Dreaming Different Futures

I read too much science fiction as a child - well - to be honest, Sci-Fi is still my staple.

And for the most part, the "type" of science fiction that I gravitate towards is the imaginative dystopian hard science stuff where authors are dreaming of a future state of being and how that affects us.

So, for example, Robert Heinlein was one of my mentors in the field and he talked about everything from religion to race, sex and politics in his groundbreaking work like Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.

Or think about Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game.

These works were meant to criticise the way we do things, the way we are, and to subtly point to other possibilities.

Like what if the marriage idea was wrong and we should be polyamorous? What if men were, in fact, inferior to women? What if militarism was left unchecked?

But I digress from what I was going to write about - which was just a quick sketch of a dream I just came up with for moving forward with society after the pandemic.

(by the way - this is by far the perfect science fiction story - and in fact, has been written a few times check our Steven King's the Stand or Margaret Atwood's MadAdam series)

So - here is my science fiction suggestion for moving forward.

First and foremost - every household, everywhere, every class and country - needs free high-speed internet, probably from Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites. We also all need free state of the art computer systems and "smart" enabled devices.

These should no longer be for-profit creations - well, in a perfect world nothing should - but I am willing to start there.

This is step one - and you are not going to immediately agree with me on step two - but suspend your disbelief for a second.

Step two is that we sell off every school, every police station, every doctor's office, every church, every psychiatric clinic, every public health clinic, etc. Especially those that are government-funded or require tax breaks.

Step three is that we build campus organizations where all of these professionals work, together, along with high tech infrastructure and broadcasting studios.

NOW

Here is the thing, we start having multidisciplinary teams producing educational and creative resources that educate children, teach holistic health, manage conflict, embrace spirituality, and provide - through the internet - all the resources necessary to create "health" in the population.

Yes, we would still need hospitals, and teams that could be dispatched to deal with crime or emergent situations.

But in reality, we would be approaching the human situation from a whole different perspective while at the same time cutting an incredible amount of cost. Each of these campuses would create content that is regional, that honours every culture and race and sexuality and background - but at the same time does not have to reinvent the wheel as they would all be networked as well.

We would instantly level up humanity worldwide.

The reason we do not do this is that we are stuck in archaic patterns of professional services that are stuck in outdated thought patterns and traditions.

And I would argue that this is because of racism and elitism, classism and sexism - all of those isms.

Otherwise, we would have been working together on all this stuff long ago.

Why do we have two dental clinics in the same small town, one of which offers better care for higher prices and one of which offers to take anyone?

Why do we have food banks, churches, and social workers all doing the work while not communicating with each other?

Because we believe some people deserve better care. It is as plain, as simple, and as horrible as that.

Oh, and it also has to do with turning a profit. That is why I am fed up with capitalism and our current economic lie of trickle-down wealth.

So my solution might not be the best, and it might not be feasible, I am not a city planner or a sociologist.

But here is the thing. Even I in my little corner of the world can come up with a better solution than how we currently do it. I am willing to bet there are hundreds, if not millions of solutions that would make the world a better, and safer place - that would allow us to accomplish more with less, and that would keep us safe.

We do not implement them because they do not make anyone rich.

So here is my idea. Close the schools and make teaching an online resource. But while we are at it. Close the rest and force us to work together. I am 99% certain that it would only make the world worse for the 1%.

Face(book)ing Depression

Everyone has their triggers. Everyone has something that annoys them.

It has been a year now since the Journal of Social and Clinical  Psychology published a study saying that Facebook leads to depression. Other studies have come to a similar conclusion and it may not be limited to Facebook as a platform.

In my way of seeing it, there could be many reasons for this link. First off social media presents a lot of the world in an easily digestible form. Therefore I end up knowing and hearing all too often that the polar ice is melting, whale carcasses are washing up, mass murder is going on, death, destruction etc... All of the things that would normally depress us are amplified. Then there is the whole comparative factor where I get to see my contemporaries who are enjoying their hot tubs and SeaDoos while I am trying to decide if I can afford to get a coffee at Tim's this morning.

Last but not least there is the way that it somehow makes us lose our faith in humanity. I blame this mostly on the comments section. It is as if we gave all the crazies who used to write letters to the editor (and get weeded out) free reign to instantly publish their diatribe to an audience of millions. Thus anti-vaxxers and climate emergency deniers, evolution protesters and, well, mean people, seem to be getting a louder and louder voice. 

I have my own problem that combines the two of these things. Triggers, depression, and "fake news."

It all started when I went to seminary yet continued my unabashed love of storytelling and movies. I watched a lot of movies. There are religious people in a lot of movies. They are by and large Catholics. I remember saying to anyone and everyone who listened that this was a pretty one-sided view of the church and clergy.

Then the Millenium brought to the forefront the wackadoodles, which is the official term, who thought that the world was ending.

But now... Now... I cannot turn to Facebook and scroll without seeing religion portrayed as some abomination. Whether it is people talking about Trump and therefore the conservative right-wing church in the states, or anti LGBQT+ propaganda, or, well, anything.

