Embracing the Analog

 

A couple weeks ago I read a book about the masters of art and how to view them through a Christian lens (called Rembrandt is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey). It was such an enjoyable introduction to several of the masters. One of my goals is to learn more about the masters of art from history, who the artist was, why their work is important, and what it can say about truth, beauty, and goodness. So I am on a journey of art discovery. The epilogue of the book was titled "We are short on masters" and it was very compelling to me. The truth of it. We lack true masters of things today which evoke the transcendentals - truth, beauty, and goodness. Today, we are distracted by celebrities and musicians (not really masters) who do not set good examples or evoke the goodness we would want to pass down to the next generation. The culture focuses on hedonistic lifestyles and influencers who lead and show how it can be done (with seemingly no consequences). Their lives are on display, not a creative mastery of something, it's all about them, often standing for the opposite of goodness and truth.

We don't value the things of old and the gifts they give us of learning from them (discovering along the way how amazing they are in true talent and wisdom). As a virtual reality grows more and more, the analog creative skills diminish, even basic things like knowing how to write in cursive or reading an analog clock face. I've heard that these things are no longer taught to children in school, so what else are they not learning? Sure, the new certainly has its place I don't dispute it, but I write from a literary and creative perspective to defend the analog. Books, pens, paper, and time. 

High schoolers getting ready to graduate go through their school years never reading an entire book. They look it up online for summaries and plots. Old books and thinkers are not part of the curriculum. Developing young minds to read and think deeply, learning to think for themselves and defend their ideas is a thing long forgotten in the public world. We will have even fewer masters in the next generation.

My experience researching and reading in Oxford is hopeful. All the analog activities of finding books, reading books, touching original manuscripts, letters, and papers of those past authors of such brilliance. These are all valued at Oxford. These things are not arbitrary, they are in fact the greatest technology invented - books and letters, paper and pens. This is how we have shared ideas and creative avenues for centuries. They involve a writer who takes a tangible object creating something using the ideas in their minds. They propel discovery and deep thinking. These things cannot be lost, yet our culture more and more seeks to reduce and diminish their importance.

It all just gets me thinking and wondering about the simple objects of paper, pens, and books. My younger self was hugely influenced by the act of using these objects to fight boredom, be creative, generate my own ideas and stories, and share words with others. These formative years of my life held a love for these analog ways of thinking and expressing ideas. I know that I am a more thoughtful and deep thinker in my adult years partly because of this.

I was pulling books off the shelves in the Bodleian Library that were from the late 1800s up to a decade ago, finding them in the various locations was part of the tangible enjoyment. I would carry them up to the upper Radcliffe Camera to read. Then, one day I was pulling Lewis Carroll books to read and research which I opened to the front pages, as I usually would, to see the Bodleian stamp of acquisition (which is in every book) as March 20, 1930. I was sitting in the Radcliffe Camera that morning, it was March 20, 2025. Exactly 95 years from when that book was stamped into the Bodleian Library. It was a serendipitous moment that could not have happened except with hard copy books. It made me smile the rest of the day.

I say all this as I type it out on my laptop, and yet I made all these notes in my little jots notebook with a pen as it hit me one day. I always have a little notebook on me or close by me wherever I am. I love thinking on paper. There is something about gripping the pen and the movement across the page that gives you enough time (almost) between words to keep the flow of thought in sync with your pen. I have to eventually type it out, but it's not as satisfying. Do you write with pen and paper anymore? Do you read physical books?