Welcome to HappyWisdom

Category: Encouragement

  • Can we find God at a rock concert?

    At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will….It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely …the gate of heaven is everywhere.”

    Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

    Two places come to mind when I read the above quote: the shower and rock concerts. I\’ll focus on the latter. A few weeks ago, some family members and I went to see Porter Robinson’s \”Smile\” tour in Seattle. The experience was transcendent. While it might sound like high praise for Mr. Robinson, God’s presence isn’t confined to the talent of a performer. We already loved Porter’s music, and he, in turn, gave of himself to the crowd in a way that felt like love. In this mutual, open-hearted exchange, I sensed God had entered the picture.

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    I\’ve been to Rush, Purity Ring, Van Halen, and many others. Most of the time, I felt God\’s presence and got a glimpse of what heaven might feel and look like.

    God? Why would God be at a concert? Isn\’t there profanity, drugs, and heathens? Is the performer a false idol that the throngs are worshiping?

    We misunderstand God if we think he avoids people because of their lifestyle. Morality is important, but God is a God of Grace and Love. We often mistake growing closer to God for becoming more moral, but if taken to its limits, this sort of sainthood is likely not at all what God wants for most of us. Taken to its extreme, an obsession on \”moralness\” is the ultimate denial of self. The philosopher Susan Wolf, professor of Philosophy at UNC at Chapel Hill, says that what she calls a \”moral saint\” may not even be a desirable state for most of us:

    …In other words, if the moral saint is devoting all his time to feeding the hungry or healing the sick or raising money for Oxfam, then necessarily he is not reading Victorian novels, playing the oboe, or improving his backhand. Although no one of the interests or tastes in the category containing these latter activities could be claimed to be a necessary element in a life well lived, a life in which none of these possible aspects of character are developed may seem to be a life strangely barren.\”

    Susan Wolf, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2026228

    The move to a more moral life is not being judged here, but it would likely preclude any Porter Robinsons, Beethovens, or Einsteins from emerging. Considering Christianity\’s history is replete with geniuses who have \”non-moral\” interests, we must conclude that there is no direct religious or spiritual mandate to disregard creative action.

    Yet we know, from the Bible and tradition, that we are to live holy lives. I would remind the reader that we\’re also told that above all things is love, and even that God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in her (1 John 4:16).

    Perhaps it is not the life of the moral saint that is the goal, but living what I\’ll call a godly life, which would include both moral and creative action. A godly life points us to love—love of self, love of the gifts that God has given us and that we\’ve worked hard on, love of the people who listen to our music, read our stories, make our movies, or even score that touchdown. Have you seen big, burly football players cry, hug each other, and then jump into a crowd of strangers? Believe me, love is there.

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    Love!

    At Porter\’s concert, I saw all sorts of folks – from grown men in Pikachu outfits to old rockers, people in colorful pajamas, or moms dressed for a night out. Together, this diverse group of 18,000 people was one, jamming to EDM-infused pop rock and shaking the stands of Climate Pledge Arena. I\’m a stodgy old Rush fan, and even I was dancing, or some approximation of it. While I hold that the creation is often greater than the creator, I believe the attitude and spirit of the artist have everything to do with it. A cocky, self-confident artist who doesn\’t treat his audience with love will likely not have God there with him.

    As I\’ve mentioned on this blog, we\’re going through the change of empty nesting. I feel God often, in the quiet of my smaller life now, a meditative whisper of His presence, in contemplation of releasing, and the joy of simple things. Yet, God\’s presence is different from that of the awesome presence of a mass of people all loving and laughing together. I felt God\’s overwhelming love as one among the masses, and for a moment, I caught a glimpse of what a different reality would be like, one with massive-scale love and God in it.

    Of course, no one can stay on the top of the mountain. The emotional wave of these performances fades, and so we need God in the shower, the garden, and the rock concert. The gates of heaven are everywhere.

    True talk here: I hesitate to use the word heaven. The word is so laden with images of humans with wings, harps, and clouds that it distorts the concept of our future; in the same way, the theologically sketchy concept of hell distorts what it means to be disconnected from God. This idea has more to do with Dante than with the Bible. Yet, there is something heavenly about these mass events like concerts. There is love at scale, and that is where God is. God doesn\’t come to those pure, but those who love.

