Greetings.
This is my first post. I am terrified, for I fear I will be found terribly wanting by those who believe in me, love me, and have propelled me into the biosphere and public writing with great anticipation. For my part I will do my best, agonizing over every line, word and punctuation mark! Oddly enough for a spiritual man, I sense great kinship with authors whose books, only in the greatest stretch of lexical fields might be found categorized, “religious”. Thus, with real feeling I quote John Steinbeck at the beginning of what I hope will be an interesting, stimulating, and sometimes humorous look at our culture, our humanity, and matters of politics, the spirit and faith. (no mistake there, but that is for another blog) John Steinbeck said, “In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.” I feel it John, I really do.
I finished reading my first Kindle book last night, and it was great!
I finished reading my first Kindle book last night, and it was great!
Kindle is everything I had hoped it would be, and this, while reading on my G3 iPhone!
But this morning, as I considered how hard it would be to loan my “book” to a friend to read, I became thoughtful of the global impact of using a Kindle. I am sure I will not exhaust the discussion here, but please consider the following.
Because the kindle books are keyed to my iPhone or computer, I can't share them with anyone. This is one of the smoothest marketing strategies I've come across. It appeals to our learned impatience with waiting, providing instant gratification in that, we can start reading the book within a minute or so of our decision to pay for it. (I paid with one click ordering besides!)
This appeals to American’s near neurotic desire for uber-independence above near all else. Furthermore, I am convinced that on-line purchases support a sense of empowerment in us. Consider the suggestion, that whether we ever consciously realize it or not, we enjoy the sense of power and control we feel when, "We" can get what "We" want the moment "We" want it.
I am therefore coming to the conclusion that I may not buy Kindle books very often. Some of the reasons which occurred to me are the following.
1.) I cannot share them with people I know and love in the way I tend to share good books.
2.) On a philosophical level, I am against being a pawn for the Godless and amoral marketing industry.
Thus I want to step back and see the reasons I'm buying something, and that those reasons are in fact
1.) I cannot share them with people I know and love in the way I tend to share good books.
2.) On a philosophical level, I am against being a pawn for the Godless and amoral marketing industry.
Thus I want to step back and see the reasons I'm buying something, and that those reasons are in fact
reasonable, and would seem so to my wife.
3.) I need to guard my heart against the spirit of instant gratification that has so swept our culture,
3.) I need to guard my heart against the spirit of instant gratification that has so swept our culture,
regrettably to it's great harm and detriment.
4.) I am learning, albeit ever so slowly, to lose my near neurotic affection for uber-independence.
4.) I am learning, albeit ever so slowly, to lose my near neurotic affection for uber-independence.
I am presently engaged in 2 years of spiritual study, with an emphasis on leadership development.
My school teaches a radical departure from uber-independence, and I passionately desire to embrace
this new found course of study on every level.
5.) On a philosophical level, as well as a practical way, I want to step into the disciplines of powerlessness,
5.) On a philosophical level, as well as a practical way, I want to step into the disciplines of powerlessness,
humility, meekness, winsomeness and unselfconscious service.
Some might say I may as well join a religious order, separating myself from this world and living only unto my God. While some are called to this, I am definitely not. Rather, my desire is to engage my culture from a place apart. I hope to fine a place where I removed enough to have some perspective what is happening. But to have that perspective and do nothing is for me to be clearly derelict, thus I really want to speak into my culture helpfully. I certainly reckon my limits, but I truly believe in an ecology of comment.
Years ago, Senator Paul Wellstone died an untimely death in a plane crash on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota . There were people who, though they felt badly for his family, said they were happy that we could have a less radical voice representing Minnesota Ethiopia Ethiopia Minnesota
Years ago I read two books that profoundly affected my late teen years and early adulthood. They were: Working and Thinking on the Waterfront by Eric Hoffer, Hopewell Publications (August 4, 2009); and Living The Good Life, by Helen and Scott Nearing, Publisher: Schocken Books, Date of Publication: 1970). From these two books, I came to value manual labor as having dignity in and of itself. I also began a stumbling, lifelong journey towards an ideal of simplicity. As the years have passed, I can see that I have come to the place where I certainly value both those ideals as core values of my belief system. Thus, to resist that which makes me feel empowered in a worldly sense; to resist buying for the thrill of acquisition; and to attempt to give back as I have received from so many others, makes all kinds of sense.
My experience with the Kindle has set me more firmly on the road to that place apart I spoke of earlier. For I wish to live my life thoughtfully, intentionally, and carefully practicing the disciplines aforementioned. Where this will lead me I cannot fully see, for though I may do my best to exercise wisdom in my decisions, I will never escape the law of unintended consequences, both for the good and regrettably for ill. My life has been, in the words of the poem by Robert Frost, echoed by my esteemed wife,
…“I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
And that has made all the difference.”
Tom Bates
