A few months ago our Joel Sams led us through a study of Rod Dreher’s book, The Benedict Option. Rod has also written more recently, Live Not By Lies. Here is a short talk by Rod on the dangers of “soft totalitarianism.” Not everyone will agree with his views here. I personally hope he is wrong. But I believe it is worth our consideration.

In his best-seller, The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist Scott Peck said that the key to mental health lies in the ability to redraw our maps.

In the early years of exploration maps of the ”new world” were wildly inaccurate. But with each expedition they were revised into closer correspondence with geographical reality.

The success or failure of a mission depended on the accuracy of your maps and your ability to adapt when the maps turned out to be wrong.

This is (or was) a fair metaphor for our lives and the human experience generally. We are given maps in childhood and pointed in a certain direction. ”This represents the way things are, where you should go, and how to get there.”

Along the way other maps were thrust into our hands by people who told us they were more accurate portrayals of reality. Or that they would take us to a better destination. Sometimes they were right.

These days it feels like we are in uncharted territory again. But this time it seems like nothing is solid, like a river or a mountain. How do you make a map today?

Some people think that’s the wrong question. We should focus on making reality conform to our maps. This is the agenda of our day. Another kind of exploration. How far can we go? It is going to be interesting to see.