those awake

What Day is It?

Today we'll begin handing out copies of a Zine we've been working on (hence the prolonged silence here on the blog).  It is called "What Day Is It? a Winter Zine." I hope you can find a copy near you soon.  (look in coffee shops!)

 
 
 

In celebration, here's a poem that helps reflect the heart of the Zine, a poem by Denise Levertov

Just when you seem to yourself
nothing but a flimsy web
of questions, you are given
the questions of others to hold
in the emptiness of your hands,
songbird eggs that can still hatch
if you keep them warm,
butterflies opening and closing themselves
in your cupped palms, trusting you not to injure
their scintillant fur, their dust.
You are given the questions of others
as if they were answers
to all you ask. Yes, perhaps
this gift is your answer.

Some Recent Alarms

Alarms | posted by Shaun O

The blog front has (obviously) been quiet.  We've recently gone to the email approach for conversations, and hopefully that will lead to some interesting things to share ... we'll see.  Blogging & comments just still isn't a workable medium for conversations.  What to use, then?

But, I will share some recent "alarms" (moments/things of awakening!) for me:

• Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey.  This was on the syllabus for the Literary Nonfiction class that I'm sort of auditing right now, and I'm stunned by the beauty of this naturalist's writing.  It's fun to be introduced to someone that you feel like you could "work" with a bit (maybe some scholarship and whatnot) - and that's Eiseley for me right now.  This book is a collection of essays and they stand alone nicely too.  If you can find his essay The Bird and the Machine (rough link to badly layed-out version here), that would be a great essay to get acquainted with! 

• Sigur Ros Heima.  
  Did you see the documentary of their intimate tour around Iceland?  As much as I'm all about this band, I waited and waited to watch this piece at just the right time ... and then I sorta forgot about it (father, forgive me), but then I remembered and watched it recently, clutching the headphones to my ears ... Yep.  I'll never regret time spent listening, and in this case watching Sigur Ros. 

• Thoreau's Autumnal Tints and our tree!  Kyndra has been out of town, but I'm waiting for her to get back so that we can read Thoreau's essay together and watch the leaves around Reno continue to fall.  I don't know if it's finally owning our own place, or just the fact that we have one prominent, cool tree that our front windows look out upon; but watching the leaves change and fall has been meditative for me.  It has woken me up to fall. 

Homo Evolutis - Robots, the future, and Responsibility?

awake & linking : Homo Evolutis | posted by ThoseAwake

What we are finding out now is that there are not only limits to growth but also to technology and that we cannot allow technology to go on without public consent.
-DAVID R. BROWER

This TED talk is a reminder that new issues of responsibility and liability are approaching (or, are here now) and our generation will have to address them in some way.  In essence, how do we deal with the scientific/moral/real tension between can we? and should we?  

I am stumped as to how my answers to that will serve anyone in any way; but I'm mysteriously convinced that we all are obligated to answer the should we?. 

late night thought

awakening : art | posted by Shaun O

saw a good movie and thought,

"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts."

-Henry David Thoreau

Blogging gets groggy

awake & linking : We Are Not the Only Ones | posted by Shaun O

 

ThoseAwake has been quiet.  And I haven't been blogging much lately.  In fact, I haven't blogged too much in the past year, and it's been a year that I thought I'd be doing MORE blogging.  I guess that happens.

I can think of a few reasons for it - the most clear reason being poor internet access and poor computing machines! :(  We've been saving money and mouching off of a wireless feed at home, and working on old comps = slow going.  And, at work, I haven't felt compelled.  

But there's been some bloggy-talk going on about Emergent recently, and while I identify with a lot of what is being tossed around, perhaps I most identfiy with this interesting take on so many previously active bloggers now slowing down, taking breaks, and stopping altogether.  

Josh Brown has a new post about it, and writes - 

This is not to say that social media is bad.  But that the norm for the medium has slowly moved from being about the conversation to being about “the idea of conversation”. We like to talk about conversation and church more than we like to practice it.

(And, okay, the "practice church" message isn't new - it's what church is supposed to be.)

*I resonate with this thought about social webyness in general.  These days, I don't read as many blogs, don't blog as much, and don't listen to as many podcasts partly, I think, because some of it began to somehow focus itself on "the idea of conversation."  Twitter and Facebook are less and less appealing too.  

And this is a tough reality now that we live in Reno and I don't have nearly as many face-to-face, good LIFE conversations as I did before.  Why are my good blogs decaying when that's what I was depending on out here?  :)  I think the answer will be fun.   

For now, books and snail-mail.  Let's figure out a good way to converse.

