LIFE AFTER DEATH? JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!

Because I have been twice married (and twice widowed) I have spent considerable time wondering about encountering my two wives once I pass through the Pearly Gates into Heaven (provided I am granted entry). Needless to say, the prospect has left me somewhat apprehensive.

Well, the Christian Bible provides part of the answer...According to Jesus, people won’t be married in heaven. Interesting answer, right?

The way I am left to rationalize it is that the relationship between and husband and wife are to reflect the same relationship between Christ and his church. Marriages are supposed to be SO good that they show you how close God is to us, and what it is like to be in a relationship with him. Check out Ephesians 5:25-32.

In the end, people were created to have relationships -- with God and with each other. They are part of God’s plan for this world, and they will stay part of that plan for the next world too. Some things will change, like marriages that don't work out. But in its place the Bible leads us to expect a deep, satisfying relationship with everyone.

I’m afraid that the Bible doesn’t get much more specific than that. We don’t really know the details of how we will relate in heaven, or what it will be like specifically. But it behooves us to believe that it will be a good humane community that works the way communities now are meant to work but don’t.

If heaven is the place it is supposed to be, surely there is no carryover of worldliness or past life.

With that acceptance I move on to perhaps an even greater "life after death" unknown...

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Dualism is the concept that our mind is more than just our brain. This concept entails that our mind has a non-material, spiritual dimension that includes consciousness and possibly an eternal attribute. One way to understand this concept is to consider our self as a container including our physical body and physical brain along with a separate non-physical mind, spirit, or soul. The mind, spirit, or soul is considered the conscious part that manifests itself through the brain in a similar way that picture waves and sound waves manifest themselves through a television set. The picture and sound waves are also non-material just like the mind, spirit, or soul. The alternative concept is materialism. Materialism holds that everything in our universe is made from physical materials including the human mind or brain and that spiritual attributes do not exist in the universe. This concept holds that our mind and brain are one and the same.                                  ______________________________________________

What actually happens to the mind, or the self, after death?  If there's no basis for dualism, the answer is a no-brainer (no pun intended). The moment the brain loses its exquisitely synchronized organization, consciousness is lost. If that breakdown of physical processes is irreversible, consciousness is permanently extinguished, and the unique organization of matter that constituted that individual's person-hood, self or essence ceases to exist.

But since humans are instinctive dualists, the idea of life after death makes complete sense to our intuitions. And that’s not the only reason why the belief comes so naturally to us.

Death has never been popular. Especially when it is seen as the final and utter cessation of being. The prospect's tolerability increases only when it is re- framed as a mere passage to a heavenly paradise filled with all manner of delights -- all the more so for those who are suffering or disadvantaged in this life. Humans are profoundly egocentric, and it is natural for us to frame the world in self-referential terms. We cannot easily conceive of the world existing without us, and we struggle to imagine our absolute nonexistence. Even those who do contemplate death as a complete cessation of existence in any form tend to imagine how being dead would feel. 

It's no surprise that belief in life after death is an irresistibly appealing idea that has emerged in diverse forms throughout history. Indeed, the denial of death may be the raison d'être of religions.

Most religions share common beliefs about some sort of eternal essence surviving the decay of our body, which is viewed as a mere vessel or vehicle for the soul. From a very early stage of prehistoric development, it appears that humans have been conscious of and preoccupied with death. Anxiety about death, denial of death, and various forms of belief in an eternal afterlife and the spirits or gods that inhabit and govern such realms have defined practically every religion in human history and prehistory.

Cynics and pessimists who argue that there’s no point to life if it is finite often ask: What is the point of trying to accomplish anything if there is no larger purpose to the universe? What's the point if we simply cease to exist after we die?

Even among those with the gloomiest or most uninspired outlook on life, any otherwise mentally healthy person possessing moderate empathy and humanity and a little ability to transcend egotism and solipsism can be moved to care enough to do something, anything, to mitigate suffering and increase happiness in other people. The suffering and happiness of other people are as real as our own and will continue long after we die. We might doubt whether our own existence matters. But others will continue to exist, and others after them. We all have the opportunity to affect others while we are alive, and how we do so will continue to matter to those others long after we are gone.

As many people know, when you live your life with a commitment to others, a lot of really good things happen to you. Your own life becomes much more satisfying, enriched, and meaningful. There are few ways to feel that your own life matters more than being committed to other people (or animals, or even plants, if that's your preferred commitment and if you don't relate well to people). Caring and devotion are more often than not reciprocal.

Carpe diem! You only live once. Make it count. This is not a dress rehearsal. Life is short and time moves fast. When it's over, it's over!

Better to not spend (waste) time worrying about what is humanly inconceivable. 

Life is intended to be a mystery...We are given the option of faith to deal with it. 

"How will it actually feel to be dead? Well, remember how you felt for all those eons before you were born? Just like that." -- Dr. Ralph Lewis, Psychology Today.

BRAMPTON VOTERS FAVORED MAVERICK OUTSIDER PATRICK BROWN OVER VETERAN INCUMBENT

NOTE: I created this spoof ad as an illustration to accompany
the following Wrights Lane post.

No question about it, politics in general have become stranger than fiction and it is the electoral public that has perpetrated the phenomenon in the form of protest voting.

Protest voting occurs when unsatisfied voters abandon their most-preferred candidate even though he or she has a good chance of winning, in the hope that this signal of disaffection will lead to downstream improvements in that candidate’s performance. This approach has been known to backfire however when the underdog candidate actually gains enough votes to win the election.

Disturbingly, there is another form of protest voting in which Devil's advocates demonstrate their annoyance with all political parties and incumbent governments by voting for the most controversial and off-the-wall candidate on the ballot sheet. By making a mockery of the election process such individuals feel they are sending a message, or wake-up call, to all politicians. 

