On Heuristic Algorithms…huh?..Many words from talking heads, few saints.

I'll keep this one short, given the title.   But the essence of this week's reflection is trying to justify our wordiness by our level of knowledge, when the formula really is simple:  too much talking = pride.  It's a heuristic algorithm. See the footnotes below for definitions.  Here's the reflection:

Thomas tells us in Book 1, Ch 2 (Having an Humble Opinion of Ones Self):

2. Cease your excessive desires of knowing all things because there is found only distractions and deceit. They who are learned want to appear wise and want to be called wise. There are many things the knowledge of which is of little or no value to the soul. In fact, to ever pay such attention to knowledge of things other than how these serve to his own salvation is very unwise and even foolish. Many words do not justify the soul; but a good life gives peace to the mind; and a pure conscience affords a great confidence in God. (1 Timothy 3:9)

Today, there is so much "blah, blah, blah....ad infinitum," from talking heads to The Talking Heads, to Talk Radio, to Podcasts (of which I'm a fan).  I listen to more talking than I should, and I talk more than I should.  Often, Mr. Pride takes over my head and tongue, since he (I, me, himself, that is, me) wants to appear important or wise or smart. 

I'm one of those people who also wants to know everything.  My typical excuse is:  "that's the way God made me!"  But ultimately, I know it's a pride issue. 

My other excuse is that I'm just curious.  But most of the time, it's because I don't want to appear stupid or uneducated....or don't want to be quiet, or DO want to be the center of attention.  It's a full circle, pride is.

Next time, we'll explore the concept of
"Accountability Counts" - the puffy bunny marshmallow game.

Until then: Thanks for praying with me -

Be imitators of Christ!


Heuristic refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a good enough solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical. Examples of this method include using a "rule of thumb", an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense. In more precise terms, heuristics are strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem solving in human beings and machines..]

An algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions[ for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning.

Starting from an initial state and initial input (perhaps null),] the instructions describe a computation that, when executed, will proceed through a finite number of well-defined successive states, eventually producing "output”] and terminating at a final ending state. The transition from one state to the next is not necessarily deterministic; some algorithms, known as randomized algorithms, incorporate random input.]