Postmodern Pastoral

 When you make an idol out of clay or wood, you pray to it and it doesn't hear your prayers, it's just a little statue. But it might still give you purpose or good weather & health. With an idol you can get angry and destroy it and make a new idol, or continue to worship it. But what happens when you idolize humans?  Celebrities are handsome and don't make us think too hard. It might hurt when they do something you don't like. Depending on how much you idolize a celebrity, you might have to defend the actions you don't agree with.  I know celebrity gossip is cringe, and it's old news, but I've been thinking about the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial. I've been especially thinking about how this complicated and real life story was so different than the usual escapism Johnny Depp delivers.  I like his movies, I mean, they're not complicated, they're fun, it's great to sit back and watch a movie from time to time. Depp gives a convincing pe...

 Let's examine some of my biases. I work at a wilderness therapy camp, I know and use some desert survival skills. When the kids I work with make their first fire I cheer and high-five them and get excited, we're bonding over this pretty cool skill. My coworkers are usually better at skills than me, and I admire them because they're really good at this niche skill. But like, we could probably bond over some other inconsequential stuff instead, or maybe consequential stuff too. Do people create relationships based on a shared adherence to a ritual? Like fandoms, their shared ritual is watching tv and writing fanfiction. Or Christians, their shared ritual is speaking aloud to a silent God and eating a tiny piece of bread. Or MAGAs, their shared ritual is complaining about people who look differently than them. Or athletes, who's shared ritual is running in circles and crashing into each other. Or the impoverished, who stick together even though they're probably toxic ...

I carved this spoon, and I used it exclusively for the last few years. I ended my last shift in wilderness therapy a few months ago, and while putting my wilderness gear in storage, I accidentally stepped on the spoon and it broke. So I threw it into the desert behind my folks' house.  I got pretty cynical about the inevitable destruction of everything I love. I don't create a lot of things. I got all into writing for a little bit a few years ago, but I stopped because I figured my thoughts were unimportant. Like, my thoughts are unimportant even to me. I want my brain to be flooded with whatever life puts in front of me. Right now I'm sitting in a Safeway, looking out the window to the wind and rain, Madonna is singing over the speakers and there's a Bible study group sitting behind me (they're done with talking about the Bible and now they're gossiping it's adorable I love them). This is my whole life, and it has complete control over my brain. This scene ...