c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In just a month, the celebrity landscape has shifted dramatically.

Paris Hilton went to jail, got an early release for psychological reasons and then one day later was sent back to jail.

After a year of ratings-raising irrational rants on “The View,” Rosie O’Donnell “resigned” from as a host.

Don Imus, the father of shock radio, delivered one shock too many and is off the air.

The fact that I even know all this bears witness to the power of celebrity in American life.

Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel once observed that “celebrity is possibly the most vital shaping force in our society.” This would be utterly amusing were it not for the fact that so many Americans are hungry for revelations even about the spiritual lives of these “intimate strangers.”

For her part, Hilton announced a jail-cell spiritual awakening to Barbara Walters. “I’m not the same person I was. I used to act dumb. It was an act,” she said. “I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me … I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance.”

While this may be the beginning of a real transformation _ and I hope it is _ the very fact that what is usually a private, personal act took the form of a public media announcement is disconcerting.

The thoughtful human might ponder these questions: What are the implications of allowing our lives to be influenced by people whom we do not know, will never meet and whose beliefs and values are often antithetical to our own? What need in our lives are we trying to fill through spending even a nanosecond of time on celebrity culture, with its who-wears-what, who-cheats-on-whom gossip? What are the implications of knowing more about what’s going on in the personal lives of celebrities than we do about our neighbors, co-workers, or, worse yet, our own family members?

And so I offer these simple rules of disengagement from celebrity culture:

1. Recognize that the vicarious life is not worth living. None other than Brad Pitt once affirmed this: “I understand that fascination with fame and the fascination and the drive to want to be famous. I just think it says something about our culture, which is a little frightening, that we’re so devoid of a bit of spirituality.” (Yes, I do see the irony in quoting a celebrity, but since they are the ones we so deeply revere and respect, I couldn’t help myself.)

2. Realize every life has intrinsic value. Yes, celebrities are richer, can buy everything they want, possess amazing homes and cars, but as C.S. Lewis observed, “you have never met a mere mortal.” Concentrate on living a fully human life, and the vaporous “electronically mediated” lives will fade into the background.

3. Remember, you have heard it said, “you are what you eat,” but I say to you, “You are what you worship.” When we revere these miserable known ones, we become the losers that T.S. Eliot described: “We are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men, leaning together, headpiece filled with straw.”

So turn off the TV. Cancel the subscriptions to the celebrity rags. Go outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. Smell the roses. Grind the coffee and invite a friend for conversation while you drink it. Think of a lonely person, young or old, who could use a visit and stop by. Bake some bread and take it to a neighbor. Call that guy who invited you fly-fishing and tell him you’re ready when he is. Pull the bikes out of the garage and go for a family bike ride. Buy one of those small inflatable pools and tell your kids you’re doing a group dog wash then throw the pooch in and let the fun begin.

Live your life, instead of being a spectator of someone else’s life.

(Dick Staub is the author of “The Culturally Savvy Christian” and the host of The Kindlings Muse (http://www.thekindlings.com). His blog can be read at http://www.dickstaub.com)

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