I really don’t like the changes to WordPress’s interface, so I have migrated to Substack.
In so doing, I’ve moved all my posts from here over so you have one stop to see all the stuff I have written.
Be sure to check it out. I’m chronicling my recent trip to Rome.
“Imaginative or creative”—a piece of music, a story, a painting, a spreadsheet? This adjective seems readily applicable to the first three, but we stumble over the last one or hear it as pejorative. A creative or imaginative illustration, play, or novel all seem legitimate. But creative accounting, imaginative engineering, or creative jurisprudence all give us pause and make us wonder if the speaker is praising or disparaging the work in question.
Imagination is the art or power of forming a meaningful image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived. Create can mean to bring into existence or to produce or bring about by a course of action or behavior. Nothing in these definitions limit either action to certain fields or pursuits. Then why have we, as a culture, tended to acknowledge the imagination only in the so-called “creative arts”?
Our lives call out for redemption and meaning. We are told that we are created “in the image and likeness” of God. God, of course, is the creator par excellence. God said, and it was. We do not have that kind of generative power with our intellect and our bodies. But we have a creative urge within us. God endowed us with an imagination, a faculty that no other being on this earth has, as far as we can tell.
But it cannot be that in order to use this faculty we can only turn to the “creative arts.” Indeed, to try to do so is an exercise in frustration for many of us. So how do we engage our imagination and be creative? If that statement in Genesis means anything, it must mean that he wanted some of us to be butchers, bakers, or bankers, and to be creative and imaginative in the midst of it.
The author of Ecclesiastes also tells us to embrace whatever vocation we have:
Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white; let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 RSV-CE, emphasis added.
We were created to work in this world. Surely the God who ordered the stars and the planets appreciates when we create a stack of clean dishes or a well-written report? God gave us the power of imagination so that we could be like him, at least in a limited capacity. None of us can create ex nihilo, but we can create new combinations of existing things.
Dallas Willard wrote in his article “Jesus the Logician” (Willard, Dallas. “Jesus the Logician.” Christian Scholar’s Review XXVIII, no. 4 (1999): 605-614) that we generally do not view Jesus as being smart and talented. We view him as humble and loving, but most of us do not look to him as an example of how to live out our daily lives in our particular occupation. If we think about such things, it is only in a moralizing “what would Jesus do?” way. But as Willard says, “How could we be [Christ’s] disciples at our work, take him seriously as our teacher there, if when we enter our fields of technical or professional competence we must leave him at the door?” Is it right for us to only think of Christ in the ethics, but not the practice of our profession? The question must go beyond “would Jesus bake the cake for the wedding?” to “How would Jesus bake?”
This is why a Christian imagination needs cultivating. We need the ability to imagine that Jesus cares about my radiator, my casserole, or my cost-benefit analysis. The ability to see that he cares for it—not just for the ends to which it will be put, but for the thing itself—because it is a creation of his child. Can we imagine that God loves us enough to give us undivided attention—even when we are at “work” and not at “prayer”? If I manage to believe that God genuinely cares about my work and pays attention to me performing it, the outgrowth of that reality will be that I may begin to understand how he would have me perform my work. If we can do this, we may have accomplished a revolution.
We are told by Jesus that God is our Father. Does our heavenly Father, at least metaphorically, hang our work on his refrigerator? Even if it isn’t a painting or a drawing? Being all powerful, he can just as easily hang our interior decorating, or our rebuilt lawnmower, or our term paper on his heavenly fridge.
But for many of us, our eight-to-five does not feel full of creativity and imagination; facts and figures, memos and meetings, cubicles and computers. It tends to feel more like an assembly line than a design studio. Few of us feel like craftsmen.
G.K. Chesterton contemplated this in his essay “A Defence of China Shepherdesses” which I would commend to your reading. Here’s an excerpt:
There certainly should be an ideal image of health and happiness in any trade, and its remoteness from the reality is not the only important question. No one supposes that the mass of traditional conceptions of duty and glory are always operative, for example, in the mind of a soldier or a doctor…. It is a serious calamity that no such ideal exists in the case of the vast number of honorable trades and crafts on which the existence of a modern city depends. It is a pity that current thought and sentiment offer nothing corresponding to the old conception of patron saints. If they did there would be a Patron Saint of Plumbers, and this alone would be a revolution, for it would force the individual craftsman to believe that there was once a perfect being who did actually plumb.
What if we had a patron saint of accountants? Sure, an internet search reveals that St. Matthew, the author of the first gospel, has that title. What about engineers? St. Patrick, says Google. But ask yourself, do you know a single accountant or engineer who has been excited or inspired by that pronouncement?
We may acknowledge that a Christian imagination is necessary to help us enter into the world of the Scriptures as we read them. It is probably necessary for us morally, to be able to visualize what it means to “love our neighbor as Christ loved them.” But what does a Christian imagination look like sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer completing an expense report? I am not sure I have a definitive answer, but I do believe that it is a question worth asking.
