26 - North Shore News — Friday, October 20, 2000 SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING Getting L truth eterna Reb Des Cotes Contributing Writer TO say that the world around us is changing rapidly is to ackn _ edge only half the truth. There is just as much change going on inside us as there is in the world outside. "In the 60s, Marshall fo McLuhan wrote, about the evolution that took place in | .-our thinking as a result of the - printing press. According to : many observers, we are once again in the process of adapt- ing the way we think to - changes place in our” . world Tor communication. This - . Se eee een ert Neat ted reeds YEE Line he et oti M Ine el SOT snarl Vets ease an io the type of transformation also fects the way we approach issues of ultimate truth. As we adapted to the print- ed word, we increasingly came te expect information and truth to be presented to us in a sequential way, as a rational ordering of logic. But this basic assumption is being cha!- lenged today in the way we appropriate matters of truth. Ask anyone about issues that * involve personal truth and they will more likely answer from 4 sense of how they feel than from what they know, or have deduced. We no longer expect truth to come to us 35.4 ” straight line of logic, but by - _ intuition, a ‘much more cir- cuitous route. Unfortunately, neither do We expect it to stay in one place long enough to “get a bead on it.” We live in a world where the value of information is increasingly temporary, which makes it natural to assume that truth itself is impermanent. How are we to separate the wheat from the chaff and get down to what is essential in life? - Information is accumulat- ing daily while our categories of processing truth are break- ing up under the weight. We live at a time when there seems to be no united vision of what anything means — what it means to be human, male or female, spiritual, right or wrong, true or false. Never before have people had access to all the information they could possibly need and yet have been so unsure of what to do with it all. Psychologists are recogniz- ing that many people are suf- fering from IFS, “Information Fatigue Syndrome.” The symptoms of IFS include a feeling of confusion, being messed up, angry, pessimistic about the future and alienated. The latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1994) which includes standard disorders like, depression, schizophrenia, ete. now also includes “amnes- tic disorder” (the inability to absorb or tolerate any new information) and “priority dis- ‘ order” (the inability to discern what is important from what is wivial). Ina time of such informs tion overload how can I know with certainty what is ultimate- ly important? What criteria do I use? Do I trust my mind; my heart; my emotions; my teach- ers; the media? How can I tell the difference benween what is profound truth (ic. truth I can file away for a lifetime) and what is passing truth (i.¢. truth related to temporary information)? Who has the authority to help me in this? _ Who can I trust? These are important ques- tions that we need to be ask- ing ourselves. They will lead us far beneath the shifting g sands of “small-t” truths in search of _ the bedrock of a more eternal Truth that doesn’t come with Daily” at 74 Add’! shows Sat & a “best before” date. We need a deep anchor for our mega- lives. Without cae we will be left with only nwo life options; surf or sink! Rob Des Cotes is one af the pastors at. Capilana Christian Commit 7om & 9:45pm un; Noon, Jom & 5pm ALSO suowine wee MMAR ceoenie wees WOLVES. Daily*: 8pm - ~ Add'l shows Sat & Sun: 3pm Sat & Sun: 1pm & 6pm *NO SHOWS TRUAS, OCT. “26/00 at Canada Place . in downtown Vancouver. Call (604) 682-IMAX (4629). ‘Group sates: (604) 602-6185 - ‘www.imax.comMoncouver Showtimes sadjecs to chaege witteut zeites. ae ae sek eae ae eet LE PO ae as eh a ea really hurt you? Is oh. Col chore fice fo: dbf. By 201 East 23rd Street, Ubinee c eok vbunche “Church? Way Religious? Or > Soft-rock : worship “Starbucks or Beans DS Teaching & talking in a ‘makes sense’ kind of way: Leaders - are: psychologist, a ‘marriage counsellor and an artist / musician No religious - rush Careful. atiention to kids: Come early for.a seat ~>Fun'& free No ties-no grouches, ice cream for kids - Whi i is it that most people today are inspired by celebrities rather than heroes? Are there any ‘key stepe to to forging people v wi ‘have the Christian God. rational? Sunday, October. 22100 Sunday Celebration Services - 9:00 & 11: :00am » Speaker - ‘Rev. Gerry Schuetz - (Pull children’s program offered in both services) Lynn Vaiiey Full Gospel Church, 1160 E. 20th St. « North vuncouver, B.C. Ph. 880-0307 ——. Pastoral Staff Owen Scott, Glen Ryland, Marcel Kurtz, Metonie Sai Valley Church io made up of ordinary whose thew have been touched by the he person 3 oF Jeous Christ: on. this: pa call Ta a Youth Group’ 7pm Sundays : ig Adult seal Na 3ed Sunday 3pm