A Pilgrim’s Odyssey

My Precious, You Are What You Love

You are what you love. This is why we can have a culture where people have many things they “love”, but their souls are being destroyed. We can be both “happy” and depressed. Searching for life, but filled with death.

I was reminded of this fact reading an article about video game addiction that mentioned a 2016 book by James K. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. It is about shaping a Christian life, and realizing, you are what you love, and often, we might not love what we think. Or I would say, what you desire and falsely love. And even if it is something that would destroy you, this desire shapes our hearts and who we are.

In the article I came across by Carmel Richardson for The American Spectator, for many of our young and not so young, it is video games. Especially young boys and men.

From the article:

“Gaming addictions are real and damaging, even beyond the well-documented: shorter attention spans, academic struggles, and a handful of basement-dwelling Call of Duty players who went off the rails. If those weren’t enough, gamers are also highly prone to depression, and increasingly, studies show strong correlations between gaming and suicide rates.”

“The demographic most hurt is young men. Statistically, gamers are teen boys, in the phase of life when they seek excitement most and are tempered by maturity least. Video games, which promise endless excitement, can be incredibly addictive to boys of this age. One 2020 poll, done by Michigan Medicine, shows teen boys are far more likely than girls to spend three or more hours gaming in a given day, and boys are twice as susceptible to gaming addictions in general than are girls. To say boys are the only ones to blame would be inaccurate, but certainly the problem affects them more than their female counterparts.”

The author’s main question, why do we allow video games to proliferate the young so unencumbered? Her implication and my answer, we all have our own “video games” and to limit the youth would mean to shine a light on our own “loves”.

When we are blind to what we truly love, we tend to see things the way we want to see them. In a culture where we can get so easily distracted from reality in a search to create our own reality, is it any wonder that we are so divided over data and facts that we cannot agree upon, because we see what we want to see?

Finding Clarity When The World Is Upside Down

This isn’t a rumor. It’s just taken a while for it to become public. As of today, there are six planes filled with American Citizens and Afghan interpreters at the Mazar Sharif Airport being held hostage. It is finally being reported by mainstream news sources such as CBS.

From a news report:

A satellite image that was released on Sunday reportedly shows six airplanes that the Taliban is not allowing to fly out of Afghanistan. The planes are supposed to be carrying American citizens and Afghan interpreters who helped the U.S. Military.

The satellite image follows a report from CBS News and remarks from a top U.S. lawmaker on Sunday that both said that the circumstances have effectively turned into a hostage situation.

“Multiple planes that are ready to take American citizens and green card holders out of the country are being denied permission to leave by the Taliban,” CBS News reported, according to congressional and NGO sources. An email viewed by the network said that the flights were cleared to land in Qatar “if and when” the Taliban agreed to let them leave.

A senior congressional source told the network that “the Taliban is basically holding them hostage to get more out of the Americans.”

What has happened to America 2021 that this isn’t leading every news program? What has happened that our government so cavalierly has left these people on the tarmac? It’s enough to drive one crazy.

In our upside-down world, we just visited the community of St. Tikhons Monastery and Seminary in the rural community of South Canaan, PA, nested in the hills of the Pocono Mountains. To many people, the scene of family and kids all centered around church might seem crazy. But it isn’t. It’s probably one of the sanest things I’ve seen in years.

Counterculture and radical is a big family centered on faith and each other. Nothing crazy about it, just living as human beings were created to live, focused on the things that matter in life.

“Our Generous Host Nation”

As the last American forces left Afghanistan and the Taliban took over the airfield in triumph, our commanding General, General Mackenzie thanked “our generous host nation” and expressed regret at leaving only about 250 Americans behind.  The generals leave us as they led us, as liars. The politicians even worse.

“General McKenzie is basing his “very few hundreds” comment on those who have gone through official channels to specifically declare they want to leave and who have demonstrated they are American citizens. But many, many more were either unable to go through official channels as they evaded the Taliban or could not sufficiently prove they were American citizens. If they couldn’t fax a passport to the Embassy, they weren’t counted, according to sources at the State Department.”

While General Mackenzie was desecrating the stars he wears with his lies and our last plane was leaving the Kabul airport and stranded Americans to the Taliban, this happened the same weekend in Chicago:

"Forty people were shot, four of them fatally,...."

Where is the critical examination of the policies State and Local government have executed for decades, and how it might have a part in this. After all, Chicago is run by one political party. If an honest news organization wanted to, it would be pretty easy to analyze a little cause and effect. But we are continually let down by a politically, and ideologically led media.

And as the generals, politicians and reporters lie, and people die.

