Alysen and I watched Michael J Fox’s ABC special last night on hope and optimism. One thing that I found very interesting was his link between happiness (bliss) and connectedness. He suggested that in his experience traveling around the world searching for what made people, villages communities and countries happy and hopeful was whether or not they are connected with others around them.
One of the examples that hit home for me was an interview he did with a group of dairy farmers. He visited with them in the Hudson Valley of NY and discovered that in order to maximize their ability to survive, they had banded together as a group of dairy farmers and were living communally. This expanded not just to their lives, but to their business as well, having invested in their own bottling machine and advertising of their own “brand” of milk and produce.
Just more evidence that everyone around us are becoming more and more connected, through technology, through churches, through community organizations, and now to some degree out of necessity of survival.
I for one think this is the best development in our recent history, what do you think?
This morning while I was driving I heard the NPR segment called “This I Believe”. Those of you who read my blog regularly know how intrigued I am by people’s belief systems and what drives them. This I Believe is a segment that I love to listen to for that very reason.
This morning there was an essay featured by Matt Harding of Seattle, WA. Matt has been known in the viral video world for his crazy dancing videos from all across the world.
In his essay, he points out how freeing dance can be and also the realization that this process has brought him to. We are no longer people of a small tribe of 10-15 people, judging the other tribes around us, but instead, technology has connected us to eachother in unexpected ways.
This experience really resounded with me, and made me realize that the world really is transitioning to an Age of Interconnectivity.
CLICK HERE to read Matt’s essay and then drop me a note to let me know what you thought about it.
Most of my friends who are well versed in theology would argue that God and the rest of the “spirit” realm stand outside of our history and are able somehow to move through it. While this is often believed about God, it is far less often discussed about angels and demons. However, when it comes down to it, most agree that the issue of the spirits being outside of our time space realm is why we cannot see them every day.
However, I would like to suggest that these two realities are intertwined in time. Take as an example, Daniel’s encounter with a spirit messenger in Daniel chapter 10. The angel comes to give Daniel a message but he says that he has been delayed. Take a look at what he says (NLT for ease of reading here)
I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. -Daniel 10:12-13
So the simple question I have is this. If the spirit realm is movable in relation to this physical realm in which we live, then why on earth would the angel have been DELAYED from seeing Daniel in the physical realm by an event that takes place in the spirit realm? I think the reasonable answer is that they are not separate. Thoughts?
Continuing to explore this idea that we are moving out of a Postmodern era and into a more fluid “Age of Interconnectivity” (AoI) I though it would be prudent to explore the possibilities of Art in this age.
There are several artists now working that embody the idea that we are all connected and participating in the art itself. Unlike the happenings of the 60s and 70s which “performed” art as a dramatic representation of a visual expression, art of the AoI engages the viewer personally, not only as an observer or voyeur but as a participant in the creation of the work. A perfect example of this is Daniel Rozin’s Wooden Mirrors. These pieces are incredible and will never be able to be represented well in an art history book because of the movement that is at the core if the image itself. CLICK HERE to see a youtube video of the mirror in action. Not only does the image involve the participation of the viewer, the image does not really exist without the viewer, yet the “reality” expressed by the image is still an expression of the artist’s vision.
The genre of interactive art has gone mainstream for more than a decade now, so if you are not familiar with online manipulation of images and experiences in art, take time to look at some of the past exhibitions and artists represented by Art Interactive.
All of this being said, I am still just a regular ole freakin’ painter…so how do I express my work in this new age without being irrelevant? There are a couple of ways this could be achieved. First there could be an interactive “live” interaction in the making of the paintings. Imagine a ustream video feed from the studio while the work is being made, with chat comments active during the process and me responding in the work. In this example, the “work” would really be the event itself, while the painting is merely a marketable residue of the event. Secondly there could be art that “comments” on the AoI. This is the most likely position for artists who have and will continue to work in traditional mediums. A great example of this is Eric Parnes’ work on surveillance. CLICK HERE to learn more about him and his work.
Let me know what you think, and what you suppose art will look like in this new age.
Assume our understanding of Time posted earlier. If this is the case there comes an interesting relationship between people on this planet from a theological point of view. If we are all in the present, including God, then how and why do we interact with each other the way that we do?
Suppose that God has a “plan” for your life. I actually think this is true. However, this plan is impacted by our own process of living. We may choose not to follow God and His “perfect plan” for our lives. In this case, consider that there is a “re-calculation” of the perfect plan for us from that point of decision forward. God does not “make” most things in our life happen in the direct way that we think of in Calvinistic theology, rather since Pentecost, mankind has been moved to BE the body of Christ in the world, and as a result has the responsibility to BE His actions in the world today. So imagine a group of believers who all have the Spirit of God living in them, being impressed to do things for God. Many of them will ignore these impressions, thus not “following God’s plan” for their lives. God’s “Big Picture Plan” is not thwarted though, because He will continue to impress upon believers until one chooses to answer YES. This can be applied to both big plan for the universe or little plan for individuals. When I make bad decisions, God can impress upon others to engage me and my life to bring about change. If they say no, the next “perfect person” will come along to say Yes.
In this way, we look back in our lives and say “man God must have been at work all along in these events” no matter how crappy or even evil those events were. Can I just tell you that this is not the truth. God does not cause evil, individuals cause evil. However, if God is constantly trying to bring about good from the decisions you make, no matter how terrible, then when looking in retrospect, they will look like they all fit together.
Here is my deal with this….If we leave it at the Church following and understanding culture instead of the church CREATING culture we will always be behind the curve. Post freakin Modernism is more than 20 years old now. There is a new age of interconnectivity which reaches beyond the paradigm of reactionary relativism. There is a new understanding of the subjective that is in relationship to the mass of other subjectives around you. Notice this is NOT the objective…NONE of these are necessarily true or objective, but rather a collection of the subjective.
Many folks will mistake this for “collective” truth, or the objective, but it is not. It is more like the Borg.