Michael Posner writes:
‘Information via the Internet doubles every three months. More information has been produced in the past 30 years than in the previous 5,000. The Sunday New York Times contains more information than the average 18th century [artisan] acquired in a lifetime. We are adrift, trying to stay afloat in an endless ocean of constantly repeated facts, news, data, numbers, statistics, reports and surveys.’
-Arthur Boers, Living Into Focus, p. 85
And that was written in 1999!
I don’t know the accuracy of the information presented in the above quote, but I have no reason to doubt it. Is it any wonder that our intellectual lives are a mile wide and an inch deep?
In this context, we should all be Renaissance Men. Maybe we are. Maybe that’s the problem…Or maybe not.
The Puritan minister John Owen has been called a Renaissance Man. He could write hundreds of pages on the history of the doctrine of the Sabbath (I am reading them now), including the natural light given to us from the Greek philosophers, while serving as a pastor and teacher, working by candlelight, and suffering through the death of his (eleven) children. When he focused, he really focused. His learning was broad, but it was also very, very deep. His learning was downward and upward, not just lateral.
Needless to say, the above quote reminded me that I want to learn deeply, not just broadly.
I read an interesting article a while back about the fact that long novels will likely go the way of the Dodo Bird in the near future because of modern Western culture’s waning ability to pay attention. You can read it HERE. Such extinctions, and climate change, apparently, have more to do with than temperatures and fossil fuels. Our intellectual climate for deep attention is changing. Are there any protest marches or ‘occupy’ movements for that?
-Arthur Boers, Living Into Focus, p. 16 (emphasis added)
Leah comments:
I thought this was a great observation.
Today at work we had a down-time conversation about children. One of my co-workers just became a grandparent for the second time. He made the comment that two was enough. I began to ask probing questions at that point and found that his reasoning was basically that it is too expensive to have a bunch of children. I find that most people tend to reason that way nowadays.
This lead to me pontificating for a few minutes about the evils of our cultural system, which has become such that it wants us all to act like kids, but at the same time is not child-friendly. In generations gone by children were looked at as practical assets. In the Old Testament, for instance, male children were the greatest possible asset a family could have, because male children meant more hands to work in the farms and fields and to serve as protectors of the the family. Not so these days. We have built a culture in which children primarily exist to be served and and are not given the opportunity to serve.
Christians, seeking to live counter-culturally, and, more importantly, for the good of our children, must find ways to allow our children to serve. This may mean that we must allow them to make some messes with flour and eggs, and it may mean a few headaches for us, but it is vital that we allow them to serve. If we do not give them such opportunities, they will never be allowed to develop in their sanctification. Yes, kids need sanctification too. And a major part of our sanctification is learning to lovingly and joyfully serve others.
Ironically, no one ever serves others more willingly, lovingly, or joyfully, than when they are a child. My kids love to do things for me. It delights them. There’s just not a lot they can do from my perspective. But who cares about my perspective? Helping me scramble the eggs isn’t much from my perspective, but it’s huge from the perspective of a five-year-old. I need to serve my children by allowing them to serve. And these moments of service provide moments of familial intimacy, ‘the glue’ that binds families together in love and joy.
Did I mention that I can learn a lot about service from simply watching how joyfully my kids are willing to serve? Let’s remind our families that we are more than roommates with similar genetics.