What Does The Author Mean When Referring To “Authentic Sexuality”?

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Based on this week’s reading chp 3-4 in Balswick, J., & Balswick, J. (2008). Authentic human sexuality: An integrated Christian approach (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. ISBN: 978-0-8308-2883-8.

Explain what does the author mean when referring to “Authentic Sexuality”? In what ways does this influence the way a person experiences a relationship?

Use Chapter 3-4, Lecture Notes and/or external research to support your discussion. Minimum 350-word count in answer to the question with in text citations to include Integration of Christian worldview and biblical themes into responses as appropriate. APA format.

If you do not have access to the reference listed in post please do not bid on post.

Lecture Notes: Module 2

(For Exam 2)

 

Table of Contents

HS 201: Sexuality: A Biblical Perspective

Tommy Nelson, M.A.

HS 202: The Spirit of the Act: “Having Sex” or “Making Love”?

Chris McCluskey, M.S.W.

 

Course Description

Sexuality is God’s idea – not man’s. When God created man and woman, He created sexual beings, and He declared it “very good.” In the Bible, the Song of Solomon is a book of romance. It was God’s plan that sex should be enjoyed within the confines of marriage and with healthy attitudes. Learn why sex is good and why it is a gift from God.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students:

1. Will understand how to interpret the Song of Solomon and God’s teaching on love and romance.

2. Will understand how to have an exciting, healthy, romantic sexual relationship with your spouse.

3. Will understand God’s plan for a person’s love life from the first attraction to the opposite sex through the end of the days in marriage.

Introduction

Love, sex and romance cause both the greatest delight and the greatest pain in life. People are created in God’s image to be intimately personal and relational. God does not give people the potential for close personal relationships without telling them how to avoid pain in these relationships. In the middle of the Bible, God gives a wisdom book—the Song of Solomon—that teaches people how to experience a healthy love, sex and romantic relationship within the covenant of marriage.

I. Part One: The Art of Attraction

A. The Man – Character is More Important than Physical Looks

B. The Woman – Responsibility and Submissive Spirit Greater than Appearance

C. The Application – Searching Out the Right Mate

Physical looks are recognized, but they are relegated below the spiritual qualities.

II. Part Two: The Dating Scenario

A. The Honor and Respect of Love

B. The Desire of Sexual Attraction

C. The Proper Time to Awaken the Gift of Sex

D. The Application for Dating

III. Part Three: The Courtship (Commitment)

A. Intense Sexual Attraction (The Stag and Gazelle Hyperbole)

B. Mutual Commitment to Trust (The Picture of the Dove)

C. Mutual Commitment to Avoiding Premarital Sex (Destroying the Foxes)

D. The Application: Security, Desire and Passion Grows as a Result of Purity

IV. Part Four: The Wedding and Honeymoon

A. Man Taught to be Gentle

B. All Senses are a Part of the Sexual Experience

C. Woman’s Virginity is Saved for her Husband

D. God Sanctions the Enjoyment of Sex

E. The Application

V. Part Five: The Conflict in Marriage

A. The Selfish Response Causes Conflict

B. The Application: How to Deal with Conflict in Marriage:

· Don’t return evil for evil – respond to evil with good

· Don’t try to chasten your mate – respond with love and kindness

· Focus on resolution – seek forgiveness and solution

· Talk together – express oneself in soft language and respond attentively

· Forgive each other – reemphasize love

· Reconciliation – don’t hold an account for wrongs suffered; restore one’s mate to a place of honor

· End the conflict closer to God and each other than they were before

VI. Part Six: Keeping Romance in Marriage

A. Husband Compliments His Wife (Provides Her with Romance)

B. Woman Responds to Man and Satisfies Him (Provides Him with Exciting Sex)

· Creative

· Aggressive

· Spontaneous

VII. Part Seven: Keeping Fidelity in Marriage

A. Providential Relationship – She was born for him.

B. Possessive Relationship – “I want you and none other.”

C. Permanent Relationship – Never Breaking the Covenant

D. Persevering Relationship – Giving up Oneself to Save It

E. Precious Relationship – Requires Walking with God

F. The Conclusion: Book Ends with the Principle of Giving

Bibliography/Reading List

Hudson Productions: 7160 North Dallas Parkway, Plano, TX 75024; 1-800-729-0815

Song of Solomon Audio Series

Song of Solomon CD Series

Song of Solomon VHS or DVD Video Series

www.songofsolomon.com

Nelson, Tommy. The Book of Romance . (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998).

