The Brightest of the Head
"The lightning-bug is brilliant, but he hasn't any mind; He stumbles through existence with his headlight on behind." E.F. Ware
This is our situation. We are the lighting bug. When I am at work, and when I come home, I feel overwhelmed with all that occurred. There is just too much information to process these days. I am mentally spent.
When I feel that way, I am reminded of Henri Nouwen's book The Wounded Healer, when he says:
Nuclear man is the man who realize that his creative powers hold the potential for self-destruction...He drives in cars, listens to the radio, watches T.V., but has lost his ability to understand the working of the instrument he uses...For him the problem is not that there future holds new dangers, such as nuclear war, but that there may be no future all." (page 6-7, 1979). (i.e. 13 Reason's Why Book).
We treat our technology as an extension of our mind. I am very guility of this. I seem to be thinking myself out of thinking. It's easier to just to "look it up." We believe technology is the solution to life. We are failing to recognize, that we are exterminating our intellectual life, or not giving proper room and time for creative thought. We are choosing abdicating our thought life to a device. We are surrunduring our culture to a technological creed.
What do we rely on to navigate life's complexities? As Pope Francis has asked, which do you pick up more? I am afraid most would choose the device, because it can do more, it has more functions, it has versitatlity...All hail the utilitarian ideal! We have eclipsed God's creation, humanity, in favor of man's creation of objects. In olden times we would call that idolatry, now that term around does not sound smart.
It plays right into what Neil Postman has stated in his book Technolpoly that there are equivalencies today for the Old World Belief system and they are:
Old World Belief = New World Belief
Prayer = Medication
Family Roots = Travel/Mobility
Reading = Screens
Restraint = Gratification
Sin = Therapy/Rehab
Policital Ideology = Scentnific Polling
Death = Cryogenics/Transhumanism
I am tired of the New World Belief that is permeating and dictating everything. I want my mind back. I am tired of carrying two cell phones, rotting in front of two monitors, and asking Google something rather than a friends, co-workers, or neighbors.
I am going to marinate myself in (no, I'm not going to hyperlink them...go pick up God's Word): Sirach 22:16-17, Sirach 23:2, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
Let us hibernate/sleep/ airplane mode ourselves from the "thinking machines," and connect/charge/download the goods that come from neighbors, friends around a fire and a cold drink.
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"A Prayer for Enlightening Our Minds" Book 3 Chapter 23 Paragraph 8
Thomas Kempis
8. Enighten me O good Jesus; the brightness of internal light; and draw off all darkness from the dwelling of my heart. Restrain my many wandering thoughts, and destroy the temptations that violently assault me. Fight strongly for me, and overcome these evil beasts-----I mean, these alluring concupiscences-----that peace may be made in Thy power, and the abundance of Thy praise may resound in Thy holy court-----that is, in a clean conscience. Command the winds and storms; say to the sea, Be still; to the north wind, Blow thou not; and there shall be a great calm.