Regardless, generally speaking, voters are collectively fed up, marginalized and overlooked. Life keeps getting more difficult for the hard-working "middle class" so often fawned over by political leaders. As Post Media columnist Mark Towhey recently put it: Canadians spoke clearly in 2010 when they elected Rob Ford as Mayor of Toronto. They spoke clearly in 2015 when they elected Rachel Notely as Premier of Alberta and again when they elected a wet-behind-the-ears Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. Britons spoke clearly in 2016 when they voted for Brexit. Americans spoke clearly when they voted for Donald Trump and Ontario spoke clearly when they elected Doug Ford last year. All of them elected to be mold-breakers...Some delivered and some did not.

The forgoing is all by way of getting to a classic example coming out of the surprise Brampton civic election of 2018 in which much maligned outsider Patrick Brown defeated veteran politician, long-time resident and incumbent Linda Jeffrey to become the mayor of Brampton. The upset win received minimal news coverage outside of the Region of Peel at the time.

Patrick Brown

Brown’s bid for mayor marked his third attempt at a political comeback after resigning as Ontario Progressive Conservative leader in 2017 amid muck-raking allegations of sexual misconduct. By means of update, he had previously entered the race to win back his leadership job before the provincial election, but dropped out shortly after. Then in July of 2018, he launched a bid to become Peel regional chair, but that was taken away after the Doug Ford government turned the position into an appointed role instead.

The much-maligned Brown with his never-say-die attitude and within days of moving from his home in Barrie, subsequently entered the mayoral race in Brampton and faced an uphill battle against Jeffrey, a former Liberal cabinet minister, who had the support of high-profile politicians from major parties, including some of Brown’s former colleagues. He no doubt set his political sights on Brampton — despite having only a tangential connection to the city — because Jeffrey seemed vulnerable. Turned out, she was.

While she lost by a slim margin of 4,000 votes, for some reason the Brampton public demonstrated a lack of faith in Jeffrey's leadership -- or dislike for her personally -- and opted for the Johnny-come-lately Brown with his questionable motives and checkered past in political life. 

Jeffrey became mayor in 2014 after she defeated then-incumbent and controversial figure Susan Fennell. Prior to that, she was an MPP from 2003 to 2014, representing Brampton Centre and the former district of Brampton-Springdale.

Jeffrey, who called Brown a political opportunist during the campaign, was understandably shocked at her loss. Once Brown registered for the race, Jeffrey took to Twitter to call out his true intentions, saying the mayoral race was an opportunity to “rehabilitate” his career...No question about it, Brown's intentions were blatantly clear and still voters gave him the edge.

Many moons ago I was managing editor of the Brampton Daily Times newspaper, but I am not close enough to Brampton politics these days to adequately unravel the situation concerning Jeffrey's falling out of favor with the city's public, but something drastic must have turned the tide against her.

Despite Brown’s efforts to turn the page on the scandal that erupted in January of 2017, when CTV News reported allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against the then-Tory leader by two women (claims he has denied) his days at the provincial legislature were still making headlines and haunting him.

A government document leaked to the media just days before the vote in Brampton, showed Brown spent nearly $300,000 on support staff and office operations after resigning as PC leader and being turfed from the Tory caucus. The expenses were in line with legislative rules and involved severance payments to staff, Brown said in a statement. And still none of this was enough to deter Brampton voters...Go figure.

Brown also sued CTV News for defamation, although the broadcaster maintains it did nothing wrong when reporting the allegations against him.

He has also written a tell-all book about what he has described as his “political assassination.”

Meantime, all is well that ends well. The dust seems to have settled in Brampton and Brown gives evidence of doing an acceptable job as mayor with little fanfare. He has settled into family life in Brampton and his wife (married after the sex scandal broke) recently gave birth to their first child. But stay turned...He still has a score to settle with the provincial Tories and opportunist Doug Ford who now holds the job he once coveted.

Time will tell!

FYI: HERE'S HOPING OTHERS CAN LEARN FROM MY SAD EXPERIENCE WITH "PEDAL CONFUSION"

Could have been worse, but don't let this happen to you.

"I've heard of it happening to other people...I never thought it would ever happen to me!"  Chances are, we've all had that thought at some point in our life. While I'm reluctant to talk about, I feel that there is merit in sharing with readers something that happened to me the other day that in my mind only happens to other people. Here's my story, or should I say --- admission. You may be able to relate, if not now, at some point in the future.

With the sickening sound of a "thud" or a "crash" still echoing in my ears, I sat behind the steering wheel of my car -- stunned and in disbelief at what had happened. Did I just rear-end the vehicle (a van) stopped in front of me on a hill at a red light in Owen Sound? I was reluctant to get out of my car and to survey the evidence...The other driver was less hesitant.

"What the f--- happened?" were the first words out of his mouth as he emerged from his vehicle and stood ashen-faced, surveying the bitter truth of the matter.

"I honestly do not know!" was the best response I could muster as I rolled down my window..."Sorry!"

Without going into painful detail, suffice to say that I had collided with his rear bumper and trailer hitch which protruded substantially, leaving no evidence of damage to his 2005 Acura. But it was a different story for my more delicate 2012 Hyundai with its resultant shattered front grill and crumpled licence plate.

"Accidents happen!" the other driver (a middle-aged man) allowed as we exchanged ownership information and proof of insurance. Embarrassed and confused, I perhaps ill-advisedly offered the guy $100 for his inconvenience and he readily accepted. We continued on our way...He to deliver a child to a nearby school and I to a 9:00 a.m. appointment with a cancer surgeon at the hospital in Owen Sound.

A joint report of the incident was subsequently filed later with Accident Report Services in conjunction with Owen Sound Police.

But what the f--- happened that morning to cause me to collide with the vehicle in front of me? In retrospect, I have consumed countless hours thinking about that and replaying the scene hundreds of times in my mind. I distinctly remember my car drifting ahead slightly as I was stopped in traffic. I reacted by applying my brakes to stop the forward movement but for some reason my foot hit the accelerator instead. Helplessly, I increased the pressure on what I thought was the brake pedal, but the acceleration continued and "bang". Game over! As simple as that...The oddest feeling in the world! How was such a mishap possible? I always prided myself in safe/defensive driving.

