“Nature abhors a vacuum” is an ancient proverb (quoted as
early as 1532) but often attributed to Aristotle and directly linked to philosopher
Baruch Spinoza in his work Ethics (1677).
Though it may be a proverb of sorts it is actually an idiom used to express the
idea that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural as they go against the laws of
nature and physics. Actually…they don’t…they can’t... I have SO many questions
about this…if only I were smart enough to be a physicist!
I have heard this idiom applied to nearly every possible
human condition…from using it as an excuse to not perform the task of vacuuming
rugs or carpets, to rationalizing a minimalist lifestyle because humanity
inherently “never has enough”—hence we continue to fill the vacuum!! I was
actually hoping to make a spiritual application but I am uncertain as to
whether it might have any application that doesn’t seem completely nonsensical.
Today I posted a recent quote from Ed Stetzer on Facebook: “a
church not using social media today is like a preacher in the pulpit without a
microphone and without an audience” (the quote is telling in itself because
MANY of the older generations would have grown up in churches where preachers
would not have used microphones…clearly it is an analogy intended for younger
audiences). I questioned after the quote
whether the Church might be moving from a Gutenberg type paradigm towards a
Google paradigm…has the Church finally embraced a new paradigm? My post elicited
quite a few responses about paradigm shifting and the inherent difference between
“high tech” and “high touch” outreach and discipleship (which was not my intent
in the original post).
I was hoping to probe a little deeper. If the idiom “nature abhors a vacuum” is even
partially true why is the paradigm that is emerging after postmodernism taking SO
long to actualize? I have studied with
great interest the shift between the Modern and the Postmodern where philosophical
ideas eroded away the bedrock of modernity until it actually gave way to Postmodernity. This move, in itself,
caused a firestorm of controversy and was seen as a mistrusted step for the
moderns who are quite at home in the Gutenberg world, but it seemed to
actualize MUCH quicker. Once, as Easum
puts it, we discovered we were in the “wormhole” the process materialized
fairly quickly (perhaps a mere 50 years?)
But now we are caught in the wormhole of what is coming next
and the entropy that has ensued. It
appears nature doesn’t abhor a vacuum or things would be changing much more
rapidly than they are!! I understand, in part, that for the first time since
Gutenberg our world is in a state of information overload… "Googlemania” (contra
Neil Postman’s 1992 work, Technopoly,
where he argues that technical calculation is a higher function, and therefore
superior to, human judgment. Because of
this thesis Postman argues that the affairs of citizens are best guided, and
conducted by, experts. Clearly, his
thesis has been proven wrong by the plethora of information we now have from
those who are not experts at all…need proof…I direct you to ANY community
college student’s research papers…how many bibliographic entries are from
Wikipedia? [What? It’s on the internet…it must be true and trustworthy!]) However, there must be ways to manage what we have become in the Google world (actually I would be hard pressed to accomplish anything these days without the "luxury" that technology affords me...from dropbox on my home, office, and missionary friend in Haiti's computers, to Skype, not to mention cell phones, etc...and I have barely embraced technology when compared to some).
So what has all this to do with Church or spirituality? The
Church has been historically slow (a HUGE understatement) to accept paradigm
shifts. The Church actually just caught
up to Modernism in the 1970’s and 80’s while the rest of the world was already
shifting to Postmodernism (in ideas if not in actuality). So, true to form, the
Church is once again behind the culture (just once it would be refreshing if
the Church were proactive instead of reactive…but I don’t think that has
happened since Acts chapter 2), and is showing a stubborn refusal to accept
(though many claim they have in the name of being “relevant” to the culture…a
term they apparently cannot define…one does not make the Holy Spirit “relevant”…by
nature of Its’ ontological presence it is “relevant”—ALWAYS) the huge shift
that the world is undergoing.
I have spent my entire career (if that is even an appropriate
term as I hardly see it as a career as much as it has been a continuous and
ongoing struggle…like Jacob wrestling with God on Bill Murray’s version of
Groundhog Day!!) trying to understand how this has occurred, is occurring, and
will, eventually complete the process. I, unfortunately, am a part of the “bridge”
(some prefer “gap”) generation who were actually born into Modernity but was
educated and lived in a postmodern world.
This means that I sociologically have a split personality! I am the proverbial Colossus of Rhodes with
one foot in the future and one foot in the past (or in his case straddling the
harbor!). When I first came to understand this I thought it would serve me well in the Church...but it has not. I am too old for the "new" and to "new" for the old.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I am tired of being “the
bridge” (at this point I think I’d rather be the troll that lives under the
bridge!!) I am tired of constantly having to reinvent the wheel every week. I
once complained to a mentor that the location of my ministry didn’t seem to fit
with my experience and education and he quipped, “perhaps you were sent there
to bring them into the 21st century”…well here we are, firmly
established in the 21st century and I haven’t accomplished anything
but obesity, high blood pressure, and enough stress to kill a “small” (read normal
sized) person!! Is that the sucking
sounds of a vacuum I hear in the distance…surely it cannot be since “nature abhors
a vacuum”…or not. I believe, help me in my unbelief.
