News from the Congregation May 28, 2021
‘Finding Communion in Bible Study and Service;’ ‘The Modern Mind, Part II’ | Auditions for Cathedral’s Schola Cantorum, Diocesan Lecture Series on Reparations, Volunteer at CCC’s Sunday Soup Kitchen, EfM Open Meeting - Thursday | Sunday Programs (11 am Worship Service, 12 pm Coffee Half-Hour - Conversation about the Cathedral’s Re-opening Plans) |Weekday Programs (M-S Morning and Evening Prayer; Thursday: 6:30 pm OPEN EfM Class).
Canon Lee
The Vicar's Sunday morning Bible study on Genesis started last July. After 36 weekly sessions (with intermittent breaks), this past Sunday, May 23, was our last session of the program year. We reached the Tower of Babel in chapter 11. If you have never been to the Sunday morning Bible study, this slow pace might be confusing. But, if you are one of the 20 to 30 people who has attended, you know the goal was never speed. The goal was a transformative encounter with the risen Christ through the communal study of the Word.
As sacramental Christians, this experience is familiar. In the Eucharist, we encounter the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine. In the same way, through our Sunday morning study--through the questions; the philosophical digressions; the video clips; the examinations of rabbinic, patristic or contemporary commentaries; the comparisons with the Targums, Septuagint, Vulgate, King James and other translations; the vulnerable sharing of personal stories--this study had real-life relevance for our lives. We encountered the risen Christ.
So, let me assure you that the Sunday morning Bible study will return. Genesis 12 and the call of Abram is the real beginning of the story of our redemption. We need to continue. Similarly, the Vicar's Wednesday evening Bible study on Paul's Letter to the Romans will take a summer break. After 18 weeks, we have reached the 15th verse of chapter 1. Those familiar with church history know that verses 16 to 17 of the first chapter famously "converted" Martin Luther and helped set in motion the Reformation. Thus, we will continue our study of Romans in the fall to better understand and appreciate the Reformed aspect of our Anglican heritage.
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Now that my Sunday mornings are temporarily free, I am excited to take up Canon Malloy's recommendation to volunteer at the soup kitchen of Cathedral Community Cares (CCC). Canon Malloy has volunteered almost every Sunday morning for the past few months. The stories he tells about this ministry are inspiring. I am reminded that service to others is another way to encounter Jesus Christ:
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40)
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One of my youth pastors once told me, "If you want to be a Christian, buy an alarm clock." Being a Christian means waking up early: to pray, to worship God, to study Scripture, to prepare food for the hungry. Being a Christian means more than intellectual assent to theological propositions. Being a Christian means carrying our cross as we follow Jesus on the Way.
EASTER SEASON: COFFEE HOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH THE VICAR
Conversations begin approximately 12:00 PM - 12:15 PM
Sunday, May 30 - Join the clergy and staff from the music and liturgy departments for a conversation about the Cathedral's re-gathering plans.
Marsha and Bob
Reflection Two of Four on the Modern Mind by Robert Deming, Junior Warden.
This four-reflection inquiry is about the modern mind. The first reflection probed three authors—Merlin Donald, Daniel Kahneman and Keith Stanovich—and endorsed a tripartite structure of the modern mind, consisting of Autonomous Mind, Reflective Mind and Algorithmic Mind. The strength of this formulation is that it can apply to the way human works offline and it can also extend to our interactions in the computer realm. For example, consider a digital file directory. The Autonomous Mind can refer to the way the file structure works: the givens, with columns and rows to organize the files. The Reflective Mind can get at tips to help one to find what one is looking for, perhaps by reorganizing the list by date modified to discover the ones recently worked on. The Algorithmic Mind can point toward step by step efforts to change the file directory for new tasks and needs.
The next three reflections continue to develop and vet some pictures and prototypes of the modern mind. In this second reflection, I loop back and touch on the themes that the three authors raise to gain deeper understanding.
