In my last post I stirred up a good debate on the issue of technology. Although my primary intent was to recommend the use of wild places as a place of retreat from the pressures and distractions of modern life so heavily influenced by rapid technological change, I believe some felt that by my reference to Jacques Ellul’s writing I was condemning modern technology and was recommending a return to some idyllic, but fictitious, “good ole days.”
So let me reiterate what I mentioned in comments I posted last fall:
No doubt the value of wilderness is almost more in what is not found there than in what is. Consider what we typically do not find in a true uninhabited wilderness (uninhabited by humans, that is!):
. . . personal multipliers of power (vehicles, electricity, et. al.)
. . . markets and marketers
. . . external temptations
. . . false values
. . . lying words
. . . too many voices to attend to
. . . too many people to relate to
. . . racial, ethnic, and gender tensions
. . . personal deception and pretense (masks)
. . . meaningless entertainment
. . . continuous distraction
. . . an overload of news (information)
. . . an overload of human technology
. . . an overload of noise
. . . the need to talk incessantly
. . . daily routines and responsibilities clamoring for attention
. . . constant time pressure
. . . the sense that I am in controlIs there any person who cannot benefit from being relieved of these stresses from time to time?
Many of those stresses relate to modern technology; so let me say a few more words about the thoughts of Elull, a French Christian and professor of sociology at the University of Bordeaux who died in 1994. His magnum opus was the sociology tome The Technological Society (1964), which was not a Christian publication (though containing many Christian and theological implications). His book The
Technological Bluff was published in 1990 by Christian publisher Eerdmans. His major point in that book was a sort of twist on Emerson who said that “Things are in the saddle and ride mankind,” and held that, “Technology is in the saddle and rides mankind.”
His belief was that those of us living in the technology society, for all its many benefits, are so enamored of technology and technology is so pervasive in its influence that we have simply lost control over it—and lost even the will to control it. Without critical, moral, wise, and godly oversight and direction, technology has a life of its own that has in many ways become a powerful extension of human evil.
So we have atomic energy and the atomic bomb; we have microwave ovens to cook and expensive electronic toys and TV to divert our thoughts and steal our time from the things of first importance; we have chain saws to harvest timber and do landscaping; and we have massive machines that literally mow down old growth forests and threaten entire ecosystems; we have TVs and computers for instant access to important information and access to more information than one can possibly grasp, pornography one click away from our online Bibles, and endless diversion.
TVA coal ash spill 2008
And all the while, God’s good earth suffers and we suffer for our lack of valuing it, understanding it, being good stewards of it, and neglecting being outdoors in it enough to be reminded of the power and glory of our Creator and be refreshed and renewed by the experience.
So here I am in my high-tech office employed as a blog author and writing this post, which shortly you will be reading via the Internet on your high-tech device in your high-tech home. With a hunger within me for the simple, agrarian ways (thinking Wendell Berry and the Amish), I do this with a nagging sense of both guilt and angst—wishing often that I was not here but out there. A technology captive with self-applied shackles. Sigh.
See you outdoors!
Dean
February 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
i guess we just wanted the simple ways to be easier…and now they are not easy or simple.
it is very blustry here today and quite chilly, i think i would rather be indoors today.
but, i simply must get to the dishes, of which i do by hand in a sink. but, i do have indoor plumming, and a water heater, so no going out to the pump for water, or starting the fire to heat it up. and i don’t even have to make my own soap.
guess i have it pretty good.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Yep, anyone who ever thought “simple living” was easy living doesn’t have a clue. Yet modern technology has made it easier than it was.
We can never return to the past, but as we move toward the future, I believe we can and should move in the direction of more simplicity and giving God’s tortured creation a break. Romans 8:18ff should motivate us in that direction.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Dean, I sense that living in Michigan this winter and so close to your computers et al, that you’ve gotten stir-crazy
You need to get outdoors, as you are encouraging us to do, so you can get your nature fix!! Its still winter, but summers just around the corner.
