The World, The Flesh, and The Devil
Who wants to talk about the World, the Flesh, and the Devil? But, hey, It’s summertime! What better to enliven the indolent days of summer? Sorry to be a Gloomy Gus, but this is a topic that has been on my mind recently.
But please, stick with me, and I’ll try not to lay it on too heavy. And before I’m done, I’ll even alleviate the summer heat with a touch of fall.
Implacable Foes
Anyway, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. This traditional formulation gives us a vivid picture of the challenge that faces us fallen mortals. Father John Zuhlsdorf (aka Fr. Z) provides an excellent explanation in an article in The Catholic Herald:
None of us, the living, are exempt from the temptations that arise from these implacable enemies of the soul. By this prayer we cast ourselves upon the mercy of God because of our weakness in the face of adversity.
By “world”, we intend indifference and opposition to God’s design, embracing empty, passing values.
By “flesh”, we understand the obvious tendencies to gluttony and sexual immorality, but also all our corrupt inclinations, disordered passions which blind us, make us stupid, and lay us open to greater sins.
By “the Devil”, we identify a real, personal enemy, a fallen angel, Father of Lies, who with his fellow demons of hell labours in relentless malice to twist us away from salvation.
The Divider
In brief, our attachment to the World and the Flesh leaves us vulnerable to the designs of the Devil. That’s why Christian spirituality has always urged detachment from worldly and fleshly things. The Devil is the divider, after all: διάβολος in Greek, literally, “he who drives apart.” Our attachment to the World and the Flesh makes his job all too easy.
These days, he’s not earning his salary if he’s not zeroing in on the ubiquitous smartphone. I’m not talking about the impact of smartphone addiction on mental and physical health, although the impact is significant. I cite below an article published in Catholic World Report back in 2014. The evidence has continued to grow since then (see here and here). But that’s not what’s concerning me here. My concern, as explained, is the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
Know the Temptation
Before I continue, let me assure you: I’m not coming from a place of judgment. I know firsthand the temptations of that little pocket-sized devil. I swear my attention span is only half what it was twenty years ago. At the same time, God gives us all the grace to know the truth, if we can see past the gadget in our hand.
And sometimes we can see the truth more easily in the people and events we encounter. I wrote the reflection below nine years ago, when I still had three quarters of my attention span. I called it “Prisoners of Our Device”:
Two Kinds of People
I’d like to start with a little jaunt we made last weekend, a late-summer (nearly fall) visit to the beach. The high temperatures for the day didn’t get above the mid 60’s, so we wore jackets and kept our shoes on, and just walked and enjoyed the views (no selfies of my feet in the surf this time).
Most other beach-goers were dressed for the weather as we were, but a few defiant souls were there in swimsuits, either stretched out on the beach or even, in the case of the most intrepid, wading a little into the water. One of my sons remarked that there were two factions at the beach that day: those who were in denial and those who were not.
A Most Incongruous Image
Among the deniers there was one young girl dressed in a swimsuit, maybe twelve years old, who was venturing into the surf . . . holding a smart phone in her hand. It was a most incongruous image. Twenty minutes later I saw her again, a little further down the beach, still clutching her little electronic gadget.
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’ve seen the videos of people walking into walls, fountains, etc. in public places with their eyes glued to little screens. I’ve seen with my own eyes my fellow motorists going down the highway at 70 miles per hour with their eyes down and their thumbs bouncing off their devices . . and I’ve heard about the often fatal accidents caused by such people.
Casualties of the Age
I couldn’t help but think of that poor techno-crazed girl when I read this article [here] in Catholic World Report about “Casualties of the Device Age”. The author, Thomas Doran, explains that, while the little gadgets have many useful aspects, the widespread addiction to them contributes “to a decline in the ability to reason, contemplation, and self-discipline.”
Having taught high school students for many years, I can testify to the truth of Doran’s observations. I would also add an even more profound consequence. Enslavement to these little electronic tyrants draws us away from the Lord. They try to fill the void in our heart that only God can fill (as do all addictions).
I once posted a meditation in which I discussed the vastness of the sea as an image of God’s infinite love. How very sad that the girl at the beach couldn’t leave behind the instrument of her spiritual servitude, even for the infinite embrace of the ocean. What a sobering image of our modern predicament.
Featured image top of page: Temptation of Christ, by Vasily Surikov, 1872.
