A Dream Within A Dream
The Script of our Life: Part One
Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, (they are) driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. -From Isaiah 17:13
I dreamt I was walking past cobwebs, down basement stairs, and into the darkness of forgotten days. When I reached the landing, I turned on my cell phone flashlight to survey what the church basement stored.
The light revealed banners and signs that congregations had proudly proclaimed over the past decades. I laughed when I saw an apocalyptic Y2K banner in the corner of the room, remembering so much hype about nothing. But then it dawned on me that the church messages that surrounded me reflected the same revolving headlines as my conversations in the waking world.
There were dusty banners proclaiming the end of the world if we did not immediately divest ourselves of nuclear power. Next to them were Cold War signs from a church on the other side of the political divide, proclaiming the safety of “mutually assured destruction” with the word MAD in bright red letters. More recent additions to the collection included “Occupy Wall Street” placards, messaging the support for the 99% against the 1%, pro-choice signs sitting uncomfortably next to pro-life posters. Each banner, in its day, divided the church over issues deemed essential to our civilization; each was overtaken by a new fear before the issue could be resolved; each is now forgotten in this dark basement.
I woke up, looked at the time on my phone, and was greeted with the latest military action. Out of habit, I eagerly turn to the headlines on what we colloquially call the news: BBC, Fox, CNN, and GB News. In reality, I was reading people’s reactions to the military action, one step removed from what actually happened. I further indulged my appetite by seeking and finding my favorite talking heads on YouTube, people who make money by riffing on the headlines. The more outrageous their outrage over the opinions of others, the more likely they are to have pride of place in my YouTube algorithm. As I watch them they guide me two more steps from reality. They urge me to share, as my opinion, their opinion on the opinions of the news.
I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and saw a young boy captivated by geeks1 at an American carnival in days gone by. When I had scrolled through the content on my phone, I was as captivated by what I saw as 1900’s carnival goers were when they saw the wild men bite the heads off chickens and snakes. They formed a gaggle outside of the geek tent to discuss what they had seen. I had joined a group on social media voicing anger, in hushed and hurried tones, at those whose opinions differ from their own.
It is sad to think that this is the closest our cultural conversations come to a sense of community. We put so much energy into validating our view as virtuous and the other as a threat while both are far removed from what is actually happening.
My dreams are closer to reality than my waking hours.
Is this really the way I want to live?
Is this the Script I want to live by?
Is there another one I can choose?
Geek originated from the Low German word geck (fool) and the related Dutch gek (crazy). In 18th-century Europe, it became a word for a freak or a simpleton. In the 19th century, it developed a related meaning in North American slang as a circus sideshow performer who bit heads off animals. It wasn’t until the 1970s that it came to mean what we think of it today: someone who is obsessed with tech.
Excellent, thoughtful and thought provoking post. Thank you.