The song from Red Hot Chili Peppers with the same title as this post is stuck in my head. "Throw away your television ... Take the noose off your ambition ... Reinvent your intuition now... Oy! Oy! Oy!" Anyway, on to the topic at hand.

Before I came to the seminary I wasted a lot of time watching television. A lot. And by “wasted,” I mean I was not being entertained. In fact, I was just shutting off my brain and avoiding the work of thinking about serious things in my life: the building of friendships and the challenges that entails, the pursuit of true happiness, and perhaps most important of all, t.v. helped me ignore the fact that I was uninformed about holy things, particularly God Himself. But now with little space for a television in my 10-by-10 room, I watch very little television. Surprisingly, it didn't take long after television was removed from my life before the withdrawal symptoms subsided and I discovered the gift of additional hours in my day.

Before, after a day at the office, I would be tired. So I would click on the television and my brain would shut down. The trouble is, when I would turn off the t.v. I would not feel refreshed. What good is recreation if it doesn’t leave one feeling refreshed and renewed – in a sense, re-created? When I used to turn off the t.v. at the end of the night, invariably I had watched it longer than I should have. My eyes would be heavy, my head maybe even aching, as I lumbered off to bed far too late to get enough sleep before work the next day. Was it worth it to watch reruns of Seinfeld? Am I better off for it? Not in that case.

Seminary forced me to turn off the t.v., and I did not mind the lack of the distraction. I really don’t have time to watch it, first of all. And second of all, without television I find myself re-creating in more meaningful ways that actually do leave me feeling more refreshed. Maybe I take a nap when I’m tired instead of vegging out in front of the t.v. Or maybe I go for a walk, do some leisure/spiritual reading, write in my blog, visit with my neighbors and friends, call Grandma, or go converse to God in prayer. Those activities generally leave me at least relaxed and at best ready and energetic to tackle the next pile of work.

All of this comes to my mind today because my favorite t.v. show, Lost, is back on the air. You may recall how I became a Lost addict back in 2006. I’m not opposed to watching television, so long as it’s done for true recreational purposes. I enjoy Lost, so I watch it. In previous seasons I downloaded the show from iTunes. But this year, I decided to spend my money on a t.v. tuner for my computer instead of handing cash over to iTunes. That way, I rationalized, I can record the season, and anything else I want, without additional cost, and I avoid hogging the limited seminary bandwidth. It seems like a practical purchase.

But once I got the t.v. tuner hooked up, and was able to watch 11 High Definition over-the-air channels (4 of which are PBS) in my room on my computer, I had a strange feeling. My room felt different. There was a new intrusion of the world into my little private habitat. I became concerned that I would start watching t.v. more, that I would revert to my mindless couch potato status whenever I was tired in the evening.

A few times since I purchased this device I have turned it on and tried to watch some television. But I realized that I have lost the taste for it. The commercials are so abundant that it is not worthwhile (unless you can fast forward through them) and so much of what is aired is junk. Additionally, many of the shows are designed for those who suffer from ADD. Just watch any news channel. A while back, I turned on the t.v. and saw the screen divided into four quadrants, with four different people talking simultaneously, one in each quadrant. And as if four people simultaneously yelling at one another did not provide enough to hold my attention, text scrolled continuously across the bottom of the screen, occasionally grabbing my eyes and dragging them slowly from left to right across the screen. Graphics were incessantly moving, flashing across the screen with intense words like “CRISIS!” and “BREAKING NEWS!” but, oddly, they were not discussing much of anything important. As I watched, my brain started to become overloaded and I felt uncomfortable. Then a commercial break came on and I was screamed at by a homemaker who was extremely happy with her new brand of paper towels. It was too much. I turned it off.

The same thing happens each time I try to watch t.v. in my room. It’s not worth it. If there’s a show I like, I might record it. But channel-surfing to unwind just doesn’t work for me. If anything, t.v. makes me more nervous and tired.

Stop watching t.v. for a while. By "a while" I mean a month or two - maybe give it up entirely for Lent. Then turn it on, and you’ll be amazed at how absurd it seems. Now that I've said all that, I should mention that I have the newest episode of Lost waiting for me on my desktop. I'm looking forward to checking it out tonight, after all my work is done for the day.

-Jason

When I sat down to watch Avatar in 3D last night, I had already been warned by reviews that this movie contained themes of nature worship, and I had heard snippets of the plot. These glimpses at the movie were not enough to dissuade me, however, once I saw the trailer of the film. This looked like something far beyond what I had seen before, and I really wanted to see it.

Walking out of the film, I realized I had just seen the most visually beautiful computer generated film ever. I had also seen a very thought-provoking film. And while I did not like the film, my mind has been mulling over the details of it since I walked out of the theater. Here are a few of my thoughts.