    It\’s interesting to evaluate the physical manifestation of a typical concert: a form of love shared between performer and attendee, generous use of color, music, excitement, and light in dark places. Richard Rohr states that we are \”Christ-infused\” beings, and we simply can\’t help but seek God through our creations, from great architecture to celebratory music to the phone, a modern technological miracle.

    This brings me to my last point – why create? Why do we toil, often in obscurity, on passion projects, on things that may not even feed us or our families, but we have to do it?

    I believe humankind is always trying to recreate heaven to fill the unconscious need for a home we\’ve never seen but feel in the depths of our souls. Shakespeare spoke of the afterlife as an \”undiscovered country,\” but in a context of fearfulness, I say we dream of this country in our creations.

    To complete this analysis, I juxtapose a few videos and images and ask you: What elements do they share? Why would we seek such experiences? What does it say about human nature\’s yearning?

    Since comments are crazy spam food, shoot me an email at joe@happywisdom.com and I\’ll share your contribution in the next post anonymously.

    I leave you with the master, CS Lewis, on heaven.

    Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.

    17 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Signature Classics, 76.

    Until next time…

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    Check out this one, 110,000 fans all dressed in white, the famous Penn State \”white out\” – chilling!

    Finally, Taylor Swift\’s Era\’s tour. What could be more spiritual than being so radically loved and accepted by your hero?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3UATen-UBY&ab_channel=Dan%27sConcertVideos

    During this show and others Taylor takes the opportunity to show love to those who are suffering, like this little girl with cancer:

    Certainly one place where you\’d never feel alone is at a Taylor Swift concert. At the same time, Swift\’s approach to stagecraft and live production has somehow managed to make the experience feel personal.\”

    https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/taylor-swifts-global-popularity-explained-berklees-version

  • What\’s Going On?

    The problem with blogs is that they have dates on them. 🙂 It\’s 2022! Wow

    Blogs are a tough business! I know that last year I kinda (well, totally) stopped posting because I decided to focus on two things – my upcoming Kickstarter and my writing. Both are incredible timesinks so, please understand.

    If you want to see evidence of the CRAZY hustle that\’s been going on, check them out here:

    GamerSusan.com – this is a project I\’m doing mostly with my sons and its so close to ready! We\’re excited. Please sign up and you\’ll get to see what all the hype is.

    JLFecarotta.com – I just added all but my most recent work to this. Most of these are for the NYC Midnight contest. Enjoy! I love these contests, and I\’m getting close to publishing my manuscript. More on that later.

    Happy 2022 Everyone!

  • Intrinsic Worth

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    Once an Object of Joy

    This is a ~20\’ Reniell Boat with the engine included, and I can get it to you for a low price! Just kidding. I took this picture in downtown Seattle on Elliott Ave, near the campus of Expedia and that cool Amgen Helix bridge that leads to the still-lovely Centennial Park. This part of Seattle intrigues me – a mix of dystopian industrial zone kitty-corner to swanky Norwegian boat city called Ballard.

     I have no clue how this boat got here, nor why it\’s still there. Despite my mad Google skills, I was unable to lock down the exact model, but you know that someone paid big money for this dream. I\’m betting this was a sweet ride in its heyday. Check out this link and notice that most of this brand of boats, even those 20 years old, are still over $10k in value. I\’ve heard that the two best days of your life are the day you get your boat and the day you sell it. The question that struck me: Why has this once-noble craft been abandoned and tagged, a shameful disrespect of its beauty and utility? From dream to garbage in a blink, but why? What constitutes value?

    Why has this once-noble craft been abandoned and tagged, a shameful disrespect of its beauty and utility? From dream to garbage in a blink…but why? What constitutes value?

    The Formula

    Well, there\’s a guy in Detroit who noticed this phenomenon of dumping boats and started photographing all of them. He claims it\’s probably something to do with insurance and the fact that parking boats have gotten more expensive, etc. I see something deeper here, a loss of intrinsic value, and I wonder what we can learn from it. Even the materials alone in this vessel must be worth something, no? I imagine it floats, or at the very least, the materials could be claimed, or is reclaiming those too much?

