My top priorities in life are spiritual connection with God and close community with kind and courageous people. My ideal life would be as a minimalist backpacker traveling around the world, meeting new people and helping each other along the way.
Background
My name is pronounced "Arlend Veydahl". I am half Norwegian and half Ecuadorian; was born in 1971, and grew up in Guatemala and Miami. My first language is Spanish, and I miss my family and the warmth of the Latin culture. I have two master's degrees: in Mechanical Engineering and in Pure Mathematics. I now live in Los Angeles and work as a math professor. My best friend forever has been my sister, Eva.
I have a form of cancer (neuroendocrine tumors, originally from the small intestine) that is very slow growing but has metastasised. But fortunately, some recent therapies (alpha particle radiation) have shown excellent results in trials (including possibly a cure), and are expected to become available soon. Thank God! In anycase, this experience is a reminder for me to focus on what is important in life, and let go of what is not. I am now trying to focus on living my life as healthly as possible and as meaningfully as possible.
Job
I am a full-time college math professor. My favorite courses to teach are Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear (Vector) Algebra. Unlike most instructors, instead of technology just changing the way I teach, it is also changing the content of what I teach: I am trying to redesign the traditional curriculum to better reflect the modern needs of scientists and engineers. The point is that modern software can now simplify expressions and solve equations better than humans - provided the problems are expressed in symbolic form. So in the higher level courses, instead of teaching mathematics as a computational tool, I am trying to emphasize mathematics as a language; a language in which to express problems and ideas precisely and concisely (which can then be passed to a computer). I think this is very important because the language in which we think determines the extent of what we are able to think about (or at least communicate it to others).
Free-time
For fun I like to socialize with internationals, dance, explore, hike, watch foreign films, etc. I also exercise regularly and love to go on adventures; but real adventures involve some risk, so rather than the safest path I prefer to take the most memorable one. I am thankful for having been able to travel all over the world; and I love to make international friends, though I must admit I am not good at staying in touch. I have already been to most of the largest cities and tropical rain forests around the world; what attracts me to both is their energy and diversity. But now I would like to focus on places where nature seems so strong that it feels spiritual, and on places where communities are so inviting that you feel at home, and on places where I can make a difference in other people's lives.
I tend to read and think mostly about Spirituality, Philosophy, Psychology, Physics; and of course, Mathematics. Surprisingly, I don't really like numbers - rather what I like about Math is Logic and Geometry, i.e. reasoning and visualization. My main reseach interests are practical non-classical logic (e.g. where the law of non-contradiction and the law of exclude middle are not valid), local extrinsic differential geometry (quadratic forms of co-dimension greater than one), and classical mechanics in higher dimensions (including fluid dynamics). I also tend to be interested in anything that has to do with infinity.
I spend a lot of extra time (beyond normal work hours) trying to make my notes and explanations more clear and intuitive for my students. I also try to volunteer with (or donate to) organizations that help people who are most in need - such as advocating for compassionate euthanasia for patients with unbearable physical suffering, or providing professional structured support for homeless with dementia.
Beliefs and Values
Logically speaking, it could have been that there is no universe or anything else at all (not even space or time). So then, why does anything at all exist? This seems to point to an ultimate existence beyond the human capacity to understand. What I call "God" is that ultimate existence, and therefore also the ultimate meaning of everything as well. When I am able to meditate deeply about it, I feel overwhelmed by how great it must be. Since it is beyond the limits of the rational human mind, it is therefore also beyond the reach of scientific enquiry; but perhaps it still communicates with us via some other means, such as spiritually.
I grew up as a Christian, but I am definitely not religious anymore in the traditional sense; as I do not believe in parts of the Bible and I am very open minded about other philosophies. God is too great to be bound by any book or tradition of humans. Nevertheless, the teachings that Jesus emphasized the most strongly influence my sense of morality and my sense of purpose in life. Among the highest on the list of these teachings is to really be kind to others (not just to family and friends), and to really have the courage to do the right thing (not just when it is very safe). I think Jesus would say that what is being neglected the most in this society is proactive help for those people who are most in need (the very sick, the very poor, the very sad).
In the end, I think what really matters is not how long we lived but how much we lived; and even more importantly, what meaning our lives had. I also believe that after we die our spirit persists and will rejoin a universal and eternal collective consciousness; so that the "I" finally truly becomes the "We", as it was meant to be. :-)
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