So...with the pandemic I have had a lot more time to watch T.V. Not so much more that I'm sitting on my butt and binge watching, but I can at least take in some shows. Before the pandemic my life was so taken up by commuting, work, and other obligations that I was lucky if I got 30 minutes to an hour after my kids went to sleep to enjoy some time to myself. 

In my house Netflix's purpose has for some time been to just cycle "The Office" or 
"Parks and Rec" on loop..you know, like most reasonable Americans. I love these shows, and there's something about their character that suits them to being on in the background, almost like commentary on your own life. They're close to home in a way....more on that for later blogs. This is about why I enjoy GOOD T.V., not just something to have on in the background, but something that creates a world you can immerse yourself in for a few hours. T.V. that isn't an escape (as I think the aforementioned shows are) but are an invitation to an experience. 

The reason I love good T.V. is the same reason I love good books. They get my mind going. I connect with characters, their motivations, their emotions, their moral ambiguities...I...and here's the critical part...I imagine with them. And that is exactly what I like about T.V., it is theater. It gives my mind a place to play. This is important for us. We all are to some extent our child selves. Trust me, to grow up is both overrated and impossible. We'll always carry our inner child with us, and that inner child is the most centrally human thing about us. We have an innate need to play, to imagine, to have leisure. (For my fellow Catholic scholars it's here that I will plug some writing by Josef Piper "Leisure, the basis of Culture" https://www.ignatius.com/Leisure-P1445.aspx.) For everyone else, trust me, imagination is important, more important than we give it credit for. C.S. Lewis believed that the imagination was the key to the heart, and I can't say that he is wrong. 

So what have I been watching? Star Trek, mostly. A bit of Picard (My bald officer inspiration). The Mandalorian, I can't say enough of this show. Disney did a phenomenal job here creating a class space western. The show goes well beyond Baby Yoda, but let's be honest, he is the star. Weeds I'm re-watching this series. Just as an advisement it is not for younger audiences, or those who have a discomfort with morally ambiguous literature, but it is good satire and social commentary that addresses issues of class, race, gender, criminality, and in some cases dives deeply into some existential absurd-ism. Weeds can be funny, inappropriate, disturbing, and wickedly intellectual. 

That's about it right now, What are you watching? Why do you like it?

Have you ever been in a situation where you realized that you didn't know what you didn't know? It's kind of hard to articulate. Another way to say it is that you realize that you don't know enough to even know what you don't know. How about that for a sentence? The thought is just as awkward as the turn of phrase. 

In Greek, the term is "Aporia" literally "perplexity" or "reaching an impasse". It means coming to a point where you become aware of your own ignorance. You know that you don't know. For Socrates, this was a great place to be. This is where you cross a border from the cave of ignorance into the real world - the place of discovery. The shock of coming to realize that you are ignorant, that you don't know everything (even some things that you think you know) is to come to a place of intellectual humility. 

Have you ever done something thinking you were right, then argued about it. You know that you are right, no way you could be wrong. Then come to find out, you were wrong. (Shazaam is a movie from the '90s with Sinbad!) That's the feeling, right there. 

Aporia is healthy. It's a place where we can truly humble ourselves and allow ourselves to grow. We aren't the masters of our own lives, and the more we realize this, the better we become. G.K. Chesterton wrote that the lunatic wants to take the entire universe into his head, and in doing so, the universe crushes his mind. The rational person doesn't try to fit all things into his mind, but seeks an ocean to let his mind expand into. 

This is how we learn, this is how we grow. How beautiful is this idea that by beginning by acknowledging our own emptiness, we begin the path to true discovery. No one is fixed. We are always in a state of becoming; there is always another thing you can do to grow. 

Do you feel like this at times? At school? At work? In relationships? 
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If you find yourself in a state of Aporia - rejoice, for now you can go and truly discover.