    What constitutes value? Is it in the form? The function? Both? Status? An older car can go into a dump unless the owner really takes care of it. Jay Leno has a garage full of rare cares that were cared for. Many Model-T Fords were scrapped I\’m sure, but for those owners that took care of theirs, they now have a collectors edition. Even the lowly AMC Pacers have retained value. Check this one out:

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    While I love this odd car ( understand, I currently own a Nissan Cube), it is a well-known dud, making many lists of \”worst cars ever built\”, and yet, here we have one sold for a cool $30k (click here for more car reviews). So I ask again, what is intrinsic value? Saying cost is what people will pay is just a meaningless statement. What made that Pacer a keeper while the Reinell a city eyesore? What\’s the intrinsic worth of a house that\’s not maintained? A building? A church? A city?

    It seems to me that a fundamental part of intrinsic worth is the energy that humans put into it. Almost any asset will depreciate, of course, as Function fails or falls behind, but by maintaining Form you regain that worth in age and the sentimentality that the object provides. Really old buildings are historical landmarks, priceless art, and so on all fit in this category. Yet, in all of the instances, value must be protected through vigilant maintenance. For the Pacer, I\’d say we\’d have to add sentimentality to that equation and rarity.

    Perhaps the formula for Intrinsic Worth = (Form + Function + Sentimentality)* Maintenance + Rarity works? Note that I put rarity outside of the parenthesis because on occasion even when something is dilapidated, if its very rare, that alone gives it value. e.g. a tooth of a T-Rex, etc. If you google the term Intrinsic Value you\’ll get investor jargon, where they try to tease out the value of stocks, and while some of those concepts can be applied, it still cannot ignore the maintenance aspect of value, nor would you want to apply their cold calculations to people, which is my next subject.

    What about People?

    Can we extend this to people? Of course, I believe people have intrinsic worth. When I drive down the streets of Seattle and see the homeless, I get the same feeling I had about that boat. Who left them there? Why? What can be done? This is a child, a brother, a sister, a dad, a mom. Do they not have intrinsic worth? Moreover, who failed to maintain that worth? If maintenance is a key part of fighting off depreciation, who failed to maintain that person on the street?

    Of course, we can\’t force people to maintain themselves. This is the core tenant of free will. Want to smoke? Okay, but that\’s going to cost you down the road. Drinking? Drugs? All that cuts into your worth to society, despite the fact that it is society that may have been a participant in this failure. Alcohol addiction treatment is one way society can intervene and help people regain their intrinsic value before it\’s too late. Access to resources like methamphetamine rehab and other support services could make a difference. In some cases, a luxury rehab centre could offer the specialized care and environment needed for recovery. But the boat and its owner didn’t fail alone – the ability of the system to offer proper recycling options is part of it. Also, the alcohol rehab is essential for those struggling with addiction, as it provides crucial support and treatment options that can help restore their health and dignity.

    It is the Christian perspective that people are intrinsically valuable. I love this quote from C.S. Lewis

    “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

    – C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

    How can we treat people like immortal beings, both heavenly and fallen, but forgiven? How can the system be tweaked to help more while enabling healing and allow people to achieve more than they thought they could? These are complex questions and beyond this article, but the image of that boat keeps coming back to me, haunting and compelling me to action.

    We have to fight for what we want to maintain. The house, the cars, and the cities we live in only have intrinsic value if we decide that they do. We maintain those cities, we clean up the boats and the streets, and people will find value in that. We must fight entropy for our objects and ourselves. If we maintain ourselves – be educated, interesting, and healthy – then we will benefit those around us and maintain our value. If our society and institutions value humans, it can play an important role in that maintenance.

    Most importantly, we must find value in ourselves and our relationships. Put in that time in your place of worship and with your people. Maintain those things that can age with energy and effort. Nothing is rarer than you and your relationships. They have Form, and Function, and if you keep the barnacles off of you and yours, perhaps you\’ll never be dumped and defaced in a scary city parking lot.

