The Dictatorship of Convention

Probably the best commercial ever is the one I saw at the gym a few weeks ago, it was for "HD Sunglasses." You see, apparently the human eye only provides standard-def when you look through it, but with these amazing new lenses you can actually see things with more sharpness and lines of resolution than can be provided by reality.

The idea that we need technological assistance of this kind in order to enjoy the world is pretty widespread, and was illustrated perfectly the other day by the guy in front of me who was reading about the Angels game on his smart phone... while we were at the Angels game (in his defense, he may have thought that ESPN.com would have the final score ahead of time, before the game actually ended).

But my contention that reality is sufficient to give us a clear picture of things as they are was challenged by a quote I came across the other day. Concerning the Beatitudes, the writer said:

"The people this Beatitude describes are those who are not content with things as they are and refuse to stifle the restlessness of heart that points man toward something greater and so sets him on the inward journey to reach it.... The people meant here are those whose interior sensitivity enables them to see and hear the subtle signs that God sends into the world to break the dictatorship of convention."

Hence the eschatological tension between earth and heaven, this age and the one to come: we can see the former easily enough, but the subversive and countercultural nature of the Christian religion is such that our vision of things as they are needs to be constantly called into question, subjected to the ethic of the eschaton, and then reordered accordingly.

That's all for now....