.  So what does it mean to be an introvert?  How do I find it possible to get out and socialize?  Well, for starters it is not easy.  Welcome to the puzzle of my mind.

What is introversion?

In order to unpack what introversion is, let us start by examining what it is not.

In common parlance we would say that such and such a person is an introvert, because they are shy.  Many introverts exhibit varying degrees of shyness.  Shyness is not a good indicator of introversion, and is the opposite of what we would describe as an outgoing persona.  There is also what can be accurately called social phobia which I once thought was type of shyness, however as it turns out social phobia is more closely similar to social anxiety disorder.  None of these describes what introversion is.

To say it simply, introversion is way by which the mind internalizes and processes information.  One of the main outcomes of this internalization is introspection.  Introspection is the way by which someone examines themselves vis a vis the external world.

The driving force for the INTJ is at the top of their function stack: introverted intuition (Ni).  INTJs are considered to be an Ni dominate personality type.  Because the intuition, the recognition of patterns, is introverted this means that INTJs spend a lot of their mental energy observing and internalizing the patterns they see in the external world.  This introverted intuition is aided by their auxiliary extroverted thinking function (Te) which helps them to apply the patterns they see into solutions.  Many times this earns the INTJ the reputation of being blunt, cold, abrasive, cynical, and seemingly aloof, an over simplification that leads to misunderstanding.

It is not that INTJs do not seem to care or give notice to what is going on around them.  They are actually quite attuned to their environment, however the big picture of their observations is keeping their mind busy processing and analyzing the patterns they are observing.  This is what the INTJ does at their best.  They observe and make sense of the world.

How can INTJs be social?

Due to the introspective nature of INTJs it can be confusing when we see one in a social situation.  Take my job, for instance: I work as a technical support analyst for an internet service provider.  It is an integral part of my job to talk to people and because of how the floor plan is designed, I am in rather close proximity to my coworkers.  This often makes for returning home at the end of the day exhausted and emotionally checked out.  In fact more often than not I enthusiastically anticipate watching a video on YouTube and tuning out the world after a long day interacting with people at the office and on the phone that eating dinner becomes an afterthought.  The problem is, I am too exhausted to actually make myself a decent meal.

Alright, so how can I be social, have friends, and accidentally come off like I am completely at ease in a social situation.  What is the method to my madness that enables me to bravely take on maneuvering throughout society and the external world without losing my mind periodically?

Sleep!

If I have a social activity planned, I do my best to make sure I am well rested.  Nothing drains my mental reserves and patience for people than by not having enough sleep.  That extra 30 minutes of sleep is pretty much making it possible for me to store up the energy needed to deal with people as long as I have to.

Coffee!!

This is will be a no brainer to my fellow coffee lovers, addicts, and snobs out there.  A cup or two (or three or four) of coffee really makes the difference between approaching the day or social event with my usual INTJ "death stare" and at very least feigning some form of social graces.  Probably the easiest way to my heart (and good side) is a dose of trimethylxanthine (commonly known as caffeine).

Keeping a schedule

Scheduling out my day/week and sticking to it is essential.  Not that if anything out of the ordinary happens I have an aneurysm, but it helps to know I have some stability of what to expect.  This ensures that things get done when they need to.  One of the things as an INTJ that my mind craves is structure.  I cannot get enough structure.  Even something as meaningless to the outside world as "alone time" is actually quite structured.  I structure everything from color coding my calendar, my cubicle at work to ensure the most efficient workflow, to even what coffee cup I use on what day of the week.  (My wife thinks I am a little OCD about it, and I might be a little excessive here, but I cannot stress enough how important structure is.)

So that's my secret!  Plenty of sleep, drinking coffee, and keeping a schedule all go a long way to ensuring that yours truly can get out and experience life and even socialize.  As long as I get enough time to feed my Ni (introverted intuition) by exploring my thoughts and synthesizing them with the patterns I observe in society, I am usually pretty content.