A quick Google search of the word "generate" will give you this definition "to create by vital or natural process" or "to create and distribute vitally and profusely"

If you've ever seen or read "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" then you are familiar with the "Vogons." The Vogons are a species of bureaucratic aliens whose culture is defined by rigid processes; think the DMV or the IRS incarnate. This species lives to be a part of a mindless, tedious, and purposeless existence...they ARE boredom. The one thing they create is poetry - epically bad poetry - created from a culture that values pure efficiency above all else. For those who haven't developed a taste for poetry yet, think about music, any kind of music. Now think about music produced by a committee, with several subcommittees consulted under various department heads. One for rhythm, one for lyric, one for melody, each working under rigid guidelines that must be met for the music to be published. Each song created under the auspices of government directed guidelines and regulations. 

Could we say that this is really creating? 

Sure - collaboration is occurring, people are working together, but where is the inspiration? Where is the "vital or natural process" that pushes us to "distribute vitally and profusely?" This isn't creation - it is manufacturing. Now manufacturing is a good thing and has its place - but it is not art. I eat the manufactured bread I buy from Costco, but the bread my son and I make together is far more satisfying. 

We are called by God to be co-creators, and there is a lot of writing out there on what that means. In adding to that conversation I suggest that being a co-creator means that we by the nature of God's work in us desire deeply to add beauty to the world. We want not just to manufacture, but to participate in the vital and natural process of creativity from which our zeal pushes us to distribute vitally and profusely. We wish to infuse life into all things - that is our nature. 

While we are experiencing quarantine together, separately, I offer up this thought. Here is a time to experience hope in a new way. A hope that is a thing with feathers, that sings a tune you hear - a still small voice - that never stops at all. Hope is a generator; no matter the circumstance, it is there, pouring its beauty into the world. Whatever that still small voice is whispering, follow it, bring it into being. Add beauty to the world and share it. Be a generator that continually exudes your brilliance in the world and never stops at all. In a time where the darkness of the world seems closer, listen carefully for the song of hope - for that is the voice of God. 

Pax

To my students:

​Education these days can sometimes look a lot more like manufacturing than creation. If you see this, you are right to make note of it. How can we redefine the way we think so that students are not only consumers, but co-creators of their own knowledge? What does it mean for you to be a co-creator of your own knowledge? How does this stack up against the practical, concrete nature of living?

"'Life' does not mean something vague, but something very real and very concrete, just as life's tasks are also very real and concrete." - Viktor Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning", pg. 77

One of the most interesting things that I've noticed since we began this experience of "social distancing" is that I see my neighbors more and more. I've talked with them more, I've seen them out walking, playing with their kids, working on their homes. Amidst what is a global crisis, my neighborhood has not just "carried on" it has in some way, flourished. 

Similarly, I am both grateful and humbled by the degree to which we as a collective have been able to, on a moment's notice, shift our focus to those things which are truly important - those human and adamantine elements of life. Suddenly, we are not so distant from our neighbor. Suddenly, our homes become more than just a place to eat, sleep, and prepare for the next day's work. Suddenly, we are aware of those who aren't able to provide for themselves or their families, and we see the value in something as simple as a loaf of bread. Life - it seems, is much more and much more real a thing than the constructs we apply to it. What seems valuable to us and even "necessary" when things are "normal" are to some extent - illusory. The irony of course is that when we become aware that Mordor threatens our Shire, we treasure more what we had all along, and realize that what and how much we love is truly what defines us. In experiencing this event in history, we ought to be keenly aware of the reality of life - not what we have built on sand, but the foundation of what it truly means to live. 

What we see clearly as important during a crisis is in fact, what is truly important. I'm reminded of Flannery O'Connor's Misfit who remarked of the woman who he had killed “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” 

I pray for all of you, especially my students, that you and your families are safe and well. Know that we are all in need, and we must respond to this time as we are called to respond to all times - with immeasurable love. When we reflect on this time, let us remember the great effort that humanity exerted to bring those concrete and human goods to those in need. Let us think about how we deny those efforts to others when things are "normal" and let us pray that we may grow in love and in service to God and each other. 

​Pax