Tongue Tied | Everywhere Present

there are two strong sides to the debate about technology. one is the abandonment of it and a return to "simpler" times before we were distracted by the constant screens before our eye and within our pockets. the other is the complete and utter plunge into what those proponents of tech view as the inevitable trajectory of the human race.

everyone now and then there is also a third point that tries to remain as the centrist. i haven't found this view to be particularly helpful either. it is the idea that we can have a collection of ourselves that has a lean in any particular direction. it also removes any mystery from the idea of what it means to be human in the first place. this is an issue that has been inherited from many western forms of christianity. in many of these forms, what we do is what we are. but in the eastern traditions, what we are is what we are, and what we do -- how we act and move throughout the world -- is either in sync with what we are or it is not.

in the eastern traditions, we are inherently good. we are have never ceased to be good. when we act in opposition to the goodness we call that "sin." the word sin is actually an archery term, it means to miss your target. the target you are aiming for is yourself (luke 17:21). and what you are is so much more than a collection of ideas and thoughts. we greatly limit the creation that we are when we fail to see the eternity written in our hearts (eclessiastes 3:11). the collection of correct arguments and right actions are not the sum of what you are, as if believing the right things and doing the right things constitute whether you are a real enough christian.

what does any of this have to do with technology? what does any of it have to do with anything? these are both crucial questions to ask. what does our faith, our love for and faith in Christ have to do with anything? what does it have to do with how we eat, how we sleep, what clothes we wear, what we watch, what we listen to, our occupations, our leisure time, our sex lives? do we hold to the idea that the God paul proclaims is the God who is everywhere and filling all things (Ephesians 1:23)? if this is so, how is it that God feels all things within our lives as well? does God only fill the heterosexual, the christian, the human? what is the limit of God's mercy? what is the wrath of God and hell if God truly fills all things and God is love? if such a God is love, does God cease to be God? there are limits we set on divinity as we try and fail in the same way thomas aquinas tried and failed to marry faith and reason.

ghandi and many others are finding what the early church fathers found, that faith trascends reason. now the intellectual faith of the mind alone, but the orientation of one's whole being toward a specific goal, the self because the kingdom of heaven is within us. in the orthodox church, we find the tools for such things, to lead us deeper into what we call the "nous," the meeting place of God and man.

from there we see that everything outside of us is filled with divine grace. when we see that, we learn to love our neighbor as ourself and see the glory of God being revealed in the world. the mornings and the nights speak to us (psalm 19:2), we speak to the birds and fish and they utter knowledge of God (job 12:7). we see that the same Christ that is dwelling within us is the one who dwells in all people and all of creation.

 i have found something else. i found this not to be the blame of social media, of electronics, or any specific thing. it is simply my own weakness and reasoning. i cannot help but to try and create these many idols, these many little fracturings of my identity existing in their many different hiding places.

it is to me more cumbersome to try and manage such a thing than to remove it all together. this is why slowly i've been discovering the beauty of limitations and discipline. it is not so much that a thing is good or a thing is bad. but that the intentionality of limitations, the ones that God placed upon our existence (proverbs 3:12) and ones we impose on ourselves by discipline, are things of love for ourselves, God and others.

and so i am beginning to make a journey inward, aspiring to live a quiet life and working with my own two hands (1 thessolonians 4:11-12), having a life of simplicity (acts 2:46). i do this on the path of salvation toward Christ above all things philippians 3:14). whatever peace or ease of life that may come is a much welcomed secondary aspect of such a life. but the main thing, the good part, is to see that few things are needed (luke 10:41-42). and once it is chosen we see that God ensures that it shall not be taken away.

a song: https://open.spotify.com/track/15WDcyUWcngjyxrobdDsOC