I'm currently sitting in a cafe in one of the oldest cities in the world. I am surrounded by magnificent architecture, museums and art that behold the greatest treasures Western Civilization clings to in reminder of its history; in reminder of who it once was, and how far it has come.
And instead of walking around, I'd rather drink coffee - (by the way - why is Italians have never heard of coffee with cream? I asked for it yesterday and they put whipping cream on my coffee... weird...)
I have had a number of experiences recently that seem to correlate and have inspired me to jot down some thoughts and worries I have that my generation will fail in its task to remember where we came from.
Here they are, in no particular order, and without a particularly good explanation of their context.
- Before I came, I had a party for my birthday. During said party, my friends decided to engage in some good-natured... ribbing? is that the word?... my mind is blank... anyways the whole subject of education came up, and I mentioned that I had some accomplishments to be proud of while I turned 23 - including earning a BA in Philosophy. Most of my friends, however, thought this was not much of an accomplishment. Now, I'm used to the question 'what can you possibly do with a philosophy degree?' so I've come to expect that people just don't get it. But there is an attitude prevalent in our society that an education is only useful if it leads directly to some sort of income. If not, it's basically a waste of time. More on this later....
- The second experience came in Amsterdam. On our last day there (I am travelling with my brother) we met a dude named JJ while on a bike tour of the countryside. JJ I found to be a kindred spirit - and also a walking, talking cultural contradiction. He's a very good basketball player - and instead of continuing with basketball, he decided to study philosophy. He's got a tatoo on one arm which he explained represent an existentialist point of view on the meaning of life, and on the other, a Nietzsche quote. He enthusiastically engaged us in conversation about his philosophy, favorite books, traveling experiences and more. We had also made some other friends while in Amsterdam, and the five of us spent the entire evening discussing philosophy and religion while walking through the Red Light District, past prostitutes motioning towards us from their windows and past junkies offering to sell us crack. It was one of the weirdest, and most profound, moments of my life - discussing the best culture has to offer while surrounded by perhaps its worst (depending on who you talk to).
- The third experience came last night. Ben and I met a couple girls from Florida who were desperate for some english speaking companions, so we spent the night walking about town. We ended up at the Trevi Fountain, (check it out on wikipedia - beautiful) where I had the urge to engage in a conversation that was a little more intellectual than 'so what do YOU like to do for fun?' or 'do you like to dance?'
I said, half jokingly, 'would you like to discuss cultural anthropology?'
She said - Sure! You go first.
Since I thought it would be fun, as well as suiting considering we were standing underneath one of the most brilliant pieces of baroque architecture which paid tribute to the Greek (and subsequently Roman) gods.
Now, if you know me, you know I like to go off and talk on end while my listeners probably stop paying attention after 15 seconds. But I thought - Hey, we're in flipping Rome! There is hardly a more appropriate place to talk about the history of our culture!
So I tried to explain the history of the ancient conception of the gods, how it changed society and evolved into a complex set of myths believed by the Greeks, and how they affected one's life in those days (for instance, it was thought you had a fate, and nothing you could do could change it). After about three minutes however, she stopped me, and asked a question that I suppose was supposed to be 'profound' about how I don't like to show people the real me. I was like, this is the real me! This is what I'm interested in! And then she changed the subject to shoes or something.
baaaah.
Why is it that noone seems to care where we came from? Not many people seem to really care what happened at the Forum, or the Coliseum, or how the ancient philosophers laid the foundation for our modern republics, for science, for pretty much everything that keeps us distracted and comfortable.
It's just you and me JJ. It's just you and me. And of course you, the reader.
I want to write more on this , but I don't have time right now, so it will have to wait. Comments, I beckon you to come forth!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Dealing with Emotional Overload and the Spirituality of Television
I recently had a moment of insight into the life of a computer. While typing away, I experienced something very typical of computers - and I responded in a very atypical manner. You see, my computer froze.
And instead of swearing at it, I empathized. I felt its pain.