    Love to all – JF

  • The KALM Way to Put 2020 Behind You

    It\’s safe to say that most of us think 2020 was a rough year, to put it politely. Most of the articles I\’ve read are either laced with despair ( 2021 might suck as well, etc. ) or profanity (even for non-profits). HappyWisdomers know better than to fall into these traps of negativity. Yes, we need to feel 2020, to understand and embrace the loss, no matter what it was. Then, we\’ll need to move on, and I can\’t think of a better way to say goodbye to 2020 than a KALM retrospective.

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    Credit: funretrospectives.com

    In Agile coaching, we have an exercise we called KALM we use to review, course correct, and celebrate during the project. It\’s an acronym for Keep, Add, Less of, And More of. This device is useful during retrospectives to keep them focused and generative, so I thought I\’d apply the same to this astonishing year we are just finishing up.

    How to run this exercise:

    1. Get the biggest piece of paper you can find
    2. Find folks to do it with if you can (This works fine online)
    3. Draw five segments on the paper, as shown in the above graphic.
    4. Go bottom to top, putting sticky notes on each, with a brief verbal description if you have others doing it with you.

    Easy, right? Once it\’s set up, just run through each segment. I suggest you time box each section and start with the Less Of. No one wants to wallow in the pain, so ensure this part is given only 1/6th of the time allotted to the event. So if you have 1 hour, I\’d put ten minutes here, and then distribute the remaining 50 elsewhere.

    Then you just move through the model. I like to go bottom-up, so Keep (what was good about the year, a just-right sort of vibe?), More (what you want to do more of, amplify?), and Add (what new thing do you want to start doing, seeing, or happening?)

    Let\’s get going with the 2020 KALM Retrospective!

    As stated, we could start with Less Of, the easiest part of this model in a year such as 2020. If we\’re trying to say goodbye to 2020, we have to start here:

    Less Of from 2020

    • Death and disease
    • Strife, division, and violence
    • People losing jobs
    • Murder hornets
    • Masks
    • ….

    I mean, we could add a bunch of specifics, but I\’m not here to bring anyone down, and frankly, we all know the list. Try asking yourself what of those events you could have controlled? Probably not much. Time to move on.

    Keep from 2020

    This might give you pause. Keep? 2020? For me, I\’d like to keep time with my family. I was lucky enough to live with others in 2020, and we spent A LOT of time together, including my adult children. Kids grow up too fast. This is known, so getting to hang out with them a bit longer than might have happened is a GREAT thing.. Funny thing is that I can\’t keep this. They\’re moving on, but I can try.

    Lack of commuting – I work remote. I LOVE not facing traffic.

    Easier budgeting – I have to say when you can\’t go anywhere, its easier to budget.

    More than what I got from 2020

    I want more time without the existential dread of a disease or political conflict. I\’m a writer, so I need big chunks of uninterrupted time. I\’ve gotten those, but they weren\’t as effective as the past with a full house and the aforementioned dread. My upcoming science-fiction epic is thus going slowly.

    Using my SPARC model, you know that the R is rest and rejuvenation. I want more of those. I\’m a simple guy, so movies and gyms are usually enough. Both have been cut out of my life. I want them back.

    Add – Adding something new to 2021

    This one is easy. We have been planning for and saving for an international vacation, which was supposed to be in 2020. Well, that didn\’t happen, so \’21 it is. Honestly, we can\’t control much of what will go into this, from when we get the vaccine to what countries will allow Americans to visit. Nevertheless, we can pray, cast positive vibes out into the Universe, and hope for the best. We also have some big family changes that I can\’t go into now, but that should soon be a big addition. 🙂

    I feel better after writing this, and I hope this KALM exercise does the same for you. We\’re not trying to hide the past or deemphasis the difficulties. By doing this exercise, we give these negatives space, time and then escort them out of our lives. I think of a Viking burial – the raft of badness floats out to the ocean, and we shoot one last flaming arrow and watch it burn into oblivion.

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    Goodbye to 2020!
    (credit: https://shellyanfriends.blogspot.com/2020/07/funeral-rites.html)

    Happy 2021!

  • How 2020 Kicked My Butt and What I Did (and continue to do) About It

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    Credit : https://www.shutupandtakemymoney.com/2020-in-one-picture-meme/

    It\’s been since April since I\’ve posted on here and I\’d like to apologize. What good is a blog that purports both happiness and wisdom (it\’s in the name) if it goes dark right when people need it most?

