Hunger Games, Lorax, WALL-E & other movie dystopias

March 16, 2012 by

This is the first time in five years that “dystopia” has appeared in a ReadTheSpirit headline. We asked the noted faith-and-film critic Edward McNulty to help orient readers to this movie genre. Turns out, it’s far more popular than most of us might guess—and Hunger Games is not the only dystopic movie that’s popular with young moviegoers right now. This week, ReadTheSpirit is running a wide range of viewpoints on Hunger Games and this genre:
Twilight expert Jane Wells writes on differences between the two popular Young Adult series

Dystopias We Love to Explore:
From Dr. Seuss to WALL-E

By Edward McNulty

Although both the book and the film version of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax are intended for children, the city of Thneed-Ville in them is a dystopia almost as grim as those found in adult tales, even though it is a colorful place. However, the colors are all artificial, even the trees, flowers and lawns made from plastic. No living plant grows in the city because they were destroyed by a greedy industrialist!

Both the story’s environmental message and its concept of a dystopia show how respectful Theodore Geisel was of children and their budding intellectual ability. As I watched this pleasing adaptation unfold on the big screen, images of other dystopias crowded into my mind, some of which I think might be interesting to you too. Why? Because writers/filmmakers use the concept of dystopia as a means of warning their audiences of something in society, some trend or set of values, that is dangerous. A story about dystopia is thus a cautionary tale designed to forestall a perceived calamity if a current trend or policy in society is allowed to go on to its logical conclusion.

FAMOUS HOLLYWOOD DYSTOPIAS SPARK DISCUSSION

1984. George Orwell in 1948 foresaw that in the Cold War struggle both sides were using tactics that would lead to the loss of freedom of thought and action if allowed to continue unchecked. The Soviets had gone down the path of totalitarianism further than the West. But, Orwell also was concerned about the mounting use of secrecy, spying, deception, propaganda, and debasing of language that he believed the US and British governments were encouraging. If those world powers pursued their course far enough, then the Cold War opponents might become morally indistinguishable. Remember that this was the beginning in the US of Communist witch hunts that lead to so many liberals being blacklisted. There were two excellent films based on the novel. One was a black and white version in 1956. The other was released in color in the actual year of 1984, produced with a distinguished cast that included Richard Burton and John Hurt. Then, and now, history was different from what Orwell predicted, but his “Big Brother” remains in our lexicon—and a threat as government continues to increase its power.

(If you are intrigued by Orwell’s dark visions, I also recommend the 1954 animated version of his fable Animal Farm exploring the same themes with it’s memorable Double Speak quote: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”)

Fahrenheit 451. Censorship campaigns have cropped up for centuries in countries around the world. Ray Bradbury was so concerned about this issue that he wrote Fahrenheit 451, named for the temperature at which book paper ignites into flame. His dystopia is the State, which controls what people think and has banned all books and libraries. The job of the Fire Department ironically is to start fires of any book they come across. The conclusion, in which the two protagonists discover an underground of literate resisters who preserve the heritage of civilization by memorizing books, is gratifying and hopeful.

Logan’s Run. In 1976, ten years after the Bradbury film was released, the movie adaptation of William F. Nolan’s novel addressed a range of youthful issues raised in the 1960s. Through the misuse of science the outside world had been ruined, but citizens had found refuge in a domed city where all physical needs are met, allowing people leisure to pursue their own pleasures. The one catch, however, is that to relieve the pressures of population, the lifespan stops at 30, on which birthday the citizen is terminated in a public semi-religious ceremony called Carousel. Our hero Logan is a Sandman, a policeman charged with catching Runners, those who try to escape their termination because they do not believe the claim that the terminated are being transported to a better world.

Lord of the Flies.  William Golding wrote his book to refute the shallow liberal view that if only the innocent children of the world could run it, things would be so much better. There have been two film versions of this tale of young castaways on an island when their plane goes down and the adults are killed in the crash. Peter Brooks directed the 1963 black and white version, and in 1990 it was remade in color. The boys set out as good civilized Englishmen to make the best of their situation, but soon the rational boys are overcome by those who turn to fear and lust for power. Neither version fully captures the inner torment of the rational Piggy, especially of the surreal scene in which he hears the Lord of the Flies taunting him, but still the films are worth watching, serving as a reminder that there is a savagery or darkness within all of us. In the story the lovely island is reduced to a fiery hell on earth before the boys are rescued and returned to a society that also is engaged in a larger war.

In Time. Just out last year, this film is the kind that a group of talented Occupy Wall Street folks might have created if they wanted to spread their message of addressing the inequities of our society. In the future, humanity has been genetically engineered to stop aging at 25 years, but then to live for just one more year unless people can acquire more time, time now being the ultimate currency for all transactions. A digital clock has been imbedded on everyone’s wrist, and when the digits count down to “0,” the person dies unless new time has been acquired through transactions, begging, or stealing. The wealthy live in a special section where immortality is a possibility, whereas others live in a series of time zones made dangerous by desperate people seeking more time. When our worker hero is given another hundred years by a wealthy man whose life he has saved, he begins a series of acts that lead to a rebellion against the unjust system.

WALL-E. Like The Lorax, this is more than just an animated film for children, infused with a profound message and warning, like all good cautionary tales. The little robot that lends its name to the film’s title continues to function—as he was built to do long before the Earth was reduced to a wasteland by humanity’s pollution. Then, through his linking up with a reconnaissance robot named EVE, he and his new companion inadvertently set out on a mission in which he reconnects with humans and triggers a sequence of actions that will set them free. Humanity has fled the ravaged earth in a huge spaceship that at first seems like a utopia. However, it is a world in which no one walks, humans being are so well served by machines that they have grown fat and ride around on chairs. Mrs. Obama might well adopt this section of the film as part of her campaign against obesity.