Computers are asked to do a lot. They are counted upon to receive, compute and respond to hundreds of pieces of information at any given moment. And sometimes, they just can't take it anymore. It's as if my computer was saying "NO, enough is enough, I need a break! Turn me off! I can't handle anymore flipping information!! And quit banging your forehead on the keyboard! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE"
The other day I was flipping through a magazine and experienced a similar sensation. I experienced information overload. There were ads, articles, photo's, reviews, editorials and surveys galore, all clamoring for my attention with slick new fonts and cleverly designed layouts that the magazine people are hoping will catch my eye and make me want to buy their products.
How am I supposed to pay attention to all this stuff?
But this is what it's like living in North America these days, isn't it...
I was brought up to be very polite. My grandparents used to sit me down for tea in their old-English style dining room and ask me to behave as I would if the Queen were present. So when someone asks for my attention, naturally, I'm inclined to give it, because that's what a polite person would do.
The problem is that nowadays everyone wants your attention. Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation when your phone rings? Of course, you pick up the phone because you just want that ring tone you once thought was funny but is now really annoying to stop, just to hear a beeping noise signaling someone else is calling you a minute later?
I have.
Naturally, I want to pay proper attention to everybody - but I can't. And my relationships suffer for it. Sure my conversations are efficient - but are they really conversations, or just the exchange of information? What's the difference?
Moving on... you could be driving along on a sunny afternoon and in less than a minute be bombarded by the advertising on the radio, billboards, people holding signs all while trying to find change to give the homeless guy who just knocked on your window.
It's in times like these that I have the urge to suddenly become unresponsive, to make like a PC and freeze, hoping the people will just go away and stop asking me to talk, pay attention or give money.
I was listening to a particularly good sermon given at Mars Hill, Rob Bell's Church in Michigan, by a guy named Shane Hipps. If you get the chance, download it here:
http://www.marshill.org/teaching/
He spent some time discussing the insights of a gentlemen I vaguely remember hearing about in Grade Eleven Social Studies named Marshall McLuhan.
Marshall McLuhan was a pop-culture prophet - it seemed he knew what was coming down the chute for our culture before anyone else. He even predicted amazon.com thirty years before it showed up.
His two most influential statements included calling the world a "global village" and saying that "the medium is the message."
I never really understood the second one, until Shane Hipps explained it to me. What message is your couch, your TV, and your remote telling you?
They're telling you that its OK to experience the exiting adventures and terrible tragedies of lives both fictional and real from the comfort of your own home.
My brother and I went on an expedition to Mt Everest Base Camp last October. A few weeks ago my brother was telling a friend of his about his trip, when his friend replied - "I've been there as well! Or I might as well have been. I saw the IMAX movie on it. Pretty much the same as being there."
I couldn't believe it. There was a whole realm of experience that contributed to our adventure through the Himalayas that could never be conveyed through a television screen, even one as big as the IMAX. The excitement of flying through the mountains into a town perched on a cliff, of feeling the burn in your legs as you climb so high your lungs scream for thicker air, of sleeping on a wooden bed using your arm as a pillow - these experiences don't make it onto the screen.
Shane mentioned that this attitude, that we can experience the world from the comfort of our couches, has affected our mindset towards the world's problems as well. When you flip on the news, you are bombarded with images from problems the world over: devastating images from across the globe of disaster inflicted by man and nature - all clamoring for your attention, for your sympathies. If it's impolite to ignore a man who's asking you a question, what is it when you ignore someone asking for help to build a new house when their old one floated down the street? Inhuman?
When this happens, I feel emotional overload. My heart wants to freeze. And in a way, it does.
Here's a paraphrase of what Shane has to say about this issue of emotional overload:
"The electronic age is creating a spirituality of empathy at a distance.... this is what happens when, through your tv or computer, you begin to experience the weight of planetary suffering... We do have an empathetic encounter, and we want to help, but then it's something else... One minute it's 9/11, then hurricane Katrina... and then the Tsunami...
