Valențe ale timpului în contextul digitalizării
Aspects of Time in the Context of Digitalization

Author(s): Cristian-Alexandru BARNEA
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion
Published by: Editura Doxologia
Keywords: internet addiction; discernment; digital education; prayer; Christian virtues; ‘being present’; ‘face to face’;
Summary/Abstract: I do not wish to demolish the skyscrapers of digital technology, just as I do not join those who see an insurmountable gap towards their integration in the daily life of the city. What I would propose is an attempt at analysis, supported by a few arguments and observations, a series of texts that seem significant to me, whereby readers can be discreetly taken by the hand and discover for themselves what needs to be done – not in a crusade to save the world, but to rediscover one’s own time – a prerequisite for a return to the lost beauty of a life lived authentically and fully. Once someone has succeeded to free him/herself from the ‘spell’ of the world, the persons around them will wish to convert to the contemplation of the unbelievable beauties and marvellous works of God, of which, as we know, ‘no words are enough to fully proclaim’. This may seem an overstatement or a precious way of expressing oneself. However, the return from the entanglements of the fascinating and seductive virtual life to the offline, ‘bodily’ life is an important and necessary victory – though an insufficient one, from a Christian perspective. The eight thoughts of wickedness in our philokalic spirituality do not simply disappear in the digitally augmented reality, but manifest themselves in a versatile and insidious manner. For a full conversion, one needs to be well-established on the right path, in continual dialogue with Christ. By following the same path as that of Zacchaeus the publican, and of so many people known only to God – from the teluric of Jericho to the heavenly Jerusalem – the value of time is rediscovered and life is fulfilled in its primordial meaning. To ‘be present’ means to be always, at any moment, in prayer before God.

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