The above are but a few of the many dystopias that talented filmmakers have created over the years. No doubt the dystopia that currently is eclipsing all the others is The Hunger Games. I plan to write more about the film after I attend one of the first showings, but I do know one thing about these films: They are terrific discussion starters in small groups!

Read Twilight Expert Jane Wells’ story about the Hunger Games and Twilight series.

Care to read more from Edward McNulty?

    (Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.)

    Neither Wolf’s Kent Nerburn invites us on a new pilgrimage

    February 26, 2012 by

    Kent Nerburn ranks among America’s beloved storytellers and spiritual guides. His specialties in past books include the natural world, Native American wisdom, the relationships between parents and their children—and the many ways that fine arts are a catalyst to insight. He began his career as a theologian and sculptor. But, he is most famous, today, for Neither Wolf nor Dog, required reading on Native Americans’ relationships with non-Indians (along with its more recent sequel The Wolf at Twilight). Inspirational quotations from Nerburn’s many published works, especially his book on fatherhood Letters to My Son and his Wolf books, are sprinkled liberally across the Internet these days. Even the celebrated guru Eckhart Tolle sings praises for Nerburn’s newest volume.

    In Ordinary Sacred: The Simple Beauty of Everyday Life, Nerburn gives us a handy companion for a personal pilgrimage wherever we find ourselves living today. Even this book’s cover with its barn-wood imagery, compact size and comfortable-to-the-fingers matte finish makes it a perfect book for a long walk or a quiet afternoon in a favorite corner.

    At first, the vivid vignettes in Ordinary Sacred may seem like disconnected gems. The book opens with Kent inviting us to travel across the northern prairies, an echo of the Wolf adventures. Then, we drop South for a brief detour along a stretch of legendary Route 66. But, wait a minute! We’re also stopping by Oxford University and, suddenly, we’re in Florence contemplating the works of great masters. Around that point in the book, we discover that these aren’t random gems. Rather, this is a string of beads. This is a pilgrimage. And, in the end, when we stand with the author in “The Circle,” one of this slim book’s final stops, the wisdom of this journey comes home to us like a lump in the throat.

    That’s what makes this book, at the start of Lent 2012, a perfect Lenten reader. Of course, ReadTheSpirit is urging readers to consider our own 40-day, 40-chapter Lenten reader, Our Lent: Things We Carry. But Nerburn’s 13-part Ordinary Sacred is another kind of Lenten pilgrimage. There’s no explicitly Christian message here, yet this cycle of stories moves through a long spiritual journey toward a death, a burial and transcendence. Truly, these are Lenten themes. At its root, this book and Nerburn’s entire body of work remind us that all journeys are sacred, all places along the way are sacred and, ultimately, all moments are sacred, if we have eyes and ears and hearts to recognize the truth.

    Do you find yourself generally non-religious, but yearning for deeper daily connections between your life and the larger living world around us? Or, do you find yourself deeply religious, yet mired in the sameness of your congregation’s weekly disciplines? In either case, Ordinary Sacred is your invitation to a potent journey into a deeper and a wider world.

    This week, we welcome our friend and colleague Kent Nerburn back to the pages of ReadTheSpirit, where Editor David Crumm has interviewed the author and artist at the start of this Lenten season. Later this week, we will publish our full interview, but today we share what Kent had to say about …

    Ordinary Sacred by Kent Nerburn
    … as a Companion for Lent

    In our interview, Kent Nerburn says this about Lent …

    I would love it if readers took hold of this book as a reader for Lent. When I began writing this book, I thought of it almost as a classic Book of Hours, moving through the day from Matins to Vespers. That became an underlying theme in this book, definitely a part of its spiritual arc. The sections move from Dawn’s Awakening to Night’s Embrace.

    These days, I don’t practice as a Catholic anymore, but the Christian tradition will always be a part of my life. These religious traditions have a wisdom far greater than anything we could create on our own as individuals. So, this book really is an effort to touch both religious touchstones and broader spiritual touchstones, as well.

    In my own days of theological training, I was guided by the Imitation of Christ and scripture and in these texts you see always see this shadow of crucifixion behind everything. As an artist, I’ve sculpted figures who are caught up in this deep spiritual experience. I came out of pre-Vatican II Catholicism and my life has been a long journey from those early heavy burdens of teachings like original sin toward my own celebration of the joy and mystery of life.

    From my earliest Catholicism all the way through graduate school, I took Lent very seriously. It was the season I found that I could enter into most completely. In about 1980 or 1981, I had a chance to live in a Benedictine monastery in British Columbia so that I could do a sculpture for the monastery. I agreed that I wouldn’t sign the work. There was this medieval notion of an artist doing all to glorify God. But, when I got there, these Benedictines presented some issues that I found difficult to swallow. I didn’t like the abbot. He seemed venal to me. He talked about poverty, but I perceived him as living with a wealth like some King Henry VIII. And, I wound up crossing swords with him more than once. I thought about leaving.

    Then, at one point, he said to me: “Stay in the machine, Kent. It’ll clean you out.” And, now, that’s the way I look at Lent. I lived with those Benedictines through Lent and shared their life, their rituals, the Mass. I was back to being that Catholic child, where I began life.

