I know I already posted this at the old site, but I'm posting it here as well as I continue to explore the new features and interface here, as well as to give you an opportunity to interact with it, as the comments on the old site cut out nearly as soon as the post went up.

I tip my hat to Jeff Patterson for posting this on his blog first. This short, five-minute clip talks about four major ways sound affects us. There is a lot of interesting and surprising information in the clip. I have little to add except this: consider what he says about sound, and then think about it in terms of worship. That was one of the first things that came to mind when I watched it. Enjoy.

There are very few things that I am jealous of, but Mike Rowe's voice is one of them. However, that's besides the point.

This talk he gave at the 2008 Entertainment Gathering addresses something that has largely been lost in our culture—the intrinsic value of work. He uses some very vivid imagery (you've been warned!) and colorful stories to make his point. Unfortunately, he misses a couple of key things, such as the fact that work has intrinsic value because it is both a creational norm (and part of the cultural mandate) and an act of worship. Also, our work is good and finds value insofar as it brings glory to God, and only secondarily from what it contributes to society or culture. Nonetheless, there's some food for thought here.

Thoughts?

There is a lot of great material out there on the TED.com website, and if you have some time to spare in order to fill your head with some big, important questions and to consider a lot of different issues relating to science, technology, and culture, then you ought to take a look at the site. I recently listened to this talk by Barry Schwartz, who is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA. Here he addresses one of the central tenants in Western culture and society—the notion of freedom of choice.

I think it is fair to say that most of us think freedom of choice is a good thing. But interestingly, Schwartz suggests that perhaps it is not and we need to think about the deeper implications of having the magnitude of options that we do. Ultimately, he argues, having the ability to choose almost anything does not make us happier or more satisfied, but instead causes despair and anxiety. Watch the video here and listen to what he has to say.

If you recall, a number of weeks ago I posted a list of suggestions for resisting the impacts of modernity, part of which, in essence, urged us to not yield to this plethora of choices and instead to limit ourselves in some ways. After listening to Schwartz and thinking about it some more, I am more persuaded that having less options is a better thing. You might recall what Henry Ford famously said when the Model T went into production: "You can have any color you want, so long as it is black." Ford thus limited the choices to his costumers, and the Model T went on to be one of the best-selling cars in history. This is certainly not the case today, however. While in the early 20th century Ford may have limited consumer choices on their vehicles, they do not do that today anymore. One television advertisement states that their F-series pickup trucks can be configured in almost three billion different ways. Our choices are seemingly endless. Admittedly, I have very little economic knowledge, but I do know that here again we are presented with a significant societal problem when we let economics drive everything. I think what Schwartz is suggesting here is that our free market is perhaps not so liberating after all.

Schwartz does not address it, and I am not sure if he has a faith commitment, but from my standpoint I would extend his discussion of this issue to the Church where, in relatively recent history, we have also seen the element of choice become so prevalent. We have more than thirty-thousand denominations throughout the world. Churches hold four services on a Sunday morning with four different flavors of worship so that each member can find a style they like. Our cars are the ticket to going to any church we want to within a reasonable distance if we are dissatisfied with another one. This level of choice can, on the one hand, overwhelm us in a number of different ways, and on the other hand, fosters a serious lack of committment to the local church.

Often I have wondered how things would be different if the churches I have been a part of operated in a manner similar to the Catholic parish system. That is, if you live within a certain geographical area, you attend the church within that parish. This, of course, is a limitation in choice, but has numerous benefits. For one, it saves you from what can often be a very difficult task of finding a church to attend. But secondly, it works very well to build the type of community that is supposed to exist within the body of Christ.

Listen to what Schwartz has to say and think about the issue for yourself. I am by no means stating anything definitively here, and would like to hear your thoughts on this.

I saw this video over at The Good City, a Fort Wayne, Indiana based blog about urban renewal and reclaiming our cities. If you have twenty minutes to spare, it's worth watching. It's a TED production, and the short description of this video reads:

In James Howard Kunstler’s view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about.

Disclaimer: There is some brief strong language in this video.

I live in the suburbs myself, and have for many years, so I can identify a lot with what he is saying. We have a long way to go to fix this problem. Of course, after reading some Wendell Berry, I'm also convinced of the need to balance our urban renewal with agrarian renewal, which he makes a brief mention of. But that's for another time.