In a conversation / review of his new book Fidelity of Betrayal, Peter Rollins wrote:

The less we know about the theories which guide us the more we are enslaved by them and the more we impose them. When one understands one’s theoretical positioning one can be more self-consciously careful about how one employs it and thus be less likely to just see it as ‘the way things are’.

Peter is one of today’s bright lights in progressive faith and thought. His first book, How (not) to Speak of God, was one of my favorite reads of 2006 – and one of the best (and only) books I’ve read on religious paradox. Rollins reminds us that religion all too often becomes an exercise in maintaining a self-constructed personal identity – in God’s name. Rollins frames faith not as a static matrix of possessed knowledge, but as an ongoing, fluid awakening of God’s infinite wisdom and creativity.

In a recent post, Trent Yaconelli shares some related thoughts on the tension of living in the realm of interior possessions.

Beloved author and philanthropist A.W. Tozer once wrote, “if someone can talk you into Christianity, someone can talk you out of it.” In this simple yet profound statement, Tozer reminds us that while we can grasp a range of truth, the immensity of Christ remains infinitely greater than our tiny, finite collections of religious information. And while knowledge creates the entirety of orthodoxy, it is only the beginning of wisdom - a wisdom that propels us to life-changing awe and wonder via ever-new mysteries of creation.

As my interior life is defined more and more by curiosity, my identity is less defined by positions of religious certainty. I have increasingly more questions than answers. I’m coming to understand that in abandoning the hardest questions we are probably missing out on life’s greatest adventures. Stagnate systems cannot renew.

Christian pedagogy explains Christ (resurrection, remission of humanity’s fallen nature, etc.). But embedded in such knowledge is Tozer’s caution to eschew a religion reduced to knowledge. Rollins makes a similar distinction: that propositional spirituality can become an “idolatry” of religious biases – of possessing all the answers rather than moving into the living realities described by static text.

In a broad sense, Tozer’s maxim illuminates the tension between knowledge and wisdom. St. Paul similarly cautioned against “leaning unto your own understanding” – reminding us, as Tozer, that religion easily confuses knowledge with inward / spiritual transformation. And while knowledge undergirds wisdom, it can quickly (and often does) become a counterfeit for wisdom.

French thinker Marcel Proust distinguishes between that which can be read in a book (text / information) and that which must be experienced through passion, inspiration, time, and the desire for something greater than linear understanding.

We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness that no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us.

Writers such as Tozer and Rollins remind us that ancient knowledge is the beginning of wisdom, not an end in itself. I would add that the NT practice of worship (prayer, silence, reverential love, any directed and intense focus on God, etc.) is a wisdom vehicle, not a knowledge vehicle. Einstein noted, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

Wisdom is never contrary to right knowledge, but like an ocean collects drops of rain, so the infinite ocean of wisdom contains droplets of knowledge. And rather than abandoning knowledge, wisdom sustains it in healthy perspective - as stars to the universe, as raindrops to the ocean.

Religion without transcendence becomes little more than a head full of rationalistic details. The “right dividing of words” becomes a substitute for conversion of heart. In a letter to the Corinthians describing legalistic religious practices, St. Paul equates wisdom with love: knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Later Paul reminds them that love is superior to faith itself. Perhaps in some ways knowledge is to orthodoxy as wisdom is to orthopraxy.

As Trent Y points out, knowledge is a collection of static ideas, but wisdom is (re)generative - it sparks revelation and makes all things new. Wisdom is the essence of new birth. It does not stand still. Unlike knowledge, it cannot stop and think “I have found it” - rather, it must continue to grow and mature, like all of nature itself, into a more complete element of being. Wisdom is asymptotic – growing closer to its heart’s desire, yet never able to say “I have arrived.”

Even in death, Bob Carlton reminds us that wisdom is a precursor for new birth.

Romanian Orthodox playwright Eugene Ionesco writes,

There has always been at every living moment of culture a will to renewal… All history is nothing but a succession of crises­: of rupture, repudiation and resistance. When there is no crisis, there is stagnation and petrifaction. (from Notes on My Theatre).

We live in a dynamic, creative universe. It is even said that we are created in God’s image – as broken ikons of Perfection. We are the offspring of the Source of all creativity, reflecting a universal architecture. Our very DNA reflects the innate need to create. Knowledge stands on the riverbank and observes what it can, while wisdom throws itself into the River and becomes part of its immense roaring determination. Wisdom drowns, only to live again.

Our friends Jon and Tim Foreman have written a song for the new movie based on C.S. Lewis’ novel Prince Caspian. We read every book in the Narnia series (twice?) to Daniel when he just a little guy. Beautiful writing that propels us towards home.

And just discovered on Youtube - Jon talking a little bit about writing the song, and playing it publicly for the first time a couple weeks ago (at Willow Creek, I think).

Len Hjalmarson writes on the paradox of paid religious leadership,

If I take a salary for the work I do for Christ, then how can I in good conscience ask someone else to make the kingdom of God their priority in all their waking hours apart from payment or ekklesial ordination?