It has a strange effect upon us. Sure, it's great, we tell ourselves. We are connected with everything that's going on in the world. But in fact, because there's so much of it,
the human psyche is not designed to withstand the totality of human suffering. And what's the natural reaction? Helplessness.... hopelessness... numbness... apathy. Then our everyday priorities of paying bills and going to work begin to take over.
When you extend your emotional life globally, it has the effect of cauterizing the nerves of compassion in our own back yards. Theres just too much to deal with. So we stop dealing with any of it."
I have been a victim of this. I want to care - but most of the time, I just don't. My thoughts are that there's always something or someone I'm forgetting, what I do doesn't matter, and I'm never doing enough - I will always be guilty of these things, it seems, so in the end I don't even bother. Excuses, I know. But we all use them, don't we.
A friend of mine who initiated our trip to base camp had a great impact upon my thoughts on this subject. He told me that I should pick a problem, even if it's just a small one, and invest in a solution. He gives financial support to a few orphanages in India, and visits them once in a while to provide encouragement and blessing. This way he also appreciates their need much more than if he simply saw a special on TV.
So when the phone rings and someone asks him to pledge money for cancer, or someone knocks on the door looking for a donation to some cause, he replies by saying that he appreciates the cause, but he has already committed to giving to those kids in India, and they are his priority.
I think that if all of us picked a cause or two, we'd get a lot more done than if we try to fix all the worlds problems at once. And we might stop feeling so guilty about the fact that we can't change anything - because we can, and we are. However slowly it may seem.
It might also help if we stuck our televisions in the closet for a while, or threw our computers out the window...
And instead of swearing at it, I empathized. I felt its pain.
Computers are asked to do a lot. They are counted upon to receive, compute and respond to hundreds of pieces of information at any given moment. And sometimes, they just can't take it anymore. It's as if my computer was saying "NO, enough is enough, I need a break! Turn me off! I can't handle anymore flipping information!! And quit banging your forehead on the keyboard! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE"
The other day I was flipping through a magazine and experienced a similar sensation. I experienced information overload. There were ads, articles, photo's, reviews, editorials and surveys galore, all clamoring for my attention with slick new fonts and cleverly designed layouts that the magazine people are hoping will catch my eye and make me want to buy their products.
How am I supposed to pay attention to all this stuff?
But this is what it's like living in North America these days, isn't it...
I was brought up to be very polite. My grandparents used to sit me down for tea in their old-English style dining room and ask me to behave as I would if the Queen were present. So when someone asks for my attention, naturally, I'm inclined to give it, because that's what a polite person would do.
The problem is that nowadays everyone wants your attention. Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation when your phone rings? Of course, you pick up the phone because you just want that ring tone you once thought was funny but is now really annoying to stop, just to hear a beeping noise signaling someone else is calling you a minute later?
I have.
Naturally, I want to pay proper attention to everybody - but I can't. And my relationships suffer for it. Sure my conversations are efficient - but are they really conversations, or just the exchange of information? What's the difference?
Moving on... you could be driving along on a sunny afternoon and in less than a minute be bombarded by the advertising on the radio, billboards, people holding signs all while trying to find change to give the homeless guy who just knocked on your window.
It's in times like these that I have the urge to suddenly become unresponsive, to make like a PC and freeze, hoping the people will just go away and stop asking me to talk, pay attention or give money.
I was listening to a particularly good sermon given at Mars Hill, Rob Bell's Church in Michigan, by a guy named Shane Hipps. If you get the chance, download it here:
http://www.marshill.org/teaching/
He spent some time discussing the insights of a gentlemen I vaguely remember hearing about in Grade Eleven Social Studies named Marshall McLuhan.
Marshall McLuhan was a pop-culture prophet - it seemed he knew what was coming down the chute for our culture before anyone else. He even predicted amazon.com thirty years before it showed up.
His two most influential statements included calling the world a "global village" and saying that "the medium is the message."
