Life at the end of Us vs Them

This is a book of essays but they share a family theme, so to say. The writer is a good communicator in prose. There is an amiable tone with a nice balance between well-chosen anecdotes and helpful and insightful comment and reflection drawn from the stories. These stories and the reflection on contemporary events through them would serve preachers and teachers well.

What I've enjoyed about reading this is the depth of analysis and the range of thinking-resources drawn upon. Sometimes that can leave a sense of 'where's this going?" but usually just after that, it gets resolved.

I've also enjoyed the masterclass it offers in how to think Girardianly and this has helped me to see more fully the power of Girardian analysis. I still remain a bit skeptical of the sacrificial thesis as '(pre-)history' but seeing the insights worked through the examples given has been really helpful.

Another thing that I've enjoyed has been to become re-acquainted with Ivan Illich's writing. And it's interesting to see how contemporary Illich still feels -even some 15 years after his death and considerably longer since some of his better known work. The thing that comes over as having been learnt from Illich is the humane-ness that we need to cultivate and the alertness to the way that human systems of care can be corrupted by, in effect, their dehumanisation, that is to say the loss of I-Thou from their heart.

I enjoyed in this book, also, the insight into the hinterland of Canadian issues related to their first nations and the genius of this book is how these become windows into how modern society often works -or rather doesn't work. Girard and Illich's insights are used to help us to see and begin to understand the gaps and contradictions and to gently consider how we might live otherwise.

I most value the thoughtfulness and the thought-provokingness of this collection of essays. I have valued too the unfolding example as I have read of taking seriously viewpoints with which we disagree; taking time to understand them argumentatively but most of all humanly. This is worth much in today's world.

And in the interests of full disclosure, I should point out that though I received a copy of the e-book, it was for review purposes. The opinions about it are mine and not produced to order or under any sense of obligation for them to be good or bad.

Link-Love 

Life at the End of Us Versus Them on Amazon
Life at the End of Us Versus Them Website
The Ferment Podcast - "a farmer philosopher and a mystic folkie set out after the yeast of the kingdom."
Marcus Peter Rempel on Facebook
Church Matters Podcast Interview
Englewood Review of Books Interview
Common Word Author Reading

 #UsVsThem Home: 'via Blog this'

Transitioning back to reality after holiday

This is the time of year to consider this, though it may be too late for some to take this piece of advice: "Take an extra day before heading back to work. I like to think of this spare day as the vacation from my vacation. It’s the day to get reacquainted with your routines."
If it is too late (and that's a life-tactic we discovered for ourselves a few years back -in fact we try to take a couple of days if possible), then at least this other piece of wise counsel may be helpful: "Give yourself a free day the following weekend. Playing catch-up with your life can be exhausting, so take a weekend day to sleep in, leisurely drink a cup of coffee, catch up on items around the house, or do nothing at all. If you have kids, this applies to them, too."
And how about this: "Arrive an hour early to work. You’ll want to get a solid footing on your day before you’re bombarded by co-workers asking about your trip and giving you more things to do."

Now I'm wondering whether anyone has any other useful advice to add?

Transitioning back to reality after vacation | Unclutterer

Recognize the Road to Burnout -spiritually

It's important to catch it sooner rather than later: for your own good and the good of your nearest and dearest -they're the ones who suffer the most from it in the early stages; believe me. So do check this article out and file it away for future use if necessary.
Running on Empty? How to Recognize When You're on the Road to Burnout | Psychology Today
Among the things that it points up as potential signs are these:

"Psychological signs, such as loss of enjoyment for activities once enjoyed; sadness; excessive anxiety or worry; panic attacks; feeling trapped without options for relief or escape; loss of motivation; loss of concentration; emotional hypersensitivity at seemingly inconsequential things; feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, or pessimism; and/or increasing feelings of irritability, frustration, or anger"

For Christian (and from experience) I would say that some of these impact your prayer life especially loss of enjoyment of activities once enjoyed, loss of motivation. Some of the other things are the kinds of things that show up in self-examination and the danger is to misdiagnose them by simply telling yourself (and God) that you've done and thought wrong. Thing is it may not be the wrong you think. The real sin may be lack of self care so that you don't have the energy to give properly to others and to other-care. That's not ot say that you have an excuse to be irritable (or whatever); just that the response should be to take appropriate care of yourself (and keep the spirit of the law on Sabbath) rather than simply confessing and moving on ... to repeat again because you're still tired and worn down. The sin then is to continue in the burnout patterns rather than seeking to sabbath.

test yourself. Leave work on a Friday and commit to treating yourself to a relaxing, stress-free weekend. Don't bring any work home, sleep in on Saturday and Sunday morning, eat right, and occupy your time with activities that you rarely allow yourself to enjoy (yes, I know you're busy, but trust me--make the time).

