On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Eighteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have four grandchildren, the oldest will soon finish his sophomore year in high school, one moves into High School; the third almost done with first grade, and the youngest celebrated the first birthday. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/.
These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.
I just got back from a retreat. In case you don’t know the term, it’s Christian-speak for “vacation with a purpose”. It made me wonder if Christians are the only ones who reflect on who they are, visit someplace that might give them clarity, and discover what they’re doing “in life”.
So, I dove into a GOOGLE search. Initially, virtually ALL of the responses on GOOGLE for “retreat” had to do with Christianity.
Made me start to wonder if the only people who wondered about their purpose in life were Christians. I instinctively KNOW that’s NOT true, my personal experience as a public high school counselor lends lots of evidence to my claim that it’s a lot more common than just in the Christian community. Lest you assume that I taught science and counseled at some kind of privileged private “religious school, this is where I spent most of my 41 years as a teacher: Robbinsdale Cooper HS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbinsdale_Cooper_High_School
Enrollment Characteristics (2024-2025 school year) (I retired 2019-2020) https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=2731780&SchoolPageNum=2&ID=273178001319
Enrollment by Grade: 9=323 10=339 11=382 12 352
Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity:
Am Indian/Alaska Native=7 Asian=122 Black=533
Hispanic=349 White = 247 Hawaiian/Pacific Islander=1 Two+Races=139
Total Enrollment = 1396
Free and reduced-price lunch eligible total: 983
After digging around some more and reflecting on the above, I discovered that lots and lots of people wonder about their “purpose” in life. With 9th-12th graders, virtually all of my conversations hit that mark, ranging from the obvious “college search and application” to an all-to-common conversation that usually started with some version of, “You do want to graduate from high school, right?”
I was a pretty decent counselor. “My Graduates” (men and women with whom I spent more than just casual time) include a bilingual Kindergarten teacher; a physics teacher who now has a 3D printing business in a large mall where he also teaches people HOW to work a 3D printer; a band member; an insurance analyst; a railroad engineer; two retired US Marines; a couple of welders, a consultant for a games-development company; a couple of physicians; a retired Housing Project Coordinator; a desktop systems analyst; an Academic Dean of Students; a Physics Instructor and research scientist; a Quality Assurance Analyst; theater director; a couple of reverends (both male and female)…anyway. I think that establishes some of my cred that allows me to continue with confidence…
I wanted to dig a little deeper, so I just typed in “retreat”. This produced a wild mix of results from Christian events (which is what I went on) to “…a US retreat built around 'magic' mushrooms. Psilocybin therapy…” Our retreat was based on “Our Identity…” That pretty much gave me dozens of Christian retreats centered around that subject…
That was weird, but then I thought of what a non-religious event might be called. I guessed, “vacation with a purpose”, typed it in and WHOA! Jackpot!
Here’s just a bit of what I found on Wikipedia: apparently, it’s also called “voluntourism combining traditional leisure travel with service projects, allowing travelers to give back to communities, support conservation efforts, or engage in immersive learning. Some broad examples: Environmental Conservation; Community Aid; Cultural and Creative Retreats; Immersive Experiences; Family/Group Mission Trips leading to Authentic Cultural Immersion to build meaningful connections with locals by ensuring travel dollars benefit the local community; personal growth; Focusing on projects that fill a genuine need…”
OK…finally back to my main point: the retreat I went on focused on the source of our identity (during which time, I ran a “36.5 Hour Prayer Room” where people could come at any time, get out of the main track of the “fun” of the retreat, and reflect and seek out God. I spent most of the retreat in that prayer room…as in I slept six of those hours; ate for a couple more, and WARNING: WAY TO MUCH SHARING IN THE NEXT SIX WORDS!!!) visited the restroom occasionally…). As it happened, I felt God move in me in an unexpected way and it led me to realize that I have NOT been focused on God’s plan for my life, but on MY plan for my…WRITING life. I spent many hours praying for others, but also a serious amount of time praying for myself and I’m about to get serious with my writing again. There’s been something of a drought lately – though a short story of mine is scheduled to appear on the AMAZING STORIES website (which is ONE of the “drought” issues right now…) as well as disappointing responses to my 780-page-novel. As my personal life had drifted a long way from pleasing God to pleasing myself…which is dangerous even if I WEREN’T a writer) my identity had shifted from child of God to Writer Extraordinaire. I’m the first to say now that that was NOT a good shift. And in case you were wondering, I’m STILL not going to write “religious/Christian science fiction. MARTIAN HOLIDAY was NOT written to be “Christian Science fiction”. I have a note to myself: “I didn't write MARTIAN HOLIDAY to be read by Christians for ‘entertainment’, but to be shared with friends and let the conversation lead to the implications a Christian faith might have in the far future and in the near future of next year...” A bit of Bible supports my new intent: John 21:25 “But there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I expect that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” New American Standard Bible
As well, from the following website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkXvVAzmys&t=377s I found this: “Effective science fiction for witnessing explores themes of redemption, sacrifice, and the search for meaning, prompting deep spiritual conversations. Here are the top science fiction works for spiritual discussions with non-Christian friends.”
So…there you go. Reflections from the Men’s Spring Retreat…as well as some reflections on other things that occurred to me. This is more me than I’ve been in a long time. Apologies if I’ve given offense. That was NOT my intent…though there are several things about “intent” and “results”. This quote from David Grinspoon gives me hope, “There is a real danger of unintended consequences, of encouraging people to give up. Pessimism, if it becomes a habit, can reinforce a narrative of unstoppable decline. If there is nothing we can do, that releases us from our obligations.” So, I’m posting this with high hopes! (I read Grinspoon’s book awhile ago! It’s great! I blogged it here: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2023/12/possibly-irritating-essays-lonely.html
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