A Web of Our Illusions
“His folly shall not please
him, and his trust shall be
like the spider's web.”
(Job 8.14)
The Myth of
“Man
as Desperately Seeking God”
If
the World Wide Web
is any indication of our deepest
desires, then consider the
following snapshot taken
in 2005 and 2007—
when the web was beginning to
really dominate many aspects
of our lives. Youtube
and Facebook had just
arrived in 2005: Twitter,
Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr,
and Linked-in, etc. soon
followed.
A simple search in the form
of a one word query
reveals a good deal more of
the topography of the human
condition than any statistical
analysis of the numbers. It
is a terrain mapped out with
a very clearly defined epicenter
— the human genitalia — and
an equally clearly defined periphery:
God.
Consider the following
results from 8 such queries
in Google in 2005 and 2007 —
the numbers will have increased
exponentially since:
sex:
2005:
350 million pages
/ 2007:
783 million pages
gay:
2005: 128 million
/ 2007: 394 million
porn:
2005 90 million
/ 2007: 227 million
lesbian:
2005: 57 million
/ 2007: 185 million
God:
2005: 129 million
pages
/ 2007: 516
million
Jesus:
2005: 49 million
/ 2007:
179 million
Bible:
2005: 46 million
/ 2007: 162 million
Catholic:
2005: 29 million
/ 2007: 974 million
Protestant:
2005: 4-1/2 millon
/ 2007: 14-1/2 million
Jewish:
2005: 32 million
/ 2007: 87 million
What does this mean?
Sex, in
2005,
beat out God by 3 times,
Jesus or the Bible
by 7 times, and Catholic
by 12 times; by 77 times for
Protestant, and by
10 times for Jewish.
The figures for 2007
are roughly proportional although
“sex” and “porn” increased 200%
(doubled), and "gay" and “lesbian”
increased by 300% (tripled).
Consider the following statistics
for 2007:
-
127% more people were looking
for porn than are looking
for Jesus
-
140% more people were looking
for porn than are looking
for the Bible
-
150% more people were looking
for sex than are looking
for God
-
200% more people were looking
for gays than for Jesus
-
500% more were looking for
sex than are looking for
the Bible
-
700% more were looking for
sex than are looking for
Jesus
-
More people were looking
for lesbians than for Jesus
or the Bible
Do the math, and you arrive
at a terribly dismaying conclusion
that flies in the face of the
optimistic but terribly naive
perception that man is desperately
seeking God.
Man, it would appear, by and
large is not searching
for God. He, she, are, with
stunning alacrity, searching
for each others genitals, or
their own. I understand that
this is not a polite conclusion.
It is, however, the ineluctable
conclusion. For its audacity,
it is nevertheless politely
put.
How can this be? Why is it so?
The Summum Bonum
God does not necessarily feel
good. Sex does. To what, we
must ask, are we constantly
urged by our priests, our preachers,
pastors, counselors, teachers,
social workers? To feel
good. It is the summum
bonum. If “feeling good”
is the highest good, then sex
is the highest expression of
the good.
Not God.
Perhaps it is better put in
the form of a syllogism: Good
is understood, not as a sentiment,
still less as something moral,
but as a feeling, a physical
sensation.
-
All feeling is sensuous
in nature.
-
Orgasm is the the consummate
sensual experience.
-
It is therefore the consummate
good.
In subtle, and in not so subtle
ways, we acquire this, learn
this, from our present hedonistic
culture, and it is reinforced,
wittingly in our classrooms,
and unwittingly from our pulpits.
It is our mantra: “God wants
me to feel good.” From that
premise we proceed through a
very reasonable and syllogistic
protocol to the conclusion that
the notion of sin can in no
way be predicated of the
good as feeling. If
it feels good, do it.
After all, God wants me to
feel good. Sex feels
good. It cannot, then, under
any circumstances be construed
as not good (i.e. sinful),
for it feels good.
The locus of the good — of the
greatest good — then, ceases
to be God, ceases to be extrinsic
to ourselves; in fact, the locus
becomes the very self — and
the highest self-expression
of the good as sensual (since
the sensual is inextricable
from the self) is, of course,
sex.
I do not argue the point. It
is quite unnecessary. We just
need look at the Web of
our creation ... and
do the math. Postmodern man
is not in search of God. He
is in search of his own apotheosis,
and it is, in a manner of speaking,
within reach; should this not
suffice, it is just a few keystrokes
away.
This Web of our illusions is
very revealing. It is an indictment
of our reluctance, even our
unwillingness, and hence our
failure — a catastrophic failure
— to articulate truth in the
face of “correct” lies we have
no wish to contend with. Our
courage went the way of our
conviction. And our conviction
went the way of the world.
We spun the Web. Would to God
that we behaved more as men
... than spiders.
Geoffrey K. Mondello
for the Boston Catholic Journal
Printable
PDF Version
A Reader's Responds:
I am neither frightened
or intimidated by numbers. Facts
within facts. Often the reality
is something else... Regarding the
statistics in your article, by and
large I presume, that the pages
on sex on the net are in some way
presented towards a monetary gain
... in other words, the ruthless
will do anything, use anyone, in
any way in order to get money ...
and sex means money! That really
is the bottom line ... greed for
money, and no doubt much is utilized
on drugs.
Many of the sites are indicative
of sick minds ... but how much on
these sites is an enticement to
spend money? All kinds of sexual
medications, books, erotic films,
etc. etc. sex toys ... all money
and greed.
God on the other hand is not lucrative
... His love is free, by and large
many people who run Christian websites
get very little or no monetary return.
There is the difference! What do
you get from it...?
I am not impressed with numbers
in the least; all through history,
especially Christian history, it
has often been the minority that
was ultimately victorious! It has
often been the remnant that turned
the tide in history. We need only
look to the influence one person
can have on history: Christ Himself,
St. Paul, St. Francis, St. Athanasius
... all fought against overwhelming
opposition. It was often said of
the early Church Father: "Athansius
contra mundi", "Athansius against
the world" ... and St. Athanasius
prevailed!
To look at the statistics without
the Spirit can be daunting and it
reveals only part of the truth,
I think.
What you have written is good and
aimed to jolt us out of our complacency,
but it is only one facet of the
diamond of humanity.
We must not be discouraged by numbers.
We must not let them frighten us.
Neither do I believe for one second
that those who visit porn sites,
and the like, are all motivated
by evil and that such things are
the breadth of their horizon. No!
So many, so many, are lured into
it ... many probably also have a
longing for God and the whole battle
is this: who will win? The flesh
or the Spirit?
It is a sickness, as is any obsession
with anything ... but neither is
it, for many, the end of the journey.
We awaken. Life passes on and other
values come to matter.
I have never visited any of these
sites and I don't want to, the ones
I have been sent have been disguised
in e-mail, or came to me through
browser redirections in an innocent
search. I just think it is pitiable
to see little children, women used
in such a degrading manner, its
sick ... and for what? For money.
Paying for flesh by the pound!
If it is true that many live for
just cheap thrills in their bodies,
if they truly do not want more,
why do so many commit suicide, do
drugs, because they are unable to
face what they have fallen into
... God help them ...they know they
should have been more, and that
there was more, but they despaired
through the greed and evil of others.
You may not agree with me, but its
just how my heart responds to your
editorial today.
We are enslaved as never before,
to false idols ... we are witnessing
in this time the fall, the moral
collapse of a civilization ... we
have to be reborn ... and I trust
to God's work, to His love and mercy,
and ultimately, to His victory over
all these sad shadows.
SMB
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