    I wasn’t the equal of these men. Their Lenten experience, after their years together in the monastery, was intense—so intense that many of them reached Easter and I saw them finally breaking down in tears. These were quiet men, but they had entered so deeply into the cycle of Lent that they were entirely taken over by the journey. The spiritual clarification of that Lent was beyond anything I could have imagined. I was humbled.

    But, if we think about it more deeply, we realize that the year’s liturgical seasons reflect the natural course of life. They work on us, if we open ourselves to it, with an almost subterranean power to reshape our lives. That’s why I’d love it if people accepted Ordinary Sacred as a pocket meditation book for Lent. I would be pleased to accompany them in this season.

    REMEMBER: You can order Ordinary Sacred: The Simple Beauty of Everyday Life from Amazon now. And, please come back later this week, for our complete interview with Kenty Nerburn in which the author and artist talks about his life, his work and the inspirations behind Ordinary Sacred.

    ANOTHER GREAT LENTEN COMPANION?
    GET ‘OUR LENT: THINGS WE CARRY’

    Of course, ReadTheSpirit is recommending our own new book, the 2nd Edition of Our Lent: Things We Carry, which now is available for all e-reading devices—as well as in a brightly colored new paperback edition as well. Click this link or click the book cover, at right, to read more about this inspiring guide to this ancient season of reflection.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

    Gift ideas: Hanukkah & whole world for kids of all ages

    November 27, 2011 by

    Happy holidays!
    We are helping you find spiritually uplifting gifts that will light up the holidays for your loved ones.
    Earlier: We recommended a true-crime drama, a guide to finding contentment & an unusual prayer book.
    Great video: We’ve found a terrific BBC sampler, an Ed Asner classic & Tree of Life, too.
    For Children of All Ages: Fold out Hanukkah, circle the globe & enjoy spiritual wisdom of animals.
    Bible Study with Fresh Eyes: We’ve got a trio of new and innovative Bible-study resources.

    ROBERT SABUDA TACKLES HANUKKAH AND CIRCLES THE WORLD

    Considering that the most common theme of Hanukkah is freedom, as Michael Rosen and Robert Sabuda point out on the first page of their new Chanukah Lights, a pop-up book—then perhaps it is fitting that there are various English-language spellings of the holiday: from Hanukkah to Chanukah. The latter spelling is Rosen’s choice. His huge range of children’s books, over the years, runs from fishing to Jewish tales and his wonderful 2006 picture book, Chanukah Lights Everywhere, uses this same spelling. However, with no disrespect intended toward Rosen, this pop-up book is quite simply another must-own Robert Sabuda extravaganza for fans of 3D, moving-paper books. For the year-end holidays, we say: Robert, it’s about time! Sabuda has produced three other winter-holiday books, including one on the 12 Days of Christmas. Finally, he turns to Hanukkah. The collaboration with Rosen led him not to repeat the ancient story of military conflict and victory. Rather, Rosen and Sabuda use eight elaborate pop ups to chart the wide diversity of Jewish experiences around the world today. There’s even a gigantic, centuries-old sailing ship in one pop up, which reminds us that the Jewish diaspora has been unfolding for a very long time.

    ROUND THE WORLD WITH CANDLEWICK & HEROES LIKE NELLIE BLY

    The gigantic pop-up book for Hanukkah isn’t the only world-circling journey Candlewick Press is offering at the end of this year! At ReadTheSpirit, we are journalists, so we are thrilled that this comic-book-style illustrated biography features a lively version of Nellie Bly’s round-the-world adventure. Two years ago, in 2009, we were embarrassed to overhear a mental mistake on NPR, listing Nellie Bly among a litany of “serial killers.” (No kidding! It actually happened on NPR!) As a result, we published a 2009 overview of Nellie Bly’s life as a pioneering journalist. While it is easy to dismiss Nellie as a publicity seeker, she clearly was driven to shine the light of journalism on many unfortunate corners of the human community. Even in this new graphic novel, which focuses only on her round-the-world adventure, Matt Phelan points out that she made time on Christmas Day 1889 to visit a leper colony. That was classic Nellie. This new graphic biography, Around the World: Three Remarkable Journeys, also features Thomas Stevens, the first person to cycle around the world, and Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail solo around the globe.

    ECKHART TOLLE’S GUARDIANS OF BEING COMES TO PAPERBACK

    All we really need to say about the third book we are recommnding today is two words: Eckhart Tolle. Millions still are inspired by his approach to teaching spiritual truth. In Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings from Our Dogs and Cats, Tolle collaborated in an unprecedented way with Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell. What is the connection point between these two very talented men? In our 2009 interview with McDonnell, which marked the hardback debut of this book, the Mutts cartoonist said: “In studying Tolle’s work—not only his books but his CDs and his DVDs—he talks about nature a lot and he talks about how animals bring us into the present moment—dogs and cats in particular. That’s at the heart of my work, too. I’m always showing readers this important bond we have with our animals. Since I started studying Eckhart’s work, some of my own work has been influenced by his teaching.” If you know someone who loves either Tolle’s or McDonnell’s work, this is a slam-dunk great gift for the holidays.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

    Celebrate a vanishing America in PBS’s Sweetgrass

    July 3, 2011 by

    There is a moment in Sweetgrass—an immersive documentary about the vanishing life of Montana’s horseback sheep herders—when you’ll sit up straight, blink your eyes and wonder if children are listening to these herders! That’s saying something, because most of the movie has no human language at all—only the sounds of sheep, horses, dogs, birds, farm machinery and wind in the grassy mountain valleys and passes.

