Recently I read this powerfully compelling quote in the book The Divine Dance by Rohr and Morrell;
The greatest dis-ease facing humanity right now is our profound and painful sense of disconnection.
I appreciate these two authors stepping up to make such a bold statement. I get this sense that most people might push back against R&M’s thought here. But, what we are seeing today is that R&M are not alone in their point, many others, in fact a host of others are writing, podcasting, and speaking about the disconnect and divisiveness in this country between you and me, us and them.
I’ve read a number of articles which blame technology. No doubt, technology has thankfully, in many ways, had a positive impact on our lives. The time it has saved us however, seems to have been reinvested back into technology. In the article out of the University of Wisconsin; The Growing Obsession with Technology, Professor Michael Bugeja argues for creating a daily balance between our technological use and our face to face time with human beings like friends, family, co-workers, and class mates. There may be nothing like it in our day that draws us away into distraction and therefore disconnection from people. That can change, time can be redeemed, the addiction can be overcome, yet we should be careful not to begin with pursuing HOW to do this ahead of understanding WHY we have done this.
WHY questions tend to be more personal and therefore many will do what they can to not “go there”. When we ask ourselves why, we seek an answer which can only be answered by WHO we are, or more to the point, WHO we have become. WHO questions, more often than not, drive us deeper into reflection. WHO are we becoming? Is it possible that many in the Global West have become addicted to their technologies?
Justin Whitmel Earley has written a new book entitled The Common Rule. Its focus point is about developing habits of purpose for an age of distraction. He notes that the modern world we live in is itself a powerful habit forming machine. I don’t think any of us would deny that, and thus we need people like JWE to help us renew and restore what may have been lost to us.
We’ll come back in a couple of days to explore more deeply where this series of posts are headed and why that’s a good thing for all of us. But for now, I’d like to challenge you to answer this meaning filled question; What stories and Whose stories are influencing your life?
When we locate our answers, perhaps we should ask as well; Whose story is my life influencing?
Time to close for now but I ran across this awhile back; Learn first about you or you will bore others!
WHO YOU ARE IS – Unique, Unlimited, Unparalleled, and Unfinished.
Have a great weekend and send me a comment. I welcome your thoughts
MC
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