Eventually I recalled reading somewhere a survey determining that older drivers are more likely to experience "pedal confusion" and the unintended acceleration of their vehicles than younger motorists. And that obviously is what happened to me...There is no other explanation.

Apparently there have been thousands of cases of accidents occurring when drivers hit the gas but are convinced they are applying the brakes and researchers believe it is the result of a glitch in our sensory motor response.

In search of substantiating information, I had to pursue the subject further when I got home later in the day.

“There’s always a degree of error in the actions we undertake,” explained Luc Tremblay, associate professor and associate dean of research at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology. His area of expertise is multi-sensory integration.

“So in this particular case, if the receptors in your leg are interpreting your foot on the brake, you cannot think you’re actually on the gas pedal. You think the car is not responding to you pressing the brake and you end up pressing even harder on the gas because it feels like the foot is on the brake pedal.”

“Then the panic takes over and this is a whole other psychological aspect,” he added.

Tremblay said when we age our senses, like vision and hearing, diminish as do the receptors in our limbs, muscles and tendons.

"They don’t provide the same signals as the elastic properties of the limbs are changing, such that the feedback you’re getting from your leg moving is not the same anymore, so you are not as accurate and the inputs your brain is getting are not the same." (You will no doubt have to read that paragraph at least one more time in order to fully understand it.)

He said when we reach for cup of coffee and thrust our arm forward, we have the visual assistance to grasp it correctly, but in the case of using our leg on the gas and brake pedals we’re operating our limbs without visual assistance so there’s more chance for error.

“In the case of driving, you’re going to move your limbs towards one pedal versus the other, but there’s going to be variability in the initial trajectory and we see the variability in the initial trajectory on older adults is greater than younger individuals.”

Tremblay also pointed out that because the left hemisphere of our brain controls the movement of the right side of our bodies, and vice-versa, the 10 per cent of the population that is left handed, and therefore has left foot dominance, would be better at driving with the use of their left legs. How interesting!...Especially since I'm a lefty.

In all honesty, I feel that I'm a little too old to start driving with my left leg...It would just add to the potential for further pedal confusion for me.

Knowing what I now know about this unusual driving phenomenon, I just have to be more alert when I'm behind the wheel of my car, having my wits about me and being more purposeful and deliberate in all my driving habits. Think, think, think!!!

And remember what the f--- happened to me before...Never letting it happen again!

There is also another option which is inevitable for all 80-plus senior drivers. But for now we won't go down that road.

God just help me get through the coming six weeks of three-hour trips to the London Cancer Centre for radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

Meantime friends, think of what happened to me every time you put your foot on the brake pedal of your car. It may just help save you from an unfortunate accident.

Human Imagination Can Change the World

Thoughts gleaned from poet, essaist, and Zen Buddhist priest Norman Fischer in his new book "The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path." I'm totally on board.

The imagination is powerful. It creates its own self-validating truth strong enough to effect inner and outer transformation. The Bible and other religious texts, folktales, myths, rhymes, poems, plays, novels, anecdotes, music, ritual, pictures, dreams — all imaginative productions rise up from the unconscious to expand the soul, to help us feel who we really are and what the world really is.

Imagination isn’t an escape from reality. Imagination deepens and enriches reality, adding texture, depth, dimension, feeling, and possibility.

The 21st century is busy and rough. For privileged people with demanding careers, social lives, families, and myriad interests, life is better than it has ever been. But it is also more difficult, more stressful and demanding. The possibilities for growth and accomplishment are dizzying: One must be more, know more, experience more, have more fun — and all of this at an ever-accelerating rate. It is hard to catch a breath.

The imagination doesn’t measure, devise, or instrumentalize. Its nature is to open, to mystify, to delight, shock, inspire.

For the majority of people, who do not enjoy such great expectations, the daily struggle to survive in ever more trying social and economic circumstances is relentless. The top 10% of the world’s population owns 90% of the wealth, leaving the other 90% scrambling to get by. More and more people simply cannot manage.

Privileged or not, we are all aware of the world beyond our households through the now ubiquitous news media, which has become our collective nervous system, twitching our attention with constant jolts of true and false information about political, environmental, economic, and social problems. This becomes the stuff of our psyches and our conversations. What will the future bring? What’s the world going to be like for our children and grandchildren? Will there be a world? Dread fills the air. Sometimes we feel it; mostly we don’t let ourselves feel it. It’s too much. What can we really do about it?

I concur with author Norman Fischer's conviction that the world could be, and actually is, otherwise — that its possibilities aren’t limited to the tangible, the knowable, the negotiable, to the data we are constantly collecting about practically everything measurable.

Data gives us the illusion that we know the world. But the world is more than we know. The imagination doesn’t measure, devise, or instrumentalize. It doesn’t define or manipulate. Instead, its nature is to open, to mystify, to delight, shock, inspire. It extends without limit. It leaps from the known to the unknown, soaring beyond facts to visions and intensities. It lightens up the heavy circumscribed world we think we live in. It plays in the deep end, where heart and love hold sway.

Spiritual practice is one of the key sites of imagination. Like Fischer, I don’t see a big distinction between spirituality and religion, as many do these days. To me, spiritual practice is simply authentic religion, connected to observance and experience, beyond ideology and belief. I realize this view is unusual. Many people in our time, having been brought up without any religion, naturally feel religion is weird, unnecessary, and old-fashioned. Many others shy away from religion because they were raised within a religious atmosphere that seemed dedicated to scaring them out of anything risky, joyful, or open, keeping them safely on the straight and narrow.

At its depth, this is not what religion is supposed to be doing. Religion is supposed to help us live more completely within our human imagination. In doing this, it provides a counterforce to the gravity of a human world that has always been full of trouble and strife. Karl Marx famously called religion the opiate of the people. But he also called it “the heart of a heartless world.”