We have created a world where the wackadoodles get top billing and the moderates or liberals are left shaking their heads.

The thing is, I am depressed because this is becoming the way most people understand the church. Understand me. And I more than ever think we need the opposite.

I know I am over-educated, I know I am liberal and left-wing, but seriously... how can anyone believe some of the rhetoric of these people who have stolen Christianity and made it so narrow and hateful?

Jesus and his followers were exactly like me. left-wing, lovey-dovey, radical protestors who talked about the hippy ideals of love, peace, and understanding. That is not an opinion, that is not a guess, it is historically and accurately portrayed in every facet of not only the Bible but of Roman history. That is why he was killed, as a traitor to the Roman government, for inciting rebellion, in the name of peaceful civil protest for equality.

It is just not really debatable. "Love everyone," said Jesus... and no matter what anyone else said - "you don't mean Romans? Slaves? Blacks? Jews? Samaritans? Cops? Politicians? Sick People? Poor People?" Jesus said, "Did I stutter? EVERYONE!"

But I turn to Facebook and there is a priest supporting Donald Trump. There is a pastor saying gays are going to burn in hell. There is a sociologist blaming the church for racist political agendas.

And I have been forced into the place of an apologist (for those who do not study church history - I mean that academically as the type of Christian writer who writes about the faith for non-believers in order to point out that it is actually a pretty cool thing).

And it is hard. It is what made me take a break from ministry for a while. It is what keeps me up at night. I don't want to be associated with the wackadoodles. But they seem to be multiplying.

Even in the progressive and left-wing United Church of Canada we are becoming more and more conservative and literalist. Both of which are SO not Jesus like that I cannot believe people are not seeing it.

I don't know. Maybe the psychiatrists are right and the only thing I can do is abandon social media.

But then again - someone has to keep trying to present the other side. 

Musings On Critical Thoughts

I have a friend who grew up in a somewhat harsh religious environment. It became a defining moment for him when the minister continuously called out people for thinking too much.

Education was just a way, after all, of putting your trust in the "man" and in the world - rather than in God. So we are talking no university, cursory public education, and certainly no questioning of the biblically inerrant truths.

Now - my first reaction to hearing stories like this is always to be shocked. My second reaction is, admittedly, sort of snobbishly belittling the folks who do not have 12 years of University education like I do and certainly know far less about the world then I do.

But later, when I am putting my ego and elitism to rest and letting go of my own raft of insecurities, I react differently.

There is some truth here. 

The overwhelming plethora of knowledge that has come to haunt us has moved us away from the mystery. And it is not always a good thing. We seek answers in order to seek control. Control of the weather, control of the knowledge, control of the building blocks of life itself.

And perhaps I would never stand in a pulpit and say that rocket ships invading the space of heaven are angering the old man in the clouds. Nor would I say that cloning is usurping the power of God and we are headed for a Babelesque fall...

But the idea that I can explain everything because I am smart, does not serve me very well.

Religiously it serves me even worse. Instead of asking what the story of the flood was all about, I can claim that it is a myth, present in all world religions and cultures, that speaks to cultural insecurities. Instead of seeing Jesus as somehow so special I should actually pay attention to him I can tell you through critical analysis that most of the words attributed to him in the Bible are made up - and the stories - the miracles - pfffft. Wishful thinking of later followers looking back.

But does that knowledge serve to deepen my faith, or weaken it?

Let me throw something at you from left field to show what I mean. If any of you have ever gone to Disney World as a child, and then again as an adult, you will realize that there is a WORLD of difference. When I was nine, I actually flew over London with Peter Pan. When I was forty I was able to say, this is really cool how they create this effect like we are flying! I dove 20,000 leagues under the sea at one point, in later life to realize the submarine never even went under the water.

How about Christmas, Easter, Losing my teeth? Are those things better or worse with more knowledge?

Do you remember when a tree fort was an actual fort in the middle of the wild west, or you really were looking for buried pirate treasure in your backyard?

The dissolution of childlike wonder and innocence are the greatest loss possible for a human being.

But... And this is a real problem... I know better.

I see how the Bible was written, edited, redacted, changed. I have personally translated books from Hebrew to English and know how each translation requires making things up and choices. The curtain has been pulled back on most of the world - from Disney through to movies, right down to McDonald's. And I do not think I am the worse for knowing the machinery that makes the magic happen.

What I have to do is a psychological process called willful suspension of disbelief.

In other words - in order to enjoy Christmas I have to somehow will myself to believe that Santa exists. In order to enjoy Disney World I have to willfully believe that I have traveled to another realm - be it the jungles of Africa or outer space. In order to engage - I must disengage some critical thought.

I am a progressive, over-educated, liberal Christian. I do not rationally believe in miracles or divine beings.

But some of the time - some of the time I do.

What is it that Shakespeare once put in the words of Hamlet?

"There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

And so I think we often get lost on the wrong things. It does not matter whether Adam and Eve are real, the flood happened, or even if Jesus came back from the dead. In my mind it is probably bunk. But what matters is how I feel when I let myself believe.

When I do that - I see the world as full of miracles - and I beleive in everyone around me.