Eclectic Amateur

Wendell Berry, on the importance of being current:

Contemporaneity, is the sense of being “up with the times,” is of no value. Wakefulness to experience — as well as to instruction and example — is another matter. But what we call the modern world is not necessarily, and not often, the real world, and there is no virtue in being up-to-date with it. It is a false world, based upon economies and values and desires that are fantastical — a world in which millions of people have lost any idea of the materials, the disciplines, the restraints, and the work necessary to support human life, and have thus become dangerous to their own lives and to the possibility of life. The job now is to get back to that perennial and substantial world in which we really do live, in which the foundations of our life will again be visible to us, and in which we can accept our responsibilities again within the conditions of necessity and mystery. In that world all wakeful and responsible people, dead, living, and unborn, are contemporaries. And that is the only contemporaneity worth having.

— Wendell Berry, Standing By Words, (p. 13)

I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
-- G. K. Chesteron, The Ballad of the White Horse


God have mercy.

LORD, how long?

From Jacksonville, Florida:

Episcopalian sects seek new bishop

Convinced their salvation is at stake, six of the most conservative Episcopal congregations in North Florida, plus one that is being formed, have asked Bishop John Howard to help find another bishop to lead them.

The move is meant as a way for the congregations to further distance themselves from their denomination. They believe the Episcopal Church USA is increasingly moving toward approving same-sex unions and ordaining active homosexuals.

In other news, it is reported that some conservatives believe that objects dropped from tall buildings start increasingly moving toward the ground.

Is there anybody out there, on any side of the current “dialogue,” who doesn’t believe that ECUSA has already moved and is running full speed toward approving same-sex unions? And ordination of active homosexuals is old news.

The Florida group is part of a growing number of churches and individuals across the nation seeking to use the new protocol set forth in the Windsor Report and by the primates, said the Rev. Bill Swatos, an Episcopal priest in Illinois and executive officer for the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the Religious Research Association.

A group of six congregations in Connecticut made a similar request of their bishop last spring, Swatos said.

“And I know of other situations where individual clergy and congregations … have asked for alternative oversight,” Swatos said. “In some cases they have received it, in others they have not.”

According to Lebhar and McCaslin, Howard has several options. He can grant the request, simply ignore it or even take punitive measures against the congregations involved.

I’ve yet to be clear on how taking punitive measures against such clergy and parishes counts as “tolerance,” “celebrating our differences,” or “remaining in dialogue,” but I guess I just don’t have enough theological education to be that “nuanced.”

Whatever happens, for these parishes and others nationwide the theological situation is getting worse, not better, making the need for them to leave ever more important.

Conservatives were appalled recently when the Episcopal Church issued a report suggesting Robinson’s election reveals that same-sex unions are a manifestation of God’s love.

“Might Christ the Lord, unfolding the mystery of his redeeming work, be opening our eyes to behold a dimension of his work that we had not understood?” the report said.

The document proves the denomination is moving further away from its biblical and Anglican roots, said the Rev. Sam Pascoe of Grace Church in Orange Park.

“They not only think they didn’t make a mistake, they feel like what they did was prophetic,” Pascoe said.

Even so, Lebhar said seeking alternative oversight gives the congregations little joy and was a tough decision to make.

“The major emotion is sadness that we have to even consider such a process as this,” Lebhar said.

Amen.

My source for this story points out that Grace Church, Orange Park is historically the 3rd-largest giving parish in this diocese, which means that whatever happens, espect the Diocese of North Florida to show up on ECUSA Dollars sometime soon.

Ah, noteriety!

I got to spend a few days basking in this impressive accomplishment:

“You mean, you got a lawyer to call you evil? Wow …”

Yes! Not just “evil”, but “profoundly, deeply evil“.

How did I achieve this state of “metaphysical perfidy”? Why, by simply letting Dale know that the final preview chapter of The Protector’s War was up on the website.

The metaphysical part comes with managing to do it on his birthday. 🙂

However, glory is but fleeting. I find myself entirely outdone and outclassed by this final comment:

Of course, as soon as THE PROTECTOR’S WAR is out, I’ll be putting up sample chapters from A MEETING AT CORVALLIS, the last in the trilogy… 8-).
— S.M. Stirling

Instead of writing here, I seem to be leaving comments strewn about on other people’s blogs:

At Jeff Culbreath’s, Distributists, Agrarians, and Biophysicists

At Dawn Eden‘s regarding Rod Dreher

Wrangling with Todd at Dale’s regarding the merits of Sing a New Church

So, Linux, Distributism, and the connection between them, Rod Dreher and the clerical sex abuse scandals, and liturgical music. More reasons why this place is called “Eclectic Amateur” …

Mr. Franklin Jennings, noting my admiration for the Curley’s pantry and my desire to build my own bookcases, has graciously offered his advice:

If you have a drill, and a steady hand, adjustable shelves are the way to go.

Cut two sides from 12″x1″ pine or other wood of your choice. Place a 1″x1″ cleat at the bottom of each, flush. Place same cleats at top, inset from the top by the actual width of your 12″x1″ (about 3/4″, but measure your wood to be certain.

