Most mornings I get up to go the gym at 6 a.m. Yes, it sucks the first day but by the end of the first week it's a rhythm and it does me well. My main problem with the gym isn't the earliness of it at all, actually. It's that there's someone who's always there who bothers me. I'm sorry to that person--who I'm sure doesn't read this blog or even know I exist despite our frequent encounters. It's not really her personality or anything that bothers me; I don't know her at all. It's just that she always does one thing the moment she comes in: turn on the television.
I have gradually moved away from television. I still watch occasionally, mostly with friends or when I really need to decompress, but there are times I just don't want to watch it. In the gym is one of those times, especially if it's not on something with movement. Soccer, ok. Food Network? Not ok. MTV? I will turn up the treadmill to 10 mph and just go until I'm done, because it's more painful to watch than to run.
As I'm reading in the book on Communicative Theology for Ministry in a Media Culture, I came across an idea that I think also came up recently when I was reading Madeleine L'Engle. It might not have actually been her, but I'll give her the credit because she would likely have thought this too. This is the idea of transmitter and receiver. The problem with flicking on the tv the moment we enter the room is that there is a wall between us and the images we see. They communicate to us; we don't communicate to them. That's why I'm not sure that Scharer and Hildebarth are right when they say that the "human person cannot not communicate."
Silence is blessed. Not communicating consciously allows the opportunity for the spirit to enter into me in a conscious way. That is something I do strive for. So please don't turn on the tv. I just want to run.
No comments:
Post a Comment