Headphonaught…relates to the geek and the radical

When I issued this invitation for people to guest here at johnnylaird I was hoping my good friend Thomas Mathie would take up the challenge. When you get into his story, you will notice that he says some very kind things about me. You need to be aware that I paid him huge amounts of money to say such nice stuff!

If you are interested in guesting here I’d love to hear from you…but I can’t guarantee cash payment!

Here’s Headphonaught’s post:

I’m grateful to Johnny for asking me to guest on his blog.

My name is Thomas aka “headphonaught” and I’ve had the privilege to meet Johnny on two occasions. I can confirm that (a) he is that enthusiastic in real life and (b) what you see is what you get. He’s a rare combination of energy and humility… and I dearly love him for that.

Who am I? Well… I’m a 35 year old follower of God in the Way of Jesus. I will shortly celebrate my 13th year married to Olly… who is my rock, muse & “keeper-righter”. I have two daughters – Dayna, who is 11 and a geek like her father, and Miriam, who is 9 and is the human equivalent of Tigger from Milne’s stories.

I love photography… visual design… emerging theology… and collecting obsessively things like 35mm cameras and illustrated Bibles. I also love cycling and hope… one day… to ride fixed. That is the gear will be “fixed”… not me.

I am really passionate about music… and regularly curate mixtapes for my friends which are available on my blog. I want people to hear the wonders that I soak up.

I am also passionate about stories… and am co-host with JD Blundell (who recently guested on this very blog) and Stewart Cutler on the “Something Beautiful” podcast where we regularly ask people to share their stories.

All in… my blog is the place where all these things come together… to represent “the whole of me”… like some huge salad bowl of distinct flavours that synergise to make something bigger than their constituent parts.

When Johnny asked me to prepare some words… he gave me a subject to mull over – he asked me to talk about “relating to the geek and the radical”. Thing is… I’m not going to give you a five-point “one size fits all” guide to relating to the geek” but point out that you already have it in you to do it.

Above is a list of things that I am passionate about. If you have nothing that you are passionate about then I suggest you check your pulse. Life and passion are interlinked. Life without passion is a very grey and banal world, in my view.

I am passionate about my wife… and love her dearly. I regularly tell her that. This intimacy grants me an influence that no one else has. We are confidents… I trust her implicitly. Thats what our relationship is. Same goes for my kids… we have a bond that is unique to us. I am their dad.

I am also passionate about photography. My wife would say obsessive. I am convinced I have some form of OCD. Unfortunately, for my wife, it’s not the “clean freak” type. I love photography. It’s my golf. It’s my World of Warcraft. It’s my thing.

I like to connect with other photographers and have found a number of people who share my obsession. Flickr is a wonderful site for sharing pics & connecting with like-minded people. I have also set up a photoblog collective over at “a hint of bergamot” where my friends and I can share photos of the extraordinary hidden in the everyday.

Most recently, I have started a photographers’ blether every second Wednesday with 6 colleagues from work. We come together over coffee and talk cameras… technique… inspiration & ideas etc. It’s not a “club” per se… we don’t compete with each other. It’s more a “co-op” where we work together. A couple of weeks ago we went out to the Clydeside in Glasgow for a “photosafari”. It’s good to talk but better to do, afterall.

The point of this is to demonstrate two things…
1. I believe God gives us passions: He wants us to live full lives and the passions/obsessions He inspires in us are of the kind described in Philipians 4:8 – noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, and gracious – to ensure we do just that.
2. And I believe God gives us these passions for a reason: I can relate to people who share the same passions as me… because I am one of them. I can relate to photographers because I am one.

Authenticity is all about being what we say we are… doing what we say we’ll do. There is no “magic secret” to this.

Authenticity gives us a level of intimacy that we wouldn’t have otherwise. Just as I have a special relationship and bond of trust with my wife, being part of something brings with it a specialness that is impossible to fake.

If you consider the film Avatar and the inroads the main character made to “become” one of the Na’avi… then you’ll get my point.

The time of colonialism is gone. No longer can I, in some sense of arrogance, consider myself to have all the answers and come to you in such a manner… that I am right and you are wrong. It doesn’t work like that. I can no longer take and exploit in such a manner.

The only way to effectively relate to others is to share with them something… some commonality… that allows you to be parties on an equal footing.

This commonality may be space / location… it may also be interest. All my passions above, if taken seriously, are opportunities for such commonality.
And from this commonality comes community.

So when seeking to create community… which is, in essence, the crux of “relating to the geek and the radical”… seek to build upon what you already have. Participate. Being passionate but not in isolation. Contribute to the collective whole. Give.

It is at this point that we can truly “shine our lights” … because we are part… we are party to all that goes on within the community and can, because we have earned the right to, participate.
We should only seek to participate when we have earned the right to… when we’ve received our invitation to sit at the table or around the metaphorical fireplace.

Seeking to participate without earning the right is a recipe for disaster. Would you like someone to poke their nose into your business or wash their face in your sink without an invitation? If no, then why consider it acceptable for others? Do unto others… after all.

That’s why I don’t have any prescribed list of things to do… and this is also why I think we all have it in us. We all have interests. We should now move towards making those interests count!
Oh and if you have nothing obvious in common… be nice… because, as my maternal grandfather was very fond of saying, we are all Jock Tamson’s bairns!

• Thomas blogs at the Nanolog.
• You can hear him weekly at the Something Beautiful Podcast
• More on Headphonaught on johnnylaird