Ryan Hallford on Gossip, Truth, and Community

From founding Parousian Ryan Hallford:

"Where do I start? Why do I write? What can be accomplished? Attempting to say something of importance has typically forced my mind to go blank. Perhaps, I should start by saying something very non-important. And why not? Often society devours very non-important things. This trend radiates throughout the media. When I listen or read the news, I anticipate many unimportant things that writers publish. The numbers of magazines devoted to such topics baffles my mind. When shopping in stores how often do you see academic or religious journals at checkout lines? While the wide spread use of internet may serve to advance the type of global consciousness theorized by the likes of Teilhard de Chardin, I can not help believing that the social obsession with trivial news sets back progress.

Gossip in any community can easily become a frequent past time; however; does the present rate of gossip serve to benefit mankind? One of my favorite churches, St. Joseph Abbey, has the seven vices or capital sins depicted in the apse. These vices are embodied in the form of demons that are held prisoner under the angels of God who simultaneously uphold and serve God’s creation. In the spirit of good humor, and because the space between windows merits another portrait, the painter, Dom Gregory De Wit, includes an eighth vice for the Benedictine community to be vigilant against. This eighth demon whispers towards the choir stalls where the monks daily gather to pray. This depiction serves to warn them against the destructive nature of gossip. Apparently, not only secular society suffers from the infestation of unimportant things. Frankly, it distracts us from the more important issues of life.

The problem gossip creates makes important things disappear in the horizon of infinite amounts of tedious rumors and possibilities that serve to distract the mind rather than form it. Instead of focusing on issues that concern the nature of man and his end, we become bogged down in a quagmire of filth. The truth takes back seat to the entertainment that soap operas afford. Why waste energy talking about gossip? Because there is a growing need to reexamine our culture in hopes to discover those precious gems of life; to embrace culture from within and find those important things that truly enhances the life of the individual. Such a realization sets out to evangelize culture through two methods: from within and without.

Through the instruments of faith and reason the mind can discern the moments of grace manifested within culture. These spectacles of truth can often go unnoticed in the midst of unimportant things unless given proper recognition. This method intends to evangelize the culture from within thereby adhering to the call of a New Evangelization that reads the signs of the time. However, an equally important counterpart to this New Evangelization not only deciphers the important things from within but speaks about those truths found outside any individual culture. By transcending a particular culture and calling upon the eternal truths expressed by means of the Church and the light of reason, the responsibility of spreading the Gospel and redeeming the culture rest in the hearts of a people awaiting the Parousia.

Often, the vast sea of non-important things drowns the advocates of Truth. Much ciphering takes place before exposing the truth ingrained at the heart of the community. Within the community, every person has a valid insight into reality by the nature of their own experiences. Reality is greater than the any individual mind can know. Each person is a part of reality and therefore a part of the whole. Each person does have a capability of contemplating the whole (animals do not) and thereby offer a subjective perspective on reality without objectively comprehending the whole of reality. This does not mean that the community can invent or create Truth. However, we are called to collectively work together in seeking the Truth and participating in its reality. Life is full of beauty and meaning, and I encourage people to share their insight so that I may too learn what they have to offer. By journeying and journaling together, hopefully this blog may inspire greater knowledge and love of God than any of us could have obtained individually. Truth is a communal affair and calls us to greater unity and brotherhood. In arguing for the important things in life, I believe there are three types of people that argue: those who argue for the sake or arguing, those who argue because they like to hear themselves argue, and those who argue to seek the Truth. I consider myself in the last category. And by "argue" you can easily substitute it with the word "dialogue". I believe Truth is of the utmost importance. We should search for the Truth and rejoice in the day we find it."