Also, follow Josh's link to other blogs, like TSK, to read about their reasons for slowing up or stopping.

Interesting times of change.  It will be good to keep questioning technology - is this useful???

Knowlege, Craft, Invention, Occupation

awake & linking : Fading Words | posted by Shaun O

Nate at Fading Words mentions a recent Harper's Article and wonders, "at some point, if EVERYONE is a knowledge worker and NO ONE actually makes anything... where are we at?"

Great question!  I'd love to toss it around.  On a very simple plane, isn't there something human about finding/taking pride in a creation?  And is just me, or do actual, physical creations hold a certain value over creations "in our head" or even digital creations?  

I've personally felt this from time to time.  I've had jobs (still do) where I can think/dream up ideas, plans, and modes of storytelling, etc.., but when it comes to physically creating something to be part of that idea or plan, I'm completely dependant on someone who can actually do something from the work of their hands! Sounds dramatic, but it's close to the truth.  While I've enjoyed the reliance on a community to pull something off (recently heard Jonathan Demme, Director of Rachel Getting Married describe the innovative way the film came together - new types of collaboration in film - called it something close to "collective invention" - interesting!), I still feel like I'm missing out on the intangible value of crafting and making the thing (any thing) on my own.  

That's a tangent, but a piece of knowledge work vs. craft work.  Thoughts?

Pine Tree Tops

awake & reading : Gary Snyder Poetry | by Shaun O'Reilly

In the blue night
frost haze, the sky glows
with the moon
pine tree tops
bend snow-blue, fade
into sky, frost, starlight.
The creak of boots.
Rabbit tracks, deer tracks,
what do we know.

Epiphany and the kingdom

awakening : Kingdom | posted by Shaun O

The church calendar season/time of "Epiphany" will end this week, and Lent begins next week, with Ash Wednesday.  
I've enjoyed this season of Epiphany, and really only thought about it more because I preached one Sunday, helped with music on some other Sundays, and also weekly looked at texts and how to teach them to kids.  Nothing incredible has happened in the readings; but dwelling on the texts (in general) has been centering.  I've had a few epiphanies.   
(Here my mind keeps going to Scrubs rerun from just the other day, about the Epiphany Toilet!)

I've also been part of teaching the Lord's Prayer, and specifically, "your kingdom come."  I tried to share with the middle school students about the type of kingdom that Jesus might have been talking about.  I pieced together some excerpts from Jesus for President and Everything Must Change.  (Ryan, if you're reading, I passed J4P around to the kids and they seemed more interested in the images of that book than they've been in most anything we've done!  It was good to see.  Well done!).
And the moral of the story is that I've come away with new, refreshed, kingdom thoughts.  As McLaren hints, we should feel free and compelled to frame "God's Kingdom" into images that have meaning to us.  Perhaps it's the "dream of God," or the "revolution of God" or the "ecosystem of God."  What I like about this epiphany is the imagination associated with it; so much of what we do with religion is fact and truth and no poetry.  I'm finding out, it's all in who you're reading. 

And reading Henri Nouwen's Making All Things New, a few life-thoughts emerge.  He writes, "Our lives are destined to become like the life of Jesus."  I sit with that.  I imagine.  ... I know Nouwen isn't constricting our lives with this statement, he's opening them. 
Later on he considers that Jesus came to give humanity his own life.  There's that phrase in Phillipians about how Jesus did not cling to equality with God, but emptied himself and became as we are so that we might become like him and thus share in his divine life. 

And here we are with the meaning of this post:  I've struggled with the notion that God needs us.  I was taught that Jesus died, "paid the price," and all is done.  Just believe.  And one day you'll end up in heaven, in the kingdom of God.  But as I experience the world, I see lots that I can do, everyday, in an attempt to bring "the kingdom" to earth.  Every action has a reaction, and many actions of mine have consequences that are either life-giving or life-threatening.  But why does "King Jesus" need our actions to build his kingdom?  Why doesn't he just say the word and the kingdom appears?
Small epiphany today:  God likes imagination.  God likes cooperation and community.  Jesus came to offer a new life to the world.  And he emptied himself. 
I imagine Jesus pouring out his life, and what is poured out is the spirit of God, spirit of love.  And it flows around and it flows to us, and perhaps fills us to some degree.  And so we've been given a gift from God.  

But now, there is no Jesus but us.  We are it.  We are in community with God, and God's spirit, and now we build the kingdom and we bring it here.  God dreams and imagines with us, we do it together.  Jesus is emptied, but now here we are. 

