the four right chords can make me cry

Negotiating a Postmodern, Posthuman world

One of the things I've often struggled with is the anti-intellectual flavour that I've seen some Christians adopt. Don't study philosophy, because, it will weaken your faith, don't think so much (most annoying phrase by far), don't be so cheem, faith is meant to be simple. Well yes, faith IS simple, but it's not simplistic.

I've found myself increasingly dissatisfied with the pat, unreflective answers to genuine questions I've harboured, but scarcely dared to air. Compared to the robustness and coherence of the theories and ideas that I've increasingly been exposed to academically; those cut and dried sunday school answers seem to wither and distance themselves even further from reality. Worse of all, dogmatic assertions made blindly and uncompromisingly (but with good intentions) forced down unwilling throats. To be honest, the narrowness of vision and perspective has sometimes left me disillusioned and frustrated, unable to articulate and engage.

I probably have only held on this long through encounters with sensitive friends willing to listen and understand, some who feel the same way. But sometimes (pretty often), I feel disengaged, misunderstood and isolated.

So it was very good indeed this week to hear from Vinoth Ramachandra. Contrary to constant excuses made on behalf of a quiet audience struggling to unpack his rather "dense" lectures, I found his insights on Postmodernism and Posthumanism rather underwhelming, he is certainly a very well-read man but I think he held back the deep stuff for this series of talks. But I think he painted a fairly accurate (and bleak) picture of reality; it was a quite fair and balanced description of the way things are (insofar as I perceive reality accurately, but that's really a whole other can of worms). But what struck me most of all was how exquisitely simple the answers are, were, and always have been.

Simple though the answers may be, their implications are profound and far-reaching; there is not one area of life that they do not impact upon. I was quite disappointed when someone went up and said something to the effect of, "I don't want this to just be a 'brain-tickling' exercise; could you tell me some practical things I could do about it?" Really showed how the message was completely lost on this person (and probably most people); namely, please think critically for yourself!

It's not "just" an academic exercise, it's not a passive process of listening to someone and taking orders and directives like some cheapo self-help book. But encountering a representation of the Truth, thinking about how your viewpoint differs from the one presented, meditating and reflecting upon it; if you do all these things , how can it NOT occur to you what must change, what the implications are? And these implications are different for each person, you do yourself wrong when you'd rather unreflectively have someone tell you what to do next. Sometimes I feel its a way of absolving responsibility and a way of restricting and limiting what is required of us by God. If I do X, Y and Z, as the speaker suggests, then yay, I've done my duty and in all other aspects of my life I can continue as before.

The message is far more profound than that.

If we look at what Jesus set out to do, to set the captives free, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, to invert the world order; is it any wonder that Singaporeans don't like to hear about this? In God's world order, we could be as near the bottom as we are near the top now. So the audience bristles, defensive and eager to squeeze out a kind word for our money-worshipping society, but there is none.

It forced me to take a long, hard look at myself. I grudgingly admit, yes, I have been less willing to engage with unpleasant people in real life because through technology, I can easily find like-minded people. Yes, I often distance myself from the world and behave like a vagabond or a tourist. Yes, I have sometimes treated people than less than they are worth in the eyes of God. Yes, things, relationships and even people have sometimes become commodities to me. Yes, I have often shirked community because it IS slow, messy and difficult. Guilty as charged.

As underwhelming the theoretical discussion was, the spiritual dimensions were enormously overwhelming. Like Damien said, you just don't know where to start.

But at least now, I believe again in the answers.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

posted by beckyboo @ 1:28 AM