Of Chocolate Eggs and Jesus, Redux

I've been thinking about blogging more lately, and Sarah reminded me of this post I wrote a couple years ago that's seasonally relevant. I thought I'd kick off some blogging by reposting this entry!

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"There is a stage in a child's life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began 'Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.' This seems to me, for his age, both admirable poetry and admirable piety. But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual from the ritual and festal aspect of Easter; chocolate eggs will no longer seem sacramental. And once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more than any other sweetmeat. They will have taken on an independent, and therefore a soon withering, life." – C.S. Lewis

Ah, more wisdom from Clive. The type of sentimentality and expectancy Lewis describes is probably more often associated with Christmas in this modern day and age, though the lesson is just as potent for Easter.

Children don't think in abstract terms, so to the boy, the thing (chocolate) and the sign (Easter) appear to be one and the same. But the thing is ephemeral, and is consumed – while the sign survives the thing in which it was once incarnate. The boy, then, remembers Easter even when the egg is gone, and is thus faced with the choice that Lewis presents.
How then, does the boy "get back" to the time when the chocolate was both delicious and significant? Does he focus on eating more chocolate, in the hopes that the feeling will somehow return? Or does he look elsewhere for the spiritual nature that made the egg significant in the first place?

What we often mistake as a desire to "consume more eggs" is really a desire to find the divine that makes the eggs significant in the first place. One commentary on this passage uses Communion – eating the bread and drinking the wine – as a metaphor.

"If [a] person puts the spiritual first and desires to have the benefits of the death of Christ sealed to his life, he can still use the sacrament to experience this. If [he] puts the sacrament, the physical ritual of eating and drinking, first in his life, he may become a very religious person, but he will have missed the higher reality to which the sacrament is pointing." - Will Vaus, Mere Theology

I'm fully aware that this post is a bit "out there" and highly theoretical – but the main point is that we seek an understanding of the spiritual that makes our rituals significant, as opposed to engaging in rituals because we recognize that they once held some sacred meaning. Chasing the "thing," as Lewis describes, will make the eggs no longer feel sacramental.

So this Easter, I hope you have many chocolate eggs to enjoy – and I hope that they are full of the meaning and significance of Christ's death and resurrection.

Moving forward by standing still

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."
- FDR

I've been doing a lot of critical thinking about commercials lately. It's funny how ridiculous they become if you stop to think about the premise they're presenting – whether it's gifting unexpected Lexuxes (Lexi?) to a family member, eight-year-olds demanding their parents buy a "cool" car, or relying on the Internet to fix all your problems.

I've paid special attention to two new ad campaigns from Microsoft: one advertising the ways the internet "cloud" improves our lives, families, pictures, and experiences, the other preaching the need for a "phone to save us from our phones."

Here's a commercial from the latter campaign.



The premise, which is unfortunately quite close to the truth: we live in a world where people are so attached to their technology that they seldom look up to interact with their environment. We're so distracted by our music, texts, news, or tweets that we wreck our bicycles, run into things, spill our coffee, and generally miss out on our surroundings.

And here's the ridiculous peddle from Microsoft: what you need to make it better is another, newer, faster phone. You'll free yourself from technology by purchasing more technology.

When you stop to think about it, it's absurd, isn't it? Of course buying a new phone isn't going to help you get off your phone. But we're so busy trying to move forward that we buy it -- we buy the premise, and we buy the phone. And maybe at first it does help, but in the longrun, it just leads to being even more attached to our phones. After all, we just need to keep moving forward, right?

It's a common way to deal with our problems, especially in America, and especially today. There's an idea that progress and technology will save us from ourselves -- that we just need to keep moving forward. Gas getting too expensive? Or running out? That's okay, by the time that happens, we'll have some other technology to fix things.

Now, there's nothing wrong with technology, smartphones, or progress, in and of themselves. I'm simply suggesting that sometimes we need to stand still to really assess where we are and where we're going -- and if we do, we might discover that sometimes the best way to go forward is by going back.

So here's the challenge: stand still. Think critically. Discover the premise behind what you're being sold. Get off your phone and enjoy your surroundings -- not by buying another, newer phone, but by simply taking time to appreciate what's around you. Take out your headphones. Talk to a stranger.

On another note, I think I'm going to try to do a brief series on commercials and the truths they're trying to present. I hope to blog about this again soon.

"If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Running

Now that I'm getting settled in a new place and establishing a bit of a weekly routine, I've started to get into the groove with running again. I took Gabe with me for the first time today and he did pretty well (he just needs to learn not to make any sharp turns across me when we're running!).

Here's the running playlist for November:

1. Muse - Starlight
I am a huge fan of just about everything Muse does.

2. The Go! Team - The Power is On
I don't know much about this group, but I love this song.

3. Bob Dylan - Forever Young
An updated version of the song that was originally heard on Pepsi commercials during the Super Bowl a couple years ago. 

4. Bob Marley - Three Birds
Every little thing... is gonna be alright. 

5. Daft Punk - Da Funk
Awesome, driving instrumentals. 

6. Muse - Uprising
Another Muse hit about 1984's Winston and Julia. Makes me feel like I'm running from the thought police.

7. Ke$ha - Tik Tok
Okay, okay... guilty pleasure. But it's a really funny song and the beat is great.

8. matchbox twenty - Bright Lights
Baby, baby, baby....

9. Phoenix - 1901 (live)
 When this song kicks in I always start to run a little faster.

10. MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)
The original version of this song was on my playlist for the last half marathon I ran -- but this remix is so much better.

11. The All-American Rejects - Move Along
Probably my second favorite running song, behind Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now."