If you wake up on Monday morning feeling exactly the same as you did before your time off, you're probably going to have to make some pretty significant changes in your lifestyle to turn things around.

By 2020, 80% of men will be overweight

Right: here's a series of snippets: "Eight out of 10 men and almost seven in 10 women will be overweight or obese by 2020, ... the incidence of diabetes, stroke and heart disease will dramatically increase, ... "We are being overwhelmed by the effects of today's 'obesogenic' environment, with its abundance of energy-dense food and sedentary lifestyles.""

I think that there are a couple of things arise from this: what is the actuarial effect of this? With regard to pensions, we've been assuming a continued increased longevity; but surely these figures put that in question. The irony would be that we stop killing ourselves from smoking, overwork etc only to do it by overindulgence.

The other thing that I muse over in the face of these figures is that our meat intake is part of the issue. And I'm not saying you can't be vegetarian and obese but in changing we are likely to be able to build in more healthy choices and to be eating more stuff that is good for us anyhow...

Just thinking out loud really ...

By 2020, 80% of men will be overweight, study shows | Society | guardian.co.uk:

Five eco-crimes we commit every day

Quite challenging this. Five eco-crimes we commit every day - environment - 01 December 2009 - New Scientist: "You might think you are doing your bit for the environment, but even if you shun bottled water, buy local produce and reuse your plastic bags, chances are that you have some habits that are far more environmentally damaging than you realise. What's more, if everyone else is doing these things too, their detrimental effects really add up."
I'm considering my response to the ones that apply.

Green Gas

The fact is that that no matter how green our boilers and cookers etc, they still use hydrocarbon that was naturally sequestered from the rest of the ecosystem mostly in the carboniferous period (and there's a reason it's called that, folks; the clue is in the title). If, like me, you are somewhat vexed by this, then I share with you glad tidings that are for, hopefully, all the UK people. Our Green Gas - About Ecotricity - Ecotricity: "The idea of Green Gas. Actual gas, made from green sources, delivered into the gas grid and from there on to your home or business. This hasn’t really been possible until recently – but it is now." I think this means that by buying this when it becomes available, we'd be investing in building further capacity. I seem to recall Ecotricity have a good track record in reinvesting into green projects. I've just signed up for further information when it becomes available. Join me.

Moral judgment falters if rushed

At least that's my reading of the results of this research. It uses 1,0000 subjects, so that's a very reasonable sample. Read more about it here: Moral Judgment Falters As Time Crunch Sets In The final paragraph gives us the skinny: "The fact that we give greater weight to moral values further away in time has to do with how abstract we are in our thinking. When we think of temporally distant events, we think more abstractly, which makes us focus on superordinate aspects and the main purport of the event. But if we think of events that are close to us in time, we think more concretely, which means that subordinate, peripheral aspects take on more importance. For example, if we imagine that we will be asked to donate blood in the future, what dominates is the superordinate moral value of helping other people, but if the time perspective is telescoped, concrete subordinate selfish motives take over, such as the fact that it will be unpleasant to be stuck by a needle."
This has very important consequences. It means that decision-making processes requiring a change of behaviour in the light of moral or ethical considerations really need to be given good time and a long tail. Churche councils take note! Indeed governments too; I'm thinking climate-change and global economic restructuring here ...

On a personal level; it probably means too that the encouraging of personal rules of life gains a further argument for refashioning (forming) people in the way of Christ: the long-term horizon is vital and important in affecting thinking now and in helping us to avoid short-time ethically sub-optimal behaviours. It also seems to me to suggest support for the idea of sabbath: taking the pressure off helps to form good thinking and behaviours, if I read the results aright.