For those who don’t know, the movie’s plot (with a minimum of spoilers) is basically as follows. Because we are greedy humans hungry for money, we want the rare ore that is found on a planet called Pandora. So we go there and mine it. Unfortunately there are natives that live on this planet, and their giant “Home Tree,” where they live, is right atop deposits of the ore. There are two groups of humans: the environmentalist "Avatar project" scientists who want to study the planet and the culture of the aliens from the inside using remote-controlled alien bodies that they have created, and the greedy mining company with their army of marines. In short, you can probably guess what happens from that short synopsis. War and carnage.

The overarching theme of the entire film, as I see it, is that true happiness lies in being in union with nature. And not just in a sort of imaginary way. These happy aliens live in that union by truly connecting, physically, their bodies to the trees, the earth, and the animals they have domesticated (but in a very respectful way, of course). This process of “union” seems oddly sexual and bizarre. Hunting, for these aliens, ends in a sort of prayer of remorse and thanks to the soul of the now dead “brother” which has been killed and can become one with the divine Tree of Souls. Truly, the deity of Pandora is Pandora itself, with all its living creatures connected like neurons in a sort of brain that has, incidentally, “more connections than the human brain.” The goal of all life is thus to be united in the afterlife with the living planet itself.

As a Christian that does not sound quite right to me. I don’t see as my goal in the afterlife some sort of communion with nature on one planet. That is thinking far, far too small. Instead, I hope for union with the Creator of matter itself. And, if one reads the writings of the saints such as Saint Teresa of Avila and countless others, that union is real and can be experienced, to a degree, even in this life. And from what I have read and experienced, it is indescribably more beautiful – words always fail these saints as they try to express the experience – than what I saw on the screen last night. Even faithful Christians not versed whatsoever in Christian spirituality will know, through Scripture and the basic idea of monotheism, that there is only one true God, and that the spirituality of Avatar is severely misguided.

A week or so ago, I came across news reports of people feeling depressed after leaving the film because their real lives seem dull in comparison to what is on the screen. It was reported that people were talking of suicide because their real lives seemed dull and pointless after watching the beauty of Pandora. I, who had not seen the film at the time, did not believe that could possibly be true. Instead I concocted the conspiracy theory (for which I have no evidence but could still be true) that these discussion boards in which people described their post-Avatar depression were a creation of a viral marketing campaign, an attempt by the filmmakers to create a media buzz, which it did. But now that I have seen the film, I’m not so sure. Why? People applauded.

People applauded at the end of the film, which I found a bit disturbing. Visually, it was awesome. But we just saw humanity slaughtered on an alien planet. We just saw the greed of humanity at its worst. We just saw a terrible spirituality exalted as ideal. And, finally, we just saw the remnant of the humans sent back “to their dying planet,” and we cheered.

No wonder people feel depressed after stepping out of the theater and back into reality. We are scum. We are parasites. We deserve to die on this rotting planet for our sins against Mother Earth.

Yet people applauded. Was it just the visuals that they were applauding? Was it the predictable love story or battle scenes? I hope so, but doubt it. Many people are not seeking the transcendent God of reality, the one whose beauty and perfection we see reflected in that awesome beauty of the real planet Earth and in the cosmos. People are not seeking the transcendent God whose truth and wisdom is reflected in our own intellect and the sciences. Instead, they are stuck with a smallness of vision and are, even if they don’t realize it, turning to the religions of environmentalism and animism. Do not weep if a tree is felled in the forest. Yes, use the forest responsibly as a precious resource given to humanity by God. But don’t worship it. Worship its Creator!

It seems to me that Avatar is to the new age and environmentalist religions what C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy is to Christianity. In Lewis’ Space Trilogy, there are planets that do not suffer the effects of original sin, not being descendants or homes of Adam and Eve. These planets are described as being incredibly beautiful. The Space Trilogy is what James Cameron should have filmed. In fact, he did in a sense do just that. Many of the visuals I saw in Avatar were stolen right from the pages of Perelandra, the second book in the Space Trilogy. If you enjoyed Avatar, read Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength, all by C.S. Lewis.

I also see a connection between Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Avatar. In Brave New World, a novel from, I think, the 1930s, humanity has progressed in science to the point of, basically, doing what we do today: things like test-tube babies and cloning. People aren’t “born.” They are grown in jars (sounds ridiculous, but it’s not far from IVF technologies of today). And what’s worse, they are modified as they grow in their jars to be a member of a certain class of society, and to be happy in that class, desiring nothing better. It is a cautionary tale warning of the dangers of science without morality, and consumerism, that we have not heeded in the decades since it was written.

Huxley’s Brave New World has and is becoming closer to reality, and many people seem content to go right along that path. In Avatar, the alien body that is remote controlled is not pure alien. It is a mixture of human and alien DNA, grown in a big jar, to be exactly what is needed. At the end of its growth, it is ready to be used and is “decanted,” a term the scientist in the film used to indicate the alien body’s removal from the jar. That is the exact phrase used in Huxley’s Brave New World. Perhaps the writers wanted to suggest that part of humanity’s depravity was its forays into genetic engineering, in vitro fertilization, cloning, and so on. Those who are not born but “decanted,” the products of misguided technology, are in fact themselves victims. In that, the writers are correct and should be commended. But most people won’t catch that reference. They will see no problem mixing human DNA with alien DNA to build a new creature for our use.

