standing at the dying campfire...(is there anybody out there?)
I just re-read the last post to get a bearing on where this blog last was left off.I am seeing that a lot of what I have been exploring isn't really the important stuff. Don't get me wrong, I think examining your faith is a crucial aspect of keeping it alive. I still agree with Plato's comment that 'the unexamined life is not worth living', but as my wife so bluntly put it some time ago, the basics are there.
The basics:
the Bible as truth
Jesus as who he said he is. (like C.S. Lewis said, Jesus is not some nice guy...he's either who he said he is or he's a madman.)
Our faith and those who laid the groundwork for 'modern christianity' may have gotten major things wrong, but the essentials, I feel, are there in my life. the rest is just details. Not that they aren't important, but the crucial things are there.
I guess the challenge for all of us is to try and maintain a healthy and accurate faith journey. We can so easily be led aside by the details and be distracted by teachings and or doctrines that are a little off center.
That out of the way...
I am wondering how you all are doing. I guess that is one of the benefits of a real 'campfire' situation...you get to see everyone sitting around the fire and at least make some kind of assessment based on their appearance (or based on the fact that they are even there).
Are you here at all?
Are you interested?
Would you rather try and revive this 'virtual campfire' of a blog or just take a leak on the coals and call it a night?
Personally, I don't know where I stand on that question... All I know is that I don't have it all together. I know it would be great to have a circle of guys around to help talk through things, hear from, share with.
I know I don't want to waste my breath and time by talking/typing into the darkness when there is no one there listening.
posted by J.M @ 9:33 PM
1 Comments:
I teach, or should I say facilitate, a course that is a patchwork of other courses. We have about a dozen students in a tiny computer lab working on various online courses (what we would probably have referred to as correspondence courses). My role feels like it is mostly one of a trouble shooter, a crowd controller, a facilitator. Students come to me with questions on accounting, law, spanish, earth science, entrepreneurship. It is a real pastiche or collage of various topics and situations.
I have been trying to find a way to bring some kind of unity or collectiveness to this classroom. It is a very fragmented and isolated kind of atmoshpere. The students come in and get to work (well, they should.), and there is very little in the way of connectedness or group interaction.
I guess I am feeling the same about us. Here we are, a group of friends who have been brought together through life and then scattered again across the country and the globe. How do we maintain a meaningful connection when it seems we are so far flung? I think this blog was an attempt at creating some kind of virtual community hall or cafe...trying to establish some place where we could 'meet' and connect, even if it is through font, ideas and nothing more.
Is it possible for a meaningful connection to exist when we are scattered by space, time, and our various busy lives? I really wonder if we are meant to maintain or try to maintain close connection with those who are on the other side of the country and world, when, to be honest, I have a hard time doing justice to the friendships I have here.
The students in the class I facilitate don't really seem to be interested in fostering any kind of formal community atmosphere. Sure, there is the normal ammount of chatting with a neighbor on occasion, but there seems to be a lack of interest in any kind of formalized classroom community. I wonder if they feel the same way as some of us may be feeling. They have their work cut out for them and little to no time or interest in investing in some kind of meaningful interaction with their peers. Perhaps their social calendar is already full... perhaps they feel no need for interacting with their classmates. There is a myriad of possible factors that would influence their reactions, but the fact remains that this kind of community environment cannot be forced or contrived. If it is, it will be a hollow shell with myself trying to keep the ball rolling or keep some semblence of community happening. It would be nothing but a facade. The students have to buy into it. If they don't, it is a waste of time and energy.
The same is true for us. As much as I may like the idea of this forum, there is no point in me attempting to maintain something that you are not interested in. The result would just be an empty shell.
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