Archive for the “thoughtz” category
Defending Christian Art
by Chris Lorensson on 17 April 2011 with
There is a good conversation brewing at PostmodernLandscape.com about defending Christian art in church and Christian communities. If you don’t already know, PostmodernLandscape.com is the discussion website for readers of the series of books by Geoff Hall entitled Spiritual Direction in a Postmodern Landscape, and some of the ideas here on Upptäcka Network are similar in content. So if you like what you’re reading here, visit the forum on PostmodernLandscape.com and get involved. Read the rest of this entry »
The System of Rationality
by Chris Lorensson on 23 January 2011 with
I’m in Part II of what has become my semi-annual read of Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I came across this quote:
…to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory.
Life forges philosophies
by Chris Lorensson on 12 August 2010 with
Over the years I realised how much I’ve changed as a person, and how I’ve developed a little unwritten list of personal philosophies.
Some of these things actually stem from my childhood – excuse the Freudian nature – such as the philosophy of doing things correctly. I realised a few years ago that the only form of procrastination I’ll entertain is when I’m unable to do something properly – if something is blocking me somehow or if I don’t have the tools I need to do it right, it won’t happen until I do.
My best guess is that this behaviour comes from how I was raised by my father. He is not a perfectionist, but he is a very hard worker and, in challenging me to do things well, I’ve finally gotten it! (albeit quite awhile after I left home)
Examples like this, I’ve noticed, can be seen in my daily routines and in every aspect of my life. They have formed who I am today and have become a part of me.
Some more examples of some of my own personal philosophies are:
- That doing things like riding the bike home in the rain instead of catching the bus are good for the soul
- That many, many things are better left unsaid – pearls and wisdom and whatnot
- That either nothing is sacred, or everything is (still working on this one, but i’m convinced there’s no in-between)
- That the most precious possession a man can have on Earth is a family
- That life is NOT like a box of chocolates at all, in fact, it is what you make it
- That the world is more flexible and forgiving than The West would want you to believe
- That if anything IS sacred, then friendship should definitely be one of those things
I’d go on, and maybe will in a future post, but the thing I want to point out is that we are shaped by our responses. How we’ve responded to circumstances in our childhoods through to today has inevitably shaped who we are today. It is important to know what you believe about life. In God’s pleasure He made us all so very different, and that makes you and I the Spice of Life.
Your responses are what create your philosophies. These response patterns in your history create a ripple effect in a pool of cement, and they eventually set- so it’s important that they set correctly, because that cement will be the foundation upon which your character is built.
In the Rain of an Open Heaven
by Chris Lorensson on 4 June 2010 with
I recently attended a Christian healing conference here in Bristol UK called Release2010. one of the main speakers was an incredible teacher called Bill Johnson, from Bethel Church in Redding California.
One thing he mentioned was about Walking under an open heaven.
He was talking about the constant glory, the constant presence, the fulness of The Holy Ghost. When Jesus left the Earth, He left Christians with a gift- The Holy Ghost. He is One in The Trinity, and God. And He lives in us, Christians.
Bill was referring to the often misappropriated power in The Spirit which most Christians either never recognize or never seek. The Spirit is the power that raised Jesus from the dead, if you believe in that. I do. The idea is that the same Spirit, the same Power, and that incredible peace & knowledge which comes with it should be living in us… But it doesn’t stop there.
Bill argues that, based on some scriptures such as the tounges of fire in Acts, where there is a distinct difference between being filled with The Spirit and The Spirit Descending or Resting upon you. Myself and at least one other member of LoveBristol are practising being aware of this Open Heaven as we go about our daily lives, and the fruit of it has been varied.
I look forward to reporting more as time goes on.
Harnessing chaos at Starbucks
by Chris Lorensson on 17 January 2010 with
Ruth and I had a conversation last night about Love. We were talking about how people change – how people can experience the love of God and how we can help that happen. It really reminded me of that verse which says something like Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
I think trying to get people to have an encounter with God is like trying to drink sand from a sieve. It’s just one of those things which seems to be ruled by the law of chaos, or the law of nature – uncontrollable. It something which cannot be engineered, suggested or even nudged. The only exception to that, in my experience, is the times when we sit and talk and hearts connect. You know what I mean – that completely unexpected conversation which happened when you were walking through town and you saw one of your friends and you stopped for coffee and everything just seemed right. You talked about everything and nothing, and before long, you noticed there was something unusual. It was like the planets had aligned and something clicked. Maybe it was the combination of a perfect amount of aural noise in that particular Starbucks at that particular time of day. Or maybe it was the way that new trainee barista accidentally burned the beans or the milk, and the scent made it’s way out the door, mixed with the homeless woman’s designer imposter perfume she found in the dumpster and instigated a deep emotional response when it hit your nostrils at the exact moment. Read the rest of this entry »
Pop culture, just kill me
by Chris Lorensson on 14 August 2009 with
I submit to you that popular Western culture is the most self-interested, closed-door party I can imagine.
The obvious question is, how the hell did this happen!?
Have we literally dug so deep a hole, travelled so long a departure as to have come to this— this squalid, homogeneous, Barbie-pink version of our former, more international selves? Are we really so narrow-minded and ignorant to have voluntarily relinquished those gems of inter-nationalism, those unique characteristics which once stood boldly on foreign territory, only to have realised now that they would be mangled and wringed of every last drop of glory before being reissued in the guise of new culture? Shame on us. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gradient of Enlightnement
by Chris Lorensson on 8 August 2009 with
Just watched the new G. I. Joe and missed my 10:30pm bus home, so I had a pint while finishing William Gibson’s All Tomorrow’s Parties. Listened to Ladytron on the way home, and here’s what I thought:
Everything in life, when analysed and organised, makes up a gradient of enlightenment. For example, music is dark while abstaining from the practise of dwelling on the unexplainable is light. Or rather, music is a hi level, low-fidelity item, while the latter is pure wisdom. Each of them have their place, and when in their proper place, make up a seamless transition from dark to light. A gradient of enlightenment. The question, then, is whether or not a life should be comprised of a complete gradient; and what happens if one only has a partial gradient tending to either dark or light.
This is about consciousness, but more particularly, addresses the question of the priority and uniqueness of ‘optimisation’- namely, whether or not it has value in the eyes of God. An argument for is that, for one, I personally see it’s benefits, and am therefor conscious of it as a good thing (being human).
Science vs. Spirit: Vision of Man
by Chris Lorensson on 27 May 2009 with
Last night, I couldn’t get this diagram out of my head. I’m glad I didn’t forget about it. Just food for thought really. Let me know what you think. Read the rest of this entry »
Bombing the walls
by Chris Lorensson on 26 May 2009 with
The word for the day is Obediance. There are a lot of things which can become walls which separate us from the day-to-day interaction with The Spirit, Jesus and The Father. I want to tell you about how God is helping me to live in a much more thin space between He and I.
A few weeks ago on Good Friday evening, I became livid with God. I’d never been even remotely angry with Him before – disappointed, yes – but not this angry. I became angry because, as I heard story after story about God’s goodness in the lives of others, I started to wonder where God was in my own life. I wasn’t ‘feeling’ The Spirit, wasn’t hearing his voice, wasn’t at peace. I knew I was missing something. That something was obedience. Read the rest of this entry »
Enough love already
by Chris Lorensson on 18 May 2009 with
I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I also love my wife. Do I love my sandwich as much as I love my wife? Hopefully not, but sometimes its can feel like that.
In grade school, and sometimes college, when you say something like I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, someone might reply so why don’t you marry it, then?