Do you ever think you are living in an episode of the Twilight Zone or an article from the Onion or the Babylon Bee? More and more I get that feeling! The first hunch happened when I was in college, a certain pro-wrestler was elected governor of my home state, sort of a prequel to a certain guy being elected President. But more than the political aspects of it, socially and culturally I found myself in a place that didn't seem to have the same reality as I had experienced elsewhere, and since then, it has only gotten worse, then it was confined to academia, now it is the very parlance of the media, politics, music, books, art, and trendy culture and even the social sciences. And if you don't happen to celebrate, celebrate mind you not just tolerate, all the trendy aspects of this brave new world, well you are worse than a Nazi.
But then I read in a certain dusty old book, a true relic left over from unenlightened times, when they didn't even have google or social media, poor benighted fools!, that, 'it is the foolish things that will overcome the world.' Interesting! But then the ancient church was accused by the Romans of being cannibalistic atheists, so why should I be surprised? Apparently it isn't just me or modern sensibilities, the same nonsense has been driving the world crazy since Eden fell. Wasn't Paul accused of being driven mad by his great learning? Didn't a dozen unlearned fishermen 'turn the world upside down?' Wasn't there a riot in Ephesus even though the majority didn't know what they were protesting? It is no different now. It isn't that the world is being turned upside down so much as parts of it are being turned right side up, in its current state it is upside down, that old book is the key to setting it aright: turning darkness to light, bringing life out of death, joy out of sorrow, hope from despair. Maybe it is time to look anew at those foolish words from ancient days, the modern media, politicos, and internet gurus certainly don't have any sensible answers and they've had two millennia to come up with an answer to 'life, the universe, and everything,' and even 42 makes far more sense than some of the drivel they've come up with!
