The Olympics are coming to close, and the talk of the global town is on the shocking dropout of Simone Biles. Flashback to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where she became the first female U.S. gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Games, This year, in Tokyo, she was set to dominate the competition; think Michael Jordan in his prime taking on a middle school B team.
But, that didn’t happen.
Biles pulled out of the competition and her reason for doing so flirts with the diabolical. When asked for an explanation for her withdrawal, she said, “As soon as I step on the mat it’s just me and my head… dealing with demons in my head (…) I have to do what’s right for me and focus on my sanity and not compromise my health and my well-being.” She later went on to say she felt like “the weight of the world” was on her shoulders.
Biles has 6.7 million Instagram followers, 1.6 million on Twitter, and another 1.5 million on Facebook. With a simple scroll through those feeds with her chalked up finger, she surely felt trapped; anyone with such a large online following would feel that pressure. It’s enough to plant several seeds of doubt in your head.
That’s what demons do.
Demons are infiltrating the Olympics, and Biles isn’t the first to notice it.
Suni Lee, the eventual All-Around Gold medalist from the U.S., recognized the demons too, but she called them by a different name – social media.
After rising to an all-time high after winning the All-Around events, Lee took to the uneven bars, an event she was heavily favored to win, and managed to win the bronze. After her disappointing finish, she told Insider that she “got distracted and lost focus a little bit when I won the gold medal.” She further explained that it was her massive growth in her social media audiences (1 million followers in one weekend!) that overcame her focus.
Demonic activity is present wherever there is hope. It doesn’t matter if you are a chiseled Olympian seeking gold in Tokyo or a withered widower seeking holiness in an adoration chapel,if you seek to better yourself, the demons are coming for you to distract, divide, and destroy that hope.
Your device (which shares the same latin root word as, you guessed it, demon), is keeping you from the perfection you desire.
To be clear, as I mentioned in my book Detached, “Your phone isn’t the devil. On the contrary, your phone has an immense potential for good, just as it has an equally immense potential for bad. Everything hinges on your ability to contemplate the good that can be produced through the use of your phone. The thing itself isn’t the issue. It is how you choose to use it that makes screen time either a holy encounter or a self-destructive behavior.
Wereached a moment in human history where our digital lives intertwine dangerously into real life. If athletes are recognizing the negative effects of our devices and loosing out on gold medals, maybe we should call out our own screen addictions before we miss out not only on our current lives, but the eternal life to come.
Time to do a digital detox? Please consider getting a copy of my award-winning book, Detached: Put Your Phone in Your Place, a 21 day retreat from your screens.
The cult classic Pacific Rim is BY FAR one of the greatest (and most underrated) films of all time. If you haven’t seen it yet, put it on your “must see” list ASAP. It hits on a pop level because of its superheroesque motif and it hits all of the hipster trends for not having anything to do with actual superheroes.
What interested me most, however, is its development of what the movie refers to as “drift compatibility.” Again, you need to watch the movie to understand precisely what drift compatibility is, but I’ll do my best to do it justice in the next paragraph of this post. If you already know what I’m talking about, skip it.
Essentially, earth’s armed forces create these mega robots called Jaegers. They are the size of skyscrapers and more powerful than space shuttles. They built them to defend the planet for alien monsters that warp into our atmosphere through an undersea portal along the pacific rim. While the robots are remarkably strong, there’s a catch: it takes two pilots to operate one Jaeger. Not just any pilot will do; the two need to be “drift compatible.” This means that they have to share a special connection that will allow their minds to unite as they operate the sides of the Jaeger they are responsible for. If one of the pilots is injured in battle, the other takes on the totality of the robot’s operation systems which overtaxes the pilot and makes their brain (and body) split.
“Drift compatibility” is non-fiction. It is an actual thing found in our world. It is found in various degrees in every culture and race. BFFs have it. Great teachers have it with their students. Even the minds behind some of the people you follow on twitter could likely drive a Jaeger with you.
However, I’d argue that the greatest form of drift compatibility in today’s (and yesterday’s and tomorrow’s) world is in the union of a sacramental marriage.
When two people are connected with the hitch that is God’s grace, there within them creates a union that makes the two not only of one mind, but of one flesh. The result is a co-existence of souls within one another. Side effects of said unity can create mounds of intermediate graces, pools of redemptive suffering, and the combination of grace and suffering which I like to call children.
More importantly, however, the sacrament creates a common thought between the spouses that places the others’ needs at the forefront of every decision. When you’re married, even a solo trip to the grocery store is accompanied by thoughts of “what does my wife need while I’m here?” Or “I bet my husband would love a box of Fruity Pebbles.” With kids, this superpower grows exponentially because every word you speak, every action to make is accompanied by a singular thought of “am I doing everything I can to make this family holy?”
Theologian James Keating coined this shared mental telepathy between spouses as co-natural thought. It is the drift compatibility that allow the two to share more than just their mental strength, but their spiritual and physical powers as well. Together, they maneuver the Jaeger of their marriage and battle against the sins that try to break them apart. Sometimes, one of them takes a hard hit to the soul and it’s up to the other to split the very fibers of their self to keep the fight going.