    So this is a mea culpa to the hundreds (maybe in the thousands now) of readers this blog has now. I was able to handle the COVID stuff. I felt the unity and the purpose of fighting that invisible disease. I even did a cool \”COVID countdown\” With my social media friends on Facebook. Every day we went through a letter of the alphabet and picked out what we were grateful for or missed. Then I extended it with a bit about a countdown until we flattened the curve. It was fun and unifying. Remember those good-old-days?

    COVID is confusing. Science is awesome, but it doesn\’t give you a lot of comforts. \”When will we be done with this?\” \”If I eat butterfly wings will it cure me?\” Science does what it does, replying in a monotone and slightly nasally voice – \”We don\’t know. There are no studies…\” So we\’re still in it, but I don\’t feel bad about what I did. We flattened that freaking curve, and I\’m still proud of that, outcomes notwithstanding.

    Then George Floyd happened. Protests started and there was a flicker, once again, of unity, and then they turned into riots that continue on even today. The negativity overwhelmed me. I had to retreat inside my own mind and insure that my inner self was safe and healthy, for losing yourself can lead to nothing but pain for you and those around you.

    It\’s very easy to lose yourself these days, now that the tension of the contentious election is right upon us, without either of the other tensions abating. They\’re stacked, like weights on our back. The weight will get heavier. We know in the US that regardless of what happens, millions of people will be unhappy, all the way through 2021. It\’s discouraging if you let it be.

    This isn\’t a political blog. Those perspectives you can get elsewhere. This blog is to apply wisdom to your life so you can be happy, which then allows you to act more wisely. It\’s a positive self-reinforcing loop. A virtuous loop.

    So what are the tools I\’ve been using/finding to cope? Three things: disappear into your work/creations, journal privately, talk to your family and friends, and absolutely limit social media, and do get out of the house.

    LifeHack has an article why consuming news itself is \”excessively bad for your health\”:

    \”According to the Pew Research Center, 59% of those who were surveyed found that when discussing politics on social media with those who they disagree with find it “stressful and frustrating.” And 37% are “worn out” by the number of political discussions that they see.\”

    LifeHacker.com

    I\’m convinced that if you\’re using social media for news its the worst possible thing for your psychological health. The snippets are all made to make your rage. It\’s also true of cable television news, and so on. Everything is designed to \”enrage grandpa and scare grandma.\”

    Wisdom tells us that nuance is everything. That dialogue is everything. That assuming the best in people is fundamental to our co-existence.

    Here are some tips I have done to find my way back: Creating Constantly –

    1. I have been creating a lot. Doing videos, writing in my third re-write of my sci-fi novel, and a bunch at work that commands my attention. Journaling is important here as well and even writing on this blog helps, duh!

    2. Work – My work is online so I can focus like crazy on it. I have been creating there as well.

    3. Controlling the Conversation: When I do engage in politics online or at home with my family, empathy and kindness lead the way. I keep the conversation generative and positive. I place emphasis on non-violence and peace, for it is the only way forward. I refuse to lose friends or family over divisive issues.

    4. Education – I\’ve been really getting into the Science Vs. podcast, though you need to skip basically this whole year since its all about COVID (boring!). I\’ve been watching NOVA specials (the one about fat is interesting), and reading across the spectrum.

    5. Go somewhere – the parks are open, so we took a few trips, even stayed at a hotel (GASP!) and lived to tell the tale. You can\’t stay home all the time. Get out there.

    That\’s it for now. If you\’re familiar with my SPARC model, you\’ll see that I\’m doing a lot more of the R &C here than usual, which is the Rejuvenation and Coaching. When times get tough, you have to lean on others for support. (see LifeSparcs.com for more on this.)

    That\’s it for now. I\’ll commit to posting monthly or your money back 🙂

  • The Purpose of Negative Space

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    Negative Space Helps Us See

    The negativity around us can be suffocating. I know I feel it, even as an introvert. It\’s the collective fatigue from all of the bad news and the uncertainty that has become part of our everyday. Even if we\’re not directly impacted, by health or finances, we wait nervously for the storm to reach us. We\’re simultaneous anxious and guilty when we see what others are enduring, be it the heroic health care workers, to those they care for. If you\’re seeking relief, you might want to try CBD for Arthritis relief. Support is also available at reputable addiction rehab clinics that offer comprehensive treatment plans. If you or someone you know is struggling with marijuana addiction, specialized support is available at these clinics.

    In our more mundane existence, we take walks instead of going places. We\’ve never seen so much of neighbors as we do now, each ambling about our houses, uncomfortable but still okay. For now.

    Think about what the virus has taken away from us, we find that we can define what is important to us. Look at the chairs below. The chair, as we understand it, is in black. But crucial clues can be gathered when looking at what is not there. We can tell as much about the chair by what is not there than what is there. For those seeking specialized support, this resources at https://high-end-rehab.co.uk/ offers comprehensive addiction treatment options.

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    COVID-19 forces our eyes to the negative space, but in doing that, it highlights what we value as a species. The stuff that\’s important, without which we wouldn\’t be humans.

    Foremost, it took away our ability to be within six feet. That is a negative space. But what does it highlight? Our need to be close, to hug, to touch, to even talk to each other without fear. Being near people is, apparently, incredibly important. Its critically important to be around those during a sporting event, during a wedding, or during their death. We need to be close, so very badly.

    It took away free commerce. I speak to people across the world as part of my job – COVID has taken away the ability to get a loaf of bread easily in some places, but most of the people I associate with ultimately find the bread. It\’s obvious that food is important, but the negative space here is convenience and variety. We crave different foods, experiences, and commerce. I tried to buy some electronic goods the other day – it was more than a month to buy this particular cable. We now hunt different online stores for different products to get them quickly. Convenience, and the confidence that stuff will be there, is gone, and its importance.

    In all of this negative space, we\’ve filled it with variations., a testament to human ingenuity. We do Zoom church now, we play games with distant family members that we probably wouldn\’t have had we not been forced into social distancing. I\’ve enjoyed playing skribbl.io with almost every member of my family, coast-to-coast.

    This, then, points to the positive space, the chair itself. We desperately need connection, and the Internet has gained the title of Most Valuable Innovation for this experience. I would say the most valuable player, but that title goes to our health care workers for certain.

    But not just the health care workers. There are members of my family that are doing nursing or working for Amazon fresh gathering groceries, and IT workers that keep the Machine Digital working, day and night. We\’ve enabled 4k streaming, online gaming, and Zoom calls all at the same time. Information Technology…take a bow.

    The Arts are right behind it. Imagine all that tech with nothing to do across the world. I have LOVED Westword…I look forward to it.

    The religious institutions, at least those who listened to the social distancing rules, should also take a bow. how about the drive-in church, or those like mine that did Zoom? We need faith in our lives more than anything/

    In the end, COVID has hit humanity where it hurts- in our ability to be together. Yet, how wonderful it is to remind ourselves how important we are to each other, even strangers? Look at the negative space and find that it defines the positive for us in even greater clarity and understanding.

    Don\’t want to end this post without a big thank you. Happy Wisdom started over three years ago and with hundreds of people in the distribution, I appreciate all of you – thank you all for sticking with us!

    As a reminder, most people here signed up one time or another to get on the mailing list. Make sure you\’re on both of them:

    HappyWisdom.com – This is the big tent topic focusing on the good news of the world and more than that, how wisdom links up with happiness in a generative loop. On occasion, this includes faith-based guidance that I think will help the community, ranging from Alan Watts to C.S. Lewis. There\’s a new page to connect on this topic here. I see this blog is kinda like John Krasinski\’s Some Good News YouTube Channel. If you haven\’t seen that, well, do it. There\’s a new Facebook Page up for you if you want to share wisdom and see what we\’re up to here.

    LifeSparcs.com – LifeSparcs system is where we get new products or e-books released on occasion. I\’m in the process of taking the feedback on my beta book (thanks all!).

    Till next time

    -Joe

  • Learning in the Time of Crisis

    A Reflection on C.S. Lewis\’s Learning in the Time of War

    In 1939, C.S. Lewis was invited to preach at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Oxford to address a nation thrown into World War II. The scene couldn’t have been more dramatic: the Oxford scholar and war veteran standing at the podium of a church that had stood for over a thousand years, at the dawn of another global conflict. The church was packed with nervous college youth, who would likely be called to fight and die for their country, not twenty years after the first world war had been won. This speech is recorded in the book The Weight of Glory. I\’ve pulled out what I found comforting from that essay, and I hope they do the same for you.

    Lewis took to the podium to encourage a fearful, conflict-weary country. The wounds of World War One had not yet fully healed. The central question Lewis faced was one one of how to spend our time. How can we bother with our mundane tasks when the world is at war once again? Isn’t that like fiddling while Rome burns?  Why study for a Math exam or do that Psychology homework when death is around the corner, or in London’s case, in the skies? Indeed, less than one year after Lewis\’s speech, London would be bombed during the Battle of Britain, a tactic that came to be known as the Blitzkrieg. London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for seventy-six consecutive nights. The toll was unimaginable: 43,000 British civilians died. Astonishingly, the Oxford campus remained unscathed for the entire war and still stands today.

    I return to the original question: Why fiddle? Why bother with life when death or suffering is around the corner?  Lewis starts with the metaphysical: we must not forget that we’re in a spiritual struggle to avoid Hell. C.S. Lewis was a believer in an actual physical Hell, which has fallen out of contemporary theology, seen more now as a metaphor for separation from God. Nevertheless, human life has always existed “under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself.”

    If we agree that there is a bigger “game” going on here, an astute reader might ask if it’s the only game to play. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, perhaps he should have been working exclusively on his soul. Is that the single true vocation then? If a man shouldn’t “waste time” while we are at war, then the same applies when discussing man’s salvation. How can we engage in the mundane acts of carpentry and philosophy? Why would anything secular matter? Shouldn’t we all be directly in the ministry?

    Lewis counters this by claiming that, while God’s claim on our lives is infinite, it does not exclude all our natural activities.

    “St. Paul tells people to get on with their jobs. He even assumes that Christians may go to dinner parties, and, what is more, dinner parties given by pagans….Christianity does not simply replace our natural life and substitute a new one; it is rather a new organization that exploits, to its supernatural ends, these natural materials.”

    He finishes this topic with a reminder to not think one type of work more pleasing to God than another, “The work of Beethoven and the work of a charwoman [house cleaner]  become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly.”

    The next point is a practical one. If humanity waits until things are “good” to pursue growth and beauty, then we may never start any task of significance at all beyond basic security. We are mistaken when we compare war with “normal life.”  Life has never been normal. Even when we look at times that were relatively peaceful upon closer inspection they are full of crises, alarms, difficulties, and emergencies. Lewis puts it this way: 

    “[Insects] have sought first the material welfare and security of the hive…men are different. They propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffolds, discuss the latest poem while we advance to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache; it is our nature.”

    He closes out his sermon with concern about the nature of what we study for those drawn to intellectual pursuits. Why does a Christain need science, math, and philosophy? Shouldn’t we stay in the Bible and not concern ourselves with the secular world? To Lewis, that sort of singular focus would disarm the individual, making him unable to defend attacks from the other side: 

    “To be ignorant and simple now – not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground – would be to throw down our weapons and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist if for no other reason because bad philosophy needs to be answered….. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.”

    I’m grateful for what C.S. Lewis said during that dark time in England. He reminded me that we need to continue with our craft during times of war or peace, famine or pandemic. There will always be a reason to stop, to leave the battlefield, to put down our intellectual arms, but we must not give into this. Whatever activity we do, if done with humility, is pleasant and has a mysterious purpose under God. The composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the initials “S. D. G.” at the end of all his church compositions and some secular works. It stands for Soli Deo Gloria, “Glory to God alone”; it is in this spirit that any activity Christians do, the mundane to the great, can assuredly be both blessed by God and fulfilling to us and those we serve.

  • Good News Briefs

    I tend to share good news on this site (thus the happy) so here\’s my latest find – Vertical farming. Far more efficient than regular farming. Who knew?