Deer Camp Philosophy

I have just come sadly to the end of another deer season (for me, as I do firearm and black powder, but have yet to tackle archery.) My schedule allowed me to spend more time in the woods this year than has ever been possible. I should say quickly that deer season for me is not typical. Many people picture something I call beer camp rather than deer camp. These intrepid woodsmen spend most of their time inside the cabin swilling suds, leaving the woods and trails open to those of us who actually go looking for deer.

My time Up North is spent sharing a cabin with Wayne, a dear young friend who is only a few years my senior, but who has decades of hunting experience upon which I draw to balance my book-smart methods. When not actively searching for the elusive bucks, we spend our time talking over coffee and the occasional Guinness. By the end of the season we have usually solved all the world’s problems and straightened out the twisted ways of several theological dilemmas. (And yes, we traditionally watch Escanaba in Da Moonlight at some point.)

Our friendship has continued into its third decade at least in part because we find in each other something that is rare: we are both philosophers. We tend to think about things on a level that few other spend (they would say waste) time on. We do not consider ourselves better than others for this trait we share. We do however believe with Socrates that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Some people live apparently fulfilled lives without ever asking the why questions; we find it hard to get through the morning without approaching at least one.

Being a philosopher is different from having a philosophy. Everyone has a particular way of seeing reality, sometimes referred to as a world-view. This is a philosophy. In his book, Learned Optimism, Dr. Martin Seligman suggests that we all have an “explanatory style” to handle what life throws at us. Whatever one calls it, this personal way of seeing the world helps us answer the basic questions of philosophy even if we don’t realize what we are doing.

The philosopher makes the attempt to realize what he is doing, or better, to examine what he is thinking about what he is doing. It is important for all believers to do this on some level. The Bible directs us to be renewing our minds, to think in other-worldly ways, and not to be thoughtlessly pounded into the world’s mold. This entails a reframing of reality. I think it was J.B. Phillips who said that Jesus did not come to introduce a new religion, but a new way of living.

One of the ways Wayne and I passed the time this year was watching the Matrix trilogy (again.) Stop. I know it is not a Christian allegory; it is not Christian anything; rather it is quite Buddhist in its world-view. But (here comes a shocker) there is much in Buddhist thinking that parallels Biblical truth. Truth is truth no matter where you find it. The idea that really struck me this time through the Matrix is that many people are living as if they were mindless functionaries trapped in an artificial construct built by their worst enemy. That is not far from how the Bible describes our predicament.

Unfortunately many believers are guilty of the same stinkin’ thinkin’. Many Christians lead unexamined lives deceived by the old master into thinking what they see is real. The fact is, once we are regenerated, we are supposed to start seeing the temporal world around us as less real than the unseen world which spans eternity. If I could I would give every Christian I know a gift this Christmas: the gift of sight, like a view of what the Matrix really is. Then I would wish them free. That’s what I brought back from deer camp this year.