SEARCH CULTURE
(Posted 2008-05-05 14:34:59 by ArchPaladin)

In my Internet wanderings today I came across this editorial [
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102825.html
] [washingtonpost.com], which I found interesting.  I too, have had
problems focusing at work, although I think for reasons different than the
ideas presented in the article. (I'm feeling bored and need a new job...)

The main point was that due to the ease of information availability, we are
breeding a society that processes information not by scrutinizing and
dissecting ideas but merely by filtering out bad ones.  The distinction
here is that if we cannot find value in a supplier of information quickly,
we move on to a new source rather than taking time to sift into the content
looking for what might be hidden.  Thus, we only process what we can
immediately interpret on a shallow level.

There are connotations here that I could use to berate our society for
being fickle and appealing to the senses, but hedonistic behavior has been
going on forever.  Instead, I think this has some interesting consequences
when we consider the spiritual implications about not wanting to search
long for information.  So much about Christianity - and I would argue all
spiritual beliefs - require detailed study and contemplation if someone
wants to mature.  As learning a spiritual path requires effort and mental
application, and this is contradictory to having a readily available source
of information that provides direct answers.  It makes me wonder how well
real spiritual paths that require study will fare in the next 50 years,
particularly when compared to spiritual beliefs that require no effort by
their participants, or religions that primarily exist for entertainment.

I suppose any threat to spiritual growth can be alleviated by a good
presentation and trying to assure people that answers to problems really
_are_ present, even if it's not immediately obvious.  I suspect, however,
this kind of adaptive behavior will only go so far before people become
tired with being patient and putting in an effort, and move on to more
immediately gratifying areas.

--------

There are no comments on this post.