Charity Christmas gifts online

And this isn't just buying a physical present for someone that is fairtraide, say. Rather this is not buying something that you send to a friend or family member, rather you buy something for someone in the developing world, to help lift them out of poverty, and your would-be-donee gets a card to say what has been given on their behalf, so to speak. A few years back, I got a card with 10 chickens on it as 'my' present was 10 chickens to a family in east Africa. I really liked that -after all, like most people in the west, I actually have my fill of little ornaments and fripperies. What do you get for the person who has, well, if not everything, at least most things that they could need and many they could want? Something for someone else who doesn't have much. This is much more in the spirit of Saint Nicholas, methinks. Anyway, there's a good explanation here: Charity Christmas gifts online are perfect solution for Christmas shoppers | Ekklesia: "Instead of simply giving more unwanted clutter to friends and family, the Christian aid agencies have come up with a range of 70 charity Christmas gifts which you can give to developing communities - on behalf of others.
From an ox to an HIV education system, a wheelchair to a bicycle, you can order and send your charity Christmas gifts all online too. All you have to do is visit the web site, choose a price range and select a gift with the details of the friend on whose behalf you are sending the present. The charity then sends a special card to your friend or family member, telling them what has been given on their behalf."
And at that site links to three charity sites where they are doing this.

One note of caution though. Don't do this to someone else unless they are happy about it, or you could lose a friend. Better is to let people know that this is what you'd like for Christmas, and hope that some of them might take the hint. And remember, it doesn't have to be either/or: you could elect for a little gift and ask for the rest to be a charity gift.

Green Patches: Prayer is for life...

Just showed up on a search feed; someone recommending an article of mine on rules of life. Green Patches: Prayer is for life...: "From emerging church info, Andii Bowsher explains what a rule of life means, and uses the Lord's Prayer as a guide for drawing up your own."

Rethinking Christmas NOW!

From Make Wealth History comes this suggestion that I have often thought, and sometimes actioned or commended to others: Rethinking Christmas: "if you long for a simpler, more human Christmas, now is the time to start planning it. You’ve got a blank slate for 2008, and if you wait until the pressure hits in October or November, it’s too late. If you want to talk to your family about it, and have a bit of a discussion, now might be a good time to make some suggestions. You can talk again in the summer and decide for sure whether you want to go for it, but get the ball rolling early."

I'm thinking of setting it for myself as a Lent project; perhaps even blog about it ...

15 Reasons to Stop Hiding from Vegetarianism

Expanding on one of the introductory statements: "Thanks to an abundance of scientific research that demonstrates the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, even the federal government recommends that we consume most of our calories from grain products, vegetables and fruits" this article does what it says. Important reading if the lower ecological footprint of veggie doesn't quite convince you to cut out or at least down on the meat.
AlterNet: Health and Wellness: 15 Reasons to Stop Hiding from Vegetarianism:

Britain Is More Energy Efficient Today Than In Time Of Shakespeare

Which may , at first, sound encouraging. However, a moment's thought should remind us that we have still ended up using far more energy, even if more effeciently. So we are left with the sobering reflection:

“The bottom line is that technology can’t contend with the realities of climate change. The only effective solution is to curb consumption. To stand a chance of meeting emissions targets, politicians need to switch their attention from energy efficiency to controls on consumption.”

Looks like we can't 'advance' our way out of this one...
Britain Is More Energy Efficient Today Than In Time Of Shakespeare:

Christianity is a lifestyle

Matt Stone is clearly on a thought-provocation roll. He starts with St Francis and takes us further. "St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary, use words' I thought, why stop there? “Worship always, and when necessary, use music” "
I really like that and the other ideas he mentions. I can't help wondering if there are even more.
Journeys In Between: Christianity is a lifestyle:

Stop piddling around with bits of change

The question is whether all the little 'easy steps to save the planet' ideas are good ideas or whether they are actually counter-productive by allowing the evasion of the bigger picture. George Marshall puts the latter case in the Guardian.

Their logic is as follows. Simple actions capture people's attention and provide an entry-level activity. Present people with the daunting big-ticket solutions and they turn away. Give them something easy and you have them moving in the right direction and, in theory, ready to make the step up to the next level.

That is the theory, but, as plentiful social research confirms, it doesn't work. For one thing, making the solutions easy is no guarantee that anyone will carry them out. The government spent £22m on the Do Your Bit campaign and has subsequently admitted that it produced no measurable change in personal behaviour.

