I had to laugh the other day. My son Ben paid me a complement in one way, but also observed something that I took very seriously in another way. “You sure seem to like to use a lot of big words, it sounds like you write your blog with a thesaurus sitting next to you.” I took his compliment/criticism very seriously because I have always prided myself on using words and illustrations that were accessible to everyone. Back in my days as a Chiropractor, I truly prided myself on not using the big ten dollar medical words and instead, tried to use the most basic of language to help my patients understand why they were experiencing the pain that they were having. The only time I ever used expressions like, “You have posterior movement of the vertebral body caused by a defect in the pars interarticularus which is resulting in neurothelipsis and sciatic neuralgia,” is when I had to write reports for insurance companies, and too be honest I am not sure that they understood either, but the bigger the words the more likely they were to pay the insurance claim.
I was always much more comfortable explaining to a patient that they had a bone in their low back that had slipped backward slightly and was pinching on the nerve that went down their leg. I always liked using the illustration which compared the pressure on the nerve to someone standing on a dogs tail, the dog is going to yelp and bark and make all kinds of noise, and although you can certainly put a muzzel on the dog, that won't take care of the cause of the problem, or you could give the dog a shot so that he won't feel the pain, but that won't solve the problem either, the only way to fix the problem is to take the foot off the tail, and the only way to fix the pain in the leg is to take the pressure off of the nerve in the back. This always seemed easier for people to understand than the neurothlipsis/sciatic neuralgia stuff.
Anyway, sometimes words can be a challenge for me. I really do live in two different worlds, the world of seminary/ academia and the real world with all of the people that I care about. Let me try to give you an example of the difference between the two worlds. I mentioned in an earlier post about the emphasis on Spirituality that my classes seem to have this semester. I just finished writing a one page response to the question, What is Christian Spirituality? which I have shared below. In that response is a quote that I have higlighted and would like you to pay attention to by Sandra M. Schneider, who is a prominent expert in the area of Spirituality and I think that you will see that she puts my neurothlipsis/sciatic wording to shame.
Definition of Christian Spirituality
On the surface the assignment seemed so simple, “Provide a brief definition of Christian Spirituality.” How difficult could that possibly be? As I began to filter though the readings as well as outside sources, I quickly discovered that there is no single, simple, all encompassing answer to this question. Contained within the definitions of Christian Spirituality is a rich treasure trove of theology, meaning and history. There was one person, however, who seemed to stand out as authoritative in my initial search for a definition and her name was Sandra M. Schneider. She defined Christian Spirituality this way:
I was always much more comfortable explaining to a patient that they had a bone in their low back that had slipped backward slightly and was pinching on the nerve that went down their leg. I always liked using the illustration which compared the pressure on the nerve to someone standing on a dogs tail, the dog is going to yelp and bark and make all kinds of noise, and although you can certainly put a muzzel on the dog, that won't take care of the cause of the problem, or you could give the dog a shot so that he won't feel the pain, but that won't solve the problem either, the only way to fix the problem is to take the foot off the tail, and the only way to fix the pain in the leg is to take the pressure off of the nerve in the back. This always seemed easier for people to understand than the neurothlipsis/sciatic neuralgia stuff.
Anyway, sometimes words can be a challenge for me. I really do live in two different worlds, the world of seminary/ academia and the real world with all of the people that I care about. Let me try to give you an example of the difference between the two worlds. I mentioned in an earlier post about the emphasis on Spirituality that my classes seem to have this semester. I just finished writing a one page response to the question, What is Christian Spirituality? which I have shared below. In that response is a quote that I have higlighted and would like you to pay attention to by Sandra M. Schneider, who is a prominent expert in the area of Spirituality and I think that you will see that she puts my neurothlipsis/sciatic wording to shame.
Definition of Christian Spirituality
On the surface the assignment seemed so simple, “Provide a brief definition of Christian Spirituality.” How difficult could that possibly be? As I began to filter though the readings as well as outside sources, I quickly discovered that there is no single, simple, all encompassing answer to this question. Contained within the definitions of Christian Spirituality is a rich treasure trove of theology, meaning and history. There was one person, however, who seemed to stand out as authoritative in my initial search for a definition and her name was Sandra M. Schneider. She defined Christian Spirituality this way:
[Spirituality] “is the experience of conscious involvement in the project of life-integration through self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives. In Christian spirituality these formal categories are specified by Christian content: the horizon of ultimate value is the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ, and the project involves the living of his paschal mystery in the context of the Church community through the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Studying Christian Spirituality, David Perrin, p31)
In essence Christian Spirituality is all about the transformation of the human-divine relationship as personified through our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is cultivating a relationship that is “revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition vivified by personal experience and confirmed by reason.” (UM Book of Discipline, p 216) It is the life-force which animates our faith, brings life to our relationship with the divine and illuminates and elevates our awareness of this relationship to the very core of our being.
In the future I will try a little harder to make sure that I sound more like me and less like Sandra M. Schneider, not that I wouldn’t want to be as smart as she is, but I think that if given the choice between sounding smart and being understood, I will go for understood every time.
Blessings
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