In short, the movie was visually beautiful. But it makes attractive a spirituality that is not in accord with human dignity and nature. It suggests, in no subtle way, that humanity is a parasite and that God exists in nature. Some will give me the cop-out comment of “It’s just a movie, get over it.” I say, this movie is the product of our culture.

Seek God, the true God, not the gods of nature. If you truly do so, you won’t be depressed because humanity is sinful and greedy. You will realize that your goal is union with the true God, not a tree, and that despite its flaws humanity is beautiful. Don’t despair; if you seek the beauty in reality, it is infinitely greater than fictitious Pandora.

So, yes, I am a bad blogger. One of you even e-mailed me with the subject line "long time no blog." It has been a great month or so since my last blog. As you see from previous posts, it was a full month of flying, biking, travel, and so on. Here is a quick recap. Above is a picture of me riding in Texas. The thumbs-up is for the downhill I'm about to enjoy after a series of long, painful climbs. Texas Hill Country has a lot of hills (duh).

After Jesse and I finished biking across Texas, I flew to Saint Louis for the night. Then I hopped in my pickup for the long drive home to enjoy Christmas with family. Pictured here on Christmas Eve are my brother, Ira, and and his wife Heather. Oh, and who can forget their big lazy dog, Ajax. It is an exciting year for them as they are expecting their first child. To watch them discover the sex of the newest Signalness, see their youtube videos: part 1 and part 2.

What is the world coming to? My MOM got a Nintendo for Christmas. Wow. All I got was socks (okay, that's not true). Speaking of Christmas, there was record snowfall on Christmas Eve and Day. Many churches in the diocese didn't have Christmas Masses because of the weather. Mom and I went to Mass, after much debate about the safety of the drive, and found the church almost empty. It was a very simple, quiet Mass.

After that I made a trip to Mandan to spend time with fellow seminarians, my bishop, and my parish. Then I drove up to Sunne Lutheran near Wilton to see a baptism. It was a great pleasure to watch the baptism of Jesse and Cheryl's beautiful little girl, Joanie. Seeing Jesse with his daughter was awesome. And seeing her beautiful little eyes, hands, and feet was such a pleasure. I'm very happy for Cheryl and Jesse.

But after attending the baptism, I had to drive to Broom Tree Conference and Retreat Center in rural South Dakota somewhere south of Sioux Falls (near Irene, SD). Unfortunately I blew a tire somewhere near Watertown. It was late at night and about -10 degrees. After struggling with the jack and spare, I was back on the road in maybe 45 minutes. My hands were freezing, despite my gloves.

This is a picture of the retreat center a couple of days later, after a nasty blizzard had passed. I spent a week here in silent prayer. Four hours each day I prayed with short passages of Scripture. This is my second such retreat. They aren't always easy, but as the words on the front of the altars at Broom Tree say, "In the silence ... God speaks." The time there was a very fruitful preparation for my ordination this coming summer.

Here is the view out one of the windows at the retreat center during one of the days of blowing snow. It was often 20 degrees below zero with 40 mile an hour winds. The snow drifts pile up to six or seven feet in some places and the wind scoured the ground clean in others. The staff of the retreat center retreated before the storm hit, and were unable to return for two or three days because the roads were all blocked. As I said, this is in the country. But we were fine. It was better, in fact, because it was more quiet with fewer people around.

This is the small country church on the property of the retreat center. I spent a couple of hours each day in there, usually by myself.

It has been restored completely. The interior of the church is very simple, but quite nice. It reminded me of my first parish church in tiny Des Lacs, ND. I enjoyed it.

Now, of course, I am back in Saint Louis and have resumed my seminary studies. This semester is packed, but the courses are going to be good. I will be studying the theology of the Eucharist, deep prayer (spiritual theology) and spiritual direction, marriage preparation (yikes!), holy orders, and Saint Augustine, to name a few of my courses.

There, I feel a bit more caught up on the blogging now. If only I could get those travel logs for my last two bike trips completed. Oh, someday.

It is now the end of our fall break here at the seminary. Last week some of the guys suggested we go camping. I thought, "you're insane," because it gets quite cold at night and it had been raining or gloomy for a full week. But, I thought, it might be fun. So I said I'd come along. It was a good time. As we got near the campground it was raining and the sun was about to set. Thank God the rain let up as we assembled our tents and we cooked supper over the fire. The clouds eventually moved off and revealed the stars, brighter than I've seen them in quite a long time.

It got cold that night but we were prepared. The morning brought us a perfect fall day. We walked the trails around the lake, which is where I took most of the pictures in the slideshow above. If it's not too cold, maybe I'll do this again next year.

-Jason