Job-Related Things

I'm still working on the next set of content for the blog. This may take a while, as I am also looking for some part-time work to supplement my income (working for IRI is mentally and spiritually rewarding, but not as much materially - and I like to eat). I am also working on my PhD application, a revamp of IRI's website, and some local volunteer work. I may post more about some of these things in the future, but suffice to say I have a lot to do, and it's keeping me quite distracted.

Returned to Washington

Well, I survived my trip to Wyoming, but came back to find I have some stuff to catch up on, so I don't have much of a post today. Next time, I will review a bit of what's been going on in Mozambique, some of our plans for the future, and perhaps some other items. Sometimes life gives you minor but unavoidable distractions that keep you from posting blogs. Life is kind of a jerk like that.

Preparing for the Fall

I am currently in the process of preparing for my fall activities. When I started working with IRI, I decided to save up enough money to work with them full-time for two years, with a plan to basically take a year off to work to save up enough for an additional few years. That was five years ago. I am now well past the point I thought I would need to get work again, but I have finally reached that point. As a result, I am now looking for work in undergraduate education (as an adjunct or lecturer), Instructional Design, or corporate training. While we still have plans for me to travel to Mozambique in August, this fall will hopefully entail me finding one of those three jobs to make back some of my savings, and finish paying off a few outstanding bills I have accumulated over the last five years. This week involves a lot of visits with potential employers, phone calls, and e-mails. It isn't terribly glamorous, but it is necessary, and I do look forward to teaching regularly again.

This does not mean I am stopping work with IRI - far from it, but the fact is, the current plans we have leave me relatively physically inactive for the upcoming semester at least, and I can use that time to recover some funds to facilitate future work. I will still be working on IRI material, and still posting blogs as regularly as possible. Thank you to everyone who has and is (and wants to?) support me and/or the work being done at IRI. Your help has been deeply appreciated.

Quick Update

So this week I am getting ready for traveling next week. As my next travel session will probably be very long, that means getting my tax info out of the way so I can travel with at least that much stress off my shoulders. This has been distracting, so my post this week has been delayed. I keep telling myself "I just need to finish this thing, then I will post," but the truth is, it really isn't happening. So I figured I should put up  short post to explain why my post isn't up, and probably won't be until next week.

Job accomplished.

In the meantime, I have been thinking about the terms I have been using to describe Direct Understanding. Part of the trouble I have had in explaining our ideas is that we have a lot of terms we could use, but none of them are exactly what we want. Understanding, comprehension, ideas, concepts, definitions - all of these have different concepts attached to them, but none of them quite work, since the common understanding of them tends to be 1) vague, and 2) highly overlapping. This makes precision difficult, and explanations long and somewhat tedious. I may, therefore, put together a list of terms with definitions as I use them in my explanations - a kind of Glossary of Jason. I'm not sure if/when I will do this, but given the complexity of the topic, it may be useful. Whether I do or not, I still want to spend time exploring how direct and indirect understanding impacts our personal identity, so that will probably be in the next post.

Workshops In Progress

IRI currently has two workshops underway in Casper, Wyoming. I am leading one at Casper College, for the custodial department, while Al is leading another for a local church.  This is the first time we have used our updated, shortened workshop format (8-10 hrs, down from 36+ hrs.) and it is working well. Feedback so far is positive, and the participants seem excited about the material.

We are hoping that this shortened format will give us more opportunities to hold workshops for other partners/supporters. In the past, the biggest hurdle for our seminar was the fact that it took an entire week's time. Now, while we still prefer a four or five day time frame, we only need around 2 hours a day, which makes it much easier for people and organizations to work into their schedule. The new format is also much more flexible, in terms of tailoring itself to its audience, than the previous seminar format. In our current case, we have one seminar focused on personnel training (the college), with no religious content, and one focused on spiritual discipleship (at the church). While it may seem difficult, it is really just a matter of focus. Both groups are learning how to think more clearly about themselves and their environment, but the former workshop focused on the practical day-to-day applications, while the latter focuses on the Biblical ties and spiritual implications of the material. It is great having a basic core that can be of benefit to all people, without losing its integrity or being dishonest about its intentions with one group or the other. We're having a blast, and hope that everyone continues to enjoy the workshops this week!