I've started to realize more and more how much I don't "think". Now if you know me, you know that I analyze basically anything that breathes...or doesn't breathe. However, thinking is completely different. I am a social person (obviously) and enjoy being around other people and having conversations but when it comes to thinking through reality, social justice, the foods I eat, the way I live, the way i work, and so on and so forth I havent really spent time thinking about them..i've just responded and lived.
Being at Labri forces you to think about a variety of issues, ones I never really would have thought about outside on my own. Our lunch discussions revolve around one person asking a question and then during the lunch talking about this question and trying to come to some sort of resolve around it or just leaving with more questions. I love lunch discussions because it forces me to get outside of my own head and thoughts to entertain and seriously contemplate someone else's question, which typically, then gets me thinking about a topic I never really thought about before.
I live in a consumeristic society that pushes me to want more: both physically, mentally, and spiritually. I get an iphone and then a year later there is another one and I think about how I must get the newest version, or I mindlessly get food when I grocery shop not really considering what is in it or where it was processed, or I go around looking for a church that meets my needs, like a buffet. a couple things that come to mind are how focused I can be on myself and my needs and not on the needs and people outside of me. HOwever, in order to do that, I would seriously have to stop consuming everything and think.
Thinking is hard. Thinking requires really working through something and sometimes looking up information or even being alone for awhile. Now that everyone has an iphone or the internet on their phone we can just look it up instantly instead of seriously just stopping and thinking about a question or a situation. I'm not saying technology is the ruin of everything, but the faster and faster we are finding ways to do life..the more and more it feels like we are just responding to everything around us and not really asking why? how? to who's expense? is this just feeding my inner desires or is this a betterment for those around me as well?
There are moments here when i think my brain is fried from thinking but i love it. i love it because i realized how often I had a question and i would just look it up or ask other people what they think and then stop thinking about it. but here..ive had to wrestle with things and really keep asking questions and not allowing one response to be my end all on that topic. Thinking requires work and im beginning to see more and more how often I just didn't think in the past few years. I consumed, I responded but I didnt stop to think about ideas...ideas that open my eyes to reality, open me up to new ways of thinking and living. Ideas are powerful and many times painful. Painful because if we really engage with an idea and think about it..it means getting outside of my bubble and possibly even changing an aspect to the way I live.
This post is somewhat all over, but I wanted to share something about what i've been doing or thinking about in the past few weeks. So I guess the questions im asking myself is
1) Do I think or just respond?
2) how is society preparing or hurting our ability to think, to engage with ideas?
3) How does consumerism play into how we process through ideas?
4) Has the church become lazy in how we seek truth? Is the church thinking and asking?
Side note
I'm reading No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton....and wow...it is powerful and thought provoking!
until next time
No comments:
Post a Comment