Shallow

Breaking fast at the cathedral this morning with Canon Jules, we were referred to a book called The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. The thesis of the book (which I haven't read) is apparently that the Internet is making people stupid. I'm not convinced it's going to be convincing, but a more subtle point is more important. Which is that the Internet is changing the way we think. More specifically, the way we read.

I had started to think that I don't do much reading, because (apart from sabbaticals and reading weeks) I rarely read books. But then I realised that I probably read more words than ever, it's just that they're on a screen. And for once I'm not talking about the display format; the distinction is between one long text and many shorter texts. A book is the former, the Internet is the latter.

I probably won't get round to reading the whole book, but will read a few summaries on the Internet. Thus possibly proving the thesis of the book which I haven't read - and which jumps around a lot anyway!

The problem with avoiding whole books is that we may never read a long, deep argument through from start to finish. Apparently.
I'm not convinced. I think books are too long, for a start. Ok that's a generalisation; but there are far too many books which should be the length of a Grove Booklet, which have another 200 pages of padding to make them publishable. That's something the Internet and ebooks may improve. Also, books tend to not come with animated diagrams and active hyperlinks, which is always a disadvantage in my mind.

Back to this morning, and Canon Jules made an interesting link between the secular idea of Slow Reading and the lectio divina - a traditional way of reading scripture which allows time for contemplation, meditation and prayer.
We do need to slow down in our reading. The need to spend time with a text is vital to authentic study of the scriptures.
(I think Canon Jules was confusing this with another idea though - the length of a piece of scripture we read in lectio divina is often quite short - similar in length to an Internet news article. )
I always like a video clip to make a point, and this morning we were treated to Fiddler on the Roof. Never seen it myself - due to it being a musical - But was quite surprised at some of the lyrics. Once you get past the rather odd - if not plain lazy - bits like "If I were a biddy biddy rich, Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man", it turns out that the goal of the wannabe rich man is apparently to discuss the scriptures for 7 hours a day. That would be the sweetest thing. Most laudable. I've heard that a Jewish boy on his first day of learning about the Torah would be given a taste of honey, and told that God's word should be equally sweet.


Revelation 10:9
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."

Location:Cathedral