Maxime on the Mountain

Radio Free Europe just published this beautifully illustrated story of a life and a land redeemed.

In an isolated part of the Caucasus, a monk is spending his days in prayer and silence atop a 40-meter pillar of limestone in western Georgia (near the town of Chiatura). The Katskhi Pillar was used by stylites -- Christian ascetics who lived atop pillars and eschewed worldly temptations -- until the 15th century when the practice was stopped following the Ottoman Empire's invasion of Georgia. For centuries the pillar was abandoned and locals could only look up at the mysterious ruins on its summit. Finally, in 1944, a mountain climber ascended the pillar, discovering the skeleton of a stylite and the remains of a chapel. Shortly after the collapse of communism and the resurgence of religion in Georgia, former "bad boy" Maxime Qavtaradze (now 59) decided to live atop the pillar in the way of the old stylites. “When I was young I drank, sold drugs, everything. When I ended up in prison.... It was time for a change. I used to drink with friends in the hills around here and look up at this place, where land met sky. We knew the monks had lived up there before and I felt great respect for them." In 1993 Maxime took monastic vows and climbed the pillar to begin his new life. "For the first two years there was nothing up here so I slept in an old refrigerator to protect me from the weather." Since then Maxime and the nearby Christian community have constructed a ladder to the top, rebuilt the chapel, and built a cottage where Maxime spends his days praying, reading, and "preparing to meet God." As a result of the interest in the site there is now a religious community at the base of the pillar. Men with troubled lives come to stay and ask for guidance from Maxime and the young priests who live at the site. The men are fed and housed on the condition they join the priests in praying for around seven hours per day (including from 2 a.m. until sunrise) and help with chores. 

Be sure to view the 19 beautiful photos of life on the pillar by Amos Chapple in the original post on Radio Free Europe.

At the nexus of several influential and conflicting forces, this small country has seen a lot.  It's refreshing to hear now a story of hope and restoration.

Competence Mapping : Read About it on HuffPost

My latest article on Huffington Post is out. This one describes an incredible Finnish innovation - a third paradigm of investment technology that allows us to map the competencies of investors in the stock market and to rank them. It's not a cross-sectional view of current market performance, but rather a longitudinal, historical track record of each investor's performance with each of their stocks.

Competence mapping (or competence analysis) is a means of pinpointing expertise and holds great promise for efficient models of resource allocation.  Key to the further development of this system is market transparency, a topic which just received a lot of attention at the G8 summit last month, where a revolutionary declaration was made:

The leaders recognised that transparency has to cut across all aspects of government – and it will only really make a difference if all countries sign up to it. The Lough Erne Declaration could hardly be bigger picture: “Governments should publish information on laws, budgets, spending, national statistics, elections and government contracts in a way that is easy to use and re-use, so that citizens can hold them to account.” ... 

The Declaration was accompanied by the Open Data Charter – an extraordinarily impressive document that commits G8 members to make all data open by default and sets out ways to improve its quality, quantity and – above all – its usability.  [read more]

This is being heralded as the beginning of the Open Data revolution.  Exciting times!

My Huffington Post article describes how nonprofit cooperative Robin Hood Asset Management has applied the innovation to their own social goals. This application to the stock market is just the beginning for competence mapping technology. Keep your eyes open for more on this as the technology becomes known globally.

Weekend Roundup

Interesting articles and other specimens abound online this week; here's a taste of what caught my eye.
There's something for everyone here!

1. Trial of former Guatemalan president for genocide >> For the first time in history, a former head of state has been put on trial - and then convicted - of genocide by his own country's court system.  This op-ed in The Globalist was written by Laura Myers of Limitless Horizons Ixil. Laura was our guide and an ambassador from the Ixil community when I traveled to Guatemala with Belmont University in March 2012. Having lived for over a year and a half with the Ixil people in the remote highlands of central Guatemala, Laura's knowledge, experience, and empathy inform her unique perspective on this remarkable event in local, national, and world history.

photo credit: Eric Johansson

2.
Swedish Photoshop expert creates mind-bending images

3.
French-Namibian girl grows up napping with cheetahs, riding ostriches - incredible photos!

4. Finland's contribution to online shopping: Buy anything you see online! - Cool Helsinki-based company Kiosked makes advertising less annoying and more enjoyable for shoppers.  Read about it in the Huffington Post.


5. "Struggle is progress" - A young mother bares her heart as she chronicles the joys and challenges of raising her two small children.  The genuine emotion and thoughts she shares are a beautiful part of the human experience.