Ambiguity Increasing In Afghanistan

In our information age, obfuscation can easily be achieved with an abundance of big language and impenetrable data. Want to hide your intentions or lack of a real plan, make it sound as complicated as possible. When someone can’t explain the general goals, principles, and concepts of something clearly, I get suspicious. This goes for plumbers, doctors, lawyers, you name it. Sometimes expertise hides incompetency or worse.

Here are some highlights of a segment Tucker Carlson did with war correspondent Laura Logan where she talks on this very issue:

“There are many things the United States could do right now to change what has happened and what is happening in Afghanistan, and they’re not doing it.”

“We don’t care about Afghanistan. We believe that Pakistan is the most important country in that region and they always will be.”

“What they want you believe is that Afghanistan is complicated. Because if you complicate it, it’s a tactic in information warfare called ‘ambiguity increasing.'”

“This comes down to the fact that the United States wants this outcome. Whoever’s in power right now, whoever’s really pulling the strings –- and I don’t know that –- they could do anything they want to change this, and they’re not.”

It is important to remember this in our own lives. When we lose focus, life gets more complicated, harder to understand, and it is much easier to lie to ourselves about what we need to do to change things. Focus allows us to avoid becoming charlatans of ambiguity ourselves.

When The Truth Is Crazy

The situation in Afghanistan shows the truth of the leaders and pundits so many people have blindly put their faith in. Before we evacuate US citizens and friends who have helped us, we close the airbase best situated to evacuate them and then pull out our military. The best minds came up with this!

As I mentioned on my last podcast, politicians DO NOT write the bills that impact our lives, lobbyists and staff members do it. Do you think one member of congress has read and understands the full text of a 1.2 trillion bill, or a 3.5 trillion bill?

PhDs and health care workers have some of the highest rates of questioning our public health response to COVID, yet if you and I ask the same questions, we are crazy, listen to the experts they say!

We live in a compartmentalized world where those in control of data can control its release and create the narrative understanding of it. This leads to decisions made by political views, and results like Afghanistan, or a country brought to its knees by a public health crisis as our cities burn and we become more and more divided.

Be relentless in your search for the truth. Ask questions. Request data. Beware of anyone who doesn’t like answering questions, beware of anyone who argues ad-hominem.

The Same As It Ever Was

The Taliban are quickly taking over Afghanistan and returning to the power we took away from them 20 years ago. I am angry at our politicians and military leaders. I am more determined than ever to serve those who serve us, and to fight for the things that matter most - family, faith, and community.

Becoming Like A Child

A friend today on Facebook commented on how a recent death had made them reflect and decide to become more contemplative about life. I wondered, why does it so often take death to motivate us to examine our lives and commit to living deeply, if only for a moment.

There are many ways to begin a contemplative life, but here is one I find very poignant from a Russian Priest:

"Childlikeness is lost in life and recovered in holiness."

And from the good book:

Matthew 18:1-5 - 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

Awake In Prayer

I grow weary and praying is hard.

John of Cronstadt advised:

"It is said that we soon grow weary of praying. Wherefore? Because we do not vividly represent to ourselves the Lord, Who is at our right hand. Look upon Him unceasingly with the eyes of your heart, and then, even if you stand praying all night, you will not grow weary."

"Our heart daily dies spiritually. Only ardent, tearful prayer quickens it, and makes it breathe again. If we don’t do daily pray with sufficient spiritual fervor, we may easily and speedily die spiritually."

Gold Medal Sydney McLaughlin And The Golden Trio of Practical Peace

No debt, fulfilling hard work, connected family and friends – all held together by a life of faith.

An easy concept. But in a complicated world, hard to execute.

How about some good advice on staying focused by a Gold Medal Olympian and out-spoken Christian, Sydney McLaughlin, winner and world record holder of the Women’s 400m hurdles.

After her victory, she said the following:

“Just trusting the process. Giving the glory to God,” McLaughlin said about her victory. “It’s all, this season, hard work and dedication. And [I’m] just really grateful to be able to represent my country and to have this opportunity.”

She gave up social media to focus on winning:

"I think when you have a lot of outside voices coming in, it can definitely alter what you have going on internally," she said, via The New York Times. "The more I can distance myself from that, the more I can stay as calm and as relaxed as possible."

She added: "A lot of that is outside things I can’t control and I just tried to minimize it. I stayed off social media, stayed in my room, talked to friends and family and stuck to what I knew."

Via The New York Times

Why Are Americans So Angry?

A friend recently referenced an article by the far left Mother Jones on why Americans are so angry. I only refer to them as “far left” because they place the blame on Fox News. Pot, meet Kettle. In reality, they do not understand why most Americans are so angry.

I’ll tell you why so many Americans are so angry. It is because we have never been so lonely and isolated.