So, if you’ve stumbled upon this blog, I’m sure you’re wondering to yourself right about now, “What exactly is Above the Norm?” And that’s a good question. Unfortunately, it’s the wrong question. The question is not “what,” but rather, as you will soon see, “how.”
Above the Norm is a cultural revolution with a focus on defeating the two great evils of mediocrity and complacency and countering them with both active and contemplative striving for greatness beyond this world, specifically in God our Lord and Father. I came up with this idea several years ago after realizing that the cause of so many modern evils is not what we think it is. I’m not talking about the huge evils, like war, starvation, genocide, etc., etc (unfortunately, there are many et ceteras to be had here.) But rather, I’m talking about some of the many, smaller evils that surround our American society today; the smaller evils that many people don’t even consider to be evil anymore. Evils such as violence, hatred, substance abuse, pornography, etc., etc (again, unfortunate.) But what exactly is the root of all of these evils?
I could be completely wrong; I’m definitely not completely right. Man rarely ever is. But I truly believe that many of these evils are caused by mediocrity. Complacency. Slothfulness. Indifference. A lack of motivation. What have you. The idea that a person is nothing else but a person, a physical, material person, is devastating our culture. The idea that there is no greater good than man, that man and his pleasure in life is his own ultimate destiny, is destroying our identity. And the idea that greatness is nothing more than the money you have, the cars you drive, the clothes you wear, and the people you see is corrupting our beings.
Man is so much more than physical. There are many other elements to man, but perhaps the one that is both the most important and the most lost is his spiritual nature. The idea that man is both body and soul; physical and spiritual; natural and supernatural. But this idea has been lost by our culture, a culture that doesn’t believe anything more than it can see with its own two eyes. But even though I’ve never seen Mohandas Ghandi, I sure haven’t stopped believing in him.
And if we accept this belief, this factual existence of a soul, then we must realize that man is really quite a meager being. A grain of sand in the world’s vastest desert. For there must be something that instilled this soul; some greater good that created it. Though I would love to go into proofs of God’s existence, I do not have the time. However, there are many credible and reasonable arguments in favor of God, and so I accept them and believe them. If you do not, then I respect that this is a step you have still yet to take and I leave it to better men. But I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and as such, I believe that the lack of belief in Him has brought our society into a deep depression. Without a greater power than man, man is his own judge, and therefore would seemingly have the right to do whatever he wanted. This is why God is important. Because you’re not the highest power. You’re not the greatest good. In fact, you’re really quite far away.
Finally, our society has come to accept mediocrity as the standard, the bar, the norm. Society doesn’t expect greatness of anyone. Not only is society indifferent to you if you do drugs, have sex outside of marriage, view pornography, talk disrespectfully of others, hold grudges, act irresponsibly, and basically do any wrong; it expects you to do all of these things. These things have become the norm of human society. They have become standard, and are no longer viewed as evil. Imagine if society recognized the evil that can be found in such things. It would crumble beneath the guilt and moral poverty. And that is exactly what we aim to do.
Above the Norm is a cultural revolution, designed to bring down the oppression of modern society, a Culture of Death, using faith, hope, and love through the most powerful mediums of all: art and voice. And while our artistic capabilities may be a bit more difficult to format on the internet, our voices will be heard. If you sing loudly enough, eventually some one will hear you. Any one can join and any one can post (until we find a better method, just send your posts to me and I will post them, after using my own discretion to decide whether they are fitting for the blog.) In the tradition of men such as Ghandi, let us use our voices as our weapons to combat the evils that face us.
If you sing loudly enough, eventually some one will hear you.
Let us pray:
That with the graces of God in Heaven we might seek to serve Him in all things we do and turn every action to Christ for His glory, and not our own. Help us to act lovingly and accordingly to Christ, for it is in imitating Him that we come to truly find Him. And in our darkest times of need and sorrow, let us turn to You with our hopes and prayers, our dreams and visions, that they might come to be perfect through You, Almighty Father, who are more perfect than we could ever hope to be.
Amen.
So, are you ready to be Above the Norm?
Right on man!!!!
ReplyDelete