I shouldn’t be blogging because everything for the end of the semester is due today for my children and also I have something to turn in, so what better activity, than to just get on here and blog and stuff.
One
As a result of hating on that Footprints poem yesterday, someone alerted me to this excellent piece. This bit, in particular, was most interesting:
It certainly seems surprising that the most technologically and scientifically advanced society in the world with a culture aimed fast and furious toward progress would all of a sudden have the desire to explore magic, but it really isn’t surprising if you think about it. Magic is the logical next step of technology. Magic is technology, and technology is magic. These things are each other in that they both extend our control over our lives, others, and our surroundings in ways that are, quite literally, super-natural. There is nothing natural about my ability to be in Texas and talk with someone in Missouri or Colorado. There is nothing natural about tapping glass and having food show up at my house. There is nothing natural about being able to stream myself live to whoever wants to watch at any given time from wherever I am at any given moment. Nothing about this—all of this, even what you’re doing right now in reading this—is natural. We’ve already created the devices that allow us to transcend our limitations. To quote Andy Crouch quoting Arthur C. Clark, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” The friction between input and output is nearly zero. It takes next to nothing to do nearly everything. Dictators can fall and Capitols can be stormed because of tweets. The cost of engagement is cheap, but the return is exponential.
Back in the day, when I was a child sitting around for all the grownups to stop talking, I would hear them saying with all due sarcasm–“We have religion, you have magic.” It was a pithy way of reminding oneself that a person’s religious inclinations are extremely complicated, and it is too, too easy to write someone off for something like “magical thinking.”
Except, of course, that magic isn’t an embarrassing thing to talk about in places like America. It’s part of the overt religious landscape and I have had a lot of fun this past year thinking about it. Oh my gosh, I cannot write more about this right now….Why Do My Children Even Have To Do School, why God why?
Two
I’m halfway through this episode of the Holy Post. I’m gonna definitely have some commentary about it but would love to know what others think who have had time to listen. So far I think that Sky (is that how you spell it?) is being much clearer about what’s at stake, even though I totally disagree with where he’s landing. Anyway, more on that later.
Three
This is absolutely and completely sick and terrifying–it is sensitive, so don’t click if you don’t want to throw up in your mouth:
I was halfway through this podcast when I saw it. It’s also a tough listen, but these are tough times.
Four
This is pretty fun (not in a good way). I thought I’d be saying stuff about it today but I’m going to have to save it for later, maybe next week. And this is fascinating–really a jumble of stuff to sort through, some good some dumb. Gosh, the wastelands of the deserts of the internet have been turned into streams of water in terms of content. How tragic that I have to save it all for later. In the meantime, this is probably important:
Five
I’m wrapping up a moderately lengthed piece about why you should go to church and follow the church year for CRJ. I don’t know when it will come out and if it will be paywalled, but you should probably subscribe anyway so you can read it. Seriously, you should go to church–a good one–because Barnes and Noble just isn’t cutting it for “Christian Content” anymore. Have a nice day!
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash
