Author: Ron Baker

Behaving has always been a thing.  From childhood tantrums up until those final years of life of senior eccentricity.

In western culture we have substantially moved in how we treat our behaviours.  Previously governments and clerics used moral absolutes and the fear of punishment to steer behaviours.  A lot of “ought” – do this or that – with a stick of enforcement at the end. 

Where are we now?  I think we are moving (have moved) into a time of “I can” do this or that.  I am going to do this or that.  I don’t need permission.  Fear of judgment is dismissed.

In saying that I can do this or that, I now am in a place of becoming an entrepreneur of myself.  My life is all about building my own person, achieving my own goals.  Even spirituality becomes an entrepreneur thing – we now have self-spirituality. 

But when the entrepreneur grants themselves limitless freedom, they have created a personal society that intersects with burnout – trying to satisfy themselves.  So, instead of listening to sermons they seek self-help.  Instead of confession we head straight to therapy.  Instead of accepting religious activity we let our bosses and books push us towards fitness, self-care and “becoming a better you.”

And soon our desire to achieve all of this for ourselves (to be our own entrepreneur of ourselves) leads to burnout.  We compensate, telling ourselves not to be too hard on ourselves.  But our approach to a free life requires that ongoing achievement.  To maintain our life, we decide to move into a stupor of uncaring – or more rightly into a paradoxical life – knowing we want freedom and knowing our achievements will never fully reach that point. 

IN SUCH A LIFE THERE IS NO MERCY.

If only our society could find mercy.  If only we could save ourselves.

(My thanks to Samuel James – Digital Liturgies on Sub-Stack for starting my train of thoughts in this area)

Well, the last 10 days have been “holiday” days with family and friends.  I preached a sermon, went for walks in small town Saskatchewan, hung out at a birthday party and generally was busy being not busy.

My takeaway?  People are inspirational to me while also being draining.  This is the paradox of being a human being who is “front facing” and at the same time enjoys back room quietness. 

As I look to this coming year, my initial thoughts are to keep that balance.  To be seen and yet to be unseen.  To enjoy the presence of others and the present of being by myself.  I’ve taken enough personality training to know that this is tough but necessary work.  I’ve also lived long enough to know that all of this life-work is meaningless without a further infusion.

I trust that your new year will find you seeking after that which God desires, fully immersed in Jesus’ work, and lived out through God’s Holy Spirit in you – seems to me that is the ultimate work that makes all the rest of your life-work worth the while.

I remember starting my first blog posts in 2005.  My mentor in blogging, Randall Friesen, said, “Don’t start unless you plan on continuing daily”.  One of his friends took an early stance on linking thoughts and other blogs.  Another good idea. 

But certain seasons are harder than others.  As one relative pointed out to me, I haven’t been as prolific lately.  Not that I don’t have thoughts – but two questions arise:  Is my writing meaningful to anyone other than myself? / What platform is the best in this digital age?

And in my ear rings the advice of many of those who have mentored me in writing – “Just write”.  Writing is “good” for me.  I’ve journaled daily for 30 years.  Blogged for almost 20 years.  And taken on other writing projects.

What does “good” mean?  Well, here is the link to one aspect, prompted by a newsletter from Carey Nieuwhof.  The 71 word thought comes from Seth Godin’s blog of October 19, 2024 (you can Google this and find the link by using those descriptors).  Here is the quote:

“Confused about good”

How often do we assume that popular things are good, and that good things become popular?

If your work doesn’t catch on, does that mean it wasn’t good?

In almost every field, people with insight, taste and experience admire and emulate good things that aren’t popular, and are surprised by popular things that aren’t good.

Perhaps we need to broaden our definition (or narrow it) so we can be clear about what we mean.

When the abacus becomes an instrument of prediction we have moved into artificial intelligence. 

A great sentence that needs to be unpacked.

A computer was generally seen as a machine faster than a human at processing numbers and objects.  To go beyond mere numbers, to predict beyond reasoned extrapolations, you generally stepped outside the abacus of calculations and found a prophet, soothsayer or mystic who dealt in wonder. 

Worked for millennia.  After the human and the machine could no longer see further than the computation they had completed then wonder followed.  The prophet was revered – especially if they were right all the time!  They had a special connection to the unseen, the supernatural, the divine.

In some ways the current generation (and a few before) have moved firmly into a scientistic mindset.  All understanding is expected to be evidence based.  Rule out/erase the idea that knowledge and wisdom are separate from each other.  When you have accumulated enough information you should be able to project accurate results thus generating wisdom to be disseminated to those around you.

This mindset promotes Artificial Intelligence as understood in a Western Mindset.  Thus the oft heard statement that AI is “of the devil” or “evil”.  When revelation is eliminated, wonder is lost.  This heads onto another path I won’t follow today – into a philosophical discussion of the modern mindset, the post-modern mindset and now the ambivalent (or “paradoxical”) mindset.  A spoiler alert – you might just find that our point in time isn’t the first time this cycle has happened.

But does that make AI evil?