    That style is no accident. Sweetgrass was produced by a Harvard-based team of anthropologists. For two decades, Lucien Castaing-Taylor has been an international pioneer in new forms of ethnography (immersive studies of the relationships within real-life communities). He’s currently director of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab. The co-creator of Sweetgrass was Ilisa Barbash, a curator at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Their scholarly discipline tries to capture a pure slice of their subject matter—then convey that unvarnished slice of life to the public. That means: No fact-filled title screens. No voice-over narration. Just the herding life—just sheep, horses, dogs, birds, farm machinery, wind and a few wild bears who make a brief cameo appearance.

    What makes this slice of life so special?
    Film critics around the world have celebrated Sweetgrass, which was produced a couple of years ago and now finally is making a TV debut on PBS’ POV series. Although Barbash and Castaing-Taylor did not realize it at first, they wound up recording the last of the great sheep drives across public lands in the Montana mountains. The way of life we see in Sweetgrass—now is gone in the remote Absaroka-Beartooth range!

    What’s that startling moment?
    Well, we won’t spoil the film, but it’s very easy to get lulled into an impression that these horseback herders are Marlboro men. A couple of these cowboys look like they walked off a John Wayne Western and into this documentary. But, this film honestly shows us their incredibly tough life—and the cost on these men and their loved ones. Mid-way through the movie, one of the tough-as-leather cowboys has an emotional breakdown. High atop a mountain, he unfolds his cell phone, calls his mother and pours his heart out to Mom about all the woes and wounds of the trail. In the original documentary, he unleashed enough angry R-rated language in his moment of crisis to make a gangster blush! PBS is bleeping out the worst of it—but you’ll get the point. Even Marlboro men can crack under the stress of long drives through the mountains.

    QUESTIONS ON SWEETGRASS:
    ReadTheSpirit is recommending the weekly POV series for individual viewing and small-group discussion—so, we earlier published a complete overview of the season.
    You’ll find lots of questions to raise in Sweetgrass: How does this square with our iconic image of American cowboys? What does this say about the changing culture of the West? What beloved—or troubling—images are we carrying around with us about the farming life in America? How does Sweetgrass confirm—or pierce—our assumptions about farming?

    GOT AN iPAD?
    WANT TO SEE SWEETGRASS NOW?

    Right now, PBS-POV is streaming the entire Sweetgrass movie for free via the PBS App on iPad. In our ReadTheSpirit Home Office, we tested that iPad version—as well as a DVD screener of the film—and the App delivered a smooth, beautiful version of the film to the iPad screen.

    Please connect with us
    and help us to reach a wider audience

    Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, email us at [email protected] and tell us what you think of our stories—and, please tell a friend to start reading along with you!

    We welcome your Emails! . We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed. Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

    Interview with Goodwins on adventurous ‘Year of Plenty’

    June 7, 2011 by

    HOW CRAIG AND NANCY GOODWIN SOLVED A FAMILY CRISIS,
    CONVINCED THEIR DAUGHTERS TO EAT WEIRD THINGS
    AND REDISCOVERED THE WONDERS OF GOD’S WORLD

    IN PART 1 OF OUR COVERAGE of Year of Plenty, by Craig L. Goodwin, we reviewed this terrific new book, provided a link to order it via Amazon—and shared an excerpt of the Five Rules that shaped their remarkable year of family adventure. TODAY, you’ll meet the Goodwin’s in …

    HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE GOODWINS

    FROM LEFT: Lily, Craig, Noel and Nancy Goodwin.DAVID: You began this global project in a moment of utter frustration. I won’t spoil the story in the book, but the yearlong adventure opens in the middle of a stressed-out, post-Christmas depression that lots of parents feel each year. I like that part of your story, because this wasn’t some grand scheme planned by experts. You were just a couple of angry parents who decided to change your lives, right?

    NANCY: Yes, and a lot of what happened in our year was due to our own ignorance about what all of this would mean. It began as we were finishing up Christmas after that whole month of planning, shopping and craziness that so many families experience. And, imagine how much more hyped-up this time of year is in a pastor’s family, doing all that holiday work with the church, too. We were pretty burned out! We reached a place where we felt disconnected from our own lives. We realized that this was something deeper than the usual Christmas stress. Then, there was one last gift we had to go find—and that pushed us over the edge.

    CRAIG: That’s right. When we finally found that last gift, I just said: “What a piece of junk!”

    NANCY: No, you didn’t. You said, “What crap!” Or, maybe you said something worse!

    DAVID: Well, you are Christians writing for a family audience. I guess you wanted to keep the story PG-rated, but it’s good to know you occasionally shout in frustration like the rest of us.

    CRAIG: I had the word “crap” in the manuscript. Then, I took it out. Nancy made me put it back in.

    NANCY: Of course! It became our symbol of senseless buying. It was crap!

    CRAIG: And, like a lot of couples, we got into this whole argument about: What can we do differently?

    NANCY: Then we talked about: What can we actually do differently instead of just arguing about it?

    CRAIG: And that launched us into this really creative conversation about where we find glimpses of hope in our lives. And one place we find hope is in our garden. We all love growing food. And eventually these four rules for living emerged: Local, Used, Homegrown and Homemade. And we decided to live by those four rules for a year.

    NANCY: This conversation was unfolding on a date we had right after Christmas. We live in Spokane and we went to Seattle to spend some alone time, just the two of us, and we wound up having this soul-searching conversation about our lives and where we find hope in the world. We talked about our values, our faith and our journey in life.

    DAVID: But you pushed back a little bit, right Nancy?

    NANCY: Yes, I worried that we were having this whole big conversation about these four rules and the fact is: Hey, I’m the cook! I’m the one who buys clothes for our girls! This sure is easy for you to talk about, Craig!

    CRAIG: I know! I know! And I said, “Let’s really do this as a family.”

    NANCY: One important thing that meant was: When we have some weirdo thing coming in ripe from the garden—everybody has to eat it. If I’m going to cook it up in some weird stir-fry, then everybody has to eat that strange mix. And that was one of the biggest blessings in the year:  Our girls really enjoyed this and the whole family worked together on it. And we all ate what we produced. It was a family affair.

    GENIUS OF THE FIFTH RULE: INCLUDING THE WORLD

    DAVID: It’s intriguing to me that in this interview you’ve focused so far on the “Four Rules.” They were at the core of your initial discussions, but I think it’s the Fifth Rule that was the genius in your project. You refused to isolate yourselves. As Editor of ReadTheSpirit, I get dozens of new books and documentaries about people who decide to simplify their lives. That’s one reason so many people love Shaker music and design these days—we all want to simplify. But usually the advice is focused in one direction: Isolation. Your family—partly out of necessity of buying coffee and rice—came up with a Fifth Rule, a global rule.

    CRAIG: It did start out as an extra rule just so we had a source of good coffee and rice. But I do agree with you that, as we reflected on our consumer lives, we realized that almost everything we buy in this country involves things that come from overseas. So, the Fifth Rule started out as something we laughed about: How could we survive without coffee? But, when we made the rule and began to think about our connection with our chosen country—Thailand, because of Nancy’s experience living there for three years—we realized that our whole effort wasn’t about abandoning the world. We were trying, every day, to connect our lives with impoverished and struggling people in this other part of the world. Our trip to Thailand became the grand prize at the end of our year.

    NANCY: That’s right. We thought good coffee was essential, but the rice, too, was very important. In the way we produced our food, we ate a lot of stir-fry and the Thai rice was important in making those good dinners. And it quickly became more than just a source of food. We all knew we were going there at the end of the year and we taught the kids about Thailand throughout the year. They were very engaged in that—learning about something bigger than our own lives. We all felt a real connection with Thailand and that connection continues.

    Just the other day, my daughter had a gift card from Target and she decided she wanted some of these little Matchbox cars. She opened them up and discovered they were made in Thailand. “Look, Mom!” she said. “Thailand.” She was associating this with the relationships we established in Thailand. Now, we all know that the choices we make every day affect people around the world. Who made those little cars? Were children making those cars? We think about our purchases in a different way now. We want to know about the connections between our lives and the people so far away. How are our choices affecting their lives?

    CRAIG: For all of the work we did growing food and making things at home, I have to say that probably the most profound experience during the entire year was visiting the refugee village in Thailand at the end of the year. Earlier in the year, we had received a check and we were in a position to be creative with that check. We decided to put that money into a microloan program in Thailand. We sent our money off and, by a whole series of serendipities, we ended up in the same refugee village that received our funds for the microfinance program—on the day when women were bringing their deposits to the card table that was set up as their bank in the village. We felt a tangible connection with what we had chosen to do with that money. To see the lives of the people in that community was so humbling for us.

    DAVID: There are a lot of simple-living books and gurus out there who essentially are telling people to isolate themselves. I think readers are going to enjoy the year-long scope of your adventure, because it is both local and global.

    CRAIG: The whole idea of raising chickens and the gardening was all stuff that was fairly new to us—and I do know that some people turn in this direction to circle their wagons. But in our spiritual journey, we found ourselves paying more and more attention to the world. I kept thinking of Colossians 1, the passage about how all things are created in Christ, all things are held together in Christ and all things are redeemed in Christ. That’s a world-encompassing view. Colossians doesn’t tell us to lock ourselves away in a protective shell. In fact, it launches us back out into God’s world—at least, that’s been our experience in all of this. What a wonderful discovery as a family that God is paying attention to the whole world.

    DAVID: Now, you’re paraphrasing a portion of the New Testament and we should point out to readers that you are Protestants—specifically Presbyterians. We’ll provide some links with this interview and people can read more about your lives and your church. But I see a universal story in this book. I think almost anyone, especially parents, can find lots of inspiring ideas in these pages.

    CRAIG: This book is Christian inasmuch as we are Christian. We see our experiences through that lens. But we are part of a much larger global conversation that’s unfolding right now. There are lots of approaches to these issues that many different people are trying. In our book, we do tell our story from a Christian perspective.

    NANCY: Whatever a reader’s faith might be, there is a deeply personal spiritual journey that unfolds here. For myself, for example, I’ve never been a huge shopper, but as I turned to shopping for used things in stores, I began thinking about our consumption in a new way. I began asking the question: How much do I really need? Throughout this whole year, I began finding that lots of things I thought I needed—I actually didn’t need. Lots of people can relate to those kinds of questions.

    EATING DANDELION GREENS & CATCHING A NEWLY LAID EGG

    DAVID: How many complaints did you really hear from your daughters?

    NANCY: We heard about some frustrations, but we actually chose to do this at a pretty good time for the girls. We saw their eyes open. Our daughter Noel was 7 at the time and willing to try new things. She got excited about asparagus. Noel and Lily, who was 5 at the time, looked at this as a big experiment. One day, Craig brought in dandelion leaves from the driveway and he showed them his own excitement in the way he talked about it: “Hey! Let’s experiment! Let’s eat this!” Noel and Lily understood they were part of a great adventure.