It is a question we must ask if we are to truly be saved, not only in the life to come, but saved from drudgery and despair in this life.
Perhaps we can begin to pursue Christian imagination in the workplace by asking a few questions.
“Can I imagine Jesus in this situation/task/job?” Scripture tells us Joseph was a carpenter, and Jesus is often depicted as a youth learning that trade. What if Joseph had been an actuary or a chemist? If that seems too much of a reach, “Can I imagine a saint to whom I have a particular devotion in this situation/task/job?” Maybe I need to find out who the patron of my profession is and get to know them?
Going back to God’s refrigerator, “Can I believe that God cares about what I am doing right now if for no other reason than I am his child and I am doing it?”
“Lord, what if I….?”
That last question is the beginning of real imaginative transformation. Allowing our Christ-formed minds to see the world around us—not the entire planet, but our worlds, our houses and offices and sales floors—as they could be under the influence of the Gospel. By taking our workaday tasks before God in prayer, we might find he has some inspiration for us.
Consider with me two acts of fairly mundane creativity. First, the intermodal shipping container. Malcolm McLean is not a name I think any of us have thrown around in conversation. And while he did not invent the idea, he had the vision to make the now-ubiquitous shipping container a revolution in logistics which had profound effects on the global economy of the last 60 years. “Legend has it that, as he watched the stevedores gradually unload his truck bale by bale, and load the ship equally slowly, he dreamed of a day when the whole truck trailer could just be lifted onto the deck in one motion.” The economic impacts have been profound.
Another example of imagination comes to use from a German engraver. One day his imagination prompted him to ask, “what if, instead of using full-page wood engravings for printing, I made a bunch of individual letters out of metal that I could rearrange?” The man, of course, was Johannes Gutenberg, and his invention launched the information age.
Both of these men and their creativity touch our lives every day. We think of neither of them as an “artist,” yet they employed their imagination to create new ways of doing things that changed the world.
What if tomorrow you looked at your task list and asked, in a spirit of prayer to God, “What is the ‘what if’ you would have me seek today, Lord?” The answer may be a new technique, a new item, or, perhaps most importantly, a new attitude. I pray that we’ll have the imagination to see the answer when it comes.
I quit logging my reading in Goodreads this year. There are several reasons.
First, amazon.com owns it. I try to avoid that monster as much as possible.
Second, the things that Goodreads was supposed to do, it never really did for me: offer book recommendations. I get it, I don’t read New York Times best-sellers or other mass-market fiction, so the sample size is much smaller therefore the algorithms aren’t going to work as well. This, in and of itself, isn’t a deal-breaker, but it certainly wasn’t a “feature” I was going to miss.
The primary reason I’ve hung it up is that counting books is a secondary goal. Yes, it was good to help me get a solid reading habit established. But that was years ago. I’ve found a manageable pace and I haven’t deviated too much in the past few years.
But, ultimately, I don’t read to be able to say I’ve read this many books in the last year. No one cares. I read to learn things and for entertainment. Neither of those goals were being enhanced by being on Goodreads.
Do I still keep track of my reading? Well, yes, of course. Part of that is a side-effect of just keeping my home library cataloged, and trying to keep it from growing faster than I’m reading it. So I’m still tracking books read, and books bought, each year.
I like not having the “reading goal” hanging over my head and influencing my reading decisions. If I want to pick up a big book that’s going to take a lot of work to get through, why should I be concerned if it might “slow down my reading goal?” Nonsense. I should only be concerned about “will it further my goals for acquiring knowledge?”
Ultimately, “gamifying” something to help establish a habit can be effective, but once it is established, we need to transition to doing the thing for the thing’s sake, not for the little rush of the digital meter moving up.
It had been bouncing around in my mind for a while. I put it on paper while sitting in a presentation with one of my adult daughters. She looked over and whispered, “What’s with the emo haiku?”
“It’s not a haiku.”
“Yes, it is.”
(I count syllables.)
“Huh, so it is.”
What it is, is a collection of some fundamental assumptions that I have come to deeply embrace. Things which if you disagree with, I don’t see how we can have a rational conversation with each other. (Or anyone can.) Here it is.
Words mean things.
Actions have consequences.
You will die.
Let us unpack what I mean when I assert each of these convictions. (And I mean conviction in the epistemological sense of Newman here.)
Language can be a swamp of ambiguity. But that is not its function. The purpose of language is to communicate ideas from one sentient being to another. We can, and do, disagree about the meaning, or use, of words and phrases, but that does not mean that the speaker (or writer) did not have a particular meaning in mind.
I will gladly argue with you about what I mean. I have no patience for any argument about whether or not you or I are capable of expressing meaning through language. Of course we can. The very possibility of understanding the question proves the point.