So, may we keep having epiphanies, even as the season ends.  

Access the divine life, then dream, revolt, and build accordingly. 

Ideas in the Ring

awake & reading : Rand and Brueggeman- | by Shaun O'Reilly

I had an interesting, yet unsurprising experience recently. 
I finally sat down to read some Ayn Rand, and I did so at the local university library.  I'm not a student (yet), so I can't leave with any books.  The reading happens on site.
Not a problem.
Especially with Rand's Anthem.  It is short and engaging, making it the quickest of reads.  *And I enjoyed that nuance of objectivism -- when you believe things are straight-up, to the point, and reasonable - then you write books in that way.  It's a pleasure to read something like that.  No mystery, just narrative ... like a refreshing glass of water after too many colas or beers or capri suns (I teach Sunday school, and I get thirsty doing it, okay?).

So, Anthem is a story of breaking free and being an individual.  I confessed to the friends reading it with me that it's a little tough for me to read and detach the narrative story from where I think the "philosophy" is heading.  I hate to be doing that, but I've got some pent up energy with Rand, I guess.  While reading about characters discovering individuality, I kept thinking - "okay, but how far does this go?  Who really wants to break free so far as to disconnect from community?  What does the world look like when billions of people all go after their own needs above all else?"  But, see, that's not the story of _Anthem_.  The story is about a certain character discovering the freedom of possessing will, imagination, and an open future.

I can't argue with that.  And I wouldn't want to.  I celebrate it!

So, the interesting experience was that directly after finishing the book and driving home, I hopped online to check some twitters.  I got one that linked to "here's some old testament wisdom about the current financial crisis."  So, innocently, I click!  I welcome that wisdom.

Enter, Walter Brueggeman... with a genius article on the holistic advice of the Psalms and other old testament texts.  The tagline is, Biblical faith invites us out of self-destruction toward God's generosity and abundance.  After reading it, I can't argue with a lick of his thoughts either - and they all point to covenant, generosity, togetherness. 

So, then I had these two cool ideas swimming the channels of my cranium.  But it was more like a boxing match than a swimming pool.  Suddenly, my Rand point-of-view is tossed into the ring and a fight ensues.  Because the Bible is such a robust and experienced fighter (in my mind), it worked the body and won in a few short rounds.  The thing is, I don't know who I was really rooting for.  I'd love to see Rand fight again, to learn to appreciate the moves.  But I can't help what happened in this specific case.  It was unfortunate, but I've taken good things away from both.  

So, chime in if you've got an idea on how to stew on/with opposing ideas, instead of letting them begin beating each other up. 

Oh, and all ideas on Rand's Anthem or the Brueggeman article above are most welcome.  I really think B. is on to something we can use in the current econ. crisis ... and I think Rand was on to something that can inspire humanity, a challenge to crawl out of the ruts of tradition and conformity.   

Holding Firm on Food

awake & linking : NPR - Crunchy Con | posted by Shaun O

Having happily voted for Barack Obama, I am ready to see change in politics.  I understand and grant that it will take time - I'm trying to be patient - but as the media attests to each day, Obama has big, important decisions as it comes to his cabinet and the partners of his presidency.  I trust Obama, but I would like to sense "change" even in these, his first decisions.  Enter Crunch Con with a post on NPR about agribusiness and a potential pick for Obama's Agricultural Secretary.  I'm with Rod on this one and I hope FOOD is one place our president can begin to initiate the change we need!

Here's a snip of Rod's article below, the entire thing is here.

We have to quit subsidizing agribusiness. We need policies that encourage the building of local food economies, not ones that depend heavily on fossil fuel transport. We need reform of regulatory codes that purport to protect the public's health, but really shield agribusiness from local competition. Joel Salatin is a libertarian Evangelical farmer who is a hero of us "small is beautiful" agrarian types. He argues that the best thing the government can do is to get out of the way and let America's small farmers compete in a truly free market. This is not what you're going to hear from ex-Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, reportedly in the lead to be your Agriculture Secretary. Mr. President, selling out to Big Corn is not change we can believe in.

May I suggest dinner? Let agribusiness lobbyists feed their faces at The Palm. You break bread at the White House with guests like Wendell Berry, Joel Salatin, Michael Pollan and Will Allen, the urban gardener who just won a MacArthur Foundation grant for teaching inner-city folks how to raise their own food. Lend them your sympathetic ear. And by the way, why not set a good example by planting a kitchen garden on the White House lawn?

I'm hopeful and watching.  No free passes.  Come on Obama!  Make clear changes or give us a sense of the "why" behind the appointments.