I never really understood the second one, until Shane Hipps explained it to me. What message is your couch, your TV, and your remote telling you?
They're telling you that its OK to experience the exiting adventures and terrible tragedies of lives both fictional and real from the comfort of your own home.
My brother and I went on an expedition to Mt Everest Base Camp last October. A few weeks ago my brother was telling a friend of his about his trip, when his friend replied - "I've been there as well! Or I might as well have been. I saw the IMAX movie on it. Pretty much the same as being there."
I couldn't believe it. There was a whole realm of experience that contributed to our adventure through the Himalayas that could never be conveyed through a television screen, even one as big as the IMAX. The excitement of flying through the mountains into a town perched on a cliff, of feeling the burn in your legs as you climb so high your lungs scream for thicker air, of sleeping on a wooden bed using your arm as a pillow - these experiences don't make it onto the screen.
Shane mentioned that this attitude, that we can experience the world from the comfort of our couches, has affected our mindset towards the world's problems as well. When you flip on the news, you are bombarded with images from problems the world over: devastating images from across the globe of disaster inflicted by man and nature - all clamoring for your attention, for your sympathies. If it's impolite to ignore a man who's asking you a question, what is it when you ignore someone asking for help to build a new house when their old one floated down the street? Inhuman?
When this happens, I feel emotional overload. My heart wants to freeze. And in a way, it does.
Here's a paraphrase of what Shane has to say about this issue of emotional overload:
"The electronic age is creating a spirituality of empathy at a distance.... this is what happens when, through your tv or computer, you begin to experience the weight of planetary suffering... We do have an empathetic encounter, and we want to help, but then it's something else... One minute it's 9/11, then hurricane Katrina... and then the Tsunami...
It has a strange effect upon us. Sure, it's great, we tell ourselves. We are connected with everything that's going on in the world. But in fact, because there's so much of it,
the human psyche is not designed to withstand the totality of human suffering. And what's the natural reaction? Helplessness.... hopelessness... numbness... apathy. Then our everyday priorities of paying bills and going to work begin to take over.
When you extend your emotional life globally, it has the effect of cauterizing the nerves of compassion in our own back yards. Theres just too much to deal with. So we stop dealing with any of it."
I have been a victim of this. I want to care - but most of the time, I just don't. My thoughts are that there's always something or someone I'm forgetting, what I do doesn't matter, and I'm never doing enough - I will always be guilty of these things, it seems, so in the end I don't even bother. Excuses, I know. But we all use them, don't we.
A friend of mine who initiated our trip to base camp had a great impact upon my thoughts on this subject. He told me that I should pick a problem, even if it's just a small one, and invest in a solution. He gives financial support to a few orphanages in India, and visits them once in a while to provide encouragement and blessing. This way he also appreciates their need much more than if he simply saw a special on TV.
So when the phone rings and someone asks him to pledge money for cancer, or someone knocks on the door looking for a donation to some cause, he replies by saying that he appreciates the cause, but he has already committed to giving to those kids in India, and they are his priority.
I think that if all of us picked a cause or two, we'd get a lot more done than if we try to fix all the worlds problems at once. And we might stop feeling so guilty about the fact that we can't change anything - because we can, and we are. However slowly it may seem.
It might also help if we stuck our televisions in the closet for a while, or threw our computers out the window...
Thursday, May 1, 2008
NT Wright on Thinking Wisely
I was reading the latest Relevant Magazine issue and came upon a quote by NT Wright that I thought I'd share, as it is keeping in theme with the whole 'own your faith' idea. When asked the question "what is the biggest problem facing the Church today?" Write answers,
"I think it has to do with relearning the issue of how to think. The 18 century stressed Reason, with a capital "R." Reason, to many, is discounted; people don't really do that stuff very much. If you try to mount a sustained argument, looking at evidence and thinking it through, people don't want it. They want sound bytes, slogans and so on. The Church ought to be at the forefront of helping the wider world think wisely. But along with this goes a wise reading of Scripture.
