Say No to the Herd

"...There are four possible attitudes, said Jones, to the herd urge.  We can 1) withdraw from the herd 2) defy the herd 3) succumb to the herd or 4) surrender the herd to God and then live within it..."

By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird

Every summer the Hird family goes away on an Ashram retreat to Sumas Mountain.  The Christian Ashram movement was founded in 1930 by Dr. E. Stanley Jones in India.  As a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, Jones wrote twenty-eight books that sold millions, including Christ of the Indian Road and Abundant Living.

As the most widely read spiritual author during his lifetime, Jones left a remarkable impact that is rapidly increasing in our social media world.  Jones’ short aphorisms are very quotable, being often reposted on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

 

For the last year, I have been rereading Jones’ book The Way to Power and Poise. Jones memorably warns us against the herd: “If we are herd-centered people, then we are insecure, for the herd is fickle and may quickly change.”  Teenagers, when facing peer pressure, are often tempted to be herd-centered.  When we give up self to the herd, we lose identity, focus and creativity.  The desire to be popular and to fit in can be very deadly.  It takes courage to be ourselves.  Jones taught that if we are dominated by the herd, we are doomed by the herd – doomed to a life of up and downness. 

The problem with the first attitude of withdrawal is that we are left in isolation and eccentricity.  All forms of separation, segregation or apartheid backfire upon themselves.  Emotional cut-off solves nothing.  We are called to be in the herd but not of the herd.

The second attitude of defying the herd leaves us on the defensive.  As Jones put it, you cannot live constantly objecting without becoming objectionable.  Defensiveness is negative and self-defeating.  Healthy people do not define themselves by what they are opposed to.

The third attitude of succumbing to the herd, said Jones, robs you of your voice: “you are an echo; you don’t act; you only react; you are not a person but a thing.”  Mindless conforming is ultimately deforming.  Giving up self to the herd leaves us flat and empty.  Mob mentality, as with the 2011 Vancouver Canuck riot, is rooted in the herd mentality. Many young people going to that Canuck game had no idea how destructive they would become. 

Only when we let go and let God can the herd become healthy.  The herd will drain you of life and energy, if you let it.  The herd is never satisfied.  You can never do enough to please the herd.  Jesus gives you the ability to transform the herd into a thing of beauty.  Say no to the herd, and yes to life.

The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector  

BSW, MDiv, DMin

St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver

Anglican Mission in Canada

-author of the upcoming book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit 

-an article for the September 2014 Deep Cove Crier

p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘ED HIRD’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPALusing the e-mailed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.

-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada

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I Love Kindle - Meyer

Yesterday, I took another small brave leap into the technological morass which has inundated our culture and forever changed “life as we know it.” (Drum roll, please…)
I downloaded Kindle to my PC.

Though perhaps not such an earthshaking event to some of you, to this northern girl who would love nothing better than a cabin in the bush, heated by wood, and lit by a coal oil lamp… well, you get the picture.

It’s only been around ten years since my husband wrestled pen and paper out of my hands (metaphorically speaking) and insisted that I try writing my books and articles with a computer, storing the information on 3.5 floppy disks. And then came the huge step of “getting on the Internet” which my very patient middle son taught me how to do. I developed a website in 2005, which I still have and another one a couple of years later.

In 2008, I began blogging – on this site! It was difficult for me to do a lot more on the Internet because we only had a low-speed dial-up connection. Then we broke down and got a satellite dish (ugh!) affixed to the side of our house and I was able to Tweet on Twitter post on Facebook and sometimes even watch a youtube video (on the days when our connection is good).

But I am an author and I LOVE books – real books with pages that you can feel. I have books that are over a hundred years old – and I just love the fact that I know this book is still just exactly how it was written – no revisions. You get a real feel for how people thought back then when you read a historical novel that is truly historical!

And don’t we all stare at computer screens too much in our workday without also doing this in our leisure time?

So why did I finally stroll over to the “dark side” and embrace this newest (for me) technological advance? Two reasons really: it’s cheap and it’s convenient. I can get an EBook for a fraction of the price and have it downloaded in seconds to my computer. Living 850+ km from the nearest bookstore, I would normally wait until I made a trip down south to wander through either McNally Robinson  or Aqua books or Hull's Family bookstore . Instead, I can just go on Amazon and download Barbara Ann Derksen’s mystery: Presumed Dead and even write a review on it!   

Did I mention that I was able to download Kindle FREE to my computer?

It’s so easy, even a recovering technophobe like me can do it!

Dorene Meyer

Award-winning Author of EBooks: 

The Little Ones, Jasmine, Lewis and Joshua

Fan of Twitter - Meyer

So… my next foray into the great unexplored vistas of social media is… Twitter.

Now, the trick with this form of communication is to keep it short – very short! 140 characters – including spaces!

Those of you who know me even a little, will know how difficult this is! Even at book-signings, I can never just sign my name on the inside cover. I want to write something personal, something meaningful, something memorable. Come to think of it, the number of characters that I typically add to my signature would likely top the 140 count!

