I'm a day dreamer. Always have been. Give young Andrew a stick and it became a sword which cut to pieces those soldiers (nettles) that stood against him. Before there was Mortal Kombat, there was Andrew with a stick and nettles. So this is not a rant against virtual reality or augmented reality which really are just electronic daydreaming. But this is a challenge that we would not loss touch of true reality. Of what's really real.
I want to use The Truman Show movie to think about these things. I realise this is an old movie but given the age profile of Facebook users, you're likely to know it (which is a round about way of saying-you're probably old).
Truman Fairbanks lived what appeared to be an ordinary middle class American life-He had an office job, wife, friends. Until in the midst of his ordinary routines a studio camera fell from the sky. This was one of a number of clues that caused him to realise that the assumptions he'd believed all his life were lies. He didn't arrive at that conclusion immediately, it took time. You can't expect long held cherished beliefs to be discarded so quickly. When your life is built upon certain beliefs they become embedded into every part of your being. They become the lens through which you see the world and think about yourself.
It would take Truman most of the movie before he fully realised that his life was a reality show (The Truman Show) and he was the only true man. The rest were actors playing the extras that made up his story. His life was a lie.
We too live under certain assumptions. They form the story we inhabit.
But what if these assumptions are wrong? What if the lens through which we understand our world isn't the right one. What if we're not seeing the world as it really is? Could it be that we like Truman are happily believing a story that isn't true.
So what's your story? How do you see the world? Is it purely natural or is it supernatural?
You hear a creak in the night-what's your first thoughts?
a. Ghosts
b. Pipes
Two bad things happen to you- what's your first thought?
a. Bad stuff happens in threes, there must be one more
b. Bad stuff happens, what do I need to do to stop this happening again
Which are you most likely to say?
a. Touch wood, hello Mr magpie, get those shoes off the table.
b. I don't belief that nonsense, Old wives tale, what you see is all there is.
If you mostly choose a., the big story you live under is that there is more to this world than can be seen and the unseen impacts our lives. In this story, we carry good luck charms, touch wood and count our misfortunes in threes. We believe we can do stuff that will keep chaotic evil forces away from us and encourage good luck towards us.
If you mostly choose b., you see the world as purely natural. What we see must have come about by chance because there's nothing or nobody above us. We are the ones that create the world as we see best. Authority rests with us in this life and don’t worry- there is no life after death.
In Dromara (and I'm sure elsewhere) we dip in and out of these two worlds. But neither a or b is sufficient to explain reality.
A Reality Check.
You know what a medical check-up is. The doctor/nurse ask you questions that help them work out how healthy you are. In next week's blog we will have a reality check. Ten questions that help us see 'studio camera falling from the sky' clues that point to true realty.
Not all the questions/clues will have the same impact on you but one or two will (I hope) become stones in your shoe. And maybe even when taken together they will form part of a road that will lead you to the Big Story that is beautiful, true and satisfying. True Reality.
Now, where's my trusted sword, I have a growing army of enemy soldiers to mow down.
(These next few posts are a reworking of a talk I did in Cafe Hope. Cafe Hope is a fortnightly informal event that 2nd Dromara Presbyterian church runs in the Connect Hall on Sunday evenings)