    CRAIG: I remember the first day the chickens laid an egg. There was a sense of awe and wonder—a miracle they saw unfolding.

    NANCY: It’s true. I remember the day they ran in and said: “They laid an egg in my hand!” I remember that day. Craig was always helping them see new things around them. He would go outside with them and point out: “Look at this plant. It has fruit on it. We’ll be able to eat that.” Then, they’d explore further themselves and they’d see things. It really became a year-long adventure for all of us.

    DAVID: Of course, readers can visit your websites and learn more, but let’s close the interview with your vision of the horizon. You spent an amazing year with your family. How has that changed your vision of the future?

    NANCY: I haven’t thought very far into the future, but there are a couple of things for which I am very, very grateful. There’s the sense of wonder and learning we experienced together through this one extreme year. That continues as we open up our lives to new experiences with the children. We’re planning more travel. We would love to get them into a church-related trip. We also spend time outdoors close to home. Craig enjoys foraging for mushrooms and other edible foods in the woods. Instead of just flipping on the TV, we enjoy going out into the woods, exploring, learning the names of things. That sense of wonder and learning continues.

    When Craig sat down to write this book about our year, Lily also found her own love of writing. When he was writing, she’d sit near him and she’d write, too. I’ve enjoyed seeing her love of writing.

    CRAIG: I agree that it’s been wonderful for both of us and for our kids. The year also has made me more of an advocate for a holistic faith—a faith that is connected to the world and isn’t spiritualized into some isolated sanctuary. Faith shouldn’t be reserved for Sunday morning. In my own ongoing leadership in our church and community, I’m trying to show that in all that I do. What does the gospel of Jesus look like when it’s fleshed out in the world? How should we pay attention to what God is doing in the world? I hope more and more people will get on board and ask questions like these.

    Care to read more about the Goodwins and ‘Year of Plenty’?

    Please connect with us and help us to reach a wider audience

    Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, email us at [email protected] and tell us what you think of our stories—and, please tell a friend to start reading along with you!

    We welcome your Emails! . We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed. Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

    Summertime family inspiration: Enjoy a ‘Year of Plenty’

    June 5, 2011 by

    How an ordinary American family of modest means
    managed to ‘Think Locally, Act Globally’

    Summer’s nearly here—and there’s still time to plan adventures for your whole family, even planting a garden together. Final frost dates in the nothern states passed in late May. It’s a perfect time to get Year of Plenty via Amazon.

    Year of Plenty also is a terrific choice for small-group discussion. It’s the story of the Goodwin family—who you will meet in our Wednesday interview this week at ReadTheSpirit. They’re typical Americans, even though Craig in particular is popular these days as a pastor who blogs about food and faith. Their book isn’t about new media. It’s an entertaining and inspiring story about one year in which the Goodwins recaptured the richness of community values.

    Why pay attention to this particular simple-living book? That’s a great question, because there are countless memoirs, these days, about trying to live simply by shunning consumer culture. Among the most famous is No Impact Man—a.k.a. Colin Beavin, the guy who went to nutty extremes of self denial and wound up with both a hit book and a movie on DVD.

    Here’s the first reason you should meet the Goodwins: They’re not nutty!These values really matter to them as faithful people who believe that God wants us all to share the Earth sustainably—and sensibly. So, no, you won’t find any gross-out, whack-o passages in “Year of Plenty.” That’s this book’s strength. No one wants to live through Colin Beavin’s excesses! But, your family could duplicate what the Goodwins accomplished—and have fun doing it.

    Here’s the second reason you should meet the Goodwins: By accident, because of their taste for good coffee and good rice, they wound up adding a rule to their family’s code for simple living. They decided to link their local community with one foreign country. They chose Thailand, because Nancy Goodwin once had lived in Thailand and actually knows a bit of the local language. They wove their sustainable connections close to home—and across the Pacific to a village in Thailand where their family supported a microfinance program. Then, at the end of their year, the whole family visited Thailand to see what real-life connections they had made in that village.

    These two principles in their book make the “Year of Plenty” a work of genius—perhaps genius stumbled upon out of real-life necessity, but a work of genius, nonetheless. This Norman Rockwell family sewed together a patchwork quilt of principles that real people can duplicate—and that takes the century-old adage “Think Globally, Act Locally” one step further. The Goodwins—with modest means—managed to “Think Locally, Act Globally”!

    EXCERPT OF ‘YEAR OF PLENTY’:
    THE GOODWINS’ LIST OF SIMPLE-LIVING RULES

    Come back Wednesday to meet Nancy and Craig Goodwin in our weekly interview. But here are the 5 rules that shaped their year-long adventure …

    LOCAL: We decided to buy goods from local producers, manufacturers, or growers, and we defined local as coming from eastern Washington and northern Idaho. We didn’t have a precise mileage in mind. It was basically the outer limits from which our farmers from the church farmers’ market traveled to sell goods in Spokane. We wanted to place value on things in a way that wasn’t based solely on their price, forming a new economy of consumable goods anchored in caring relationships with people we know. … The focus on local goods meant that there were many items, especially food, that would be limited by the Washington climate. Say good-bye to watermelon in January and hello to a long winter of lentils, peas and potatoes.

    USED: We would buy used products, preferably from one household to another. Craigslist and eBay would be our new shopping malls. Second-hand stores and garage sales would take on a whole new significance.