Even at its worst, religion has a glowing coal of wildness hidden in its contemplative, mystical side — in texts, teachings, practices, and experiences that come from the uncharted expanses of the human imagination, religion’s heart and soul. The word “spiritual” evokes this essential and powerful side of religious life, the source of creativity, the spring from which the dreamers and visionaries of the world drink. I choose to retain the word and the idea of religion because despite their many sins, the great religions of the world contain a wealth of lore, languages, practices, and rituals that we can’t afford to jettison now, when we need them more than ever.

CURIOSITY OVER OLD BOOKMARK OPENS UP AMAZING STORY OF ARCHIBALD W. DINGMAN

There is a lot of history wrapped up in a seven-by-two-inch bookmark nestled in the pages of a 155-year-old family heirloom book "Life of Abraham Lincoln" resting on one of my bookshelves, along with a prized collection of other antique publications that have come into my possession over the years.

The mint-condition bookmark, featuring a young Victorian girl with beautiful long blond hair (see photos), was a marketing piece produced by Dingman's Electrical Soap Company of Toronto in 1885. Coincidentally, there are still a few copies of the bookmark in private collections and currently priced on eBay at $25.98.

On the reverse side of the bookmark is an interesting message in language of the day, extolling the merits of Dingman's soap products and headed Pennywise and Poundfoolish: "Buying poor cheap soaps to do the washing with -- to save a cent! and spending pounds in medicine to restore your energies Wasted on Wash Day. You will save not only pennies and pounds, but your health by using DINGMAN'S ELECTRIC SOAP which actually does the washing itself if you will only give it It's Way."

It would seem that the company was an extemely aggressive promoter, at times pre-occupied with the competition, as seen below in another Dignman ad.

The founder of the soap company was Archibald Wayne (Archie) Dingman who had a way of making things run and making money from running them. Born into a large United Empire Loyalists family, he left his home near Picton, ON to work in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. He then settled in Toronto in the early 1880's, where he founded the aforementioned soap factory under the name Pugsley, Dingman Company Ltd. When the soap business proved profitable, Dingman began investing in other promising ventures. He was a founder and General Manager of the Scarboro Electric Railway, partnering with noted members of the business elite, Henry Pellatt (builder of Casa Loma), brewer Robert Davies and financier John Starks. The electric rail venture opened up Kingston Road to bedroom community development and earned Dingman his second fortune.

"Archie" Dingman

A Venue for “Respectable” Society: It was 1893 when Dingman completed the building of a Toronto landmark, Dingman’s Hall. He envisioned it as the way station of choice for travellers on his electric rail line, at the edge of the booming city. More than a hotel, he envisioned an event venue and salon. His clientele included the most respectable of stolid Empire social clubs – the Orange Lodge, Sons of Scotland and Maids of England.

The Heritage Toronto building has undergone numerous upgrades over the years but still stands proudly on the northwest corner of Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue in Toronto's east end.

The site was built for $25,000 in 1891. The Romanesque Revival building, was the tallest on the east side of the Don River. In its early years, it featured a the Canadian Bank of Commerce branch on the ground floor, professional offices on middle floors, and grand halls on the upper levels.

The Royal Canadian Bicycle Club was perhaps the tenant that gave Archie the greatest pride. The club had been formed from the Canadian Volunteers, a decorated militia whose regimental name was attached to a 100-member, all-male athletic group at Dingman’s Hall, eventually becoming a winter sport and curling club. The Toronto Evening Star approved of their facilities at Dingman’s Hall: “The club parlours are upholstered and furnished in the best of style and the pictures of the winning teams decorate the walls. A padded boxing room, a pool room, a card room, a smoking room, a reading room and a first class gymnasium are among the attractions.” In later years the club would focus exclusively on curling and move across Broadview in 1907 to become today’s Royal Canadian Curling Club at 131 Broadview.

Click to enlarge image.

By 1900, Archie Dingman was growing restless. He’d certainly won at soap manufacturing. His electric rail ventures had stalled as the 1890s economy softened. Perhaps he just wasn’t cut out to slide into retirement as a middling player in the hospitality sector. Maybe event space management wasn’t enough of a challenge. For whatever reason, when his soap factory burned down in 1902, rather than rebuild, he pulled up stakes at age 52 and moved to Alberta. There were reports of oil slicks forming on the surface of Sheep Creek and Dingman was intrigued by the fact that the Rockefellers of Pennsylvania were already making a fortune there.

In Alberta, Dingman formed the Calgary Natural Gas Company, and successfully drilled and supplied gas on a modest scale to local businesses. But he really struck pay dirt in 1913 and 1914 when he formed Calgary Petroleum Products Company, recruited young R.B. Bennett (future Prime Minister) and his senior law partner, James A. Lougheed (grandfather of former Premier Peter Lougheed), as investors, and drilled the Dingman 1 oil well at Leduc that launched the Alberta Oil Patch. 

Today Archibald W. Dingman is primarily remembered as providing the foundation for Canada’s oil industry in Alberta. He had great faith in the promise of the province, commenting in 1930 that he was confident that a great future awaited the oil industry in Alberta, and Turner Valley was just one of the many structures in which large quantities of oil would be found.

Dingman died 1937, 11 years before the Leduc No. 1 well would launch the modern petroleum age. But his persistence and entrepreneurial attitude set the standard for all that have followed.

Amazing what you will find with a little digging!

Dingman was truly a remarkable man who seems to have passed under the radar in Canadian history for the most part. I'm kind of glad that I have been able to put some relevant pieces together, thanks to an old bookmark that sparked my curiosity...Stories like this intrigue me and keep me coming back for more.

And oh, by the way -- about that Abraham Lincoln history, authored by Dr. J. G. Holland...It was entered according to Act of Congress, USA, in 1865 by Publisher Gurdon Bill in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. My first-print edition was included in the estate of a great aunt, Fannie Pike (1856-1940) of Strathroy, ON and subsequently left to my parents by her brother, (my grandfather) Nelson Perry, in 1950.