Another thing that is a real challenge for me is the Internet language, acronyms and symbols. Some of this is simply a lack of familiarity. AKA, ASAP and FAQ have been around for quite a while. Christians have used PTL (praise the Lord) and writers POV (point of view) for decades. I’m getting used to LOL, FYI and BFF. Acronyms like B4 and L8R, I can figure out okay. But WIBAMU (Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!) or ne14kfc (anyone for KFC?) leave me ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing)!

This is likely also why I can’t seem to get a handle on texting. I don’t want to just send a link to an event and then write, “r u goin” but instead write something like, “Hi Jan. I heard about this event that you might be interested in attending. I’m going to be in town on that date. Maybe we could meet for coffee first…” Right about that time, my thumbs are starting to get muscle cramp!

Anyway, back to Twitter. For those of you who haven’t signed up yet, it’s easy. Just go to http://www.twitter.com/. Pick a user name that no one else has already chosen (one of the few occasions when I am thankful for the unusual spelling of my name: Dorene). Then you search for interests and/or friends to “follow.” This means that you can read their tweets when they post them. It’s different than Facebook because they don’t have to accept you as a friend and there doesn’t seem to be a limit on “followers” as there is on “friends” (you can’t be a “friend” to Jerry Jenkins, for example, but you can be a “follower” of Steven Harper).

I was able to find (and ultimately follow) some fellow authors: Sheila Wray Gregoire, Grace Fox and N. J. Lindquist; my favorite radio show: The Drew Marshall Show; McNally Robinson Booksellers; Christian Week newspaper; and the aforementioned, Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

Social media is making it possible for us to connect in ways that we never could have before. I recently chatted with someone on Facebook who was from India! It’s so awesome to meet people from the other side of the globe – brothers and sisters whom we might not otherwise have met until we got to heaven! I hope to twitter and tweet with some of you soon! My user name is DoreneMeyer and there’s only one of me so I'm easy to find!

TNT (Till next time),

Dorene Meyer http://www.dorenemeyer.com/ Author of Lewis, Jasmine, The Little Ones and Deep Waters
Now in book stores across Canada Distributed by Word Alive Press http://www.wordalivepress.ca/. Available online and as ebook on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/ (key in title of book and publisher: Word Alive Press).

Please join us for the Manitoba Launch of A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider: http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-10330/Dorene-Meyer

See Computers, See People - Gibson

At high noon on December 28th – or as high as noon gets at the dawn of true winter – I sat in my husband’s big recliner. Plunked myself down, just to stare out the window. Alone for the first time, it seemed, during the holiday season. And very tired.

All was calm, all was bright. Only an occasional breeze nudged the trees. When they stirred, they flashed. Sparked like static between bedsheets.

A light application of hoar frost, barely noticeable, rested on surrounding spruce, maple and cedar. They wore their jewels like self-conscious royalty.

I liked that. Liked the still house, the quiet angels, the surprises over. Blessed residue of Christmas past.

Across a sky as blue as forget-me-nots, a white streak began and lengthened from the west, tracing eastward.

Just a jet, I thought. Wonder where it’s goin’ today.

A jet? the Holy Spirit interrupted. (Never fails. I sit down to be quiet. He interrupts.) A jet, Kathleen? That’s people up there. Human beings thirty-five thousand feet up, travelling 550 miles an hour. People leaving home. People going home. People happy, people sad. Mad people. Afraid people. Confident people. People, Kathleen.

Well, of course, Lord. I know that. So what?

Don’t call it “just a jet,” that’s all. I don’t even see the jet myself. Only people.

Into my silent day, holy day, into my all-is-calm, all-is-bright moment sparked a realization: computers too, are mere people vehicles.

I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to the computer. Not in practice — in mindset. I keep my website pages and blogs operational, but I’m slow to plunge deeper. Social marketing scares the bejeebies out of me. I see dangers there — making ourselves in our own image, mostly. Creating our own buzz. Becoming digitalized people. Would Jesus tweet? Honestly, now.

Clouds obscured the blue bowl above, the vapour trail dissipated and the jewels stopped flashing. But there we sat still, God and I. Remembering the people Christ died for and I craft words for. Talking over the messy business of communicating vital life messages using the tenuous mediums of dead trees, broken sticks, podiums, pixels, and 140 characters.

Sometimes I forget you write too, I said. An anthology, sort of, wasn’t it?

Yes, said the Living Word. Bit of time. Bit of effort. Not many read it. I speak some too. Even fewer listen.

I’d rather forget about the blasted computer, mostly, I said, yawning.

I know that, too.

The sun stretched two fingers through a ragged cloud, poked a glaring hole in my neighbour’s blue spruce and pinched shut my weighted eyelids.

That okay, Lord?

Okay. Just remember. People.

Hmm, hmm.

Hey, Kathleen?

Sigh. Now what?

I use computers too.

Tweet.

Kathleen Gibson

Practice by Pratice, a collection of Kathleen's Sunny Side Up faith and life newspaper columns will be published later this year by Word Alive Press, Winnipeg.

In 2009, BPS Books published West Nile Diary, One Couple's Triumph Over a Deadly Disease.