The horizon and beyond

IT’S good that while we’re still at the beginning of the new year, we can take a long, hard look at the horizon, and even beyond, to discern how the future will be, what kind of world we would like to have.

This is a common practice which we should try to sustain and improve, since there are signs people are getting myopic and insular in their view of things. Very few people can talk about having a worldview, in fact. The common reality is that they just live by the day, in a figurative hand-to-mouth existence, their world ending with every sunset.

Looking at the horizon and beyond is a must for us, since we don’t live only in the present, much less, in the past. We are meant for the future, and even beyond time. The reality that we are in is not only temporal nor spatial, but also eternal and spiritual. But that’s saying too much too soon.

The more immediate scenario is that with our present level of technological progress, a level is that ever dynamic and quick changing, our capabilities for innovation, collaboration and creativity have gone ballistic.

This has changed our world drastically, and of course, we have changed our outlooks and lifestyles. I, for one, even if terribly technologically challenged, feel more empowered and enabled because a new gadget, an android, was given to me last Christmas.

Of course, my case is very simple and even “primitive” if compared to others who are riding the crest of this technological tsunami. But with what I have received, I discover that I can have a veritable large library at the tip of my finger, I can go places, call and see friends abroad, have the oeuvre of many authors, etc.

Suddenly my world has gone bigger multiple times and in multiple ways. Even in my relatively small world, I can see the tremendous effects of the information technology. In the school where I work, I see simple boys who used to tend cows and goats in the mountains turn into digital wizards with income their parents and grandparents have never seen before.

It’s gratifying to see them attain a certain level of achievement. But I always remind them of the spiritual, moral and apostolic side these dizzying technological developments are supposed to have. We should never allow ourselves to be held captive only by the practical or economic benefits of these things.

Going back to the reality that governs us and that I mentioned earlier, we need to remind ourselves that these earthly achievements, while good and have their proper and important place in our life, are not everything to us. If at all, they are simply means to a much higher end.

They are supposed to bring us closer to God and to one another. If this criterion is not achieved, then we have failed, no matter how brilliant our performance may have been in the technical side and in the other mundane aspects.

Can we say that these amazing new gadget and technologies have made us a better person, a better Christian, more able to establish a more intimate contact with God and with others?

Has our love for God and others, expressed in practical ways, improved? Are we now more aware and more able to meet the requirements of the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity? If not, then we still have to drastically reform our attitudes and vision of things.

In fact, we should be deeply worried when these technologically generated benefits and advantages have not improved our spiritual and moral life, our intimacy with God and our effective and practical communion with others. That situation can be rife for the terrible danger of making us very materialistic and worldly.

We should actively find ways of getting to the spiritual and moral angle of these developments, because our tendency is to be trapped in the worldly and temporal criteria only.

We have to continually examine our conscience and rectify our intentions along the way. We should not take this task for granted, otherwise our spiritual selves would weaken and our carnal egos aroused.

We should be most careful with our spontaneous reactions and impulses, because they tend to be animalistic first, before they become human and Christian. They are like little children, cute but needing a lot supervision.

When we have our spiritual and moral selves in order, then we would be confident we are on the right track toward the horizon and beyond. Otherwise, we’d just be playing games, going nowhere.