“Always Do, rather than Not-Do”
My friend has a philosophy: Always Do, rather than Not-Do. “You remember the things you do,” he explains, “but it’s not like you look back and reminisce all those nights sitting on a couch.”
Wednesday night was cold and rainy, but we made it to a free gig at Folk Club at Oxford Arts Factory. We did rather than didn’t-do. And I’m so glad… it was a memorable night. The music was magic.
Jack Carty was the first of the line up and in my opinion, while the other two artists – Wes Carr and The Falls – were great, Jack’s offered something else. His lyrics, energy and integrity… words cannot describe. There were two moments where I heard myself think “this is what it means to be human.”
There was a sense of authenticity, open and real and might I say spiritual, about Jack. He’d got in touch with a part of what (as cliche as it sounds) being alive, being human, is all about. I’ve had his CDs on repeat ever since.
If you get a chance to check out Jack live, then DO.
Ditto for other decisions and options in your life. It’s a simple philosophy: “always do, rather than not-do” — you never know what will come out of it..
Biblically Redefining Success in a Culture of Consumption
Christian | Amazon
John 15:9-17
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.”
What defines success? Success is a term that is always undergoing change and it is not unusual for different people to define success in different ways. For most, success has been centered on some form of viability. For my father’s generation, viability was defined as the ability to provide for one’s family, become a home owner, and have a retirement that would provide sustenance for the golden years of life; consumption was not the goal, the goal was production. Today there has been a significant paradigm shift in defining viability. Viability today is more about consumption than about production. This was best seen after the incidents of 9/11 when we were charged to go out and buy so that terror would not reign. This emphasis on consumption has a great impact on how we as a nation view many realities of life, work, family, and religious practices. The value of consumption has the tendency to make most everything a commodity. As a result, many times we find ourselves lacking due to an overrun of consumption without the necessary production. Consider how much work is being leveraged to overseas markets. Many times the answer as to why this occurs is very simple: it is too expensive to have Americans complete these types of jobs. The reason this is true is due to the fact that we are consumption based. In order to consume what Americans consume then production must be at a certain level and to maintain this production. This requires a large amount of labor expense. Overseas this labor expense allows prices to remain low enough for the rate of consumption that Americans feel is “American.” To be clear, I am not offering a critique, necessarily, of this phenomenon; I am simply relating the reality of our present as compared to the reality of our past.
Coupled with this right of viability and consumption is a certain unalienable right of sustainability. In the baby boomer generation, there was a sense that sustainability was due to creating a financial portfolio that, over time, would grow and create a sustainable income for the years that a person, most often a male, could no longer work, or in some cases chose not to work any more. This sense of sustainability was a part of the fabric of how those who produced would continue to produce in their golden years. Today the conception of this present generation is radically shifting to a vastly different paradigm. Clearly, the belief now is that we will eventually arrive at a place where we are in need of being cared for; our sustainability is no longer a responsibility of the producer, but a right of the consumer. The question is no longer, “What will I do so that I remain productive in my golden year of retirement?” The new paradigm asks, “What will you (government/society) do to guarantee my continued ability to consume?” Here is where the great shift from production to consumption can be easily seen and has already had serious ramifications for our country. The current economic crisis is all about a right of consumption; buying houses in a margin that is unreasonable; credit card and other revolving debt that is spiraling out of control; and a lack of budgeting and spending beyond the means of production. All of it is a part of the framework that defines the right of consumption. Unfortunately, many consumers do not fully grasp the reality that consumption without production threatens not only sustainability but ultimately viability as well. The sustainability of consumption comes through buying at “bargain prices” all of the things that we don’t need, therefore allowing us to consume a little bit longer without solving the problem of the lack of discipline in spending without producing.
This is an except for T M Stafford’s Book – What RU Thinking? Foundations of the Christian Mind available at Amazon.com or on the RU Institute Website – http://www.ruinstitute.com