Drill two series of holes down each side piece, to accommodate dowels which will support shelves.

Assemble top and bottom to sides. Attach 1/4″ plywood to back, which greatly stabilizes the box. Cut shelves and install with the dowels.

You’re a smart guy. Examine an adjustable bookshelf at Wally-world and you’ll see exactly what I am describing.

Good luck to you!

Thank you!

What’s funny (and kind of sad) is that I am quite familiar with the Wally-world adjustable bookshelves, through long association with Sauder furniture (as both a customer and as a former employee).

The points that have been stumping me have been (a) how to do the corner joinery simply? and (b) is a fixed shelf in the middle necessary for stiffness? All of the units I’ve seen have at least one fixed shelf. But, they use 1/8″ or thinner paperboard for the shelf backing, not 1/4″ plywood as you recommend. So, the plywood adds sufficient stiffness to make a fixed shelf unneccessary?

Not to mention the twin devils of (a) time! and (b) my practical skill levels being more like Maclin Horton’s than Will Hutton’s.

[Hat Tip: Clayton Cramer]

Current scientific research is showing that first-person shooter games do generate specific alterations of the brain’s activity:

“This is not just a game,” German scientist Klaus Mathiak concludes in a new study of the brains of video game players.

The University of Tubingen neuroscientist analysed the brains of men aged 18 to 26 who are avid players of “first-person shooter” games. These are the most popular game category for young men: The players assumes the role of a character in a violent world, seeing his surroundings through that character’s eyes, and blasting away at all the bad guys who try to kill him.
…

As each player entered a dangerous parts of the game, his brain “lit up” with activity in a brain area associated with aggression, called the dorsal portion of the anterior cingulate cortex.

This high level of activity shows the players has a feeling of reality and “being there,” says a summary of the research by the University of Southern California, which worked with the German team.

But as the fighting actually began, there was a drop in activity in another part of the brain — the amygdala.

This is an emotion centre, where a person feels empathy with others, among other things.

Mr. Mathiak’s conclusion: It’s possible that reinforcing the circuits the brain uses to respond to a crisis with aggression, even violence, may prime the brain to act the same way in real life. [emphasis mine] After all, to the brain the video game itself seems to be real.

As well, the brain becomes accustomed to switching off — or at least dulling — feelings of empathy for others.

Past studies of young men who love these games have found higher levels of aggression, but haven’t come up with a direct cause-and-effect explanation for it.

I wrote about this on Slashdot back in 1999:

I suppose it’s too much to ask Jon Katz and the /. readership to actually consider the idea that Doom, Quake, etc. might in reality desensitize people to violence and gore, and be dangerous to the psyche of folks who are already too close to the edge?

Boneheaded, fascistic responses by school administrators (probably lawyer-driven) do not exonorate anything. It’s not an either-or, zero-sum equation — it’s quite possible that school is hell, administrators are fascists and Doom and Quake help set those kids at Columbine off.

I fully expect to hear “But I play Quake, and so to my friends, and we’re OK.” That may be true. But that makes about as much sense as arguing that alcoholism must not exist because you yourself are a moderate drinker.

Oh, well. Better to moan about clueless parents and administrators, get a thrill from reliving one’s own high-school angst, and feel noble by validating the the angst of current high-schoolers, than to actually reflect on one’s own life to see if anything should change on acount of this tragedy.

Do I want to see Internet censorship and banning of shooter games? No. But exactly what to you Doom/Quake players think you’re accomplishing by burning in those particular neural pathways?

File under “science gets around to confirming common sense.”

God have mercy.

From Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationshiop with God by Dallas Willard (p. 106-107):

Bear with me, readers (both of you!), this is going to be a work in progress …

“Why I can’t be Episcopalian” — posted by Fr. Al Kimel as written by an anonymous Episcopalian. An excellent summary of what (a) many of us thought the ECUSA was, and (b) what it appears to in fact be today.

More later, hopefully, as I organize…

Dale has tagged me with the Book Meme, so here goes …

1. Total number of books I’ve owned.

I have said before that my Dances With Wolves name should be “Reads Too Much.”

2. Last book I bought.

Due to space and time limits, I’ve learned to make good use of the library, so my bookbuying is well off the pace that it was at B(efore) C(hildren).

3. Last book I read.

Why yes, there was a reason I named this blog Eclectic Amateur …

4. Five books that mean a lot to me.

Aside from the Bible, which gets to be at the top in a category of its own, here are some that come to mind:

1. The Lord of the Rings. Read umpteen times in sixth grade and then some after that. It’s still one of my regrets that I haven’t learned to write in tengwar.
2. The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis. Heck, everything by C. S. Lewis.
3. By What Authority? An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition by Mark Shea. Sorry, Mark — I don’t rate you quite up there with Professors Tolkien and Lewis. But, this little book was very helpful to me in articulating my view on sola scriptura, which of course has had other ripple effects …
4. The Imitation of Christ. I would be a much better person if I reread this more often.
5. The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry.
6. Anything by G. K. Chesterton.

OK, so that’s more than five. 🙂

5. Next!

Hey Bubbles, you there?