When did Christian communities start paying “religious leaders?” Hint - it’s not something you’ll find in the New Testament. When did we get off track? Read more of Len’s well considered thoughts.

Entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets seeks to rescue the study of mushrooms from forest gourmets and psychedelic warlords. The focus of Stamets’ research is the Northwest’s native fungal genome, mycelium. Paul has filed 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies, including pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas.

There are cosmic implications as well. Stamets believes we could terraform other worlds in our galaxy by sowing a mix of fungal spores and other seeds to create an ecological footprint on a new planet. Bet you didn’t know that humans are closer to fungi than any other botanical organism on the planet.

This was one of the best talks at TED2008. Enjoy Stamets’ fabulous vision of a microbial universe where fungal-based antibiotics, a mycileum Internet, ultra-efficient insecticides, and mushroom energy harvesting are just the beginning.

The situation in Burma is even worse than the news reports. Our friend Dr. Yohannan sends us this e-mail:

Many humanitarian relief efforts are already underway. You can help. Here are just a few ways:

Doctors Without Borders

World Vision

America-Burma Buddhist Association

Direct Relief

From the MSF website:

MSF teams in Yangon have started a first emergency response, including distribution of food, plastic sheeting and water chlorination. In Daala and Twante, two townships with a total population of 300,000, MSF teams saw an 80 percent destruction of houses in certain pockets and up to metre high flood waters. Under these circumstances, infectious diseases such as cholera can spread easily. In these two areas MSF is organizing a first emergency response by distributing food, water and first necessity items.

Families whose houses have been destroyed are now living in public structures that resisted the cyclone, such as pagodas and schools. The priority here is to provide drinking water, food, and first emergency items. Prices of basic food, including rice, have already doubled in the last few days, which is very worrying for a population who have already been living under precarious circumstances before the cyclone.

Energy drives economy. Energy scarcity translates into higher costs of all goods and industrial overhead. The early-stage realities of Peak Oil are now beginning to manifest in all facets of commerce.

For over 50 years (since the beginning of the Green Revolution), agricultural production has relied increasingly on fossil oil to plant, water, fertilize, harvest, process, and transport. In just the last few months, Diesel fuel, the farmer’s lifeline (and thus eveyone’s lifeline), has broken the $4/gal barrier. Last night driving back from a screening of Craig Detweiler’s Purple State of Mind, we saw one station with Diesel at $4.45.

In many agricultural sectors, yield growth (which historically follows industrialized population growth) is not keeping up with demand growth. Farming yields are sharply down over the last two years. Those on the global margins, the “bottom of the pyramid,” are the hardest hit. According to an article in the current Economist,

World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period… Food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator. In Haiti, protesters chanting “We’re hungry” forced the prime minister to resign; 24 people were killed in riots in Cameroon; Egypt’s president ordered the army to start baking bread; the Philippines made hoarding rice punishable by life imprisonment. “It’s an explosive situation and threatens political stability,” worries Jean-Louis Billon, president of Côte d’Ivoire’s chamber of commerce.

On a conservative estimate, food-price rises may reduce the spending power of the urban poor and country people who buy their own food by 20% (in some regions, prices are rising by far more). Just over 1 billion people live on $1 a day, the benchmark of absolute poverty; 1.5 billion live on $1 to $2 a day. Bob Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, reckons that food inflation could push at least 100m people into poverty, wiping out all the gains the poorest billion have made during almost a decade of economic growth.

The Economist makes no mention of raw energy in their analysis. Economists still believe that energy is an “external event” of global economics; that somehow, new, cheap, plentiful forms of energy will flood the market simply due to supply and demand. The economists are wrong – fossil energy is limited and becoming harder (more expensive) to find and extract. Moreover, for reasons outlined earlier in this journal, there are no magic energy sources (hydrogen, etc.) waiting to take its place.

Due largely to misguided policy human food grains are being increasingly diverted into cattle and energy production, hitting the poorest countries the hardest. Because of this mismanagement (along with other structural reasons), the cost of staple grain is inflating at historically unparalleled rates. Wheat costs alone rose 77% in 2007, and global rice prices have increased nearly 200% in just the last eight months.

Since 4Q06, rice has in fact tripled in cost and now sells for more than $1,000/ton, putting it farther out of reach for the global majority existing on $3/day or less. China, India, and other rapidly developing populations are demanding a larger share of the pie, against a backdrop of global energy (food) scarcity and rapidly inflating costs.

So far in 2008, inflation is higher than all of 2007. At this rate, food will double in price roughly every two years. U.S. rye flour stocks will be totally depleted in about 60 days. Some analysts are predicting corn shortages by Fall 08.

Food Shortages (i.e., energy demand – remember, this is primarily about energy) are starting to appear in otherwise prosperous countries. Even in the USA, bulk retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club are now rationing staples such as rice, wheat, and cooking oil.

Japan is experiencing their worst food crisis since WW2. From Business Day:

A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the past year — a 30% increase this month — has given rise to speculation that Japan, which relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff. According to one government poll, 80% of Japanese are frightened about what the future holds for their food supply.