    HOMEGROWN: We had been novice gardeners, cultivating a small patch in our backyard for a few years. For the first time we would look to our yard as potential cropland, and our harvest as an essential component of our health and well being. The greenhouse I built the year before would now serve a vital purpose, allowing us to get an early start on our short growing season.

    HOMEMADE: Those things that weren’t available by other means, we would seek to make at home. We agreed to allow some flexibility in buying the raw materials necessary to make the finished product, but we would try to get them from local sources. For example, when it came time to make our own ice cream, we bought cream from a local dairy but we settled on buying rock salt from a nonlocal source; when we ran out of vanilla we bartered with our neighbor to get what we needed.

    THAILAND: There was one major glitch in our newly emerging economy of local, used, homegrown and homemade goods. The one food item we couldn’t stomach giving up was coffee. … There are several quality roasters in the Spokane area, but we soon settled on the idea of choosing an international location from which we could buy select items during our year, including coffee. We crossed off Mexico and China from our list for obvious reasons and ultimately settled on Thailand where there is a marginal Arabica coffee industry but also the best Jasmine rice in the world. Nancy lived in Thailand for two years after graduating from college, which was invaluable as we sought to learn about the region and the people who live there, the economics of their lives, and how our consumption would impact them in positive and negative ways.

    MEET THE GOODWINS in our interview with Craig and Nancy.

    Please connect with us and help us to reach a wider audience

    Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, email us at [email protected] and tell us what you think of our stories—and, please tell a friend to start reading along with you!

    We welcome your Emails! . We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed. Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

     

     

     

    Interview: Matthew Fox on his ‘Christian Mystics’

    May 31, 2011 by

    MATTHEW FOX: ‘THERE’S A PROPHET INSIDE ALL OF US!’

    MATTHEW FOX WITTENBURG PROTEST.

    Matthew Fox prefers to be called just “Matt”—perhaps because his full name in news media usually comes with “Provocative” or “Controversial” attached like it’s his first name. There is some truth to those labels: Matt doesn’t suffer fools lightly and throughout his career in preaching and teaching, his activism has stirred fiery reactions. If you’re reading this interview, you’re probably aware of his years-long feud with the Vatican that led him to move to the Episcopal church in 1994.

    Read Part 1 of our coverage of Matt’s work, this week, for a link to his new book about the Vatican. Or, to learn more about the breadth of his work, consider reading this provocative 2008 interview with Matt, which focused on his book, “The Hidden Spirituality of Men.”
    Yes, we just used that “P” word, again. How fair is that term? Well, the photo at right shows Matt in 2005 in Wittenburg, Germany, nailing up a long list of principles for transforming Christianity. Wittenburg is the site traditionally associated with Martin Luther and the birth of the Protestant Reformation. Matt staged this 2005 demonstration to protest the election of Pope Benedict XVI, his own long-time sparring partner.

    But, let’s be clear: Matthew Fox’s work is far larger than his feud with the Vatican. In fact, Matt describes his vocation as cosmic in scale.

    In 2005, Fox wrote from Germany that a TV cameraman in Wittenburg asked him, “Is this just about the corruption in the Catholic church?”

    Matt says he answered: “No! The Protestant church is suffering differently from the Catholic church. It is more from boredom and accedia, lack of energy to begin new things.” Matt concluded: “A Reformation—better yet, a Transformation—is called for across the board as we enter a new millennium.”

    However, some of the concepts Matt explores in his work can seem a bit dense for general reading, which is one reason we like his new Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations—it’s an introduction in day-by-day segments to the core teachings on mysticism that drive Matt’s work on spiritual renewal.

    HIGHLIGHTS OF INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW FOX
    ON ‘CHRISTIAN MYSTICS’ AND TRANSFORMATION OF FAITH

    DAVID: Let’s start with your new book, called The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved. Give readers some background on the scope of this book about Benedict.

    MATT: I go into his story, his career—and his enemies. He has silenced more than 90 theologians and activists and expelled them, including me and many in the liberation-theology and base-community movement in Latin America. I write about his allies in the church, too. I write about the pedophile scandal, but also two other scandals: the financial-mismanagement scandal, more of which is just coming out now, and the scandal of dumbing down the church.

    DAVID: Explain what you mean by “dumbing down”?

    MATT: In expelling all of these theologians, then by appointing only yes men in the hierarchy, this really dismantles the intellectual energy of the church.

    But my book is not all about scandal. In the last part of the book, I write about where we can go from here. My thesis is that the church has been so deconstructed under the last two papacies that it’s time to push the restart button on Christianity itself. I see this as the work of the Holy Spirit leveling the playing field. Now, we should be asking: What should we save from this burning building? And that’s where my new book on mysticism comes in. This is part of the treasure of the church that we truly need to save. What does a truly catholic-with-a-small-c Christianity—a truly universal Christianity—look like? The church needs a new Reformation—both in our Catholic and Protestant wings. The Catholic wing is corrupt at the very top and Protestantism has sold its soul to Fundamentalism and needs a good kick in the pants, too.

    MATTHEW FOX ON UNDERSTANDING MYSTICISM TODAY

    DAVID: We all have some mental image of a “mystic,” but your list of mystics will surprise readers, I think. You’ve got some famous mystics in this book—but you’ve also got people in this collection like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Marcus Borg, who most readers wouldn’t think of in this regard.

    MATT: That’s because too many people define mysticism in an esoteric, narrow way. That kind of definition deprives people from recognizing that they are mystics, too. And that’s at the heart of my 40-year ministry—reminding people that they can be mystics. It’s there inside them.

