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Most probably the inventors of the internet\u201a which modestly started as a small information sharing network\u201a did not hope\u201a even in their wildest dreams\u201a that in less than 50 years their invention will evolve into what is today the greatest information exchange that ever existed. The library of Alexandria? Child play! Think about all that goes through the internet today: websites\u201a e-mail\u201a news\u201a TV\u201a social networks\u201a entertainment\u201a financials\u201a do-it-yourself\u201a phone calls\u201a video calls\u201a encyclopedias\u201a e-books\u201a maps and we\u2019re just scratching the surface. All you want is there waiting to be found at the literal touch of a finger. Nobody asks anyone anything before they \u201cgoogle\u201d the information.<\/p>\n
With an internet connection at hand one feels like a kid in a toy store\u201a always ready to engage and discover. You wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is check your phone. Did I miss anything while I was asleep? How is the stock market doing? Any emergencies at work? How are my friends on Facebook\u201a any silly selfies? Did anyone like my Instagram? How many likes did I get? We walk like zombies with our eyes glued to our smartphones even before we had the chance to get a cup of coffees. And who invented the rule that you can\u2019t text and drive? Was it not enough that you can\u2019t drink and drive? Lucky enough there are the red lights\u201a where everyone checks what happened in the last three minutes from the previous red light. You don\u2019t believe me? Look around next time you\u2019re at a red light\u201a that is if you\u2019re not on your phone.<\/p>\n
This avalanche of information about everything and anything has turned all of us into information junkies. We constantly check our phones waiting for the next piece of news or conversation to pop out. We live and breathe information. There is only one downside to this addiction\u201a we start having less and less time. Paradoxically\u201a when we can find anything quicker than ever\u201a we end up having less time than ever. Work doesn\u2019t get finished\u201a conversations\u201a unless virtual\u201a are on the brink of extinction\u201a human interactions are a bare because they take you away from the urge to know everything right now!<\/p>\n
Where does this knowledge lead us to? One May say that if we search for the right information it is a good thing. Say one is interested in God; using just a smartphone one can find all the translations of the Bible ever imagined\u201a all the writings of the Fathers\u201a one can ask for spiritual advice online or even virtually attend a streamed Sunday service. Many times however we remain at the level of the search. Mesmerized of the information about the faith we don\u2019t have time anymore to actually live the faith. With so many virtual prayers books available we find no time to pray.<\/p>\n
Having knowledge about God however does not mean one knows God. God is not in the information about Him. To know God is to be with Him\u201a to experience the unmediated communion with Him. Knowledge is good only if it leads to action\u201a knowledge without action is useless or even plain dangerous. Adam and Eve knew that they would die if they ate from the tree\u201a yet they got tempted with the promise of even more knowledge. They knew enough to keep them in communion with God\u201a to live forever in bliss without lacking anything\u201a yet they wanted more and in that temptation they lost paradise. Sometimes knowing more\u201a especially before time\u201a can lead us astray from practicing what we already do know. Our Christian forefathers have survived the Turks and the communists and everything else that stood against them not because they knew everything about God and their faith\u201a but because they took the time to apply what they already knew in every moment of their lives.<\/p>\n
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We should not understand all this as a rebellion against knowledge and an invitation to obscurantism\u201a but as a warning against the mirage of \u201cknowing it all\u201d that can be all consuming. Taking time for personal prayer\u201a to physically be in church\u201a to visit a friend in the hospital\u201a to feed the hungry where they live\u201a will help us more in discovering God thank accessing raw information about Him. Knowing the Scriptures and the theology is fine\u201a but God is not a theoretical Being\u201a He is a real Trinity of Divine Persons that interact with each other and with us. From this interaction we learn Who He is and who we are; by doing\u201a by loving\u201a by being together\u201a now and into eternity.<\/p>\n
A story from the monks of Egypt speaks about three brothers that were occasionally visiting an elder. Two of them always took advantage of the visits and had many questions to ask. The third one always just sat with them\u201a asking nothing. After a few visits the elder asked him directly \u2018Don\u2019t you have any questions? Don\u2019t you want to know more?\u2019 The brother answered \u2018For me is enough to be in your presence\u2019. In the era of free but overwhelming information\u201a we should consider taking the advice of the wise brother and\u201a maybe\u201a from time to time\u201a just break free from the internet and acknowledge the presence of God around us. Share a cup of tea with a friend\u201a watch a child at play\u201a listen to a bird\u2019s song\u201a and\u201a by taking this time to think about God\u201a you might be able to hear God knocking at the door of your heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most probably the inventors of the internet\u201a which modestly started as a small information sharing network\u201a did not hope\u201a even in their wildest dreams\u201a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-19605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orthodox-wisdom","tag-orthodox-wisdom"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/duxovnye-praktiki.jpg","views":{"total":353,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768401678},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-56d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19605"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19639,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19605\/revisions\/19639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}