During my first visit to St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox monastery (Florence, Arizona) in February 2004, I purchased Harry Boosalis, Orthodox Spiritual Life According to Saint Siloan the Athonite. What follows is a passage to give users of the new media pause. It was published in 2000 before blogging really took off, and before texting, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter:
Writing nearly sixty years ago about the harm of newspapers and base books, one wonders what St. Silouan would say if he lived today. Our world differs markedly from the one in which St. Silouan lived. In today's 'Age of Information' -- and certainly even more in the world of tomorrow -- the constant influx from the multiple forms of media can only hinder one's pursuit of true prayer. These modern forms of 'entertainment' and news media, as well as the much more complex web of world-wide communication systems, including the ever-increasing role of computers and the expanding use (or abuse) of the Internet, have contributed to a fundamental deterioration of spiritual life, as well as an overall 'de-personalization' fo contemporary man and society. Even well-intentioned believers are now infected with this insatiable desire for more and more frivolous information, futile knowledge, and superficial 'entertainment.' Ultimately, much of this remains not only useless for one's personal well-being, but according to St. Silouan it also has a direct and negative impact on one's spiritual life. (pp. 67-68)
Monks naturally gravitate towards deserts. But even in a desert one is not safe from media dreck. So one must seek out the desert in one's desert.
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