Sunday Superposition
Edition #24: Love and work, psychedelics and brain injury, vampire black holes, and more
Sunday Superposition is an end-of-the-week collection of spiritual themes and stuff I find interesting.
Learn to love what must be done
The spiritual theme this week is love and work.
One thing social media is very good at is promoting the idea of going after what you want, including your pleasures, your passions, and your “life’s work.” It’s fine to have aspirations, but we're not always masters of our circumstances. And 99% of us will never be in a position where we only do the things we love.
As I make my way through a weekend packed with mundane obligations, I think of this quote
Cease endlessly striving for what you would like to do and learn to love what must be done." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I do agree to some extent with Buddhists that suffering comes from attachment to desire. That doesn't mean I'm going to rid myself of all desires—even unfulfillable ones—but if I constantly hang on to the things I want to do but can't, I'll be miserable.
Some of the things I want to do but can't I hand over to Christ, in whom all my wants and needs will eventually be fulfilled. Other things can just be dropped in favor of reordering my heart.
I’m immersed in housecleaning, laundry, and preparatory cooking this weekend, as well as lectures to write and homework to grade. Not what I’d like to be doing. I'd rather be painting, taking walks, and watching movies.
But rather than be unhappy about my circumstances, I'm working on shifting my paradigm, which can be the difference between misery and joy. My circumstances will remain the same either way.
Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. —Proverbs 16:3
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. —Colossians 3:23-24
Sunday Science Smorgasbord
This Powerful Psychedelic Shows Promise for Relieving Traumatic Brain Injury: Scientists are exploring use of the psychedelic drug ibogaine in treating traumatic brain injury and PTSD in veterans. One study found a marked improvement in depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation immediately following treatment, and continued improvement one month later.
We’re finally working out why the Mediterranean diet (MD) is so good for us: The MD has been known to be a healthy diet for a long time now, but researchers are still not entirely clear on why. A few things are certain, however: the lack of sugary and ultra-processed foods, relatively high amounts of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO; a must for the MD), and an emphasis on vegetables and fruits. There are indications that the MD can be adapted to include foods of other regions, with the exception of EVOO—that is a key component of the MD.
Vampire black hole is a ‘cosmic particle accelerator’ that may solve a longstanding astronomy mystery: The Earth is bombarded by cosmic rays all the time, but where they come from is not entirely clear. These particles from outer space are far more energetic than the insanely fast particles physicists slam together at the Large Hadron Collider. Astrophysicists are beginning to collect evidence that ‘micro-quasars’—black holes vampirically sucking the atmospheres off of companion stars—may be responsible for at least some of the cosmic rays hitting the Earth.
(You're not on Facebook?)