Stimulation Vs. Sensitivity

Louder music.  Starbucks Doubleshot.  Movies in 3-D.  Finer exquisite tastes.Faster Food.  On Demand.  Comfort Control.  More efficient cars.  Unlimited Texting.  Twitter.  Blaring Radios.  Super-Size.  Stronger Perfume.  Eccentric Clothing.  Premium Channels.  IPOD Touch.  GPS.  Pay-Per-View.  Red Box.  Open All Night.  Buy-One-Get-One-Free.

I define stimulation as a foreign substance which excites our daily life, drawing us into a surreal/fantasy-like experience.  We live in a world of constant stimulation.  Every movie we watch is inciting new desires and evoking past emotions that slowly make there way through our central nervous system.  Angry, Passionate, Funny, Lonely, or Romantic music tend to catch us up into something unforeseen.  Entertainment, food, and luxurious living are constantly stimulating our lives to no end.  For many reality and fantasy grow harder to tell apart.

The problem is the after effects of too much stimulation, namely addiction, depression, and dullness.  Just like the cocaine addict no longer is satisfied with “boring” marijuana but looks for a better high; so too do we continually look for a new and great high in terms of movies, music, food, television, cars, fashion, and video games.

I read an article recently about the film Avatar.  After people saw Avatar they went into a depression because the movie was so “fantastic” and ecstatic that they were no longer satisfied with their “boring” life.  It is hard to return to reality after such a high.

Henri Nouwen also talks about the stimulation of words in our culture in his book “The Way of the Heart.”  Words are thrown around so much and used so cheaply that “the main function of the word, which is communication, is no longer realized.  The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life.”  Words mean nothing when we crave something bigger and better.

Now here is how it works- the more stimulation we get, the more we will need thereafter to sustain the same euphoric sensations.  A porn addict will need something more than pictures after awhile.  A movie addict will need a flat screen 3-D blue ray player soon.  A video gamer will need to latest video game.

Now here is the problem- the more one is stimulated, the less sensitive the persons heart becomes.  A life in God is fueled by living with a sensitive heart before the Lord, and here is the key, IN REALITY (which is in opposition to much stimulation).

A sensitive heart causes one to mourn over injustice and pain that is common in our world today.  A sensitive heart can also rejoice at the beauty found in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The heart given to stimulation will be virtually unmoved by the atrocities at large in the world- nor will they possess a heart of wonder before the Lord. Finding comfort in entertainment, food, sex, drug, or vanity, they shun the solace found in communion with God.

But we stimulate our lives for a reason.  It is mostly because of the pain, loneliness, or anger we feel when we do not.  In fear of feeling that swirl of emotions we seek to distract ourselves and incite new emotions to replace the negative ones we would be accustomed to.  The sensitive heart feels and experiences both the sorrows and joys of life.

In closing, the pathway to a vibrant prayer life in God is a sensitive heart that feels no matter what the cost.  Do you want to learn how to both rejoice and lament with the God who both rejoices and laments?  Take away that which is stimulating and thus numbing your life.  God is inviting you to be sensitive again.

Mystery Vs. Question

“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens.  It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head.  And it is his head that splits.”- G.K. Chesterton Orthodoxy

In our culture today we have a dilemma of needing to know the answer.  This poses a problem when considering the difference between Mystery and Question.  A question is a linguistic expression used to obtain information, thus the primary purpose of a question is to retrieve data.  However, the function of a mystery is quite different than that of a question.  Where a question leaves the inquiring mind chaffed until an answer is conjured, a mystery invokes wonder and arouses an enjoyable curiosity at the unveiling of the ineffable.

Would not we think it odd that, when sitting down to watch a movie, a friend demands to know the ending before even beginning the previews?  This is the fallacy of replacing Mystery for Question.  The goal of mystery is to unfold in an intrinsic way that which insights wonder in the heart of humanity, while Question is primarily logical and is motivated by the need for propositions and facts.  Where questions seek to understand and by understand seek to control; mystery invokes worship.

There are questions in the world that must be answered.  But there are mysteries that, rather than rationalizing them into fixed answers, beckon us to awe, wonder, worship, and expectancy.  For where there is an absence of mystery, there is an absence of true life.