Heidi- I don't find it easy to achieve a balanced way through the radical imbalances of our times. It all seems so permanently out-of-whack. And that same dislocation provides us with pretty much our entire lives. The providence of Mammon is not so easily denied. So, I fully understand what you are saying. In talking about Wild Christian…
I don't find it easy to achieve a balanced way through the radical imbalances of our times. It all seems so permanently out-of-whack. And that same dislocation provides us with pretty much our entire lives. The providence of Mammon is not so easily denied. So, I fully understand what you are saying.
In talking about Wild Christianity--which is as of yet a largely undefined term--it is easy to get caught up in preconceptions. But because the notion is so open I think it can be a way to start to reign in the fantasies and see what can actually be built. And the way I see is that it hardly has to be perfect, all-or-nothing, or free from contradiction. It can be a hybrid work in progress. Maybe little else than that. Like many--like yourself--I feel the urge to help build a different way.
It could be an escape. But when I think about how I've lived over the course of my life it has been living in the world that is an escape from reality.
It has become so normal to think that something as meaningful as music must necessarily be, like everything, turned into a product. I have long missed simply making music for the sheer animal/angelic joy of doing so, like a songbird or a howling wolf. I get to do that here a bit, and also watch how my mind/ego judges it and wants to be "better". I have still have a lot of deconditioning yet to do.
What would the song of cheesemaking sound like? Or of gardening? Or walking alone in the wilderness? With only God and the angels as our audience. Maybe that's all too dreamy and vague, but it sounds more compelling to me right from the get-go than 99% of the gigs I've ever played.
I'm rambling. But maybe it isn't too fanciful to think we can help even a little by singing a different world into being. I think to do so I must first be transformed. It is well worth the effort to find out.
Anyway, forgive my conjecturing-- it is good to hear from you. Any plans to head back this way any time soon?
Jack, thanks for your thoughtful reply. I like the thought of "singing a different world into being."
I also like the idea of Wild Christianity not having to be "perfect, all or nothing, or free from contradiction." I feel like my current life is not lived in reality. I live in a frenzy, disconnected from myself, from others, from God. The immediate solution to my tortured soul is to quit everything and run to the hills. Only to find that I still have to live with my internal mess in the hills. Better to take one step at a time.
I met with the urban farmer this past Thursday. I will start the apprenticeship in two weeks. Gardening, goats, chickens, and bees. I only have one morning a week to give until my semester ends, but I'm looking forward to starting.
I have thought about a visit soon. My schedule is such that I don't have a lot of space to make the journey. Maybe mid-May when school is finished.
Heidi-
I don't find it easy to achieve a balanced way through the radical imbalances of our times. It all seems so permanently out-of-whack. And that same dislocation provides us with pretty much our entire lives. The providence of Mammon is not so easily denied. So, I fully understand what you are saying.
In talking about Wild Christianity--which is as of yet a largely undefined term--it is easy to get caught up in preconceptions. But because the notion is so open I think it can be a way to start to reign in the fantasies and see what can actually be built. And the way I see is that it hardly has to be perfect, all-or-nothing, or free from contradiction. It can be a hybrid work in progress. Maybe little else than that. Like many--like yourself--I feel the urge to help build a different way.
It could be an escape. But when I think about how I've lived over the course of my life it has been living in the world that is an escape from reality.
It has become so normal to think that something as meaningful as music must necessarily be, like everything, turned into a product. I have long missed simply making music for the sheer animal/angelic joy of doing so, like a songbird or a howling wolf. I get to do that here a bit, and also watch how my mind/ego judges it and wants to be "better". I have still have a lot of deconditioning yet to do.
What would the song of cheesemaking sound like? Or of gardening? Or walking alone in the wilderness? With only God and the angels as our audience. Maybe that's all too dreamy and vague, but it sounds more compelling to me right from the get-go than 99% of the gigs I've ever played.
I'm rambling. But maybe it isn't too fanciful to think we can help even a little by singing a different world into being. I think to do so I must first be transformed. It is well worth the effort to find out.
Anyway, forgive my conjecturing-- it is good to hear from you. Any plans to head back this way any time soon?
I hope all is well. -Jack
Jack, thanks for your thoughtful reply. I like the thought of "singing a different world into being."
I also like the idea of Wild Christianity not having to be "perfect, all or nothing, or free from contradiction." I feel like my current life is not lived in reality. I live in a frenzy, disconnected from myself, from others, from God. The immediate solution to my tortured soul is to quit everything and run to the hills. Only to find that I still have to live with my internal mess in the hills. Better to take one step at a time.
I met with the urban farmer this past Thursday. I will start the apprenticeship in two weeks. Gardening, goats, chickens, and bees. I only have one morning a week to give until my semester ends, but I'm looking forward to starting.
I have thought about a visit soon. My schedule is such that I don't have a lot of space to make the journey. Maybe mid-May when school is finished.