NOTE: Especially significant for me was finding a pencilled label glued by my father Ken Wright on Page 423 of the Lincoln history (circa 1940) making note of the famous Gettysburg Address delivered by President Lincoln, November 19, 1863 at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Pennsylvania (location of the horrific Battle of Gettysburg at the end of the American Civil War).

Broadview Hotel (formerly Dingman's Hall),
as photographed in 1945.

TILLSONBURG BAT MAKER HEADED TO THE MAJORS

Trevor Oakes trying out his new baseball bat lathe.

TILLSONBURG, ONT. -- When Trevor Oakes quit his factory job at Toyota to focus on making baseball bats full time, he had a five-year plan to make it to ‘the show.’ He expedited that process, accomplishing his dream in three years.

Trevor's company, ABO Baseball was recently approved as an Major League Baseball bat supplier. "We received a letter via email last Tuesday from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's office and it congratulated us on making the cut," Oakes explained.

After speaking with CTV News Tuesday, he was jumping in his truck and heading to Madison, Wis. He needed to be there Wednesday for mandatory MLB wood training.

Already selling his bats worldwide, he thinks getting approval for big league players to use his bats in games is a difference maker. "It will scale us to be a top bat maker in Canada and in North America," adds Oakes. "This will help gain exposure, and then people will know who we are."

He gained local notoriety last year, when Intercounty London Majors' slugger Cleveland Brownlee had a few custom bats made for charity. One of them was a bat painted like Spiderman which was sold and the proceeds donated to the Children's Health Foundation.

This week, a brand new lathe arrived at his shop. It will help him produce his maple and birch bats in six to eight minutes, and the robot will be able to mass produce, replicating a large number of bats

"Instead of making 10-20 bats in a day, we can do that 10-20 in a couple hours. Our goal is to punch out 50-100 in a day."

Oakes started ABO Baseball in a shop at his house and he named the company after the initials of his kids.

He's since opened a facility in Tillsonburg housing his shop, batting cages, and an indoor MLB simulator. He says he's the only one west of Kitchener who offers this program.

In just three weeks, he'll pack his bats and head to Florida and Arizona for Major League spring training camps. He'll set up tables at the stadiums and give the players a chance to feel and swing his products, maybe even give them a test in batting cages.

He's dreaming big with the ultimate goal of making his Tillsonburg workshop a tourist destination. "The goal is to be a mini-factory and a bat producer which will put our name on the map."

"People can come hit and see the MLB bats that are made right here in this little factory."

There's more than one way for a Canadian to make the Major Leagues and there's every reason for all Canucks to be proud of Keven Oakes' entrepreneurial achievment.

Birch wood waits to be carved into baseball bats at ABO Baseball in Tillsonburg, ON.

CHURCH TEACHING HAS FAILED TODAY'S YOUTH

The Sunday School of my memory.

When some of us think of Sunday school, we envision a group of children in child-size chairs listening to an adult read a Bible story. Behind them is a bulletin board filled with maps of the Holy Land and the children’s art work, with a chart on the wall boasting lines of gold stars for each child’s attendance. Everyone colors in a workbook and can’t wait to take home the handout that the teacher distributes. The reality is much more varied and uncertain. Regretful even.

Not long ago, I delivered a sermon on an increased need to impress our young people with the merits of living a life based on Christian principles, going so far as to call on grandparents and other close relatives to pick up the slack. I fear the dissertation was noted more for its length than for the rather protracted message.

Nevertheless, I have been struck with the realization that in churches (and too few Christian homes) across the world, we have been teaching kids about their faith" backwards", as one observer has expressed it. Quite frankly, it is a common mistake.

Through Bible parables, songs, and verses a great deal of time has been spent teaching children about Jesus, the prophets, and the disciples. But sadly, the essentials of the Christian faith often get neglected, or take a back seat to an emphasis on the recitation of stories coupled with fun and games.

Kids can attend Sunday school for years and still come up with questions like, “How do I pray?” and “Why should I pray when God already knows everything?" "How do I know that everything in the Bible is true?”

As church attendance declines, we see a parallel decrease in children’s participation in Sunday schools and educational programming. The heartbreaking result: The majority of Christian children today walk away from church involvement before they leave high school. They see no relevancy and become bored with the repetition of it all.

In reality and at the end of the day, children should be learning to understand the living God and the fundamentals of how to relate to Him...1) how to talk to God in prayer, 2) how to hear God's messages, 3) how to develop a relationship with Christ, and 4) how to live as a Christian in an increasingly secular world.

It is all about building a foundation on which faith can grow through life. And you know what? In my experience it has been surprising how agreeable kids always are to listening to meaningful messages relating to God in their lives.

To their credit, several faith organizations have actually recognized teaching shortcomings and are developing lessons for children that address the long-standing deficiency. Hopefully such measures will fill the cracks, albeit too little too late for many of our millennials who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Kids do not always need to be entertained any more than they need to be "talked to". They do, however, react to learning challenges, inspiration and encouragement. Trouble is, we have arrived at a point where there is an associated declining number of committed adults serving as youth leaders, teaching and setting Christian examples for our kids, especially in smaller communities. It has become a Catch 22.

In fact, a growing number of churches have no programming for children. Some carefully integrate the children’s interests and needs into the Sunday worship service itself. Other aging churches have few or no young families present in their congregation and hence, a degree of vitality has been lost.

And while the reasons for this are nuanced and complex, there is no doubt that part of the blame falls on the church’s, perhaps innocent inability to highlight the beauty and truth of Christ’s call to discipleship in ways that resonate with young people.

Sorry, but I do not have faith in a reversal of this trend any time soon. I have exhausted alternatives in my time and have only to wait it out, praying for a shift in spiritual attitudes and the prevailing of God's will on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Granted, this is a sad commentary on the state of the world we live in today.

Church has become uncool for the younger generation! Maybe there is a better way and it will surface with the next generation. Some of us will never know.

I hesitate to get any more long-winded on this subject...I've been there and done that!