Last week, as the prices of wheat and barley continued their relentless climb, the Japanese Government discovered it had exhausted its ¥230 billion ($A2.37 billion) budget for the grains with two months remaining. It was forced to call on an emergency ¥55 billion reserve to ensure it could continue feeding the nation.

“This was the first time the Government has had to take such drastic action since the war,” said Akio Shibata, an expert on food imports, who warned the Agriculture Ministry two years ago that Japan would have to cut back drastically on its sophisticated diet if it did not become more self-sufficient.

Observers of energy and population will take note that economies are cyclical, based on an unfathomable master equation filled with endless variables. But at the heart of the equation is found three simple rules:

• Continued growth of global population
• Rapid and widespread growth of global industrialization
• Increasingly higher costs in finding and extracting fossil energy to support this growth

There is a point at which energy costs begin to limit industrial growth. We may have passed that point. U.S. economic growth in 2008 has already seen a 20% decrease in growth over 2007. Much of that is attributable to housing and credit, but energy costs are playing a growing role.

The good news is that economic incentives work. We are seeing, and will continue to see, higher demand for smaller cars. I anticipate non-hybrid, plug-in vehicles to proliferate by 2015-2020, with efficiencies of 50-100MPG (equiv).

But transportation efficiencies are only a fraction of our concerns. End of Suburbia author James Kunstler (recommended reading) outlines a few other must-do’s if we are to pass a rapidly industrializing world safely into the hands of future generations. Briefly, these include:

• Increase local food production and distribution
• Resurgence of rail, sea (sail), and public transportations
• Small replacing large, glocal replacing global (energy, commerce, entertainment…)
• Dramatic changes in architecture, scale of life, and economic expectations

You can state categorically that any enterprise now supersized is likely to fail — everything from the federal government to big corporations to huge institutions. If you can find a way to do something practical and useful on a smaller scale than it is currently being done, you are likely to have food in your cupboard and people who esteem you. An entire social infrastructure of voluntary associations, co-opted by the narcotic of television, needs to be reconstructed. Local institutions for care of the helpless will have to be organized. Local politics will be much more meaningful as state governments and federal agencies slide into complete impotence. Lots of jobs here for local heroes.

Quit wishing and start doing. The best way to feel hopeful about the future is to get off your ass and demonstrate to yourself that you are a capable, competent individual resolutely able to face new circumstances.

Comments are still flowing in on Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk video, posted here a few weeks ago. I was chatting with Jill earlier today. She is now getting over 100 requests a day for speaking and interview opportunities. Even Opera Oprah (you knew it was coming) has invited Jill to be on her radio shows and podcasts.

Jill’s biggest news, however, was receiving word that she had been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influenential People of 2008. Congratulations Jill! The attention you are getting is well deserved. Your story is a gift of unity and reconciliation to a sadly broken world.

We live far from the standard Internet grid. There is no cable here. No DSL. And of course no fibre optics. We were on dial-up (28k) in the mid-90’s, then ISDN (128k) through early 00’s, then satellite (1.5MB down, 30k up, awful latency, horribly unreliable), and this week a local 900Mhz local radio tower went live (3.0MB / 512k / low latency). We plugged in the RF this week and are enjoying greater virtual freedom.

Really busy on projects - not much to talk about. Thought I would just post some random things.

1.) New generation bionic eyes are now in development, giving sight to the blind. Very exciting.

2.) Elephants are painting pictures of themselves. Everyone in the world has probably seen this, but I hadn’t. It’s remarkable, and confirms my conviction about the unique emotional intelligence of elephants.

My friend Carl was recently in the Millennia studio working on a progressive rock suite, based mostly on re-orchestrated Dvorak, Prokofiev, and Stravinski. See if you can keep up. Some MP3 samples HERE.

My friend and honorary Wikiklesia editor Peggy tagged me with a Subversive Blogger Award. I’m honored, and will now extend the favor to five other bloggers whom I consider appropriately subversive. Actually, some of the bloggers I have in mind are so subversive that they would totally ignore the meme, so I’ll bypass them, in favor of:

Subversive Influence

Next Reformation

Experimental Theology

Emerse (the blog of my lovely wife, who is feeling especially subversive of late..)

Today at the Mission

I’m ever interested in new ideas on the theory of emergence, especially as applied to philosophy, theology, and ecclesiology. Next Tuesday (4/29), those of you near Wesleyan University can hear professor Michael Silberstein muse on the connection of emergence, philosophy of mind, and more. Michael is co-editor of the Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Science. At the Exley Science Center. Contact dgrasso@wesleyan.edu for more information.

And if you’re near Villanova PA on May 17, go listen to Fuller professor Nancey Murphy at Christ Church Ithan muse on “Neuroscience and the Soul - Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?”

What are human beings made of? For centuries, most Christians and others in the West have assumed that they were composed of two parts, a body and a soul. Now neuroscientists are showing in case after case that the capacities once attributed to the soul are actually brain functions. Does this mean that religion and science are heading for confrontation?

Go to Nancey’s lecture and find out. More information HERE.