This is where the mystic reality takes precedent over the movie: when the single spouse has to take on the brunt of the marriage responsibilities, it is then when the grace of God kicks in like nitrous oxide in a Fast and Furious flick. He overwhelms the two by pouring love to the one spouse through the other, strengthening them both in one, singular flesh.
Drift compatibility. Co-natural thought. Call it what you want, but in the end, it will always symbolize two things: God & love. Which, in reality, is actually one thing because God is love.
In a similar way, so too is one spouse joined to another in one flesh through the sacrament of marriage.
I was listening to a podcast recently that discussed the differences between the Wizarding World and the Muggle World in the Potterverse. The hosts made the fascinating argument that the Wizarding World is everything the Muggle World used to be prior to the industrial revolution, but with magic. The primary points of evidence were their unfamiliarity with Muggle technology and their lack of necessity of it. For example, Arthur Weasly’s curiosity about the use of a rubber duck as well as his illegal hoarding of a non-functional car make us muggles look like aliens to be monitored and studied.
Add a little bit of magic, however, and the reasons why the Wizarding World need not require knowledge of the human’s technological means of survival become relevant. If you can cast a spell on a sponge, scrubber, and soap to wash your dishes, then you need not a dishwasher. If you can aparate or travel by floo powder or portkey, then who needs a car (even a flying one)?
It seems, then, that the Wizarding World would be the superior race in that they are able to remain innocuous to the Muggle World. And that’s just the thing: it is only the witches and wizards who can live undercover in the muggle world while us non-magic folk remain ignorant to their existence.
Why?
Why would a witch or wizard who has the entirety of chocolate frogs and efficiency of spell-lived lives even want to dwell among us non-magic folk? And why, by Merlin’s beard, would we be so dense so as to not realize the existence of this earthly paradise?
The answer, in short, is Christmas.
J.K. Rowling, like two masters of high fantasy before her, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, knew that there is no magical world without a mystical one. They knew that behind every magic wand, every ring of power, every professor’s wardrobe, there exists an even deeper, celestial truth: that God Himself became a muggle.
Harry lived among the post-industrialized people whose technological “prowess” was still light years behind the Wizarding World. And yet, here we are, more than 2,000 years removed from the moment of the Incarnation when God came down from heaven and tread upon our world undercover for the first 30 years of His earthly life.
Witches and wizards do something similar in Rowling’s stories; they’ve left their magical paradise to dwell with us muggles. But unlike Jesus, who came to save us from our sins, they seek answers to their deepest spiritual longings through the race in which God Himself shared His DNA. One could argue that they ask themselves questions like “Where does this power come from?” “Is there a God?” and “If God does exist, then why am I even here?”
The answer is Christ, and we know they’ve come to understand this truth when Harry leans toward Ron and Hermione on his first holiday break at Hogwarts and says, “Happy Christmas.”
The same goes for the Hobbits who celebrate Yuletide in Middle Earth, and the Pevensies who helped bring Christmas back to wintery Narnia.
It just goes to show that the fate of the Wizarding World (and any fantasy universe) would be found in some druid dark arts solstice nonsense had it not been for Christ, and it is that truth that keeps any magical race connected to humanity through the mystical bonds of God. He is Who allows us to see one another with the same dignity and love as our Creator.
Hence why all (good) fantasy eventually leads us to Him, for even “the boy who lived” must bow down to the boy who is life.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s. My childhood was spent playing outside, dabbling in Sega Genesis and the original Nintendo, and watching everything from the Simpsons to Rocko’s Modern Life on TV.
When it rained, I stayed inside. When I had beaten my video games, I had to wait for (and earn money to pay for) the next game I wanted to get. When my shows weren’t on, I had to find something else to do. Boredom, then, became the interlude between the many activities of my daily routine.
But boredom was so much more than that. It was the catalyst to a slew of brain activity and imaginative thought. When I was bored, I would think outside my television box and discover new ways to do things. I’d draw. I’d read. I’d play board games with my family. On top of that, I’d contemplate the world and my place in it. In the end, I’d find my way to realizing God’s presence in my life because in the silence and solitude of my boredom, I’d pray.
People have an inert necessity for silence and solitude.
We also have a natural inclination to avoid boredom.
Prior to the tech revolution and the development of smart devices, our minds would use boredom to its advantage. In the silence and solitude of our lives, we would…
organize our day
plan our lives
balance our emotions
rationalize our being
and contemplate our God.
This would lead to being more fully alive. Boredom was, and still is, the crux of our mental health.
Now, the smart device has kidnapped our mental stability. When moments of silence and solitude present themselves, we tend to glance at our smartphones and, in an instant, we activate our mental powers and become one with the constant humming of digital noise and constant companionship. This makes silence and solitude an optional virtue; no longer a necessary ally in attaining a great life. When the screen is on, our curiosity takes control and our minds and intellects are kidnapped by a desire to view content from invisible, digital people.
As a result,
our days become less organized
our lives less complete
our emotions imbalanced
our beings questioned
and our God ignored.