I suggest getting the survival kit out some more, and re-supplying with some up-to-date band-aids, then get your hiking boots conditioned with fresh waterproofing, make sure your water bottles are sanitized, check for mildew in your tent, and google all the outdoor shops for the latest necessities. (of course you’ll have to use a hi-tech computer for that, but its only temporary.
If you have a Bass Pro shop or a Cabela’s, or REI, by all means go and spend some time. I’m not suggesting spending a lot of money (you’ll have a clerk using a hi-tech cash register), but spend some time.
Before you know it, warm weather will be here, and you can really get away and enjoy creation again.
Now, doesn’t that make you feel better?????
Your pal, Bob (see you ourdoors, too)
February 26th, 2009 at 10:27 am
When I was a young teenager there was a book out called, “Future Shock”. It was a look into the future at peoples ability to “fit” into the coming world of a high tech fast paced society.
It divided people into groups who would either jump on the high speed tech train, or run from it and try to return to a simpler quiet life.
Most of us blended into a little of both.
Whereas every invention of man was born out of neccessity, where there are people there is sin. Sin perverts. Our best triumphs as inventors soon are used for some other purpose than they were intended. Explosives used to blast rocks and stumps, evolved into nuclear wepons of mass destruction. The world wide web that connects us all together for the exchange of information,has become a hunting ground for sexual preditors.
Then there is the wilderness. To us a place to escape from the busy world that stresses us all. Now criss crossed with 4 wheeler tracks, and the ugly footprints of unconcerned and careless people. So instead of stress release. More stress.
No wonder my mind wanders back to a simpler time, imaginary or real.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:42 am
It’s so bad that when the Southwest Airlines “Wanna get away?” ads come on the TV, I’m shouting “Yes, yes, yes!” Not having seen a wildflower or anything more exotic than a common squirrel for months, my outdoor-oriented soul languishes. Looking at the stack of books by my old lounger, I count an even dozen in progress, from Lewis to Chesterton to Muir and Ellul. I’m about ready to pack up a couple, put on my winter parka, take a sling chair, and go sit out in the slush in one of the nearby woods.
One tiny delight: the sap has been running nicely from the sugar maple on which I snapped a twig—providing me each evening with a sweet sap-sickle to lick on my way home from work. Ah, the simple pleasures. You know, a thought crossed my mind last evening: I ought to bottle sap and sell it. It’s pure water with just a hint of sweetness. And about as organic as it can be. Shucks, why spend all that energy boiling it down to syrup.
Yes, I feel much better, Bob! Thanks.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Ah, a partner in angst!
February 28th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Hi, Dean,
When I was growing up at 5000 feet on the east slope of the Sierra, we used to spend a lot of time outside in the winter. We just bundled up a bit more. As I recall, though, the adults didn’t enjoy being outside as much as did we kids.
Even if you can coax folks outside, though, those who don’t know Christ will remain in their original states and will continue to use God’s resources for evil (Romans 3:9-18). They may be impressed by the world, but most of them will not credit it to God.
Maynard
February 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
And the earlier chapters of Romans show what happens when people choose not to acknowledge the Creator: they become blind to His existence. That leads them to hold that the material world itself is the only thing worthy of worship. In ancient times, all people were surrounded by wildness and material mystery–making it possible to see elements of nature as beyond comprehension and control–something to fear. Now a sense of hopelessness descends upon those who are blind to the existence of the Creator, because science has taken away much of the mystery, and though we still cannot control the forces of nature, we can do an awful lot of damage to it and its ecosystems. The wilderness becomes vulnerable–and a weak god indeed. So hope for some sort of material “salvation” dwindles and eventually disappears.
One of the best things we can do is show the world that Jesus is not only Savior and Lord, but also Sustainer and coming Redeemer of the entire cosmos–when all things are reconciled to God (Colossians 1:20). Here is how Peterson paraphrases that passage in his The Message:
“All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, atoms and animals—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, because of His death, His blood that poured down from the Cross.”