    My whole life has been trying to connect mysticism to the work of compassion and justice. In fact, that’s why I’ve gotten into so much trouble with critics! If I was just telling people to go lock themselves away and be still and meditate—I wouldn’t have made the enemies I’ve made! I would still be making a living as a priest in the Catholic Church! I like to quote William Hocking: A prophet is a mystic in action! I’m trying to find that balance, that dance between the mystic and the prophet. And, you know? There’s a prophet inside all of us. We just have to kick start it! It’s the church’s mission to help people become both mystics and prophets.

    DAVID: You list the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a mystic. He’s a great man, obviously, but doesn’t show up in most works on mysticism.

    MATT: Don’t even try to tell me that King wasn’t a mystic! That misses the whole point of what I’m saying about mystics. They don’t have to wear their mysticism on their sleeve. It’s by their fruits you will know them. King certainly was a mystic! Did you know that, when he went to jail, the book he carried with him was Howard Thurman’s “Jesus and The Disinherited.” I’m sorry for anyone who tries to tell me that King wasn’t a mystic—or the others I’m including here, like Howard Thurman—shouldn’t be in this collection. I think that response is just spiritually illiterate.

    You know 150 years ago Walt Whitman said it was time to smash the crystal of poetry and start over. I think it’s about time to smash the crystal of classic theology. We’ve gotten into a terrible mess. Let’s start over.

    MATTHEW FOX ON POET GONZALEZ & MYSTIC HOWARD THURMAN

    DAVID: Last year, one of our most popular stories in ReadTheSpirit was a short profile of your friend, the California-based poet Rafael Jesus Gonzalez. You’ve worked for years with Rafael so you know his approach to art and life and spirituality. What caught our readers by surprise was Rafael’s argument that the American standard of living actually is impoverished when compared with Latin America.

    Why? Rafael gave the example of music and holiday celebrations: In Mexico, “there  is much more music in the streets, more dancing in the streets, more color. There are more holidays that have so much meaning in them that they flow through the streets until everyone shares in them. In the United States, people don’t sing in the streets. People glue their own private music to their ears.”

    I would say that Rafael is pointing to something very close to the everyday mysticism you’re describing. Rafael is talking about the “awe” in vibrant living—a concept close to mysticism. In American culture, we tend to squeeze that awe out of our daily lives.

    MATT: I love your quote from Rafael! Yes, we live in a culture where art itself is encased in crystal. We only talk about art in terms of what sells commercially. We miss the important point that everyone has an artistic life. Everyone can express themselves creatively. Yes, this is what I’m talking about when I talk about the everyday mystical journey on which all of us can take part.

    DAVID: I appreciate your including Howard Thurman. We actually publish a book, “Interfaith Heroes,” that profiles Thurman for contemporary readers. We think Thurman was a very important spiritual pioneer.

    MATT: Of course! Thurman was a spiritual influence on Dr. King. I consider Thurman one of the greatest mystics in North America. I knew his wife, because he ended his life here in San Francisco. The pastor of his church was vice president of my University of Creation Spirituality. We published a whole issue of our magazine some years ago on Thurman. The guy was an absolute spiritual genius. His work influenced so many other movements. You can even see his influence in the Jewish renewal movement. I never met Thurman, but I’ve seen film of him and I’ve heard his sermons in recordings. There’s a beauty in his voice that’s absolutely moving. So, it’s no small thing that King chose Thurman’s book to take to jail.

    MATTHEW FOX ON GLOBAL CRISES—AND HOPE IN DARKNESS

    DAVID: Your book and your public speaking has an apocalyptic air to it. You talk about the house of Christianity burning down. You talk about kicking Christianity in the rear end. So, let’s close this interview with what you see on the horizon line.

    MATT: I am not optimistic, but I am hopeful. I think hope is very different from optimism. Hope comes out of facing the darkness, facing the despair. We have to face what is happening to us as a people and as a planet. The damage we are doing to Earth is reaching irreversible proportions.

    We’re running out of time and we’re still making very unwise decisions. The BP disaster is a sign of that. The situation in Japan is another sign. The Japanese know they’re sitting on a ring of potential earthquakes—so why didn’t anyone stop to think that earthquakes can produce tsunamis and it’s a very bad idea to design nuclear power plants and the emergency-response equipment in such a way that it all can break down when an earthquake strikes. You would think the human race would be smarter than this.

    What we’re realizing is that, as a species, we’re not as smart as we think we are. For example, I’ve been reading about new thinking on farming. It could be that we’ve been doing agriculture wrong for 10,000 years if we want to sustain ourselves and the Earth. And, I think we need to admit that we’ve perhaps been doing religion wrong for 10,000 years—or doing education wrong for 10,000 years.

    We have to learn from the mystics about purifying our longing, living simpler lives, using less energy and getting out from under this incarnational greed that passes itself off as our economic system.

    But, we do have a lot going for us. You’re going to publish this in an online magazine. The Internet allows us to communicate beyond our own tiny cultural ghettos. We can send out wakeup calls. We have to live differently on this planet to survive. Can we do that? Of course, we can do it. Our species is amazingly adaptable and we can change—but not if we remain trapped in our own tiny, little, introspective consciousness.

    Remember: You can purchase Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations—Fox’s 365-day vision of what mystics can teach us at this moment in history—via Amazon.

    Please connect with us and help us to reach a wider audience

    Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, email us at [email protected] and tell us what you think of our stories—and, please tell a friend to start reading along with you!

    We welcome your Emails! . We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed. Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

    Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.