The Heart Grows

In a previous post, I brought up the concept of art being visionary. What can we do as people? What should we do? What should we not do? When should we say "just because we can doesn't mean we should?" I know that is from Jurassic Park but it is applicable. Art should show the terrible or beautiful scene of what would happen if we continue along a certain political, scientific, sociological, or belief path. Art can encourage and discourage and the what ifs are important to see and hear.  The artist should play the part of a PROPHET or SEER. The artist should be a futurist. We can see where people can be, we can speak hope into lives, we can see where things are now and the potential of the good that can become. We, the artists, can portray that good. If people don't have a vision of what they are trying to reach, then they die. They either give up and become complacent or they make an island full of dinosaurs that will only end badly.  Tell the story, paint the pictur...

Why is the past important? This is the question at the core of any advocacy or integrity argument. The response is nuanced and varied. So as an archaeologist I do fancy myself a storyteller. Context. Something we value in excavation. What is the context of a fact? You find one pottery sherd and it is like one brush stroke in a greater painting or one word in a larger story.What is the whole story? What is the context of the artifact, the context of the data collected, or the context in the stratigrahy of a multi-layered site.  Context. What is the context in the greater story of humanity? I do not live in a vaccum. There are people that have been here before me and people that will come along after me. Learning and discovering and respecting the greater story of the land I come from is important. We need to know where things fit and the details of the greater story of humanity. We human beings should want to know that story. We should want to know the streams of that story. The bigger...

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This invisible car project is great. First of all its a brilliant idea. As a SF geek I appreciate the whole desire of creating tech for invisibility. Pardon the pun but this piece gives great vision for invisibility. That is one of the things any work of art should do. Art should be visionary and give vision to the engineers and politicians and policy makers and business folks. The artist should be the dreamer. The artist is the thought pioneer that blazes the trail for the engineer to follow. That is what Sara Watson has done. She made a car invisible, not through slight of hand, or any trick, but through vision and hard work. You can't tell me that was easy. I just simply want to say kudos to you Sara. Well done.

What is church? Why bother going? What does that even mean to "go to church?" The question implies that we belong because we go to a location. Should we not belong because we are connected socially, emotionally, and spiritually to other Christ followers regardless of whether we meet in a location regularly? Now, don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely healthy and necessary to be part of a local group of Christ followers. It is the why and the how that we need to chew on for ourselves. I am advocating for gathering of believers not their abolishments. Without going into the content of an earlier blog (see archives), we are supposed to be part of the Body and if we ever say “we don’t need you” it is a symptom of deeper sickness. There are all kinds of church. Believers who meet in a cathedral, coffee shop, bar, hotel room, or living room all feel part of a church. Its not about three fast songs, two slow, offering, and a sermon. Or song 146 in hymnal followed by keeniling and pra...