@HomewithDean – Homily 05/28

Since the dawn of human existence we have all needed the three big essentials: food, shelter and clothing. I don’t know how much thought you’ve ever given to those three but, being prone to ponder things, I think it’s interesting that one of them—food—is about deriving energy from nature, but the other two—shelter and clothing—are about insulating and protecting ourselves from nature. I would argue that these days we pretty much insulate ourselves from nature in the way we eat food too, but that’s another conversation for another day.I’m a proud participant in the shelter business because providing shelter is a noble and a good thing—a very good thing. But, as someone in the shelter business I also want to remind you that you can have too much of a good thing. Even though I want to protect and insulate you from the harsh and extreme elements of nature, I never want your home to cut you off from nature. There’s a kind of paradox there—almost a full blown contradiction—that lives at the heart of my design theory and always keeps me on my toes to embrace the tension of properly insulating you from nature while somehow simultaneously reinforcing your connection to it.Easier said than done.But, thanks in part to this microphone, I have another way to encourage you to reconnect with nature. That’s to simply say, “Go outside.” So I’m saying it, “Go outside today.” Memorial Day weekend—in addition to being a time to honor those who’ve sacrificed their lives for our own—is also traditionally the unofficial start of summer. Summer is a great time to get outside and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but it’s wondrous outside. Here is Southern California right now it is truly wondrous outside but as a nature lover I feel safe saying it no matter where you are. Nature is always wondrous. So, go make contact with that wonder. It will do you good.I have a growing concern about how far we are taking this insulating of ourselves from reality. We’re becoming less competent in interacting with physical things apart from touch screens