Nelson, Tommy. The Big Picture. (Plano, TX: Hudson Productions, 1999).

Nelson, Tommy. The Problem of Life with God. (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2002).

HS 201 Study Questions

1. What is the primary theme of the Song of Solomon? How is it divided and how is it meant to be interpreted?

2. What applications can singles learn from the first few chapters of the Song of Solomon about dating and sexual attraction?

3. According to the “honeymoon part” of Song of Solomon, how did God intend for sex to be used in marriage?

4. What do people learn about how to deal with conflict in marriage from the couple in Song of Solomon? How did they deal with their conflict, and what was the end result of their conflict?

5. How did the couple in Song of Solomon view their marriage? What were the keys to their lasting fidelity in their relationship?

Soul Care Notes

Ecclesiastes 9:9

Song of Solomon 1:2-4

Song of Solomon 7:6-12

Malachi 2:13-16

John 2:2

Ephesians 5:21-26

1 Corinthians 7:2-5

HS 202

THE SPIRIT OF THE ACT: “HAVING SEX” OR “MAKING LOVE”?

Chris McCluskey, MSW

Course Description

When it comes to sexual intimacy there is a world of difference between “having sex” and “making love.” This lesson presents a very practical model to help couples connect deeply and establish patterns that will enhance their intimacy and fulfillment throughout their years together. It weaves together the various threads of love that need to be integrated into a tapestry of a flourishing, life-long marriage. The fruit of making that commitment is often the best sex and deepest love that one can have in a marriage.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students:

1. Will understand the process of “making love” versus “having sex.”

2. Will be able to identify difficulties and solutions in the love-making experience.

3. Will understand how to enjoy a fulfilling, life-long sexual relationship with their spouses.

Introduction

This course introduces the love-making model which Dr. McCluskey developed to determine whether a couple is experiencing the act of sex as God intended it. When Christ came to earth, He emphasized the importance of the spirit of our acts rather than the acts of behavior themselves. Couples who learn how to enjoy the spirit of the act of making love, have a unique “super-glue” that holds their marriage together and glorifies God through their oneness.

I. Making love as a means of communication

A. Communication Occurs Between

· Husband and wife

· The couple and God

B. The Definition of “Intercourse”: To Have an Exchange or Communing between

Persons

· Non-verbal communication

· Sexual union communicates our spiritual oneness

1. Ecclesiastes: Cord of three strands

2. Song of Solomon: Celebration or feast equaled to marriage

Supper of the Lamb (union of Christ with the church)

II. The Love-Making Model

A. The Sexual Response Cycle (Masters & Johnson)

· Arousal phase

· Plateau phase

· Climax phase

· Resolution phase

B. Connecting the Love-Making Cycle to Our Relationships

· Picture of “Wheels”

· Diagnostic tool

C. Four Quadrants

· Atmosphere quadrant: What does the rest of the relationship look like?

1. Intimate marriage: Vulnerability, trust, transparency

2. Mature lovers: Serving, giving and receiving

3. Privacy: Finding time alone

4. Energy: Level of fatigue

5. Time: Nourishing to relationship

6. Anticipation: Plan for and prepare for love-making

i. Poor body images

ii. Poor sexual images or trauma

7. Initiation: Verbal as well as nonverbal

8. Mutual Consent: For the couple, not just the man

· Arousal Quadrant: The passion and sensory flooding phase

· Playful interaction: Abandonment, curiosity, taunting, teasing

2. Mutual exploration: Naked physically, spiritually, emotionally

3. Attention to the senses: Stimulating all the senses

i. Beach illustration

ii. Thanksgiving illustration

iii. Listing sensory responses

4. Letting the passion build: Continue to flood the senses

· Apex Quadrant: Typically the orgasm phase

1. Focusing on Pleasure Building

i. Attend to the woman first

ii Communicate verbally

· Spiritual oneness

· Abandonment to love-making

· Surrender of control

· Climax: Uncontrolled physical response

· Afterglow Quadrant: Restabilizing, cementing of relationship

1. Reflection: Stay as long as possible

2. Basking: Verbally affirm each other

1. Giving feedback: Share what was enjoyed

Making love is a means of expressing with bodies what words cannot about spiritual oneness as a couple.

Bibliography/Reading List

Hart, Archibald D. Secrets of Eve: Understanding the Mystery of Female Sexuality .

(Nashville, TN: Word, 1998).