One has to be cognizant of attention spans --- and other priorities in life, especially when on a soap box or standing behind a pulpit on a Sunday morning.

ATTENTION SUMMER VISITORS: SAND DUNES ARE VITAL TO LAKE HURON WATER LEVELS

When I lived on Miramichi Bay 20 years ago there was a 60-foot beech at this exact spot. ~~ Photos by Sandy Lindsay, Saugeen Times

Mother Nature knows what she is doing, short-sighted humans who occupy her earthly space -- not so much!

I came to that conclusion after reading a report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which monitors Great Lakes water levels. Lake Huron will apparently reach an all-time high this June. Lakes Michigan and Huron will start 2020 at slightly over 25cm (11 inches) higher than water levels the same time last year (January/19).

“The latest forecast extends into March, and for the most part, levels are going to be on-par with or above where they were at the same time last year,” said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit. “Lakes Michigan and Huron are an inch or less off their 100-year highs.”

Officials predict Lake Huron will read 177.58 centimetres in June, surpassing the previous record of 177.5 cm in October of 1986. More than 1,000 structures sit in an erosion danger zone along the shores of Lake Huron. Of those, 700 are in Huron and Bruce counties and out of interest I view the rising level of the water every day that I visit the post office in Southampton, a few hundred yards from the shrinking shoreline beach in Southampton.

While communities, including Goderich are attempting to stop rising water levels from decimating its beaches by shoring up with armour stone, the Lake Huron Coastal Conservation Centre (LHCCC), says that one of the best remedies is to allow beaches to create dunes through plantings. Summer visitors to the area, of course, do not understand such conservation initiatives and wrongly think that the municipalty is letting beaches "go to pot".

According to the Action Plan, “As coastal communities grow and change, focus is needed on maintaining ecosystem function, wildlife populations, adapting to climate change and maintaining water quality. This will require environmental restoration, protection, and enhancement to ensure the vitality of these ecosystems, and the surrounding communities. Significant regional threats to Lake Huron’s biodiversity and water quality, including pollution, shoreline development and alteration, invasive species, and climate change create risks to the health of coastal ecosystems … From removing hardened shoreline structures on private property, to embarking on reforestation projects; collaboration, communication, and proactive planning are the tools that will allow us to become resilient and sustainable, together.”

Frank Burrows: The necessity of sand dunes.

Frank Burrows, Saugeen Shores Manager of Parks, recently explained the process of beach ecology.

“Our waterfront is divided into zones and not all zones are handled the same,” said Burrows. “Each is dependent on usage and the integrity of the area. When it comes to dunes, removing them will destroy a beach as the waterfront is ecologically complicated and fragile. While some people like beaches left natural and that provide habitat for wildlife, others want the beach groomed. It’s a real balancing act.”

He pointed out that Port Elgin Beach in particular suffered because of its lack of dunes and, as a result, is a very wet beach. Planting the right grasses help to retain the sand the would be lost through wind erosion. “With our recent rising water levels, we have to be especially cognizant of protecting our beaches by helping them to create dunes.”

It will be interesting to see how this reality settles with proponents of a multi-million dollar development designed to attract visitors to the main beach at Port Elgin -- buildings, pavement vs. sand dunes and Indian grass.

Burrows said that during low water levels, vegetation begins to grow and, if removed with heavy equipment, it destroys the beach as the root systems are eliminated and they are what holds the sand. “Unfortunately, some people take matters into their own hands but the public lands should be respected. Sand has a cycle that provides sustainability. Wind creates sand migration and, again, dunes with grasses help prevent that. However, high water levels actually drag the sand out creating sand bars. Most beaches were created during the ice age so, once sand is lost, it never comes back.”

He also explained that each beach is different. “Southampton with its dunes is very different than the wet Port Elgin beach that has been heavily groomed. “Along the multi-use shoreline trail, we have had to shore it up with stone but even that doesn’t stop the erosion,” said Burrows. “In Southampton, Captain Spence Trail has been almost entirely lost.” (see photo below)

He added that a lot of run-off in the spring can result in trees and logs, particularly north of the Saugeen River, being washed up on shore. “While some people don’t like it, it is actually a measure of protection against erosion and also provides habitat for wildlife. 

 Also, along the beaches, often there will be what appears as black sludge. All it is, in reality, is vegetation that washes up on shore and it is filled with nutrients. "We try to keep on top of it with manually raking but it is a part of nature," Burrow added.

It goes without saying that we have to be careful in messing with Mother Nature. In thousands of years of civilization, the conflict between humankind and Nature has never been as serious as it is today. The depletion, deterioration and exhaustion of resources and the worsening ecological environment in general have become bottlenecks and grave impediments to our economic and social development.

THE "ODD"YSSEY OF FUTURE LIVING

"A Space Odyssey" is an epic 1968 science fiction film which follows a voyage to Jupiter with the sentient computer HAL after the discovery of a featureless alien monolith affecting human evolution. It dealt with mind-boggling themes like existentialism, human evolution, technology, artificial inteligence and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The production is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery receiving diverse critical responses ranging from those who saw it as darkly apocalyptic in tone to those who saw it as an optimistic reappraisal of the hopes of humanity. The film garnered a cult following and became the highest-grossing North American film of 1968. It was nominated for four Academy Awards.

A Space Odyssey seemed like a far-off and mind-blowingly, amazing depiction of the future. In some ways, like flying cars, we’re still a ways off but a whole range of other innovations, such as smart home technology, eco-friendly dwellings and video calling, indicate that we are actually right in the middle of it.

Here, according to a recent exhibit at the Design Museum in London, are a few future living trends that will be part of our lives in 2020 and beyond:

Living with others: With the cost of real estate and renting so high in big cities like London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto, many are opting to pool their resources and buy or rent larger homes than they might otherwise be able to do alone. Some banks are even customizing mortgages to adapt to this new reality. Others are opting for co-living, smaller apartments similar to student residences, where renters share common spaces like gyms, work lounges with free Wi-Fi, utilities and housekeeping.

