Faith In Today's World: The Algorithm and the Soul

SCRIPTURE

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

“መዝገብካ ኣብ ዘለዎ፡ ኣብኡ ድማ ልብኻ አሎ።”

— (Matthew 6:21)

REFLECTION

Before the awakening of our soul and body, before the morning prayer, we reach for our phones. The average person spends more than 5 hours on their phone, with most of the time spent on social media. Our reality has been disrupted by the media, and so has our spiritual life and the connection we have with God. The Gospel of Matthew tells us, "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (24:44), yet our hearts remain with what is temporary and not even reality itself.

The algorithm, designed to attract us and make us its own, has won. How many of us have tried to break off from it, but we couldn't? How many of us use our phones during the most sacred times, whether it is divine liturgy or prayer? Our instincts and desires have been shaped by the media so much that we can't even enjoy our time with God. It has come to a time when we go to the house of the Lord for the sake of going, for the sake of friends, and for us to show that we are Christians. The first thing we do when we go to church is to send a picture to our friends using Snapchat or the newly added instant on Instagram. Is that the life we want to live, to be inside the house of God but with our mind in the world? Is that the life we want to live for the sake of the media? We have become what we were told to avoid and have become like the Pharisees, who only worshipped to be seen; we have always had an audience when worshipping, but social media has just given us a bigger one.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). Our hearts today lie in the media, and the world wants nothing else but to lay our hearts in it. From a marketing and business perspective, the longer you entertain the customer, the more they stay, and this grabs their attention. Feed them more dopamine, and they will want more. This, of course, is the reason social media has grown; it has become our dopamine for boredom and our escape from stress and the real things that matter. This translates into not taking that time to stay with your family, pray, learn, study, and instead choosing to scroll because the scroll makes us feel better. The lives that we see seem better than the lives we live, and we would rather live in that world of sin than lead a life of prayer.

So let us examine ourselves: why do we keep choosing the world of sin instead of God, who is waiting for us to come back to Him? We know the algorithm has our treasure, and our God seeks our hearts. What remains is a choice given to Adam and Eve in the beginning, to the two thieves who were with Christ, to Saint Paul the Apostle, and to all the Saints who followed in the footsteps of Christ. Decide to live in His Home and worship, so that you may be remembered in His Kingdom.

Liturgical Meaning

During the liturgy, we are reminded to be attentive and stand up for prayer; this is repeated multiple times because we are split from the prayer and are always distracted by worldly things. In today's age, that's social media, and we need to be attentive and focus on prayer.

Theological Meaning

In Orthodox theology, we are told that God's grace is always forgiving to those who come back and to those who seek Him. In the Gospel of Matthew 7:7, He says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you." This verse is a reminder to us that God waits for us to seek Him, give Him our hearts, and open our souls so that they speak His words. Let us all open our hearts so that they may seek Christ.

It's as Saint Anthony the Great, the father of monasticism, said: "Just as fish die on dry land, so too do monks who linger outside their cells or spend time with the people of the world lose the intensity of stillness (hesychia). And so, like the fish returns to the sea, we too must hurry back to the cell, lest we loiter outside and forget our inner guard." The more time we spend with the things that involve sin, the more we are tempted to commit and lose our watchfulness, which the Fathers call nepsis.