McCluskey, Christopher. Coaching Couples into Passionate Intimacy: God’s Intention for

Marital Sexual Union (videotape). Coaching for Christian Living, 2001. Order at

www.christian-living.com .

Penner, Clifford and Joyce. The Gift of Sex . (Waco, TX: Word, 1981).

Rosenau, Douglas. A Celebration of Sex . (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2002).

Stoop, David and Jan. The Complete Marriage Book . (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell,

2002).

Wheat, Ed and Gaye. Intended for Pleasure: Sex Technique and Sexual Fulfillment in

Christian Marriage. (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1997).

HS 202 Study Questions

1. What is the difference between “making love” and “having sex?” How does “making love” glorify God?

2. What does the word “intercourse” mean? How is making-love a means of communication? Who is the communication between?

3. What biblical pictures does the Bible give to illustrate sex?

4. What are the four phases of the sexual response cycle?

5. What are the four quadrants of Dr. McCluskey’s love-making model? Describe the pieces of each quadrant. How are difficulties identified and solved in each quadrant?

Soul Care Notes

Song of Solomon 7:6-12

Ruth 1:16

Matthew 5:27; 33-37

John 13:34-35

John 14:21-23

John 15:12-13

1 Corinthians 7:2-5

James 1:19

1 Peter 3:10

1 John 3:18; 4:12

SEXUAL ENRICHMENT

 

HS 201

SEXUALITY: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

Tommy Nelson, M.A.

Fast Food Nation By Eric Schlosser

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2 page research paper
Task: Read the book, Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. How has the fast food industry changed since the book was written? Choose three examples from the book to update. Your ideas can be positive or negative. One example of how service has changed is the concept of self-checkouts.

  1. Paper Format-APA style should be followed for the title page, abstract page, body of the paper (2 pages), and reference page. Paper should be double-spaced, indented paragraphs as needed. TOTAL 2 POINTS (half a point for each section)
  2. Choose three examples from the book to update. State your opinion as to whether or not these changes are positive or negative TOTAL 6 POINTS (2 points each for each topic)
  3. Select information from current lectures (Food and the Consumer 11-08-2017, and Food Safety, Healthcare and Food Additives 11-15-2017) and relate information to your paper. This should be one paragraph prior to your conclusion paragraph of your paper. TOTAL 2 POINTS.

Paper On Healthy Sexuality Topic, See Description

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The purpose of this assignment is to research one of the topics you have covered in this course. You will collect 10 scholarly research articles written within the last  10 years on a particular topic related to sex and sexuality (i.e. pornography, extramarital affair, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, etc.).

Articles should come from scholarly research sources. You will then write and submit a 10-page paper with the following 3 main sections relevant to these articles:

1. Article Summaries: Summarize the main points of the selected articles.

2. Compare and contrast the information presented in the articles with the content presented in class.

3. Explain how a therapist may use this information on your topic to help a client define healthy sexuality and how having that understanding can help the client make wise decisions in their relationships.

Papers will be written in current APA format and should include a title page, abstract, and reference page which are not part of the 10 body pages of the paper.

The paper should be a minimum of 10 pages of content (this does not include title page, abstract, or reference page).

Course Textbook to be used as a reference.

Balswick, J., & Balswick, J. (2008). Authentic human sexuality: An integrated Christian approach (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. ISBN: 978-0-8308-2883-8.

8

Premarital Cohabitation Cautions and Concerns

Few developments have been as dramatic as the rise of premarital cohab- itation—couples not married to each other but living together as sexual partners who share a household. According to recent surveys, the num- ber of unmarried cohabiting couples has increased more than twelvefold between 1960 and 2006 (Poponoe and Whitehead 2007:19). In 2000, Simmons and O’Connell reported that four out ten unmarried-couple households included one or more children under age 18 (Poponoe and Whitehead 2002). It appears that today a majority of young adults cohabit before marriage, and nearly half of all out-of-wedlock births are born to cohabiting mothers (Heuveline and Timberlake 2004:1215; Bumpass and Lu 2000).

In addition to the fact that nearly half of all marriages end in divorce, a majority of couples who cohabit split up before marriage. As might be expected, people who cohabited before their first marriage have a greater propensity to cohabit with another person after they divorce (Wu 1995). Those who lived together before marriage had a 50 percent higher hazard rate of divorcing after marriage than couples who had not cohabited.

