Book Release
We are busy writing the manuscript for The Seven Temptations and we hope to have it released this coming Fall. We appreciate the support and feedback for the endeavor. We will keep you posted on the progress of the book.
5. The Temptation to Change Ourselves
The recent incident involving comic actor Michael Richards is instructive for us. While performing at a comedy club Richards responded to heckling by spewing a stream of racial hatred that was recorded and sent everywhere. He has been in damage control ever since. Among the questions it raises is why he was doing standup in a local comedy club in the first place. Evidently he was trying to redefine himself from his iconic Kramer character to a broader performer identity. Unfortunately the audience was not very patient watching someone they had experienced as a masterfully defined television character flounder as a rookie comedian. Richards was in the process of changing himself and did a header off a cliff. What change will he make now? My suggestion is to consider the joys of anonymity - especially when blessed with extreme personal wealth - and relocate somewhere wonderful.
Throughout human life we are lured by the possibilities of being something other than what we are - in subtle and extreme ways. Aside from the obvious - I wish I were better looking, richer, more skilled - it affects us at subtle levels as well. Many of us long to be more patient, calmer, more assertive, talented or articulate. We believe in our heart that if we could become something different than who we are we would experience the happiness we miss. This is of course a fool's wisdom. The secret is to embrace your gifts where they are and resist the temptation to become something else. You are filled with gifts that others do not have. Accepting, enjoying and using these gifts is the change that is possible. Resist the temptation to change yourself into some culturally defined identity and evolve who you are. Remember - Live life with high aspirations and low expectations.
4. The Temptation to be Plugged In
The wedding this weekend of Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes was covered like an international summit of national leaders. What's going on here? This is the wedding of two actors - and creepy personalities at that - that has grabbed the attention of millions of fans. What are we doing with our time and energy? Focusing on actors, athletes and - well - what is Paris Hilton anyway - is an indication that we are looking for something - anything - to stimulate us. We are misdirecting our energy away from what matters and gives us lasting gratification - our relationships with family & neighbors. There's nothing wrong with our celebrity fascination. But when it is taking time away from our present reality we are wasting valuable energy. How much time are you giving away to celebrity worship instead of the flesh & blood right around you? The temptation to be plugged in is a distraction from what will actually enable you to live a gratifying life.
6. The Temptation to be Significant
The lure for personal significance & power is a universal phenomenon. Note this item sent to us by Dr. Howard Sypher, Chairman of the Media Studies Department at Purdue University:
In October, health officials in China again warned citizens against the increasingly popular but seriously painful leg-stretching "Ilizarov procedure", believed to add as much as a couple of inches to a person's height (and, consequently, stature). The patient's leg is deliberately broken and affixed to a rack, with the leg stretched slightly every day so that the bones fuse together to cover the separated space, lengthening the leg. (Said one 33-year-old, 5-foot-tall woman in 2002, aiming for four more inches: "I'll have a better job (and) a better husband. It's a long-term investment.") [Reuters, 10-10-06]
How far would you go to be more significant? As for us, breaking bones probably crosses a line.
3. The Temptation to Immerse in Media
What are your distractions? We came across this interesting item:
Akira Haraguchi, 60, spent 16 straight hours on Oct. 4 reciting the value of pi from memory to 100,000 decimal places, breaking his old record of 83,431. Haraguchi, whose day job is psychiatric counselor, performed in front of officials at a public hall in Kisarazu, Japan, and rattled off the numbers continuously except for a five-minute break every hour. (In 2002, two University of Tokyo mathematicians, using a supercomputer, calculated pi to 1.24 trillion decimal places.)
Congratulations to Akira. It makes us wonder about his social life. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, let's say he has a great support system of family and friends, what about your diversionary activities? Do they take the place of social engagement? Personally I would rather have pie with a friend than reflect on the mathematical implications of pi.
3. The Temptation to Passively Watch
The average American is watching over three hours of television every day. When you calculate all the hours of a given day and add up the time we sleep, spend at our jobs, travel to and from work and attend to hjome an family matters it becomes immediately clear that most of us have very few hours left over for other affairs. And what are we doing with these spare moments? That's right, watching television. And it stands to reason that every hour you look at the screen is an hour you are not investing in developing and deepening the interpersonal relationships that are essential to a healthy, balanced life. The lure of media interrupts our motivation to get connected which is the true reason why media is a problem in the culture.
What Are The Seven Temptations?
The 7 Temptations of popular culture are the distractions that we use to substitute for the relationships many of us are missing. When we do not have an adequate number of close family and friends in our daily life we naturally look for gratification in other ways. We have identified 7 of these distractions:
1. The temptation to GET MORE (The lure of materialism)
2. The temptation to MOVE AWAY (Leaving home for a life of independence)
3. The temptation to be IMMERSED IN MEDIA (The addiction of Television & the Internet)
4. The temptation to INDULGE OUR CHILDREN (The Misunderstanding of Self-Esteem)
5. The temptation to CHANGE OURSELVES (Trying to be what we are not)
6. THe temptation to BE SIGNIFICANT (The enticement of celebrity)
7. THe temptation to FIND LOVE (Wanting fulfillment through an exclusive relationship)
The 7 Temptations of American Popular Culture
This site is about the coming book called "The Seven Temptations of American Popular Culture: And How Knowing Them Can Change Your Life." It is the follow up work to "Refrigerator Rights: Making Connections & Establishing Relationships" by Dr. Will Miller & Dr. Glenn Sparks. More to come
