Pilgrimage Project Analysis

Although I never thought my personal life and journey with Faith as detailed in chapter one of my Pilgrimage Project would connect directly to my critical analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s and Nicholas Carr’s views on God’s Word and Technology, I was surprised to find that both chapters related to and challenged one another. Comparing both chapters led me to new connections and raised some important questions about my relationship to God, his Word, and the modern technology that is so fundamental to my daily life.
While comparing the first two chapters of my Pilgrimage Project, I recognized multiple enlightening and unexpected connections between my thoughts on faith and religion and my analysis of God’s Word and modern technology. The largest
Nicholas Carr warns that modern technology can lead to a set of ideals that potentially rob society of and divorce people from their relationship to things such as spirituality. This made me wonder if the distance and disillusionment I have with deep, spiritual faith is a result of my near constant interaction with the Internet and social media. I wonder if these new technologies and their isolating and distracting effects have caused me to lose focus on creating a healthy spiritual life with myself. Perhaps I have become accustomed to worshipping the screens I own rather than God and his creation; for instance, while walking to class I tend to stare into my phone, listen to music, or otherwise occupy myself with technology instead of truly looking around and experiencing God’s creation and the beauty within
Although I do describe myself as feeling the strongest connection to God while participating in active vocations of Christianity such as charity work, Benedict suggests that believers also consistently proclaim the Word of God in order to maintain its incarnate nature. I’ve never been one to do this, but my exploration of Carr and Benedict have led me to the concept of using technology, not to distract myself from my faith, but to further engage in it by utilizing social media and the internet to explore and proclaim my spirituality. Many people my own age follow religious Twitter accounts and Facebook pages which post Bible quotes, information about religious retreats, and articles concerning how to be a young Christian in the modern world. Perhaps by engaging in technology in a positive way such as this, I can incorporate active and mindful spirituality into my daily life and enrich my faith; this enrichment could potentially lead me to have a more positive relationship with Christianity and God