Our goal in this chapter is to develop a Christian perspective on the topic. We draw on existing research, mainly self-reported responses to

Balswick, Judith K., and Jack O. Balswick. Authentic Human Sexuality : An Integrated Christian Approach, InterVarsity Press, 2001. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=3316493. Created from liberty on 2017-11-14 06:52:04.

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1 6 4 A u t h e n t i c H u m a n S e x u a l i t y

survey research questionnaires or interviews, to address the question “Why do people choose to cohabit?” We then examine the effect of this trend and give a response to cohabitation that is informed by both biblical and social-scientific literature.

Why cOhaBitatiOn? The best way to address this question is to ask, Is cohabiting an alterna- tive to being single or an alternative to being married? Premarital cohabita- tion is actually not a new idea. As early as 1966 anthropologist Margaret Mead tried to address the situation by propos ing a two-step plan for single adults. The first step would be a “trial mar riage,” in which the couple would determine whether they were compatible. The second step would be taken by couples who wanted to legalize the union when they had children. Taking it a step further, Scriven (1968) proposed a three-stage plan whereby a relationship progressed from sexual satisfaction, to social security, to sensible spawning. Cadwallader (1966) believed that cohabit- ing would free couples from feeling “trapped for life.” He liked the idea that couples could establish contracts for stated periods of time and peri- odically renew them as they saw fit.

These views stretched trial marriage about as far as it could go, even- tually leading to the concept of premarital cohabitation. It has only been within the past forty years that cohabitation has become popu lar among the middle classes, having originated among lower-class and disadvan- taged youth.

By examining cohabitation in sixteen industrial societies, Heuveline and Timberlake (2004) identify several conceptually distinct statuses given to cohabitation with respect to family formation. In some societies, cohabitation is marginal since it is culturally rejected or even penalized. In more accepting cultures it can be viewed as a prelude to marriage status, where legal marriage is expected before childbearing. A similar status is referred to as a stage in the marriage process. McRae (1997) suggests that cohabitation serves as a type of marriage preparation, as the stage that occurs between courtship (mate selection) and marriage. In this case, co- habiting gives the couple a chance to test the degree of compatibility in the relationship. If the partners conclude that their personalities “fit,” they proceed to marriage.

Cohabitation is usully viewed as an alternative for persons who want a

Balswick, Judith K., and Jack O. Balswick. Authentic Human Sexuality : An Integrated Christian Approach, InterVarsity Press, 2001. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=3316493. Created from liberty on 2017-11-14 06:52:04.

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P r e m a r i t a l C o h a b i t a t i o n 1 6 5

sexual and compansionship living arrangement, but are not ready to form a family. In more accepting cultures, cohabitation is distinquished from marriage as an alternative to marriage. Last, in cultures with high ac- ceptance, cohabitation is indistinguishable from marriage. For instance, in places like Northern European countries and New Zealand, cohabitation is viewed as if the couple is married (Heuveline and Timberlake 2004).

The above types of cohabitiation can be depicted as ranging on a con- tinuum from the least to the most acceptable status in a modern societies. Given the state of cohabitation in North America, cohabitation is viewed by some as an alternative to single life and for others an alternative to be- ing married.

Based on a study of 1,293 Canadian adolescents, Manning, Longmore and Giordano (2007) report that for most, cohabitation has become part of the pathway toward marriage. As such, most youth “are not replacing marriage with cohabitation, but instead cohabit and then marry” (p. 559). Based on their study of cohabitation in the United States, King and Scott (2005:271) suggest that “older cohabitors are more likely to view their re- lationship as an alternative to marriage, whereas younger cohabitors tend to view their relationship as a prelude to it.” In general, the more accepting a society’s attitude toward cohabitation, the more cohabitation is defined as an alternative to marriage.

Many couples admittedly decide to cohabit for the conven ience and companionship of being in an exclusive sexual relationship with a chosen partner, whether there is or is not an intention to marry. By its very na- ture, a cohabiting relationship is one in which commitment is ambiguous. Smock (2000) finds that cohabiting men and women differ in the way they conceptualize commitment. She finds that women perceive cohabita- tion as a step prior to marriage, whereas men are inclined to view cohabi- tation as a step prior to making a commitment.

Marriage researcher and Christian therapist Scott Stanley (2005) de- scribes cohabiting as “relationship inertia,” in which cohabitors are “slid- ing” rather than “deciding” on a marital partner. He found that men who live with women they eventually marry are not as committed to the union as those who did not live with their mates before marriage.