Living with less: While co-living also falls under the category, this also includes trends like down-sizing your home and living with less clutter as well as reusing and sharing items. For instance, Turo is a car-sharing company that allows private car owners to rent their vehicles to others when they’re not using them and make money in the process.

Living smart: Many of us are already familiar with smart home technology like smart thermostats that save energy and money and smart doorbells allow you to monitor who’s at your door 24/7. Megaretailers like Amazon and Walmart are also experimenting with services like auto-delivery where groceries are delivered right to your fridge and freezer or technology that sends out alerts to restock your milk or ice cream when it’s running low.

Some “digital nomads” are even ditching a permanent home altogether and opting to travel full-time, working from wherever they are. Others are retiring on cruise ships, which researchers have determined to cost less than living in an assisted living facility. 

All very interesting, but...I dunno!

For now, I think that I will settle for living the best in-the-moment life within my means and let nature take its course with my hands on the wheel. That way you never know where you’ll end up – and that’s the best part of the future.

DARE TO THINK: THE ART OF CULTIVATING INNER JUDGEMENT

It is a complex and wonderful world that we all live in, deserving serious understanding and rationalization at some period of our lives. In that respect, and after deep soul-searching and considerable honest self-analysis, I have arrived at the aforesaid.

Not a day goes by that I am not enlightened in some way shape or form, particularly in recent weeks in my struggle with a major health issue and the ramifications.  Results: I am left with an overriding sense of awe and respect, complicated by humility and the reality of how little I know about a lot of things.

Consider, for instance, a few of the amasing individuals who have/are currently facilitating me in my small, insignificant and somewhat needy world.

-- Countless health care professionals (doctors, nurses, specialists) in whom I place my well-being and faith. I follow their direction and counsel because I accept the fact that they are fully educated and trained in their field and know better than me what is ultimately in my best interests. I bow and I follow.

-- I have gained special appreciation too for several good souls from the Canadian Cancer Society's Wheels of Hope volunteer program who I rely on to drive me to hospital appointments. One is a former Warden of Grey County and Mayor of the Township of Georgian Bluffs who has dedicated himself to helping others in his retirement. Imagine, a well-respected local politician driving me to appointments out of the goodness of his heart and you wonder about my humility?

-- Another Wheels of Hope volunteer driver is a retired nuclear engineer, of all things. Ashley's background is truly impressive and he talks generally in terms that go completely over my head. Our worlds came together not through his knowledge of nuclear energy, but through his benevolence.

-- In recent months, as a sidelined lay preacher, I have worked closely with a church co-op moderator who just happens to have a Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in the area of Congregational Redevelopment and Trinitarian Theology. He also has a Master of Theology from Union Presbyterian Seminary in New Testament and Pauline Studies; Master of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary; Bachelor of Science from Eastern Mennonite University in Biblical Studies and Theology, Christian Ministries, and Religion and Philosophy. Compare all that to a pitiful certificate in lay ministry that gave me a license to facilitate pulpit-fill requirements in churches with pastoral vacancies. Rev. Randy continues to be a source of support and spiritual inspiration.

What I am getting at here is that the core ethos of life has always been humane and it has taken my health setback to underline that for me. When asked what Enlightenment meant to him, one of the great philosophers of all time, Immanuel Kant, said the following:

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) “Have the courage to use your own understanding,” is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.”

More than anything, the Enlightenment was an exercise in unconstrained collective thinking, with a process in place to give the best ideas their shot at meritocratic victories.

Today, we almost take for granted this whole way of existing. We are born into it, and we trust it by default. We forget that it wasn’t always like this. We broadly understand that science is useful and important and can tell us a lot about how the world works. We also value reason. We know that evidence is better than no evidence, and logic beats most kinds of inconsistencies.

There is, however, an important way in which most of us don’t always apply Kant’s call to action. When it comes to our sense of self, on the personal and the individual level, it seems that we would rather bind ourselves to this nonage that he speaks of rather than working up the courage to know. Perhaps what I’m getting at is just a deeply ingrained aspect of human nature, and we are all bound to it no matter what we do, but perhaps, then, his reminder to know for ourselves is more important than ever.

Much of our learning is done through cultural transmission. Every person we interact with gives a piece of themselves to us. Our families instill values in us. Our teachers and our mentors dish out platitudes. Our society, at large, tells us what is okay to believe and what is not. And for the most part, we don’t even think twice about these things. In fact, we even celebrate them as forms of wisdom. But how, then, is this any different from the world that Kant and Isaac Newton hailed from where the authority of the state and the Churches dictated our thoughts and preferences?

The only difference between today and then is that certain kinds of thoughts aren’t a crime. You can’t get in trouble for having them. But culture conditions us all of the time, often on a deeply subconscious level, often without us even realizing that that’s the case. It does so most obviously when we ask for advice, for example, and it does so a little more subtly when we take the results of a scientific study listing averages and try to apply that generalized answer to our non-average life.

Internet culture is a screaming example of this. Everywhere, people are looking for solutions. They want to know this...They want to know that. And the core truth, of course, is that it’s a great place to look for anything. In no small part due to the extended influence of the Enlightenment, the Internet contains our collective knowledge, and much of this knowledge is valuable if you learn to filter sense from nonsense. But the problem, it seems, is that most people come looking for prescriptions. They want advice. They want to fill holes. They want to know 10 things they should do to become successful. They want to read because, apparently, that’s what other smart people do. In short, they want to know everything without actually thinking about it.

To be clear, the fact that the Internet has made knowledge widely accessible or that much of it is prescriptive isn’t the issue. In fact, learning from that knowledge is one of the greatest competitive advantages anyone can give themselves today. The problem is that most people use that knowledge as a shortcut, a prescription, themselves. They ignore their own individuality, its deeply personal experience, and the intuitive judgment their body has developed over time in favor of something that was learned by someone else’s thinking. 

