THIS is now the veritable big
challenge we all have. With
all the noise and frenzy created by our increasingly digital age, we
are also slowly but steadily neglecting our need for silence, for
reflection, for an abiding spirit of recollection if only to continue
to be in touch with our existential foundation who is God.
We have to face this challenge squarely. We have to raise
the alarm since the situation is getting seriously grave. We cannot
anymore take this issue for granted. What a pity it would be if we are
lulled to believing that we are gaining a lot in our life when in fact
we are ebbing away to perdition.
The challenge posed by this new digital age is today’s
formulation of the classic challenge articulated in the gospel: “What
does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
(Mk 8,36) We should always be most aware of this divine admonition.
The digital culture is notorious for giving us the
sensation of immediate response to relieving some of our needs and
instantly satisfying our curiosities and all sorts of whims and
caprices.
This is, of course, a relatively positive feature of such
culture. But we have to realize also that such phenomenon can also
give rise to reflex reactions that are often bereft of good reason,
let alone, emptied of the requirements of charity and truth. We are
often pressured to shoot from the hip.
For all the advantages that the digital world gives us, we
have to realize keenly that there is a price to pay for that, and, in
fact, it is quite a stiff price! We should be willing to pay the
price.
We should not be easily beguiled by its apparent facility
and gratuitousness or its costless feature. It actually requires a lot
from us. It demands nothing less than a high level of capacity to
discern, to organize things, to observe the proper order of things,
etc. In short, a new level of human and Christian maturity. The price
to pay is to develop a higher level of discipline fit for the
peculiarities of the digital age.
I have always maintained that these new technologies are
good for the strong and mature people, and extremely bad for the weak,
ignorant and confused. I admit that that view can be considered
simplistic, since life has mysteries that can preempt such view.
Yes, I believe that God’s providence never fails to guide
the course of world events, and that it has mysterious self-correcting
mechanisms to deal with whatever mistakes and blunders we make in this
world. We should therefore not worry too much. Still, I believe it is
a good basic principle and practical guideline to follow.
Obviously, finer guidelines have to be formulated as we go
along and tackle changing situations and new circumstances. What is
clear is that to properly cruise in this often uncharted ocean created
by our new technologies, we need to firm up our capacity to pray, to
reflect, to be recollected.
And that means a sense to find the silence and quiet
needed to be able to discern the spirit behind the rapid flow of
images and information, to get in touch with the substance behind the
appearances and the noise of it all.
What we are seeing instead are people unfamiliar and even
hostile to the need for silence and quiet. They fail to acknowledge
the intrinsic truth of the need for silence and reflection in any
process of communication and dialogue. They just react spontaneously,
guided only by what they consider to be commonsensical or the
what-comes-naturally syndrome.
We need to raise the cry for this need for silence and
quiet. It has to be raised in each individual person, in families,
schools, offices, churches, etc. In this campaign, we have to be
always positive and optimistic, highlighting the greater good it gives
though it can demand a lot of sacrifice.
We all need time to pray and study. We have to learn and
assimilate the relevant moral and ethical principles involved in
coping with the challenge of this new digital age. The new intricacies
of tact, prudence, charity, for example, as exposed by the current
state of how we are dealing with this digital culture, should be
brought out to the open for everyone to appreciate, learn and live.
Let’s hope that we can descend from generic reminders and
warnings to concrete indications of how to make proper use of the new
technologies. With everyone’s effort and cooperation, we can surely
make progress in this quest for quiet in our digital world!
all the noise and frenzy created by our increasingly digital age, we
are also slowly but steadily neglecting our need for silence, for
reflection, for an abiding spirit of recollection if only to continue
to be in touch with our existential foundation who is God.
We have to face this challenge squarely. We have to raise
the alarm since the situation is getting seriously grave. We cannot
anymore take this issue for granted. What a pity it would be if we are
lulled to believing that we are gaining a lot in our life when in fact
we are ebbing away to perdition.
The challenge posed by this new digital age is today’s
formulation of the classic challenge articulated in the gospel: “What
does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
(Mk 8,36) We should always be most aware of this divine admonition.
The digital culture is notorious for giving us the
sensation of immediate response to relieving some of our needs and
instantly satisfying our curiosities and all sorts of whims and
caprices.
This is, of course, a relatively positive feature of such
culture. But we have to realize also that such phenomenon can also
give rise to reflex reactions that are often bereft of good reason,
let alone, emptied of the requirements of charity and truth. We are
often pressured to shoot from the hip.
For all the advantages that the digital world gives us, we
have to realize keenly that there is a price to pay for that, and, in
fact, it is quite a stiff price! We should be willing to pay the
price.
We should not be easily beguiled by its apparent facility
and gratuitousness or its costless feature. It actually requires a lot
from us. It demands nothing less than a high level of capacity to
discern, to organize things, to observe the proper order of things,
etc. In short, a new level of human and Christian maturity. The price
to pay is to develop a higher level of discipline fit for the
peculiarities of the digital age.
I have always maintained that these new technologies are
good for the strong and mature people, and extremely bad for the weak,
ignorant and confused. I admit that that view can be considered
simplistic, since life has mysteries that can preempt such view.
Yes, I believe that God’s providence never fails to guide
the course of world events, and that it has mysterious self-correcting
mechanisms to deal with whatever mistakes and blunders we make in this
world. We should therefore not worry too much. Still, I believe it is
a good basic principle and practical guideline to follow.
Obviously, finer guidelines have to be formulated as we go
along and tackle changing situations and new circumstances. What is
clear is that to properly cruise in this often uncharted ocean created
by our new technologies, we need to firm up our capacity to pray, to
reflect, to be recollected.
And that means a sense to find the silence and quiet
needed to be able to discern the spirit behind the rapid flow of
images and information, to get in touch with the substance behind the
appearances and the noise of it all.
What we are seeing instead are people unfamiliar and even
hostile to the need for silence and quiet. They fail to acknowledge
the intrinsic truth of the need for silence and reflection in any
process of communication and dialogue. They just react spontaneously,
guided only by what they consider to be commonsensical or the
what-comes-naturally syndrome.
We need to raise the cry for this need for silence and
quiet. It has to be raised in each individual person, in families,
schools, offices, churches, etc. In this campaign, we have to be
always positive and optimistic, highlighting the greater good it gives
though it can demand a lot of sacrifice.
We all need time to pray and study. We have to learn and
assimilate the relevant moral and ethical principles involved in
coping with the challenge of this new digital age. The new intricacies
of tact, prudence, charity, for example, as exposed by the current
state of how we are dealing with this digital culture, should be
brought out to the open for everyone to appreciate, learn and live.
Let’s hope that we can descend from generic reminders and
warnings to concrete indications of how to make proper use of the new
technologies. With everyone’s effort and cooperation, we can surely
make progress in this quest for quiet in our digital world!
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