Vulgar and Tasteless Externals

In his thought-provoking and status-quo disturbing book, Earthen Vessels, Matthew Lee Anderson quotes G. K. Chesterton who, in the early 1900's, described the coming peril to Western Culture when he wrote about “the intellectual, educational, psychological and artistic over-production, which, equally with economic over-production, threatens the well-being of contemporary civilization. People are inundated, blinded, deafened, and mentally paralyzed by a flood of vulgar and tasteless externals, leaving them no time for leisure, thought, or creation from within themselves."


Think about Chesterton's description and then multiply that effect by the myriad "over-productions" since then.  No wonder we don't know who we are or why we're here.  We are buried in "vulgar and tasteless externals" which have pushed us ever more into being consumers rather than creators of art, literature, conversation, music, relationships.  We live in a mediated culture in which we spend much of our time in situations (internet, e-mail, smart phones) in which we don't really have to be present to another.  In these mediated circumstances we decide how much of ourselves to reveal rather than being in the risky situation of actually sharing the same space where you can't hide the rolling of your eyes or the expansion of your waistline or the impatience reflected in your restless leg. The fact is that even when we're with "real people" we're often checking our text messages, e-mail or posting on Facebook and therefore not truly present to another.


I'm not a Luddite. I own a smart phone (obsolete the moment I walked off the sales floor), I am using a Toshiba laptop I purchased just months ago to type this blog, but I am becoming more aware of how disconnected I've been especially over the past 5 years as my sphere of ministry has expanded to parts of 5 states with more than 200 churches.  "By necessity" I do much of my communication in mediated situations.  No wonder I hate traveling but love it when I actually arrive and get to spend time with people.  It's because that's the way were were made.  It's not good for us to be alone.  We are created in the image of the triune God who enjoys eternal fellowship within the Trinity.


So as a way to begin, here's my conscious choice to slow the flow or short-shrift the drift.  I'm going to stop checking my phone for e-mail when I'm home.  It can wait until morning.  I need some time for "leisure, thought, and creation from within myself."  My wife, children and grandchildren will probably benefit too.