Life of Pride
Friday, February 03, 2006
Not too long ago, people passed time. Now we spend time. One of my friends posted a link in his blog to an interesting article that talks about this. The topic interests me, because I've been reading Chesterton's Orthodoxy. One of Chesterton's major themes, in this book and in others such as Notting Hill, is that there are values in this world much higher than efficiency. We people, after all, are supposedly this world's rulers. Since we are the highest point of creation, our own personal growth and that of others should be our primary earthly concern. The human soul is what sets us apart from the beasts. Those things that grow the soul - contemplation, peacefulness, beauty - must therefore be more valuable than the mere accomplishment of many things.
Or to put it another way, if we run so fast that we don't have time to look at the world, how will we have time to discern the direction of the finish line?
This leads me to another thought, which is about the value of technology. As a history major, my personal philosophy of history is that every era as a whole has both good and bad elements. Humans always strive higher, but we have always been limited by our natures, so there is an upper range of what we can achieve. From this standpoint, then, I always look for the trade-offs in any culture. Anything especially good will probably have been gained at the expense of something else. And then the formerly good thing degrades, and a new experiment takes its place.
Right now, our be-all end-all is technology. Cars and planes take us everywhere faster than ever before. We can talk to anyone anywhere at any time, via cell phones or the Internet. In most instances, this is grand for convenience. But what does it do for us as people? Maybe God knew what He was doing when He limited Adam and Eve. Maybe He didn't want to make life convenient for us, because He knew that we wouldn't push ourselves to be our best if we didn't have to. Maybe, as Boethius says in his Consolation of Philosophy, there are two types of good, one of which is always in operation. Perhaps we are always at some sort of balance between having recognizably good things happen to us and being able to stretch beyond ourselves to become more human, more noble, patient, etc.
So would I give up my technology? No. I don't think it works quite the same way if you deprive yourself. That's sort of like committing suicide in order to learn how to be a martyr. So I'll appreciate technology while I have it, relegated to its place as a good thing. But if I ever lost my car and computer, that would be good, too. Perhaps I would be able to pass time, instead of doling it out in small, measured doses for various purposes.
Or to put it another way, if we run so fast that we don't have time to look at the world, how will we have time to discern the direction of the finish line?
This leads me to another thought, which is about the value of technology. As a history major, my personal philosophy of history is that every era as a whole has both good and bad elements. Humans always strive higher, but we have always been limited by our natures, so there is an upper range of what we can achieve. From this standpoint, then, I always look for the trade-offs in any culture. Anything especially good will probably have been gained at the expense of something else. And then the formerly good thing degrades, and a new experiment takes its place.
Right now, our be-all end-all is technology. Cars and planes take us everywhere faster than ever before. We can talk to anyone anywhere at any time, via cell phones or the Internet. In most instances, this is grand for convenience. But what does it do for us as people? Maybe God knew what He was doing when He limited Adam and Eve. Maybe He didn't want to make life convenient for us, because He knew that we wouldn't push ourselves to be our best if we didn't have to. Maybe, as Boethius says in his Consolation of Philosophy, there are two types of good, one of which is always in operation. Perhaps we are always at some sort of balance between having recognizably good things happen to us and being able to stretch beyond ourselves to become more human, more noble, patient, etc.
So would I give up my technology? No. I don't think it works quite the same way if you deprive yourself. That's sort of like committing suicide in order to learn how to be a martyr. So I'll appreciate technology while I have it, relegated to its place as a good thing. But if I ever lost my car and computer, that would be good, too. Perhaps I would be able to pass time, instead of doling it out in small, measured doses for various purposes.
Comments:
I've thought long and hard about the benefits and downfalls of today's technology... What I've come down to is the following:
Just like all the other things mankind has come up with throughout history, technology is a tool. It is not the end to our problems, nor the curse of humanity. It is a tool, nothing more, and nothing less. Nevertheless, it is a very powerful one, and wielded improperly can cause as much destruction as good. Do we control it, and use it for good, or do we allow it to control us, and succumb to never-ending pressures it can draw us into?
Like you, I have no intention of giving up my two cell phones, my PDA, my laptop, or any of the other technological items I regularly use.
All that said, I do think it is good to remove yourself from them from time-to-time, just to maintain a proper perspective.
Just like all the other things mankind has come up with throughout history, technology is a tool. It is not the end to our problems, nor the curse of humanity. It is a tool, nothing more, and nothing less. Nevertheless, it is a very powerful one, and wielded improperly can cause as much destruction as good. Do we control it, and use it for good, or do we allow it to control us, and succumb to never-ending pressures it can draw us into?
