Friends, there were a couple of types in the original piece. I apologize for that. I'm still a one-man shop at this point (but looking for help...!). Thanks to the few of you who pointed them out. I corrected what I was able to find, but always welcome you pointing them out. Thank you, as always, for reading.
Really liking the article voiceover enjoying how it works best for me by using my phone/bluetooth and reading along on the laptop for pausing purposes. The article was excellent and highlights for me something Gil Bailie talked about when he mentioned a virtical relationship and a horizontal relationship in a talk with the Dominican School on Youtube. Or the talk I had with my gf this morning about the 1st and the 10th Commandment. We will always worship something whether its a partner, money, or a car but to have a primary relationship with something greater will be more fruitful if it comes first. The article also reminds me of the book The Noonday Devil by Jean Charles Nault OSB in writing about Acedia the author outlines one who flees their cell spreading scandal in an empty attempt to avoid ones primary duty. Beautiful how the article ends with something I will always try to silently remember to myself that fondness inside of each of us that is wealth.
The identification of nihilism as the philosophic context is I think correct. The question that I have is where did this perspective come from? After all the Progressive era is utopian in its outlook, not nihilistic. I trace this place where we are through two intellectual shifts. One is from a transcendent worldview to an immanent one. The other is from a materialistic perspective to nonmateriality. The trend began 500 years ago when the world believed in a transcendent materiality. The physical world had value as an expression of a creator God. Then, we transitioned into a world of immanent materiality as the age of science and industry emerged. With the advent of the digital age we live in a simulation of immanent nonmateriality. As a realty, as Jean Baudrillard has described, has been murdered. If nothing is real, then nihilism is the logical response. This culture of simulation is deeply immeshed in our world. I go into detail about this phenomenon in my series of columns- https://edbrenegar.substack.com/p/the-culture-of-simulation-series.
As a lonely, confused teen, I made an idol of Silicon Valley. I thought that belonging would come from wealth and status and being around other people who were also 'deep thinkers.'
The software world is so truly nihilistic and anti-human. I was so confused why we were always adding features that would make people spend more time online when I was told that the mission was to 'solve problems.' The complete divorce of value and meaning from money that is supposed to represent value... separation of the digital from the real and true.. it was so confusing. I thought there was something wrong with me that I felt sick being online all the time.
The Lord delivered me from that worldview. It is so very sick. Go on Blind.com and you can see how sick living and working in the fake digital world accumulating absurd sums makes people. Now that I am in Christ and have a Church family I can code for work for now and not lose my mind. But when I thought online was real (I'm an elder zoomer born 98) it was hell.
The centre cannot hold.
I thought Substack would be ok but it's just another social media.
It is hard to imagine a fully real life without this tax, having to be a part time indentured slave to the digital egregore. Lord, please deliver us from this mess we've made
Friends, there were a couple of types in the original piece. I apologize for that. I'm still a one-man shop at this point (but looking for help...!). Thanks to the few of you who pointed them out. I corrected what I was able to find, but always welcome you pointing them out. Thank you, as always, for reading.
Really liking the article voiceover enjoying how it works best for me by using my phone/bluetooth and reading along on the laptop for pausing purposes. The article was excellent and highlights for me something Gil Bailie talked about when he mentioned a virtical relationship and a horizontal relationship in a talk with the Dominican School on Youtube. Or the talk I had with my gf this morning about the 1st and the 10th Commandment. We will always worship something whether its a partner, money, or a car but to have a primary relationship with something greater will be more fruitful if it comes first. The article also reminds me of the book The Noonday Devil by Jean Charles Nault OSB in writing about Acedia the author outlines one who flees their cell spreading scandal in an empty attempt to avoid ones primary duty. Beautiful how the article ends with something I will always try to silently remember to myself that fondness inside of each of us that is wealth.
“Nihilism lies at the heart of many of our health problems, political problems, and relationship problems”.
Very true
Observed in the ethical and moral bankruptcy we observe around us
The identification of nihilism as the philosophic context is I think correct. The question that I have is where did this perspective come from? After all the Progressive era is utopian in its outlook, not nihilistic. I trace this place where we are through two intellectual shifts. One is from a transcendent worldview to an immanent one. The other is from a materialistic perspective to nonmateriality. The trend began 500 years ago when the world believed in a transcendent materiality. The physical world had value as an expression of a creator God. Then, we transitioned into a world of immanent materiality as the age of science and industry emerged. With the advent of the digital age we live in a simulation of immanent nonmateriality. As a realty, as Jean Baudrillard has described, has been murdered. If nothing is real, then nihilism is the logical response. This culture of simulation is deeply immeshed in our world. I go into detail about this phenomenon in my series of columns- https://edbrenegar.substack.com/p/the-culture-of-simulation-series.
As an existential nihilist it was interesting to read this post.
Wow. Thank you for this.
As a lonely, confused teen, I made an idol of Silicon Valley. I thought that belonging would come from wealth and status and being around other people who were also 'deep thinkers.'
The software world is so truly nihilistic and anti-human. I was so confused why we were always adding features that would make people spend more time online when I was told that the mission was to 'solve problems.' The complete divorce of value and meaning from money that is supposed to represent value... separation of the digital from the real and true.. it was so confusing. I thought there was something wrong with me that I felt sick being online all the time.
The Lord delivered me from that worldview. It is so very sick. Go on Blind.com and you can see how sick living and working in the fake digital world accumulating absurd sums makes people. Now that I am in Christ and have a Church family I can code for work for now and not lose my mind. But when I thought online was real (I'm an elder zoomer born 98) it was hell.
The centre cannot hold.
I thought Substack would be ok but it's just another social media.
It is hard to imagine a fully real life without this tax, having to be a part time indentured slave to the digital egregore. Lord, please deliver us from this mess we've made