Alright, that's nothing exceptional for me. I think too much for my own good a good deal of the time. Nevertheless I have had a consistent stream of thoughts on a particular line of ideas in the last week or so. I owe this to a variety of conversations, books and here and there a moment of self-reflection.
The gist of it is something like this: there are a series of cultural values, virtues and vices that seem to be widely influencing the culture in which I'm participating in (though all of these things, as with nearly anything, can be found in most cultures throughout our present world and history). At any rate, all three of these things flow from perception - what is often called world view. This perception and the resulting values then build to a sense of purpose. I think it says a great deal about or society that generally speaking we feel purposeless. Namely that we need to adjust our perceptions, resulting in changed values, a (hopefully) lessening of vices, and a building up of virtues. I have a good number of thoughts about all
of this, some of which I have blogged about elsewhere, and others which are contained in the books pictured in this post. In addition to these, I love reading a variety of works and allowing the concepts to crash into each other.The Seven Deadly Sins Today is a powerful and honest examination of those traditionally identified vices and faults common to humanity and how they are interacting with our current (the book is very convicting and far-sighted being 40 years old) social situation.
Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community is a powerful collection of essays by one of, if not absolutely, my favorite authors, Wendell Berry. His direct approach and carefully thought out discussion of issues and realities in a way that is challenging without being alienating is what always keeps me coming back to his work.
Going back, briefly, to my previous thought about purpose/purposelessness. The more I'm interacting with the world around me, the more I'm realizing how absolutely necessary it is that purpose comes from outside one's self. Equally consistently I see the only satisfying provision of purpose is that which comes from God, and specifically the purpose to glorify him. There are thousands upon millions of pages to be written about this, and even more life to be lived in it (and much of both has happened). Ultimately I can only hope to align my perspective with his - that which is eternal, unchanging, perfect and good. It doesn't seem that anything, and particularly simply "the pursuit of self-pleasure" (Fairlie) could possibly compete with this as a better perspective. What I and all of humanity most continually be reconciled from is our tendency to engage in that pursuit despite it's inadequacy. And so in God's grace I pursue his perspective to take on his values and virtues.