Merlin Donald argues that the modern mind is a hybrid of biology and technology. For an image of that, I access Adobe Stock, an online, subscription-based database with millions of offerings. I choose an image suggesting a blend involving biology and technology.
The head influences in black surround and are in the middle, and the tech influences in red are interspersed in the middle and likely to also play a role.
In Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition (1991), Merlin Donald characterizes culture as “shared patterns of acquired behavior characteristic of a species” (p. 9). That refers to habits and customs.
Merlin Donald’s second book, A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness (2001), offers a different conception of culture, seemingly in concert with the spreading world wide web, or Internet. Donald writes: “On a deeper level, any given culture is a gigantic cognitive web, defining and constraining the parameters of memory, knowledge, and thought in its members, both as individuals and as a group” (2001, p. xiv).
As I reflect on the modern mind, I reach toward this view of culture as a gigantic cognitive web, and that is the appeal of linking up to the formulations of Daniel Kahneman and Keith Stanovich because they provide the big picture.
Daniel Kahneman makes clear that there are very different rhythms in human thinking. The autonomous System 1 thinks fast. Besides feelings, I am generally enthused when experiencing intuitions, although I also know they need to be checked and integrated into the bigger picture. That is the slow, effortful work of System 2.
Kahneman, I notice, does not have any diagrams, but he has many details, especially about System 1. He calls this an associative machine and suggests that it has some quirkiness. That makes sense to me because I know my intuitions can be way out there. System 2 is under conscious control, and much more deliberate and methodical. Kahneman reminds that System 2 can be lazy and not put in the needed work. This is strangely reinforcing because my follow through does not always match my intentions.
For a picture of this dual processing that Kahneman describes, I return to Adobe Stock and choose an image that requires some explaining.
The circle with a gap in the center suggests that the person has to work out this balance between Systems 1 and 2. I classify the blue arcs below as System 1, and the green arcs above as System 2. The combination reminds me of the first verse of Genesis 1: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.” The heavens represented in blue occupy the bottom, and the earth represented in green occupies the top. This below and above positioning may seem counterintuitive, but the logic makes sense for the fast and slow processing that Kahneman characterizes in Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011). Fast processing functions as the base and slow processing functions as the upper reaches.
I updated Keith Stanovich’s tripartite formulation to view the parts on the horizontal. At the left is Type 1 Autonomous Mind. Autonomous means acting on one’s own, independent of others. Stanovich indicates Type 1 requires little concentration and is the quick solution that may just be an approximation. There typically is little effort involved. In the center is Type 2 Reflective Mind. Reflective implies revisiting and rethinking something consciously. Stanovich calls this cognitive simulation and hypothetical reasoning. One does this partially but generally not to the max. Who wants to keep on reflecting ad infinitum? That is why I like that the Reflective Mind between the Autonomous Mind and Algorithmic Mind, as though the Reflective Mind functions to mediate and not as an end in itself. Type 2 Algorithmic Mind is on the right. Algorithmic refers to a sequence of ordered steps or operations that seek to solve a problem or a need. In regard to the Algorithmic Mind, Stanovich discusses optimization. In education, this is similar to best practices, which is ever an objective for teachers.
Again, I return to Adobe Stock to select an image implying the movement in this tripartite modern mind from Autonomous to Reflective to Algorithmic.
The Autonomous Mind located on the left provides a left-hand gesture as though right, although of course it is not always; that can lead to the Reflective Mind located in white in the middle springing into action; and lastly, that can sometimes activate the Algorithmic Mind located on the right in dark grey-black for following through with a solution. The movement is left to right, like eye movement in reading, and the graphic is facing right, as though going forward in relation to a timeline.
I have developed an acronym for this modern mind: ARA. It refers to Autonomous-Reflective-Algorithmic.
In this four-part reflection on the modern mind, we are at the halfway point: two reflections down, and two to go.
(For engagement or for communication about something of note, my email address is available in the Realm Directory, under my name Robert Deming.)
