|
Gadgets and
God:
What's a Disciple to do?
Father John J. Lombardi
"One cannot
lessen, nor increase, nor penetrate the wonders
of the Lord" Sirach 18:4
Are you a
multi-tasking machine lover? Do you think we
Americans are "liberated" because of all the
techno-gimmicks and garrulous-gadgets we've
acquired? And your TV screen-is there too much
going on in it?
I've been
pondering these questions frequently, and,
repeatedly, while recently setting up my Mom's
new computer, I asked my
technologically-suspicious Dad for advice. His
reply: "No compute."…Feel the same?...
Sometimes the
daily newspaper can deliver wisdom and answer
profound questions, as when I recently enjoyed a
seductively-entitled article, "Just Say 'No' to
Gadgets and Gizmos: An Easy Guide to reclaiming
Our Humanity and Simple Ways." (The Washington
Post: Dec. 29, 2002- by Ken Ringle), on a
striking, new book, by Nichols Fox, "Against The
Machine: The Luddite Tradition in Literature,
Art and Individual Lives".
Don't let the
title intimidate you. Bottom line: We've
underestimated the downside of technology and
modern conveniences, which have denigrated some
of our healthy, human customs and traditions:
family time is blocked by the t.v.; electronic
games control children; constant communications
entice thru ubiquitous media devices;
modernizing machinery replaces man-power; the
Sabbath is clouded out by non-stop entertainment
and sports events. Fox says a healthy lifestyle
can be reclaimed thru step-by-step
simplification; but we have to want to. Over the
past two centuries, according to Fox's studies,
many have. Ned Ludd began the "revolution" when,
around 1811 and following, he protested the
massive changes wrought by the de-personalizing
Industrial Revolution. Thus the term "luddites"
has basically been a "derogatory dinosaur"
paralyzing those who decry the loss of the
dignity of human beings.
Fox's analysis
of television, is simple and needed: "It's a
deity"… a religious monitor which seduces with
its "beams of light," and is like a "tribal
storyteller". (Full disclosure: she and her
husband have a TV. but keep it in a closet only
for emergencies: sound like a good idea?)
Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian Catholic and
commentator, likewise stressed in his seminal
book, "The Medium is the Massage," that
television has virtually replaced reality…But
the Bible counsels us away from human folly to
divine reality: "Come, therefore, let us enjoy
the things that are real, and use the freshness
of creation avidly" (Wisd. 2:6).
Fox admits we
can't naively reject machines and technology
altogether. But, contrariwise, she confesses
(for us all): "There's obviously a lot of stress
in the way most of us live, and its getting
worse.
People think
they can't live without three cars, two jobs and
we spend half of our waking hours watching
television that isn't even real entertainment,
but just people screaming at us to buy more
things. We literally spend more time charging
the batteries of our cell phones and computers
than we do talking to our children." Thanks for
the brutal honesty! Remember Our Lord's tough
loving words: "Unless you renounce all of your
possessions you cannot be My disciple" (Lk.
17.33)
Our Catholic
tradition encourages people to strive for
balance: between using goods and technologies,
without abusing them: cell phones and pagers
ringing at Mass; the multiplicity of t.v.
channels and programs; an increasing
strangulating-stimulation of children thru
interactive media devices Whatever happened to
"Lassie"?
Pope John Paul
himself encourages us to use modern conveniences
without becoming mastered by them. For instance,
he has persistently and lovingly critiqued
biomedical technologies which show promise, but
which also denigrate us-in vitro fertilization,
cloning, amniocentesis which leads to abortions.
These "biological gadgets" have become a
Frankensteinian replay of unharnesed invention
dehumanizing us, manipulating our harmony with
Nature-we are in danger of becoming machines.
The Holy Father stresses that, just because we
can do something doesn't always mean we should
do it. .."Be not conformed to the world but be
transformed by the renewal of your spirit" (Rm.
12:2).
Serious
Catholics today really have to discern what is
helping us become holier, more Christ-centered
disciples, and what is hindering us. Let's face
it: many are being overpowered by the world. Ask
yourself: Are we Catholics that different from
anyone else?..."Do not love the world or the
things of the world. If anyone loves the world
the love of the Father is not in him" (I Jn.
