Seth Haines's Blog, page 8
March 6, 2020
Politicians and Preachers... Right?
That’s right; you didn’t receive an email yesterday. Why? Because I
dropped a Substack newsletter. Did you see it? Alright, on with the show.
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Politicians and preachers…are the easiest targets. The former group, we say, demonstrates their fragmentation by success. The latter by failure. What do I mean?
The Political Example: The career politician (yes, you know the one) rose to the top of his party of choice. He’s been consistent on a particular issue for twenty years—let’s call it life or ...
March 4, 2020
How to Recollect a Fragmented Life
an addict I once knew—I was him—who curated his drinking circles. The partner in the office, the happy-hour clients, the after-six drink with the wife. It was the fragmentation of his drinking circles that kept anyone from knowing just how dependent he was. It was the fragmentation that kept his drinking habit alive.
Remember the preacher who banged the Word on Sunday morning, all fire and brimstone? Remember the stories, how he walked women through the...
March 3, 2020
Are You Living a Fragmented Li(f)e?
If you’re involved in faith circles, especially those of the Chrisitan variety, you might have heard the news from two weeks ago. Jean Vanier—the founder of L’Arche, a community that served those with special needs—was living a double life. According to reports from his own organization, Vanier used his position and status to sexually abuse no less than six women, some of whom were nuns.
A man some considered a surefire Saint (as in,...
March 2, 2020
A Piece of Art That Will Change Your Day
Last week, we explored beauty and art, how it shapes and molds the world around us. This weekend, I experienced the spiritual and emotional alchemical power of art firsthand. At a church in Rogers, Arkansas, Amber and I stumbled across a sculpture.*
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February 28, 2020
Birdsong: A Poem
Today’s post is a bit late. Apologies for the delay, but sometimes the day runs wild like horses in Montana.
Maybe beauty can save the world. Maybe it can’t. Whatever the case, the video I shared this week proves the truth: Beauty can break rocks. Today, enjoy a poem inspired by this week’s previous video.
BirdsongIn the church of St. Simon The Tanner,
the guardian of the Kura River,
a choir collected voices as
a passing of peace.
The West sent their Pope,
the East a black-haired girl,
young as...
February 27, 2020
How Beauty is Saving a Friend
For more photos like this, visit my Instagram account.
Over coffee, we cut loose on the stuff of life: the news; marriage; children; art; the journey into or out of faith as the case may be. We talked about the creeping despair in America, too, how I’d had two acquaintances who’d passed in the last 14 days, perhaps by their own hands. “Precarity,” he said, “is baked into everything these days: the economy; the ways we make money as freelancers; the family; life.”
I rolled his statement over...
February 26, 2020
Ash Wednesday: A Pause to Reflect
This week, I’ve been writing about backfilling your time with beauty. I’m taking a brief break, though, to remind you that today is Ash Wednesday, a day in the Christian tradition to remember your mortality and look forward to resurrection. Today, I’ll make my way to service and the priest will remind me:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
I’m inviting you to stop, reflect, and remember. You came from dust and are returning to it. How will you make the most of living...
February 25, 2020
How Beauty Brings Power to Tears
Email readers, you’ll want to follow this link to watch this video.
Break with technology and backfill the time with beauty—that’s the call of the week.
Yesterday, while traveling, I searched for beauty, and it came in the form of an email from my friend and fellow-writer, Lore Ferguson Wilbert. It was an email filled with links, each meant to pull the reader into a more sensory experience. She wrote:
To help you engage all your senses (which is part of waking up), I listened to this...
February 24, 2020
Let Beauty Be Your Distraction, Your Reprieve
Up before dawn. Cranking out a report. Sending three emails. Locking in the day’s tasks. Orienting myself to the work. All before prayer or meditation. This was my morning.
Today is already burning at both ends, and if you live in this modern miracle of Western civilization (which is to say if you are not a ghost), your day might be too. Always burning, always on fire. But perpetual fire burns things to the ground, and a life of constant conflagration isn’t sustainable.
Today, take a break...
February 21, 2020
From Digital Addiction to Analog Resistance: Find Something Beautiful
This week, I’ve thrown down a challenge: Cut your screen time down, see how you feel. But what good is the practice if you don’t backfill it with something meaningful? Today, spend some of the time you’d normally scroll on your cell phone pondering the good, beautiful, or true. Take a photograph. Write a poem. Read a book. Have a cup of joe with a friend. Resist the digital. Do something analog.
That’s all for this week. Come back next week and let’s keep living the examined life.
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