Like you, I have no intention of giving up my two cell phones, my PDA, my laptop, or any of the other technological items I regularly use.
All that said, I do think it is good to remove yourself from them from time-to-time, just to maintain a proper perspective.
# posted by 
: 9:52 AM
: 9:52 AM
I personally like to focus on the blessings of today's technology. Not only does it make our lives more comfortable (yay for indoor plumbing and refrigeration!) and give us more opportunities for leisure, it also increases our potential to learn and touch our world.
Like all gifts, we're often tempted to abuse them... but that's our fault, not theirs. It does not decrease their goodness - or the goodness of the One who gave them.
Like all gifts, we're often tempted to abuse them... but that's our fault, not theirs. It does not decrease their goodness - or the goodness of the One who gave them.
Good thoughts Sarah! Been thinking on a few of the same lately (and Orthodoxy is Excellent)!
C. S. Lewis asks the question does a fish know he's wet? The answer of course is that it doesn't make a difference to the fish - he doesn't know anything else.
Until you, like Matthew said, remove yourself from the misc influences that surround us daily, you won't know the difference either. Until you know the difference, you can't even attempt to manage the influence that technology and the culture has on you (or those you love).
One of the best things about homeschooling is that it allowed folks to remove themselves from the pervasive influence of public schooling - it allowed them to then assess the situation and propose alternatives that (I think) work much, much better. But if our parents had never done that, they wouldn't have been able to address the weaknesses of government schools. They would have been (as Bonhoeffer would say) "choosing between alternatives that were not their own".
Our generation was given a unique privilege of growing up at the very moment that the Internet came into existence. We experienced life absent the net, and now we (at least some of us) can look back on life before the influence of the Internet and other technology and see the difference. Something's lost, but something's gained. And as long as we are willing to step out from under the influence of technology and culture, we will be able to address its weaknesses and actually be part of the solution to some of its ills.
:-DJ
C. S. Lewis asks the question does a fish know he's wet? The answer of course is that it doesn't make a difference to the fish - he doesn't know anything else.
Until you, like Matthew said, remove yourself from the misc influences that surround us daily, you won't know the difference either. Until you know the difference, you can't even attempt to manage the influence that technology and the culture has on you (or those you love).
One of the best things about homeschooling is that it allowed folks to remove themselves from the pervasive influence of public schooling - it allowed them to then assess the situation and propose alternatives that (I think) work much, much better. But if our parents had never done that, they wouldn't have been able to address the weaknesses of government schools. They would have been (as Bonhoeffer would say) "choosing between alternatives that were not their own".
Our generation was given a unique privilege of growing up at the very moment that the Internet came into existence. We experienced life absent the net, and now we (at least some of us) can look back on life before the influence of the Internet and other technology and see the difference. Something's lost, but something's gained. And as long as we are willing to step out from under the influence of technology and culture, we will be able to address its weaknesses and actually be part of the solution to some of its ills.
:-DJ
What I was thinking is that, if we are able to do many more things in less time, then suddenly we are responsible to do more things. So we win ourselves a hurry-hurry attitude by all our inventions that were meant to give us more leisure! :)
Yes. We win for ourselves a horrible lifestyle, characterized by our new found "leisure".
And what about this current age we are moving into. This is different than an age of gadgets that permit us to do more. This age is characterized by the unprecedented access to information. Many are quick to say that knowledge is power, but they forget that power is responsibility.
We are becoming the most "responsible" generation to have ever lived, simply by virtue of our unprecedented access to knowledge and information. That's SCARY!
Years ago I wouldn't have had to worry about what I ate because I wouldn't have known the nutrional value of every single item in the cupboard...now I know (or can know)..now I'm respsible to do something about it. That's just a teansy-tiny example of the knowledge that now sits before us. We live in scary times.
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And what about this current age we are moving into. This is different than an age of gadgets that permit us to do more. This age is characterized by the unprecedented access to information. Many are quick to say that knowledge is power, but they forget that power is responsibility.
We are becoming the most "responsible" generation to have ever lived, simply by virtue of our unprecedented access to knowledge and information. That's SCARY!
Years ago I wouldn't have had to worry about what I ate because I wouldn't have known the nutrional value of every single item in the cupboard...now I know (or can know)..now I'm respsible to do something about it. That's just a teansy-tiny example of the knowledge that now sits before us. We live in scary times.