2:15).
Perhaps you saw
the "dark side" of technologies' tenaciousness
recently, when a famous English rock star was
charged with purchasing internet child
pornography. This shows us something we fear:
some things, and even some forms of technology
and entertainment are destructive because of
their inherent instability (severed from God)
and because of our sinful nature. Although we
are afraid to admit it-because of the
"intimidating steamroller of so-called progress,
free speech and unlimited access, anyone, like
that musician, is vulnerable to seductive
secularism: pre-school children, teens, adults,
priests-"Watch out, your adversary, the Devil,
is roaring about like a lion looking for someone
to devour" (I Pt. 5:8) Like drugs, alcohol, the
sensual body divorced from God, we need admit
that, in a fallen world, the revolution in
information technologies, including television,
video media, can be explosively manipulative for
searching and navie souls. There are not enough
prophets like Pope John Paul decrying the
"savage capitalism" which destroys lives and
dehumanizes.
Fox quotes Neil
Postman, in defining the dangerous state of
modern secularism, as Technopoly-" as a state of
culture. It is also a state of mind. It consists
in the deification of technology, which means
that the culture seeks its authorization in
technology…this requires a new kind of social
order…" There is hope though, there is an
opposite to the strangulation of secularism: God
not only allows a balance wherein we use things
rightly, without affecting or spiritual lives,
He also helps us to purify our very need, inner
appetites and wayward desires for the "newest
thing," for what is "technologically savvy" and
seemingly a liberating possession. "Technopoly"
operates in the opposite fashion by capitalizing
upon this whole dizzying process capturing
souls.
Fox says we can
climb out of coagulating consumerism, and
de-throne dizzying devices: "The key is figuring
out which machines help you to live in a more
humane way, in harmony with the world around us.
And which we've allowed to rob us of that
humanity and intrude on that harmony …"
She encourages
steps we might take: increased interaction with
family members (ever hear of a family meal?!);
simpler toys for children (less noisy/more
imaginative); fewer electronic toys and computer
games; taking a walk with children; listening
to, and talking with them… And some we add: read
by the fireside; watch the snow fall (esp. at
the Grotto!); listen to a creek babble; study a
book of the Bible; really live the Sabbath and
spend more time in Church, helping the poor,
visiting the sick, praying; visit with friends
and family: slow down!
Some Catholic
pioneers in simple and spiritual living include:
Romano Guardini: a favorite theologian of Pope
John Paul, he saw the beginning--way back in the
1950's--of the dislocation of European
traditions, spiritual and religious customs,
which anchored the West, and the overtaking by
unquestioned secularist progress, thus
de-linking Man's "spiritual side" from the world
and operation in it.
Dorothy Day (of
New York-founder of the Catholic Worker
movement, and convert), and Mother Teresa of
Calcutta both emphasized the practice of
focusing on God first, and, secondly, serving
Jesus Christ in the poor and impoverished ( the
Pope calls this a "solidarity with the poor"),
thus judging one's possessions and lifestyle by
these biblical sources of morality and
inspiration.
Otherwise, our
lives will become "Me-centered" (I, me,
mine-vs.: "Deny yourself and pick up your cross
daily"-Lk 9:23), and Mammon-dominated
--embracing idolatry of the world and money .The
choice is ours: "Yet the world and its
enticements are passing away. But whoever does
the will of God remains forever" (I Jn. 2:15)…
Further, Dorothy Day and philosopher-friend
Peter Maurin, emphasized the need for
cultivating a relationship which preserves and
promotes a God-given plan of our harmony with
the world, thru agrarian and simple living,
harmony with the land.
The Catholic
and Christian homesteading movement shows
promise this way. The opposite way of
life-complete acceptance of modernity via being
ripped from it by a techno-industrial-modernism
which divorces us from God's creation. You don't
have to be a tree-hugger to enjoy a good hike in
the Catoctin Mountains or around a local lake-to
see, hear and feel how much God has richly
blessed us thru the created world. Like anything
else, overemphasizing a fabricated (man-made)
world of gadgets and gizmos only-will harm us,
sooner or later. Mother Seton, mountain climber,
creek crosser, horse rider--and our patron in
Heaven--described a veritable Grotto situation:
"We are half in the sky, the height of our
situation is incredible." Yours can be too, if
you want it.