If the digital addiction continues, our intellects will have never contemplated truth, beauty, and goodness by His natural design as we will have chosen the light from a screen as opposed to the light of Christ. We will arrive at the point of such mental stress that life will become unbearable and the God in whom we find the very essence of our being will cease to exist in our overly digitized minds.
Pixels will overcome prayer.
Code will overwhelm Divine inspiration.
Likes will replace true love.
Technology is a very formidable servant, but it is tyrant of a ruler. We need silence and solitude in our lives. We need moments of boredom to internalize our emotions as well as rest our minds. It is time to rediscover the great advantages that boredom provides of our lives by dethroning the current king of our attention that is our screens.
It is time to learn how to use technology to grow spiritually, live efficiently, and become more fully alive.
If you liked this post, you are going to love my latest book, Detached: Put Your Phone in its Place. With Lent coming up, it is the perfect time to take a retreat from social media and other apps to focus on building up your spirituality. It only takes 21 days to learn how to use your screens to make your life better instead of allowing it to weaken your intellect, your will, and ultimately your soul.
When you think about a Jehovah’s Witness, the Amish, or a Buddhist, images come to your mind of people knocking on doors, communities living off the grid in simplicity, and men and women attempting to attain peace though meditation.
Now, compare that with the Catholicism. How are we seen?
According to most of the world, we are…
Gay haters
Women’s rights-withholders
Science negators
Murderous crusaders
Wealthy collection basket-takers
and the list goes on…
Of the aforementioned, any knowledgeable Catholic can not only argue, but prove that those accusations are erroneous. But such debates aren’t even necessary because there is one issue that has surpassed them in gravity, media coverage, and, unfortunately, truth.
The sexual abuse crisis.
The Catholic Church is currently most well-known for the horrifying sins committed by our priests and Bishops, those whom we hold to the highest expectations of morality. To make matters worse, these crimes were committed against our children and young people, those whom we acknowledge to be the most innocent among us. Worst of all, the systematic cover up of these atrocities for decades has added to the weight of this already heavy cross.
Jesus said that if we are to be His disciples, we “must deny ourselves take up [our] cross, and follow Him” (Mat. 16: 24). He also made sure to teach us that when one suffers in his mystical body, we all suffer (1 Cor. 12: 26). When one sin enters into the world, it affects the people around it, causing a chain reaction of vice and disorder that tempts us into pride, depression, and ignorance. After such a hard blow to the Church by part of the one’s who were meant to lead us, we are currently all in a fallen state.
And the world knows it.
From here on out there is only one thing we can do: We must live lives of heroic virtue.
Gone are the days when people would convert to Catholicism (or remain Catholic) based solely on the Church’s high moral standards. Now, we must rediscover the one thing necessary for salvation- love, which the Bible tells us is God Himself.
How do we actually DO that? How do we rediscover God so as to overshadow the darkness that we are currently in?
Jesus teaches us how to properly love in three very difficult steps:
Pray
It may seem simple, but maintaining a constant and consistent prayer life is anything but easy. Our attention is fragmented by our multiple tasks, the distractions of our technological toys, and our inability to prioritize what is needed over what we want. Prayer is the great equalizer that, when done right, brings us to Divine heights to provide a bird’s eye, no, a God’s eye view of what our lives should be.
Fast
We must take up our crosses and “fill up in the flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church” (Col. 1: 24). We do this best by fasting from the pleasures of our flesh. When we limit our intake of optional foods (desserts, snacks, restaurants, etc.), we return to the simplicity of our appetites thus enabling us to hunger and thirst for righteousness which brings us true fulfillment.
We can also limit our intake of optional digital activities like social media, gaming, online shopping, and the like so that we can remain focused on living our real life. The rule of thumb is to only use apps and screens that will increase your virtue, not distract you into vice.
Go
Praying and fasting are the most effective means of bringing about peace during these most difficult times. The fruit of these virtuous acts is charity, which demands that the one who participates in them manifest the love of God in their daily acts of service to the greater community. This is the mission we are all called to complete- to go out and show the world what sacrificial love is all about.
Now, the world knows us as not just criminals, but guilty culprits of the most horrendous crimes known to man.
In the future, they will know we are Catholic because of our love.
We’ve got a lot of work to do… and a lot of saints to become.
I had the great pleasure of chatting with Jen Fulwiler on her Sirius XM radio show about my book, Detached.
It. Was. Hilarious. And Great. And all the wonderful things they say about Jen are true.
We talked about the evilness of yellow starbursts, the idea of resistance and how it holds us back from being awesome, and the fact that Jen loves her cell phone… a lot (but for good reasons!)
Listen in. You won’t be disappointed.
Also, if you want to take advantage of my pre-order bonus and get 3 books for the price of one, here’s how to do it.
You can preorder Detached right now either through Amazon or through my publisher, Our Sunday Visitor.
Once you receive your receipt, forward it to me at tj@dominicaninstitute.com and I’ll send you a free ecopy of my book, 30 Minutes: Less Cell Phone. More Beauty (Paperback: $8.99 on Amazon) as well as a copy of God’s Wifi: How to be Happier and Holier in the Digital Age.
Remember, this offer expires on Oct. 1st, so preorder you copy of Detached now before it is too late.
