Holy Work: Critiquing Addictive Social Media, continued

In Saturday’s DM, we meditated on a recent article by Thom Hartmann whose work I admire, as I do that of artist Lily Yeh whom we meditated on in Friday’s DM. Both are being true to their vocations to work with “fiery hearts and willing hands,” as the “Our Father-Mother” prayer from the Aramaic Jesus invites us to do in order to render earth more like heaven. 

All this is an affirmation of the holiness of our work after all. And surely we all seek a world and New Year where holiness is more active.

Hartmann’s recent article, entitled “Is Social Media This Generation’s Heroin?”*, tells the story of how the increased presence of fear and rage is part of the dynamics of the rise of authoritarianism in our time. And it is promulgated by social media algorithms that record and amplify fear, rage and, I might add, scapegoating: The projecting of fear and hate onto others. (Remember how Haitians were accused of eating peoples’ pets?) 

Hartmann reminds us that social media billionaires make billions on these tactics. Fear sells. And right wing “populist” politicians push these fear and rage buttons for political gain. 

The pandemic increased fear and rendered appeals to fear all the more enticing. When media and politicians lie, that of course adds fuel to the fire. (For example, shouting that crime is up or that immigrants do more crime than other citizens, etc.) Authoritarian solutions become more acceptable the more such lies are repeated.

I recognize a zeitgeist of fear playing out in the number of vampire movies, TV series, and other apocalyptic genres populating our popular media.

When I recently applied one of these apocalyptic symbols to the present political situation in the name of the archetype of the antichrist, it was interesting how many mainstream and even supposedly “progressive” journalistic media ignored it altogether.  They and many churches are too comfortable to talk about “evil,” and don’t know how to. Fearful religionists want things quiet and sober and talk of evil disturbs. 

Yet, as I made clear in my book on Trump & The MAGA Movement as Antichrist, that archetype was employed in blunt fashion by Hildegard of Bingen, a recently declared saint and doctor of the church; in a significant cathedral dating back 550 years; in the theology of the 16^th century reformers; and in the gospels and Bible itself. As well as by secular atheist Sigmund Freud, who visited the 550 year-old Orvieto cathedral three times to learn from that same archetype.

Hartmann tells us how, when transcendental meditators gathered in hot crime sites in certain American cities to meditate on peace, statistics demonstrated that their meditations actually showed significant results with lowering crime rates.  

He asks if the opposite is not also possible? Where social media gathers people eager to hate and scapegoat others—such is happening on Elon Musk’s X site—what are the effects of spreading more rage and more hate and more scapegoating? 

Is that why the world appears to be crazier than ever? Do Silicon Valley and its still-secret algorithms spread hate, rage and authoritarianism very successfully? Is it not time that Congress regulate such unchecked power?

Thank you, Thom Hartmann, for raising these powerful questions on the cusp of a new year and a new presidential administration.

* Thom Hartmann, “Is Social Media This Generation’s Heroin?” The Hartmann Report, December 26, 2024.  For going beyond such addictions, see HERE.

See Matthew Fox, The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time.

And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.

And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.

Banner Image: People on cell phones. Photo by DavideAngelini on Shutterstock.

Queries for Contemplation

How is your work holy? Do you recognize your work as your gift to healing the world? And do you agree with Hartmann that social media can be a very negative addiction that makes certain media moguls richer and politicians ever more powerful?

Recommended Reading

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.