Zat Rana is a top writer in culture, psychology, life lessons, life and self improvement. He suggests that as a rule, if you apply some sort of knowledge into your own life without understanding the deeper thinking patterns that led to the creation of that knowledge, you are not living your own life. And it might work here and there, but sooner or later, you are going to run into a wall, and nobody is going to be able to save you but your own ability to solve that problem with your own personal thinking patterns.

"I have never had a mentor. I can’t even say that I have ever even had a formal teacher who taught me anything useful. Perhaps I was too arrogant (maybe lazy, or a dreamer) in my formative years to listen to the older, wiser folk in my life, folk of experience and knowledge, mistakenly thinking that I had nothing to learn from their advice. But more recently, I’ve begun to realize that while my surface-level arrogance was indeed wrong, the deeper judgment that led to that core distrust of anyone with advice to offer was not."

Almost every living person has some sort of wisdom in them that I lack. I generally believe that. But every single person also occupies a distinct universe shaped by their own mental models of reality, a universe that has different events and people and ideas in it, a universe held together by a different version of language and its interacting patterns. And I might be able to learn something from them by simply observing their actions or even from something they say, but only if that act or that thought inspires some unique thinking patterns in myself. Otherwise, I don’t learn. I only imitate.

Naturally, many of our personal universes interact and intersect, which obviously means that there is shared wisdom that can work for me pretty much in exactly the same way as it did for someone else. Most cliches are generally cliches because they are broadly agreed upon, and many of them fall under this category. But even then, all of us are on distinct time lines. While a general nugget of advice or knowledge might at some point become relevant to my life like it was to someone else’s, the tempo and rhythm of my life are different to that of anyone else’s. Even in such cases, it’s only my own thinking patterns and their discoveries that are going to close that gap.

Sapere aude was Kant’s chant for the Enlightenment. Dare to know. As does Zat Rana, I prefer a slightly edited version: Dare to think. Collectively, we already know a lot, and we have a good system in place to help us know more. Individually, as separate beings, however, many of us still have a long way to go, and just “knowing” things through silent consumption and blind conditioning isn’t enough. We also have to think about them—to understand them in our own language patterns, understand them as if we ourselves discovered them.

And ultimately do the best with what we have discovered and what God has given us along the way, in spite of warts and wrinkles. A penchant for Enlightenment has gotten me this far in life and I do not take that lightly. I have new appreciation for the individuality of others and what they have to contribute in the form of inspiration when I am open to it. I am an admitted sponge much of the time.

Illusions of youth have long passed me by. I have become a realist! I am still learning that I do not have to apologize for being me. I am what I am...A product of my environment; often a contradiction, ignoring limitations, living my own life and boldly seeking purpose and fulfillment to the bitter end. 

God help me!

AGENDAS IN LIFE?...WE NEED ONLY ONE

What follows are notes from the last church sermon that I prepared but never got to deliver.

The word AGENDA is a noun, formally a plural of agendum, but usually used as a singular with plural a·gen·das or a·gen·da. The dictionary meaning of agenda is: "a list, plan, outline, or the like, of things to be done, matters to be acted or voted upon, etc."

I think that we can all agree that we are living in an agenda-driven society, most evident in politics and business today where we have plans and causes all over the place. That's a given.

But when you stop to think about it, this phenomena does not begin or end there.

Personal agendas, ah yes, we all have a few. They very much influence our lives too, consciously or unconsciously.

With the exception of printed agendas for the conduct of meetings, generally agendas are not always so visible and upfront. 

We all have hidden agendas in our relationships with people especially. Sometimes the agenda is as simple as our need to be liked. At other times it has to do with a business deal or an important favor we want. It would be naive to think that we could or should never take an agenda into a relationship, but we ought at least to be aware of it when we’re doing it.

In most of Jesus’ relationships with people, he didn’t have a hidden agenda. His only agenda was love, and that was worn on his sleeve. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). On another occasion he said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends” (John 15:13-14).

Most people are looking for favors, but Jesus was looking for a cross. 
-- Most people are trying to get something, but Jesus was trying to give something. 
-- Most people are harsh with others so they themselves will look better, but Jesus was harsh so that others might have it better. 
-- Most people are looking for acceptance, but Jesus was looking to accept.

Author Leighton Ford wrote once about a man who rented billboards all over Northern Ireland and put this message on them: I love you. Is that OK? Signed "Jesus".

That’s it.

Did you ever think that a Christian is a person who should have no agenda except Christ? I know. That’s hard, maybe even nearly impossible, but I believe that is what we are called to aspire to. 

I don’t mean by this that we should have no plans or that we should always be “religious” or “spiritual.” I mean that a Christian, recognizing that Christ is the King, doesn’t have to manipulate or coerce or shout or beat people over the head about anything. We are His property, paid for at a very high price. 

We do, of course, have agendas. It would be impossible to live without one.

Did you hear about the man who lived in India and was required to take a rather long train trip to another city? He had his most valuable belongings packed in a suitcase which he placed in the rack above his seat. He told himself that it was important he stay awake to keep track of that suitcase. But during the night, for only a couple of minutes, he closed his eyes and dozed off. 

When he opened his eyes and looked up, someone had stolen his suitcase. To his amazement, he was relieved. “Thank God,” he exclaimed out loud, “now I can go to sleep!”

It is like we have placed our important stuff in a suitcase. It is called the pearl of great price. “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46). 

You know, the best part of all this is that a Christian agenda is always love. Within the context of His agenda, we will find forgiveness (when we fail and promote our own agenda), meaning (when we are looking for a reason to keep going), acceptance (when things don’t turn out the way we expect), and a promise that in the end we will arrive safely Home.

There, now, don’t you feel better?

Just for a moment consider : 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 where the Apostle Paul preached to his people with simplicity and power...

"And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

With all of the foregoing in mind, reflect on your relationships—with family, friends, co-workers and those at church. Are you carrying any hidden agendas into those relationships? Why? 

This will not be the most profound message that you've ever heard delivered from a pulpit, but that too is reality.