Shade Tree wisdom 12/2/10

Still nice and cool for my morning walk. It is energizing, and gives time for reflection.

The subject this morning was thinking on a book review. The Book, “The Shallows, What The internet is Doing to our Brains” by Nicholas Carr. He reports that Computers are changing the way we think. No longer “Calm, focused, undistracted. The linear mind is bring pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping, bursts – the faster the better.” And it may not be a good thing. The book is not optimistic about the future of thought.

When Johann Gutenberg invented movable type, people learned to engage their minds more deeply to an inward flow of words, ideas, and emotions. Before this, a mind was distracted by every passing butterfly. Now it started to focus more on ideas, on words and emotions. The results are impressive, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the industrial revolution, and modernism.

Today young adults average more than 19 hours a week online, and 49 minutes reading books, magazines, or newspapers. Today youth no longer memorizes poetry, philosophy, or scripture. Nor do we spend long evenings reading and pondering ideas, and stocking our minds with learned thoughts. This worries Carr.

But why bother with memory when we have all this material available at Google. Long term memory becomes impoverished, and that leads to inability to reinterpret ancient wisdom for the present day, and we cannot transmit to future generations our cultural heritage. Carr warns, “Outsource memory and our culture withers.”

Technology’s numbing effect is not a new condition. It happened, described by Psalm 135,15-18 and 115, 4-8. where idolaters grow to resemble what they idolize.

Religion is also being changed. The Reformation happened because of the printed word. Once upon a time the Church service was a high point in life, and the sermons taught truths mined from the Holy Book. Today this is changing. Our church services are fast-paced, entertaining, with sermons and songs projected on giant screens, and the emphasis is on entertaining the crowds.

On the plus side, not everyone has allowed the internet to hijack their lives. There is renewed emphasis in many places on slowing down, increased emphasis on meditation, and many are turning again to chants, Lectio Divina (A slow meditative reading of sections of Scripture), and taking time for thoughtful discussion and prayer.

I hope and pray you remember the days of old, as David suggests, and always keep in mind the history of God at work in the world to save His people by sending Christ Jesus, the Savior, “to die for the sins of the whole world.” As St. John so joyfully points out.

GPD 12/2/10