Furthermore, we should strive to not twist or change the meanings of words as much as possible, particularly when we are trying to engage in rational argument. If we want to argue for a new concept in place of an old one, we are best served by using a different word for our concept. This enables us to be more precise in our communication.
This is a fundamental law of physics. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” It applies to other realms as well, most notably for my purposes, the moral and the spiritual. Everything I do or say is either moving me toward sanctity or depravity. The choices I make today shape what choices are available to me tomorrow.
We are all on our way to heaven or hell. What decides? Our choices. So, implied in “actions have consequences” is “we have free will.” Moral consequences for actions make no sense without it. Those who argue against free will show the disingenuity of their claim by trying to change our minds.
We will all eventually assume room temperature. Our life on this earth is finite. Memento mori. Keeping our end in mind is a great aid in prioritizing. It is also an aid to humility. Our time on this planet is limited. We are all moving toward a point where action will cease, we have done all we can do and we will face our maker and his judgment. We will be forgotten. The ones we remember from history are the exception that proves the rule. Go stroll your local cemetery or graveyard and see whose name you recognize. Very few, if any seems a safe wager.
And one more,
Trust God.
Since the initial conversation at the beginning of this post, I have continued to roll my unintentional haiku around in my head. It was missing something. We need to trust God. To be willing to lean fully on his promises. To not be half-hearted in our belief. It is only trust in God that makes our impending death not a seemingly unjust end. It is only God that gives anything meaning. It is God who gives our actions their ultimate consequence and we do well to remember that everything we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is a result of his action, including ourselves.
Words and ideas can change the world. Thank you, Mr. Keating. He’s right, of course. Words lead to action. Words inform and communicate decisions. Yet too many words can cause nothing to change.
Walt Whitman answered his own Solomonic questioning of the meaning of life by stating, “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” We may, but we too often mistake contributing a verse for a Warholian fifteen minutes of fame. There is a difference, and it is important for us to realize it.
Yes, in theory, anyone with a smartphone can post something on Twitter and be heard around the world. In practice, a vast majority of tweets are probably seen by less than 100 people and actually read by even fewer.
But, here we are, all throwing words and images at each other, like a globe populated with toddlers all screaming, “Look at me! Look at ME! LOOK AT ME!”
Less is more. Two of the greatest compliments I ever received were based around this idea. “You don’t say much, but when you do, it’s worth listening to,” and “I get the impression that you always say exactly what you mean.” The most recent of those was uttered over 8 years ago, the other on almost 15 years ago. They have stuck with me because they were affirmations of deliberate choices in my life.
I learned early in life that precision in communication is important. Saying precisely what you mean leaves no room for misunderstanding. When a quiet person speaks, people (may) be more likely to listen, because it is novel. That is not always the case. There have been hundreds of times when I have been cut off, or never had a chance to merge into a conversation.
But speak we must, whether verbally or in the written word. We all want to be heard. We have a need to know that someone has listened to us, someone understands, or is at least willing to make the effort to try to understand.
The way to allow more people to be heard is not to make communication easier. The internet, if anything, is resulting in fewer people being heard. When’s the last time you watched to local evening news? (Does that even still exist?) Can you name your local news anchor? Can you name the anchor of your favorite network news broadcast? If you follow the news, you probably can.
That’s just on broadcast news. We’ve done that to everything, starting back with the invention of the phonograph. By creating mass markets, we’ve shrunk the number of slots for successful marketers. Sure, those who are successful now may be national or international celebrities. But we’ve lost the middle class.
Consider this, 120 years ago, if you wanted to hear some music, you had two choices, make it yourself, or find your local concert hall or pub and see who was playing. What do we do now? We listen to people who have recording contracts, tour the country or the world, and are broadcast on every conceivable platform. The market for the bar room piano player has shrunk considerably it seems.
The same is true for writing. People claw their way to the top of the heap in some genre or market and everyone else wants to be them. But there can only be so many Stephen Kings, Danielle Steeles, and Tom Clancys at one time.
Those of us with a desire to write non fiction in what may be considered niche markets are no better off. Someone is already dominating there. So what do we do?
My answer, while it might not be for everyone, is to relax. I write because I enjoy writing. If it gets read, all the better. I have come to realize that if I am going to write, I must be content to write for an audience of one–me. Some things are meant to be shared, like letters and e-mails. But some things I just want to get down on paper so I can see them, so I can think through what I think about them. Some things I just want to let out of my head so they quit running laps inside of it.
So, let the ink flow and quit worrying about your audience. If everyone is crowding the stage, maybe the real spotlight is out in the middle of the auditorium, where a only a few sit back from the fray and watch.
As of this writing, I have been officially part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church for less than 12 hours. How does it feel? That question has been asked, and I anticipate it will be asked again in the coming hours and days. This is my attempt at a partial answer.