Catholic
philosopher Joseph Pieper wrote a famous,
little-known book, badly needed today, "The
Decline of Leisure". It basically says: we are
loosing our re-creation time because we
emphasize doing over being, and we cultivate a
manic propensity for acquiring things. The
Catholic tradition stresses, rather, the need
for contemplation and meditative conversation
with God and world. Great Frenchman, St Bernard
of Clairvaux, learned the holy leisure of prayer
and simplicity, for instance, and this
fructified into seventy beautiful Commentaries
on the Song of Songs-studied to this day and
still memorizing souls. It came from within, by
God's translucent grace, not thru undue external
manipulations. We all can learn a liberating way
of life-if we seek the wisdom of our religion
and the saints, and really want to be free.
In what sounds
like the radical Desert Fathers of
fourth-century Egypt, with their cunning
psychology and alleviating asceticism, Fox
writes in her book: "There is an urgency, then,
to acting now: to assuming some control over our
lives before it is too late; to re-exerting the
authority of the individual to make real
decisions. It will begin with self-discipline.
It will begin with the ability to say no, by
individuals examining their lives and
determining their personal set of values…
Applying them can be challenging." ….Some Maxims
To Live By:
- Simplifying
Spirituality: "The Spiritual life is not one
of addition, but one of subtraction" (Meister
Eckhart). Don't unnecessarily multiply your
religious devotions or objects in pursuing the
spiritual life. St John of the Cross calls
this tendency spiritual gluttony. Decreasing
self and increasing your love, intensity and
purity for God will make you more like the
Virgin: capable of holding God himself. Focus
on studying the classics of our Catholic and
Christian tradition, the saints, the Bible,
and thereby simplify your spirituality. Depth
is important, not volume.
- Complication
Complex: This means we are all either seduced
by, or addicted to, constant stimulation. So,
whenever we actually have time to enjoy
silence or simplicity, it's difficult. The
heightened threshold of stimulation "demands"
more: more images, thoughts, activities,
interactions, gadgets…Overcome this by waging
one battle at a time: fast, pray, sacrifice .
Forego what you think you want and trust in
God to fulfill you in all situations-even in
bare simplicity. If not now, when? "All things
work together for those who love God " (Rm.
8:28).
- Less is
more. The Dutch architect Mies van der Rohe
coined this helpful phrase. Think of it when
purchasing clothes, cars and other products;
when reviewing your lifestyle; and when trying
to become holier. Ask yourself: Do I really
need this product, or do I simply want it.
Look: we are
being bombarded by so many seductive-and
sometimes good-products, as Fox says, and our
lifestyles have changed. So--1) see the need for
change-increase the perception of alienation and
need for liberation. 2)Take positive, constant
steps for simplification which will increase
your relationship with God, man and your own
soul. 3)Repeat steps #1 and
#2-interminably!...Quote of the Week--apply this
to your own life: "The peculiar task of the monk
in the present-day world consists in keeping the
contemplative experience alive and in keeping
open the way by which modern man can recover the
integrity of his inner depth. The mystical
necessity of a personal encounter with
transcendence seems to have greater meaning in
an era dominated by technology." ( Juan María
Laboa, Zenit News Service: 12:19-02 )
Briefly
Noted
Missionary and
Retired Priests: Thanks to Fr. Edward Bayer,
celebrant of today's Sunday Mass, who returns to
us as a "missionary priest" of sorts. At
seventy-something (mandatory retirement age for
Balt. priests), he heard about the need for
teachers of moral theology for seminarians in
New Guinea! Instead of retiring totally, and
after the Cardinal agreed, he went! This example
of courage and endurance shows elderly persons
that they can keep trying to be holy, excel in
following Jesus even while advancing in age,
pursue heroic virtue, and help the Church-never
slack off! So, please help priests retire and
enjoy rest as they are able and donate to: 320
Cathedral St. Balt. MD, 21201.
Read
other reflections by Father John J. Lombardi
|
