Dislocation

"(Previously) it was believed that what was inferred from our senses, through the apparatus of measurement, would allow us to 'know' the proper definition of the physical, so in the same way maps or guide books let us 'know' about a place, we would create a virtual replica of what makes up reality. The problem, of course, is that whilst maths may allow you to count a bunch of apples, it doesn't really allow you to engage with their taste, texture, smell - it isn't giving you the reality of what you're counting. The virtual may look convincing, but what we're really needing is a real coming to know something".  C S Lewis. The Discarded Image.

The past month or so has provided some wonderful opportunities, especially as I've finally been able to obtain a new computer to replace my very old machine.
What's fascinating is seeing just how the software for such a system has moved on in a decade - the key functions remaining essentially the same, but the small adjustments adding those nuances which can either be pleasantly surprising or perhaps somewhat annoying as you engage with your new machine for the first couple of sessions.

What always takes the longest time when beginning to use such a new system is the uploading of all of your previous data in such a fashion that it is both accessible and useable once again on your new platform. I spent most of this weekend uploading the basic 'stuff' I need to provide Internet, Image, and Music, discovering various strengths and weaknesses along the way, and taking a couple of breaks to get out in the fresh air between the heavy rain and strong winds. 

It's because, underneath or away from all the 'programs', that I feel so connected to something much deeper and greater, that I often find a richness and a purpose in the world, both real and virtual, that provides the impetus for my activities in work, rest and play. Essentially understanding that beyond the 'maps and diagrams' that we make for ourselves to seek to navigate through today there is a higher truth, a more substantial reality, makes all of this worthwhile, because it's just the introduction to something far more weighty.

I started the weekend talking with a friend regarding the current state of world affairs, and was quickly sobered by just how impoverished our times have become, not just because there are many in material need (and there are) or because of the growing of regimes that thrive upon injustice, but because there is so little left in our own culture that people have to depend upon. Usually, it may be their own abilities to cope, perhaps with the help of a loved one or a friend, but all of it could so easily be dissolved so quickly.

2019 has proved to be a better year for me because of a change of employment circumstances which have allowed me to leave eleven prior years of precarious living, for the moment, behind, but last year was filled with great anxiety and fear that things would be very different. What we appear to be so negligent of so much of the time is just how close our world is right now to falling over that cliff in its entirety. What will hold us if that happens?
Where do we go from here?

In the late 1700's, our culture was revolutionised - saved from the despotism it had become soaked in - by the work of the Clapham reformers. This ended slavery and child labour, brought about the first free trade unions, reformed prisons and paved the way for our own welfare state.
This had all been possible because for the generation before this, the country had been exposed to a genuine spiritual awakening that allowed people to see there was a deeper value and reality to their lives - that we really were more than a jumble of random data.

The world is sinking fast, my friends, and without our turning from our inwardness and the poison of all-encompassing materialism, we are in very real trouble.

What does it really profit us, asked Jesus, if we gain all that's available materially, but loose our own souls as a result?

It's time to heal the world.