Theater of the Absurd

So I was watching Fox last night and saw the most ridiculous show called Hole in the Wall. It is basically like Human Tetris where you have to make your body in the shape of whatever cutout is coming towards you in the form of a moving wall. And if you don't make the shape in time or correctly, you are pushed into the water by the moving wall. I felt a little bit of my brain ooze out of my ear as I was watching this. It was SO stupid that I began to think of the level of absurdity and artificiality we have come to in our culture. For most of us, OUR reality has increasingly become defined by WATCHING what tv execs package as "reality" television. And it is so easy to get sucked into articles written about Lindsay Lohan's hair extentions, and THEN get sucked into reading a blog that is commenting on the article, etc. etc.

Why would I be writing about such absurdities? Because they depress me. And I have a hunch that this meaningless crap is part of the source of depression for many though they don't see it as such. The more and more I isolate myself with different sources of media and superficial exploits that are supposedly sources of relaxation and entertainment, the more unsettled I feel.

Last week I went backwoods camping in the Rockies with three girlfriends while my hubbs was out of town. We had no cell phone access, and hiked about 30 miles in 4 days. Now I know that camping is not up everyone's alley, but I can't tell you what it did for my psyche. I spent some time sitting above a lake at about 11,000 feet reading and praying a little. I felt so small, so simple, and was able to find more meaning just by BREATHING up there, than I ever do at home. And its not just about "getting back to nature". For me it's nature that reminds me that God is so much bigger than all my worries, cravings, and needs. And that if I want to find any semblence of meaning, and consequently-peace-I might want to seek out the God that created a sky that is so blue it hurts my eyes when I gaze at it.

There was also something to pushing my body and mind to the extreme out there. I have a theory that part of the prevelence of depression and anxiety lies with our demand for comfort above all else. When did we get the idea that ease and laziness ever made any of us happy? We are so ingrained that being comfortable is the best thing for us that we cease to grow as people, and therefore grow stagnant in every area. We forget that service to God, and to others, is what can reinvigorate us and lift our spirits. We forget that sweating, creating, trying something new, being willing to take risks and fighting against the status quo will make us feel more rested than if we had laid on the couch watching Hole in the Wall and eating Ben and Jerry's .

What gives me peace and comfort that I don't necessarily live in the most ridiculous age of men, is that people have been feeling this way throughout history. Solomon writes of the apparent meaninglessness of life in Ecclesiastes....

1:10
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

I hope that many different types of people will somehow find this blog, and that this becomes a place where we can openly dialogue about what gives life true meaning. I have come to find that God, specifically Christ, is the only source of meaning in my life. I constantly sway from this, trying to substitute this only source of true and lasting satisfaction for much less satisfying things. I know that some people hear the word God, Jesus, Christ, etc. and immediately think of religiosity, or a set of rules. But I am talking about a person, a spirit, a very real and tangible presence, not religion. And if you read this and question the possibility that such an encounter could be real, what is stopping you from seeking it out and testing it for yourself? If God is real and personal, then if you seek Him, wouldn't you inevidably find Him?

Just food for thought.


P.S. Here is a quote from a great book I am reading right now. It both simultaneously cracked me up and sobered me. The book is called "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard.

"And just think of a world in which little children sing, 'I wish I were an oscar myer weiner. That is what I really want to be. For if I were an Oscar Myer Weiner, everyone would be in love with me' Think of what it would mean to BE a weenie, or for someone to love you as they "love" a hot dog. Think of a world in which adults would pay millions of dollars to have children perform this song in "commercials" and in which hundreds of millions, even billions, of adults find no problem in it. You are thinking of OUR world. If you are willing to be a weenie to be loved, what else would you be willing to do?"