6. "The unbearable beauty of Finnish grammar".  Believe it or not, after living here for 8 months, I've actually started speaking Finnish - real conversations!  Even arguments.  I had to aggressively defend American cuisine the other day when some guy tried to blanket-statement American food is bad ... because he ate bad Mexican-style food from an "American" restaurant in Helsinki (where Finns manager and cook).  The parent company might actually have ties to America.  And I had all the words to set him straight in Finnish!

For all the warnings that you get about this being the most difficult language in the world, it's really not that bad.   I have found Russian most challenging so far.  

7. '13 Bankers', Financialization, and the Economy.  This was posted about 3 years ago, but the message is still incredibly relevant!  Let this be a foreshadowing of one of my newest and most exciting projects.  If you find this topic interesting, stay tuned!

photo: Cata Portin

8.  Philosophy of life: Insight & Inspiration with one of Finland's most loved philosophers. He also happens to be a researcher and lecturer at my university.  I had lunch with Esa one day; he's a brilliant and lovely man.  He's also my neighbor, and by some funny coincidence, I now live in the apartment he used to own - where he raised his kids.  Here's a paper on elevated reflection that serves as a great introduction to his work and passion!
If you've ever been to Finland, you understand how brilliantly Esa stands out!

9. What the World Eats in a Week. This is a super neat photograph collection of families around the world, surrounded by everything they eat in a typical week.  Highlights: I was astounded by the volume of what the German family drinks compared to all others.  I was also horrified by the minuscule 1/12th of the British table that contained unprocessed, fresh edibles.  Mexico appears to adore Coca-Cola; Guatemalans have insanely red tomatoes; bananas / plantains must be in every Ecuadorian dish.  Based on this table analysis, I should probably move to Turkey or Italy.  

Bhutan - photo: Peter Menzel

"The internet is where people are."

"One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was 'corrupting my soul.' It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free. And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more 'real,' now. More perfect.  But instead ..."  - Paul Miller

If you’re like me, you’ve found that constantly updated web content is the archenemy of productivity. You may have struggled through the past decade of an increasingly web-based lifestyle, trying to find the right balance between living in the real and virtual worlds.  As a perpetual traveler, I go through phases of intensive internet usage in an attempt to maintain relationships with family and friends on the other side of the globe.  At other times, I disappear from the net completely, leaving loved ones to ponder my e-footprints while I’m off cavorting with indigenous peoples in the depths of yet-to-be-networked hinterlands.

These profound changes of environment have turned me into an "all or nothing" internet user.  It's either completely absent and irrelevant to my lifestyle - or I'm constantly connected.  And I've been all too connected during my past eight months in grad school.

When I read Paul Miller’s story, a lot of his motivation to leave the internet resonated with me.  But by the end of his odyssey-like essay, I was convinced that my presence and interactions online are a largely positive force in my life and for others.  The internet is where people are.  I have a passion for encouraging people; if I hope to make the most of this gift, I need to be where people are.

Film: Of Mountains, Monks & Milk Tea

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to share my experience as a Lumos Student Traveler in Nepal with students and faculty at Belmont University. This was the first screening of my film documentary: "Of Mountains, Monks & Milk Tea" and I was able to provide an intro as well as respond to questions via Skype after the film.

You can watch it here on Vimeo in full HD.

Of Mountains, Monks, and Milk Tea from shirah-eden on Vimeo.
Explore Nepal with Belmont University graduate and Lumos Traveler Shirah Foy as she joins the Pema Chholing Monk Family to teach English to Sherpas in the Himalaya. Discover the beauty of a 500 year-old-monastery and the ancient rituals of the Nyingmapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Meet the 19 little boy monks who captured Shirah's heart, and the lamas who bestowed their wisdom upon her. Follow her on a 10-day trek from her monastery home at 3,000 feet up to Mount Everest Base Camp - the very roof of the world - at an incredible elevation of 18,200 feet. This film based on HD footage captured on site in Nepal in summer 2012.

Now: Read my work in the Huffington Post

I am excited to share with you my first nationally syndicated work, an article published earlier this week in the Huffington Post - one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the internet (they claim).

The article first appeared on oikos Student Reporter, where I'm slated to have a series of 4-5 articles on social entrepreneurship published over the next few months.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Having followed lots of internet pranks today, including this list, here's my pick of the day...

Stay young! Don't forget to laugh a little. Or a lot :)