And there is a greater danger that people might adopt the simple measures as a way to avoid making more challenging lifestyle changes. With recycling, Mori concluded that it was becoming an act of "totem behaviour" and that "individuals use recycling as a means of discharging their responsibility to undertake wider changes in lifestyle". In other words, people can adopt the simplest solutions as a part of a deliberate denial strategy that enables them to feel virtuous without changing their real behaviour.

Living Lightly 24:1 - a simpler, greener lifestyle commitment from A Rocha UK, the Christian environmental charity

Having done a session a couple of weeks back with summer school students on rules of life with environmental and justice concerns in mind, I come across now a further resource which I wish I'd known about then ...

Welcome to Living Lightly 24:1, a simpler, greener lifestyle commitment from A Rocha UK. There must be more to life than working, consuming, acquiring and being sucked into a value system that we know is wrong.
There is more! Living Lightly 24:1 offers a renewed vision of the world and alternative way of living; a virtual Christian community to be part of! It is not a long list of "dos" and "don'ts", but a journey of discovery, seeking to live with delight and gentleness in God's World.
The 24:1 Commitment - believing - 'The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it' (Psalm 24:1)
The 24:1 Challenge - behaving - Living lightly in God's World
The 24:1 Community - belonging - Caring for God's World together.

Ah well, at least I can commend it to you! The advantage of it seems to be, like Greenbelt's 'Generous' project, that it offers a community facility where people can discuss pros and cons of actions and commitments and exchange good practice.
Living Lightly 24:1 - a simpler, greener lifestyle commitment from A Rocha UK, the Christian environmental charity

How To Green Your Electronics

How To Green Your Electronics (TreeHugger): "In this guide we’ll tell you how to stop wasted energy, what gizmos are greener than others, and what to do about e-waste and electronics recycling. We’ll also show you some of the newest green gadgets coming over the horizon."

Playgreen

Flagging up a new wiki dedicated to amassing info on greener living. Maybe worth RSS sub?
Playgreen - The wiki on green living

Filed in: green, ecology, lifestyle, wiki

The end of the world as we know it

As befits heading into a season characterised by reflection on death [Hallowe'en and Rememberance day gone and Advent to come],
I've been doing some very sobering reading lately which pretty much makes a lot of talk about emerging church, postmodernity, human interaction with technoogy etc etc look like arranging deckchairs on the Titanic or whistling in the dark at best. I knew that we were running out of oil. What I hadn't yet grasped was the implications of that. I had forgotten or failed to factor into my thinking just how much of what we routinely do is powered by oil: our agriculture relies on fertilisers and pesticides mmade from ... oil; our food is transproted huge distances by ... oil; much of what we by is made from plastics in whole or in part and plastics are mostly made from ...oil. Our constructions and even manufacture of energy alternatives is dependent on oil. Oil is woven into our lives in countless ways some signiificant, some trivial, alll eating away at a non-renewable resource whose production has just peaked or is about to. To catch a sense of where my sobering has come from read this:
"Energy has always been the basis of cultural complexity and it always will be. The past clarifies potential paths to the future. One often-discussed path is cultural and economic simplicity and lower energy costs. This could come about through the 'crash' that many fear -- a genuine collapse over a period of one or two generations, with much violence, starvation, and loss of population. The alternative is the 'soft landing' that many people hope for - a voluntary change to solar energy and green fuels, energy-conserving technologies, and less overall consumption. This is a utopian alternative that, as suggested above, will come about only if severe, prolonged hardship in industrial nations makes it attractive, and if economic growth and consumerism can be removed from the realm of ideology. Joseph A. Tainter"

I am contemplating how our preaching and worship can give a greater sense of urgency about the voluntary change alluded to above and to the removal of consumerism from our day to day thinking. One of the things that impressed me about the Nine O'Clock Service was the utter seriousness about this issue. And in all the developments in Alternative Worship and emerging church since then, we have not really recovered that strand -and it's about time we did.

Then there is the urgency of developing ways to commend and make possible the peace transitions that will be required. How can we create the preconditions and conditions for justice and peace for aocieoties where scarcity and the consequent heavy temptations to bullying violence are in the ascendant? Is peacemaking practical politics in a world of scarce energy?