In my last post, I talked about the effect of desensitization in current entertainment- and how the downfall of the Roman Empire can be directly related to it. I asked if we could pull ourselves out of the rut of entertainment, and not get dragged back to a repeat of history.
However, I failed to mention the influence of entertainment media not only in our culture, but as part of our makeup from our very creation.
Human beings were made for the Garden of Eden. Genesis, chapter 2: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (verse 15) So God made man to work! But oh, where he worked! He worked in the brand new, spotless, untouched, perfect and holy Eden, a place we can only dream up for bad Star Trek episodes and videogame sequels. The beauty and glory of that place, before sin became known, was probably heaven. No, literally…Heaven. (That’s what I think, anyway. It doesn’t matter.) What I’m trying to say is, the “work” Adam and Eve did probably wasn’t work at all. They got to hang out in this gorgeous wonderland, completely naked, with no one else but God and the animals. And the animals were all chill, too. That’s just plain awesome.
So man, made for garden. Sins, and leaves. Works, makes babies, dies, repeat. For centuries. But throughout the centuries, the only major contributions to humanity besides devices of war are the humanities themselves! The Lascaux Cave paintings show off ancient artistry. The ancient Greeks still influence our culture through their standards of art and philosophy. The Romans, when they weren’t brutally slaying everybody, combined the arts of hundreds of cultures and established a fundamental architectural design, still used today. Heck, even the nation of France is all about artistry. And what is art? Art is beauty, and therefore, it is entertaining.
Does that make any sense? I’ll re-phrase: Humans thrive on entertainment, because we were created to enjoy what is beautiful. When learning, wouldn’t we rather learn from a book with pictures than a book with just text? As students, don’t we find ourselves zoning when a professor drones and mumbles about nothing interesting? Even Jesus knew this, so he spoke in parables to people who didn’t easily grasp abstract concepts. So while entertainment can also play the “bad-guy” role, we can’t forget how we’re wired.
Moderation is never easy, is it? Good luck to you on your quest for a balance of AWESOME.
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