I just discovered Plinky and The Daily Post, two sites that aim to prod procrastinating pundits into pyroclastic paroxysms of periodic publishing. (Ahh – I love that sentence.) 🙂 While I don’t see myself taking advantage of every question and prompt they post, some of the recently queried items caught my attention. This is the first one (a narcissistic one, of course). 🙂
Bibliophilistic
I love books. I love some of our books for the information they contain, and love others for their look and feel. I love the feeling of running my hands over the spine and covers of a new book in anticipation of the time we’ll spend together. I love removing an old book from one of our bookshelves / book stacks / book nooks (every room in our house currently has books in it except for the wash room and kitchen) and spending time with the old friends waiting within. I’m glad I married a kindred soul who loves to read, and am doubly glad that our son enjoys reading as well.
Catholic
In two senses – first, in terms of being open-minded, flexible, tolerant, cosmic, universal, charitable, gracious, kind. I tend to try and see things from others’ perspectives, and try to wrap my head and heart around their lives before attempting to pass any sort of judgment. If you’ve ever done the Enneagram I’m a “Peacemaker (9)” (though I’ll admit it’s been many, many years since I’ve worked with that particular personality sorter; and after taking a quick test here I just came out as “The Individualist (4),” beating “The Peacemaker” by one point – not sure if that’s statistically significant or not!).
In the second sense, I’m Catholic in that my faith / religion / spirituality / weltanschauung / philosophy is saturated with the teachings of Jesus as mediated through the lens of Latin Rite Roman Catholicism. I love the sacramental worldview afforded by the tradition in which I’m rooted that affirms the goodness of all creation and it’s potential as a conduit for divine grace. I also love the breadth of diversity that forms the web of devotion and religious practice that can encompass both Charismatic prayer and Jesuits-tinged theology. While I may argue with certain aspects of the Church’s policies and actions, I can never imagine myself separated from the wellspring of light and love that is it’s deepest heart.
Introverted
Another word related to another personality test (the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Sorter – you can find some information and free tests here, but please note that I haven’t actually tried any of the tests on that site). In the terminology of the Myers-Briggs, this word means that I recharge my batteries by spending time alone (reading, game playing, blogging, etc.). It’s not that I don’t like spending time around people, but it does mean that I lose energy the more time I spend with others. Since I spend most of my day surrounded by parents, teachers and students at my work/ministry place, my evenings and weekends are spent in the oasis of my home, happily recharging my batteries while my wife and son do likewise (she’s even more introverted than I am, and my son is slightly less introverted than I am).
Quiescent
I’m not very physically active – my leisure pursuits run towards video games, movies, role-playing games, shared meals, reading, and listening to and playing music. Even my chosen ministry tends to long stretches of indoor activities like grading, preaching, teaching, counseling, and meetings. Even the one physical activity that does hold interest for me (T’ai Chi / Chi Kung / Qigong) is a slow, meditative awakening of the body’s spiritual energy. Athletic I am not! 🙂
Scholarly
Closely related to my love of reading, I see myself as being scholarly. I love to know. I love immersing myself in ideas, exploring the vast reaches of human thought, discovering little tidbits of trivia, and researching concepts and theories that I find intriguing. I may not always share what I learn (that whole introverted thing again!), but if you get me talking about a subject I feel comfortable with, you may not be able to get me to stop!
What about you?
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo