Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens…
-Job 38:33-37
Seeker,
How do we find our way back in touch with each other, back down to holy ground?
When I found myself grounded
by turbulent weather
in a tumultuous airport,
it was not the raging troposphere
that terrified me.
I was jolted by another electrical storm swirling round about.
Navigating anonymous multitudes
I struggled to find someone, anyone,
who was not entangled in an electronic web.
Everywhere I witnessed wandering souls,
finger-scrolling, transfixed,
and illuminated by soft screen-lights.
Wide-awake in this bustling terminal,
beneath a roiling grey-black ceiling,
I withered under the weight of alienation.
Out of phase, seeking some connection
I pressed against the window
and lifted my gaze skyward.
Crackling with blue electric fury,
I watched those bruised clouds break
into misted torrents,
and I was visited by shocking flashes
of a darker vision—
a downpour of discarded devices.
Consuming precious earth elements,
mined and manufactured by throwaway people,
this deluge of disposability now threatens to drown us all.
I must confess that, on human judgment, the world tasks we face are appalling – well-nigh hopeless. Only the inner vision of God, only the God-blindedness of unreservedly dedicated souls, only the utterly humble ones can bow and break the raging pride of a power-mad world. -Thomas R. Kelly
So, I am powering down,
to the soles of my feet
turning off, so I might live lower and listen harder.
I pay no mind to twittering trends,
but this does not mean
I am not listening
I neither scroll nor text,
but this does not mean
I am disconnected.
I am not enchanted by the allure of technology,
but this does not mean
I lack understanding.
It has become countercultural to choose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology, of its costs and its power to globalize and make us all the same. -Pope Francis
I am beneath the flow of cultural tides,
but this does not mean
I am out of touch with currents deeper.
I am learning to humbly handle electronics with care,
to use only when necessary,
and I discover that the scope of necessity shrinks daily.
I am breathing deeply
to prepare for the profound plunge
into a darker quieter age that is surely coming in the storm’s wake.
Because there are no virtual relationships,
this blog will now shrink to a monthly posting,
with the invitation to power down, reach into reality and find our virtue there!
Will you try this?
Try walking around with a child who’s going, “Wow, wow! Look at that dirty dog! Look at that burned-down house! Look at that red sky” And the child points and you look, and you see, and you start going, “Wow! Look at that huge crazy hedge! Look at that teeny little baby! Look at the scary dark cloud!” I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world – present and in awe.” -Anne Lamott
joe