The partner’s and/or couple’s view and understanding of their unique cohabitation agreement is certainly an important factor in the eventual outcome of marriage or no marriage. Given the present state of knowl-

Balswick, Judith K., and Jack O. Balswick. Authentic Human Sexuality : An Integrated Christian Approach, InterVarsity Press, 2001. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=3316493. Created from liberty on 2017-11-14 06:52:04.

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Cognitive Neuroscience

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Discussion post – 2 to 3 paragraphs

In Module One, you were introduced to the mind-brain problem, where psychologists consider how the brain and the non-physical mind may impact or control behavior. Another important concept in psychology is understanding how the brain develops and changes, and what aids in these changes. Because the field of cognitive neuroscience examines the brain through imaging methods, it is an area of psychology that is poised to answer some of these questions. After completing this week’s readings, answer the following questions: How can current research in cognitive neuroscience be applied to understanding different problems in psychology, including the mind-brain problem and questions concerning brain development and change? How do you think modern imaging methods have helped us understand the brain and solve problems in psychology? Be sure to support your answers with information from the readings.

PS64-FrontMatter ARI 21 November 2012 19:14

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PS64CH01-Gazzaniga ARI 15 November 2012 12:44

Shifting Gears: Seeking New Approaches for Mind/Brain Mechanisms Michael S. Gazzaniga The Sage Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9660; email: m.gazzaniga@psych.ucsb.edu

Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2013. 64:1–20

First published online as a Review in Advance on September 17, 2012

The Annual Review of Psychology is online at psych.annualreviews.org

This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143817

Copyright c© 2013 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Keywords

split brain, corpus callosum, modular, self-cueing, eye-hand coordination, emotion, dynamical systems

Abstract

Using an autobiographical approach, I review several animal and hu- man split-brain studies that have led me to change my long-term view on how best to understand mind/brain interactions. Overall, the view is consistent with the idea that complex neural systems, like other com- plex information processing systems, are highly modular. At the same time, how the modules come to interact and produce unitary goals is unknown. Here, I review the importance of self-cueing in that process of producing unitary goals from disparate functions. The role of self- cueing is demonstrably evident in the human neurologic patient and especially in patients with hemispheric disconnection. When viewed in the context of modularity, it may provide insights into how a highly parallel and distributed brain locally coordinates its activities to pro- duce an apparent unitary output. Capturing and understanding how this is achieved will require shifting gears away from standard linear models and adopting a more dynamical systems view of brain function.

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PS64CH01-Gazzaniga ARI 15 November 2012 12:44

Contents

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 THE EARLY YEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 THE CALTECH YEARS WITH

ROGER SPERRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 UNCOVERING BRAIN

MECHANISMS: THE ROLE OF SELF-CUEING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL CUEING . . . . . . . . . 9

THE INTERMEDIATE YEARS . . . . . 11 THE INTERPRETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 THE GIFFORD LECTURES

AND MOVING FORWARD . . . . . . 14 INTERACTING MODULES:

THE VAST UNCONSCIOUS . . . . 17 A FINAL WORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

INTRODUCTION

With all we know about memory and its fail- ings, any kind of retrospective should be sus- pect. How many times have we called up past experiences that seem key to our lives, rolled them around, and then let current times tag them before putting them back to sleep? Over time, how can our memories possibly resemble the way things truly were?

There is something about the personalities we have known, however, that sticks and seems as true to us in the present as it was the day we formed our opinion about the stuff of certain people. Class reunions are a telling moment. Harry, 50 years later, is still an ass, while Bob is still cool. Even though we have not laid eyes on them since graduation night, the 50 intervening years have done nothing to change our views. On the other hand, and somewhat paradoxi- cally, our ideas on how to understand mech- anisms of nature do seem to change. These stubborn realities are fair warning about what follows. In short, my views on the flow of events and ideas that have captured my interests are undoubtedly influenced by all these intangibles.

When I began my intellectual journey of the past 50 years or so, the world and its challenges were to be understood in straightforward ways, with simple models of structure/function rela- tionships being the dominant reality. In animal research, make a lesion, see what happens. Make another lesion, see what happens. In hu- man research, study all patients who happen to have lesions in different places or study surgical patients who have particular kinds of disconnec- tions. Or, in both animal and human physiol- ogy, eavesdrop on neurons and see if the neural code that directs behavior can be figured out.