The Bible still waits there as this wonderful, huge, enormously energizing, complex book, which actually has the robustness and the suppleness to carry us forward into the new places we should be."
I can't believe he described the Bible as being supple. Excuse me a second while I ROFL. (to those who didn't grow up with ICQ and MSN Messenger, that means 'rolling on the floor laughing.') Seriously, though, this quote emphasizes the issue I've had, which is that very few people my age like to think for themselves, to think wisely about their beliefs and converse wisely about them. I'm glad someone agrees with me on this subject - though I'd have to be more inclined to share Shane Clairborne's point of view that consumerism and the prosperity gospel are the biggest problems facing the Church today, that 'The Christian experience (has become, to some) just about what you can get."
On another note, I was watching The Hour with George Strombolopolopoloupombolopulous (is that how you spell it?), the 'hippest show on CBC' you might call it, the other day. Reverend Dollar was on. This is the pastor from Philadelphia or somewhere who has two, thats right, TWO Roles Royces. Yes, he's the prosperity gospel guru. I admit he was very charming and had some good answers to some bad questions (George, I'm afraid, just isn't the brightest bulb on the tree) but didn't give much Scriptural weight to his conviction that its ok to live so lavishly besides a Psalm or two about being Blessed. Last time I checked, wasn't it JESUS, the guy who started this whole CHRISTIANITY thing, who said:
"If you want to find your life, you better give it away" - John 15:13 ?
"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'"
"I think it has to do with relearning the issue of how to think. The 18 century stressed Reason, with a capital "R." Reason, to many, is discounted; people don't really do that stuff very much. If you try to mount a sustained argument, looking at evidence and thinking it through, people don't want it. They want sound bytes, slogans and so on. The Church ought to be at the forefront of helping the wider world think wisely. But along with this goes a wise reading of Scripture.
The Bible still waits there as this wonderful, huge, enormously energizing, complex book, which actually has the robustness and the suppleness to carry us forward into the new places we should be."
I can't believe he described the Bible as being supple. Excuse me a second while I ROFL. (to those who didn't grow up with ICQ and MSN Messenger, that means 'rolling on the floor laughing.') Seriously, though, this quote emphasizes the issue I've had, which is that very few people my age like to think for themselves, to think wisely about their beliefs and converse wisely about them. I'm glad someone agrees with me on this subject - though I'd have to be more inclined to share Shane Clairborne's point of view that consumerism and the prosperity gospel are the biggest problems facing the Church today, that 'The Christian experience (has become, to some) just about what you can get."
On another note, I was watching The Hour with George Strombolopolopoloupombolopulous (is that how you spell it?), the 'hippest show on CBC' you might call it, the other day. Reverend Dollar was on. This is the pastor from Philadelphia or somewhere who has two, thats right, TWO Roles Royces. Yes, he's the prosperity gospel guru. I admit he was very charming and had some good answers to some bad questions (George, I'm afraid, just isn't the brightest bulb on the tree) but didn't give much Scriptural weight to his conviction that its ok to live so lavishly besides a Psalm or two about being Blessed. Last time I checked, wasn't it JESUS, the guy who started this whole CHRISTIANITY thing, who said:
"If you want to find your life, you better give it away" - John 15:13 ?
"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'"
-Matthew 19:21
?
or, worst of all...
We will all be judged for how we have treated the poor. I firmly believe this. If you are driving two roles royces when there are kids dying because they drink unclean water, or don't have enough food or proper health care, well...
Jesus also said "judge not." So, I guess I should take that into consideration. But judgement is coming, whether you like it or not.
?
or, worst of all...
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.'"??-Matthew 25:41-45
We will all be judged for how we have treated the poor. I firmly believe this. If you are driving two roles royces when there are kids dying because they drink unclean water, or don't have enough food or proper health care, well...
Jesus also said "judge not." So, I guess I should take that into consideration. But judgement is coming, whether you like it or not.
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