When the forms of an old culture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure (Rudolph Bahro).
I read this quote a few days ago, and having just had Caleb and Kerry Storkey with us for a couple of days I feel re-invigorated to push into some understanding of our times. How far will I get? Probably not too far. But I have to acknowledge the repositioning of our times. These are ‘Liquid Times’ (Bauman), and as I suggested recently Daniel might well be one of the prophetic patterns for our time.
A little question that came to me today. Did Daniel have anything to learn from the magicians in Babylon?
We have an old culture – economics, capitalism (a snake that feeds off its on tail?), leadership styles, politics, church… if the quote I openecd with has any truth within it I guess the question is am I willing to live in an insecure place?
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5 Comments
Great quote and question.
Haven’t seen you in ages, so I should flipping well say congratulations to you and Gayle! Loving the move to Mallorca and this whole new adventure.
I have no problems with living in an insecure place but the thing I am also aware of are those who are very insecure in that place. There is such a need for those with wisdom and compassion to be able to reassure many that it is “okay, there is a hope and there is a future”. The two images that comes to mind are the Father that holds a child through a storm (Rob Bell in one of the Nooma videos holding his son, whispering constant reassurance sort of thing) and someone who stands up in the middle of a panic situation and says “okay hang on in there, rescue is on its way”, or “come on everyone, this way”.
I love the timing of your blogs Martin! I just secured a job for 3 months where I have been working temporarily but I felt surprsingly very vulnerable and then I had a dream this morning on this very theme. I am not sure if vulnerablity and insecurity are quite the same but the above reminded me that it is OK to be at that place. I really don’t like feeling vulnerable/insecure as it seems to bring feelings of insignificance and worthlessness (similar to Joanna’s comment!) and yet there is great hope in reading the above.
I would rather be in an unsure place and maintain relationship with the Lord than be “secure” & miss out/have no relationship with Him. Such “security” is hollow and a lie.
I believe it was Oswald Chambers that said:
“Faith may not know where the Journey will lead, but faith knows the ONE who is leading . . .”
Just looking at the site for the first time for a few days. I’d forgotten this quote of Bahro’s – a source of inspiration. I used it for a newsletter back in 2005 – and went looking for it. Thought you might like the thoughts I had then. Sorry the post is long…
I have been seriously challenged in the last couple of weeks by reading a couple of books by Rudolf Bahro – who’s he you might ask?? I’ve used a quote from his work a couple of times before – do you remember this:-
“When the form of an old culture is dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure.”
I’ve always liked that statement and always have been challenged by it – am I really willing to be insecure? However as I came back to it again I realised that I had only read it as a quote, out of context, in somebody else’s book. So I decided to investigate more – good old Amazon revealed a list of his titles and I was able to purchase a couple fairly cheaply second-hand.
I’ve been intrigued by his writing. He was born in Germany in 1935 and became part of East Germany with the division. He joined the communist party but his writings on alternatives led to his imprisonment for ‘publishing state secrets’ in 1977. On release in 1979 he moved to West Germany joining the Green Party (which has always been a much stronger alternative than in the UK). However in 1985 he left the party because he felt they were only tinkering at the edges and not looking to really change the system. In 1990 he was exonerated in East Germany and taught at the Humboldt University of East Berlin.
Just a short biography to give you some idea of where he is coming from – a man who has taken seriously his beliefs and has even had to suffer for them. He is very hot on that we cannot continue to live as we are – that our system of production in the western, communist (or ex-communist) and the Asian Tiger nations cannot be sustained by our environment. It is probably something we all probably pay lip service to – try and do our bit for recycling, saving electricity etc. but this guy pushes it so much further.
A Change of heart or spirit.
He talks about how we have seen that power and ‘taking over’ as our means of growing and measuring life –right from the beginnings of history where we have looked to conquer lands, our climate, other animals and other people groups. Today this is seen in our materialistic culture –finding our meaning in owning more and more things. If all of China want cars at the same level that we have them in the western world (and why shouldn’t they if progress and equality is measured by possession) that’s another 70million cars!! The earth cannot cope.
Most measures going on at the moment tinker around the edges – look for less polluting technologies, taxes on the heavier polluters, increase recycling. All good policies but they still have the basic ethos that we must found our societies upon production. Bahro calls for a change of heart!!
Bahro longs for a rising in the spirit of the people to understand that our meaning is not found in production alone but in rediscovering the hidden depths of our humanity- the spirituality, the community, the creativity that cares for the world, the longing that we don’t all look for owning more but learn to be satisfied with less.
What a challenge for Christianity – could we be those to lead others forward in this? Could we dream that another world is possible? How could we possibly get there when we are so indoctrinated in our culture and way of life? Is this what it could mean to be counter- cultural in the 21st century and therefore what God is whispering to the church? Could this be what he has put as a seed in the ground for? Do we need to take this seriously? Are we willing to try?