The straightforward thrusts of youth in a scientific field that was itself young are telling and important. Yet what is more important to realize is that scientific progress, as it unfolds in spurts of insight arriving in a field of hard, mun- dane work, is commonly disorderly and mostly nonlinear. Stuff happens along the way. One influences others and at the same time is mas- sively influenced by others. One of the beautiful things about science is that how one looks at a body of work after it is completed might well pose questions that are different from those that one originally imagined. While this shifting perspective is going on, the experiments con- ducted sit there, unmistakable and sure-footed. Their ultimate richness, or possible banality, fluctuates as surrounding knowledge and the- ory accrue to our human culture.

In my case, one overarching truth, which emerges from split-brain research as well as the study of neurological disorders and functional imaging studies, is that the human brain is not an all-purpose centralized computing device. Instead, it is organized in modular fashion, consisting of distributed, specialized circuits that have been sculpted by evolution and development to perform specific subfunctions while somehow preserving substantial plasticity (Gazzaniga 2011).

In the past, when experimental results were consistent with this perspective, it was enough to stop there. Clearly, however, such a formula- tion begs the question: How does a distributed mechanical process give rise to unitary, func- tional output? Over the years, many experiences

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PS64CH01-Gazzaniga ARI 15 November 2012 12:44

and new hunches have made me realize that if any deeper understanding of mind-brain rela- tionships is to come about, it would necessitate shifting to a more dynamical systems approach. My animal work, my work on patients, and my endless discussions with students, friends, and colleagues led me to this conclusion. My goal in this essay is to capture this journey of discovery and to illuminate how this view came to be.

THE EARLY YEARS

For me, it all started with a feeling—a feeling about the need to know “What’s it all about?” I can trace it back to my teenage years and often thought it was promoted by being the fourth out of five children of Dante and Alice Gazzaniga. For many years, I was the youngest and was less differentiated than my older brothers and sis- ter. It fell to me to keep the peace in a vigorous family. When my younger sister came along, my role changed as my older siblings shipped out to college and I was left behind to help raise Becky with my parents. Everybody loved Becky, so it was more like the three of us were competing to take care of her.

This is all to say that there are always plenty of social forces around us shaping and modify- ing our natural dispositions. My disposition was “contrarian.” If somebody said this is the way things are, I was always thinking about the al- ternatives. In part, this also relates to my many inadequacies at advanced quantification, so I always tried to frame whatever issue was being discussed in more accessible terms. Sometimes it worked wonderfully; sometimes it was a total bust. So, quantitative skills do not come nat- urally to me. To the extent that I possess any, they were hard to acquire and were never “felt.” When I was a graduate student at Caltech, and for some reason or another I had to learn how to derive the laws of thermodynamics, I did it totally by rote and got through it. After I was done, I can remember complaining to Seymour Benzer that I simply didn’t get it, didn’t feel the laws. Benzer said, “That’s all right, most physicists don’t either.” Benzer was a very gentle man.

This is all presented in the spirit of full disclosure. I am not quantitative, period. And yet for 50 years I have enjoyed a rich intellec- tual life with scientists who are exceptionally gifted in mathematics. What’s up with that? I once heard Duncan Luce say that statistics should not be taught to psychologists. He felt the newly trained students would come to think that statistics was the important part, not the question being examined. Often we hear spe- cialists talk endlessly about the quantitative de- tails of their research, whereas they are seem- ingly blasé about the net idea that comes out of all the work. This is the danger Luce was talk- ing about, and I think we all see this happening far too frequently.

More fundamentally, the feeling of being in- terested in the question of what life is all about is a wonderful center for the mind. Whatever crazy, mindless activity one might be engaged in during the day, whether it be learning his- torical facts, a foreign language, or how to play football, coming home mentally each night to that question has been a wonderful tonic. One’s mind really is an exclusive island that one can retreat to frequently, if not daily, where no one can bug you, and where one’s own interpreta- tions of the world are continually revised and updated.

Somehow all of this was working on me early in life and found me trotting off to Dartmouth College, where my older brilliant brother Alan was already a star football player and a man about town, soon to enter medical school. His tales of life in Hanover captivated me, and I dearly hoped I would get in. It all worked out, and from the moment I hit the Hanover plain I was in love with it all. The freshman beanie was placed on my head, and for a week I schlepped furniture up and down dorm steps for the upperclassmen. Somehow, it was exciting and refreshing.

Then I discovered Baker Library with its fa- mous Tower Room. One could grab a book, sit in a carrel, and read away the afternoon. I discovered Crime and Punishment there and be- came mesmerized by my new life. To this day, I think of that experience with a fondness that

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