The End of Permanence, Silence and Advent 2016

"To survive, to avert what we have termed future shock, the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before. He must search out totally new ways to anchor himself, because all the old roots-religion, nation, community, family or profession-are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust. Before he can do so, he must understand in greater detail how the effects of acceleration penetrate his personal life, creep into his behavior and alter the quality of existence. He must, in other words, understand transience."

Alvin Toffler wrote these words in in his book, Future Shock, published in 1970. The futurist lived to see the extraordinary prescience of these thoughts. Alvin Toffler died at the age of eighty-six just five months ago, affording him the opportunity to experience many of his predictions. The striking accuracy of the 'death of permanence', the phrase as a title of the first section of Future Shock, Toffler witnessed the collapse of Communism, the crisis in the Catholic Church and the unprecedented influence of social media. Instant global communication affording instant access of almost everything to everyone, dictators toppled ostensibly due to Facebook and Twitter. Information overload with neologisms like neobesity abounding.

Can we have too much information? Some argue no, in a knowledge driven economy and culture, one cannot have too much information. Respectfully, I disagree with the esteemed Harvard Business Review. Simply because information can be as innocuous as a distraction or as consequential as looking like knowledge and wisdom. Critical when a physician pursues a trivial finding in a the work-up of a patient and misses the solitary clue to a life threatening finding buried in the mountains of information requiring must analysis. The ramifications of such an error can be catastrophic.

For most of us, however, such baleful results are rare. Or are they?

Brief observations of our fellow travelers, drivers and diners frequently reveals the reliance on smart phones. Conversations interrupted or never begun due to the perceived urgency of tweets, texts and Facebook messages. In a culture where everything is instant, all communication feels crucial even when frivolous. What is lost with such overwhelming distraction?

Silence: The elemental need of humanity for silence.

Why?

Most fundamentally, silence is essential for us to ponder, reflect, meditate and pray. Amidst the noise of events and opinions which in truth are irrelevant, silence is imperative so that we can know what we think and believe, to restore our being...to hear the voice of God.

The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply: Create silence! Bring men to silence. The Word of God cannot be heard in the noisy world of today. (Soren Kierkegaard)

We have an opportunity over the course of the next four weeks of Advent: Reflect on her, the mother of miracles. Miracles too wondrous and weighty for words-human words. Mary, whose response to her Son was silence, always calm quietude.

Only one thing in this world matters. Being found worthy of the Light of the World in the hour of His visitation. (Bishop Fulton Sheen)