When I was much younger, my dad and I took a few trips to Rocky Mountain National Park to go backpacking. We lived in Indiana, so such an undertaking involved two full days worth of driving to get out to Estes Park. Those long drives across Kansas or Nebraska were certainly part of the trip, but they were not the object of it.
I feel like I am getting out of the car with the sun shining, the evergreens all around, and Long’s Peak clearly visible amongst the Rockies.
Driving to Colorado from Indiana, there is a lot of flat country, though you start to gain elevation slowly across the Great Plains and into eastern Colorado. Eventually mountains start to become visible on the horizon. Finally, you get past Loveland and follow the Big Thompson River through a long canyon. It is pretty, but if you let yourself think about the floods that have scoured the canyon, it can be a bit unnerving. The mountains are there, but you cannot see them. Eventually you emerge and you drive into the park.
That is the closest parallel I can find for my feelings this morning. It has been a long trip, I am finally out of the car, the sun is shining, the wilderness awaits. Time to shoulder my pack and go forth on this adventure.
God did not become incarnate in Jesus in order to better understand us,
He came that we may better understand Him.
I read and hear too much that gets this backwards. God is all-knowing, he didn’t have to become man to understand hunger and the annoyance of bug bites. Jesus came that we might see God, have an example, receive his teaching, and that he might be a sacrifice for our sins.
It’s been a long road. It’s hard to say where it started. But I can see the sun glistening on the goal, and I will soon be there.
This has not been a physical pilgrimage, but a spiritual one. On the 20th of April, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Columbia, SC it will be complete. I shall be received and confirmed in the Catholic Church.
This is the second such story I have seen in recent months about someone not trying to go totally “off the grid,” but merely to unplug from the Amazon and/or so-call “big 5” or “GAFMA” matrix. (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple.) You can check it out here if you are interested.
While the economic and regulatory issues connected with monopolies or near-monopolies like the big 5 are important, another recent internet phenomena has cause me to think about it from a different angle.
I am referring to a recent kerfuffle over Patreon. For those of you unfamiliar, Patreon is a web service that allows people to set up crowdfunding accounts. So, for example, you follow someone on YouTube or a podcast and you want to support their work. So, you can go to their Patreon page and donate to them with a recurring donation. Many people have certain Patreon-only perks to help encourage this behavior, from access to message boards to free videos, books, or t-shirts.
The issue is, as I understand it, Patreon has started blocking some accounts because of what they deem “hate speech.” As most of us realize, some historically mainstream ideas are currently labeled in this way by certain more “progressive” groups. This has obviously affected the people they have blocked, and has cause a ripple effect with some other users of the service pulling out and seeking other ways to receive funding in protest.
So far, all of this just seems like the ups and downs of life in the internet age. To a point, you’re not wrong. But, consider this scenario. None of the big 5 are exactly stalwarts of conservative social teaching. It is not hard to imagine any, or all, of them enacting similar prohibitions of “content.”
This means YouTube, Apple podcasts, self-publishing (or even traditional publishing) on Amazon, Facebook accounts, Instagram accounts, etc. could, very rapidly, just go away as an option for chunks of society.
This is not just an issue for a 20-something creating YouTube videos in their spare time. How many ministries and other faith-based organizations do you know that use these tools as central avenues of engagement with people?
My goal here isn’t to be chicken little. I hope I’m wrong. I hope the traffic that Christians generate on sites like YouTube to watch faith-based content is just as valuable to Google as people watching videos of cats falling off of countertops.
But I also realize in the ideological battles raging in the world around us, sometimes corporations are willing to cave to certain interest groups out of fear or affinity. None of this is government censorship, which we may feel we have some recourse to counter through our democratic process. But we can’t vote out Jeff Bezos and the other heads of the big 5. They don’t work for us.
I do think it reasonable for individuals and groups that promote orthodox belief and practice to consider how they might operate in such an environment where the digital tools we depend on everyday (and mostly don’t even pay for!) could be turned off on us in a single click.
Big Brother isn’t the government (so much) as corporate America. The power they could wield to virtually stop communication by adherents to what they may deem “bad” beliefs is frightening to contemplate.
Nearly 150 years ago, John Henry Newman felt the press of information that we bemoan today. His words, quoted below, could have come off any number of recent blogs. Instead, they were written by the light of a candle or oil lamp using a quill or dip-pen.
“In this day the subject-matter of thought and belief has so increased upon us, that a far higher mental formation is required than was necessary in times past, and higher than we have actually reached. The whole world is brought to our doors every morning, and our judgment is required upon social concerns, books, persons, parties, creeds, national acts, political principles and measures. We have to form our opinion, make our profession, take our side on a hundred matters on which we have but little right to speak at all.”
John Henry Newman, A Grammar in Aid of Divine Assent, 1870
ADSUM 