LEARN
Education for Ministry (EfM) Open Meetings 2021
Here’s a chance to do EfM and never have to go out in the rain or snow or even dressed—come Zoom with us! There are two open sessions coming up— Thursday, May 27, Thursday, June 3. These will be an opportunity to see what a typical EfM meeting is like. We’ll open at 6:30 and be ready to say goodnight around 8:30. There is no obligation, no strings, just visit with us—maybe you’ll like us enough to join next term in September. For more information, email Donna Devlin.
NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE
Voices Heard: A Diocese Explores Pathways Toward Reparations
A webinar series sponsored by the Reparations Committee of the Diocese of New York
The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade is deeply entrenched in the structural systems and legislative actions that govern communities today. This series of panel discussions organized by the Reparations Committee for the Diocese intends to broaden awareness and deepen our understanding of the pressing topics of an intractable nature of systemic racism on education, health, economics, gender, policing and the criminal justice system, the church and more that negatively impact people of African heritage.
Bringing experts, community organizers, civic leaders, clergy and laity into dialogue will help to inform us and make commitments for engagement in our own communities as we prepare our cause for action in making recommendations for the task brought forth through Resolution regarding the Reparations Fund.
All webinars are on Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Medical Apartheid and Systemic Racism
Tuesday, June 8
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nFHMDwq8Tb-n1eP7l9VIrw
Reaching For a Better Tomorrow: The Work and Mission of Hudson Link Working For Higher Education in Prison
Tuesday, June 22
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j5SokWcXRq-2Aj_VW1m-Ng
The Awakening of Unwoke People: Church, Religion and State
Tuesday, July 6
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O7p4u1B2RT6JOI8VH4F7lQ
Rectors of Color: Examining the Missed Opportunities of Deployment
Tuesday, July 20
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_We8dfFOxSrmEbPHnK1WZmA
NEWS FROM THE CATHEDRAL - Auditions for Cathedral Schola Cantorum
The Cathedral Music Team is excited to resume our Cathedral Schola Cantorum, inviting all youth currently in middle school and high school to audition for placement in the Schola. This ensemble will share in the great Cathedral tradition of choral singing that has been a hallmark at St. John the Divine for nearly 120 years. The Schola Cantorum will rehearse once a week on a date to be confirmed, and will sing at select liturgies and concerts throughout the year. The Schola Cantorum will frequently perform in collaboration with the Cathedral Choristers, an ensemble made up of students from the Cathedral School, and with the other ensembles in residence at the Cathedral. For more information and to schedule an audition, please contact Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie, Organ Scholar, at Skuffuor@stjohndivine.org.
GIVE/SERVE
Questions about Realm
Christopher Clowdus and Neil Reilly invite your questions about Realm, the Congregation's giving database, at this email address: stewardship@saintsaviour.org.
CCC - Volunteer Opportunity at Sunday Soup Kitchen
Join us at CCC's Sunday Soup Kitchen (8:30 am - 11:00 am) to help prepare and distribute food and to staff Saint Saviour's Table. Please CLICK HERE to sign up! Shifts are open through the third week in July. Thank you so much for volunteering!
THIS SUNDAY, April May 28, 2021
11:00 AM - Watch the Cathedral worship service on Zoom with other members of the Congregation. As a way to maintain a prayerful atmosphere, we will be turning off Zoom chat for the duration of the service.
You can also watch the Cathedral Worship Service
On Facebook: http://facebook.com/StJohnDivineNYC
On the Cathedral website: http://www.stjohndivine.org
12:00 PM - Digital Coffee Half-Hour
Join us at this week’s Digital Coffee Hour to meet members of the congregation or hear guest speakers, This week various Cathedral departments will answer your questions about returning to in-person worship.
WEEKLY CATHEDRAL CONGREGATION PROGRAMS
Monday-Saturday | 8:30 AM Morning Prayer | 5:30 PM Evening Prayer
Thursdays | 6:30 PM - Education for Ministry
Education for Ministry is designed for lay people who want to delve more deeply but are not necessarily interested in ordination; EfM classes provide a more formal study of scriptures and the history of the faith. Current Topic: “Living into the Journey with God”