Historically,
there are certain constants and certain changes in human behavior. One of the
constants is violence; people have always clobbered others.
But one change has significantly
altered the modern world--the invention and introduction of the artifacts of
technology, whether one looks at nuclear power or goes on down the list to
cell phones and Pods. Each person must face this all-pervasive fact. Jacques Ellul even claims that technology is all-encompassing,
all-powerful.
Indeed,
violence is a constant; but not everyone is violent--some choose nonviolence,
some are incapable of inflicting force on others. But
there is another constant that all must experience: death. Each of us must
die.
I’ve used death as an
entry point into a sustained questioning of technology, specifically, the
technology of the medical system. In a new book, Dying Is Not Death, I relate individual stories in eleven
unconnected chapters. (The twelfth and final chapter is more theoretical.)
Each chapter is written examining some aspect of dying and death from a more
traditional humanistic point of view and, where applicable, from a Catholic
perspective.
In a certain real sense, the
book is a polemic. I strongly believe that technological artifacts have
substantially changed our world: nature is no longer nature; humans are no
longer humans. Because of technology a so-called
human act often fails to meet the requirements of Aristotle and St. Thomas
Aquinas. As believers, some of us must recognize what is happening and cry
out!
Perhaps,
with Jeff Dietrich, we must enter the realm of demonology. Perhaps we are
confronting systemic structures that have betrayed a divine vocation. Perhaps
we face the Devil!
Everyone
wants power, its pleasures and signs. Everyone is tempted by the advantages of empire, either individual
or nationalistic. Many carefully observe the stock market. Economics seems to
reign supreme.
Perhaps
the way of wisdom is to embrace the Cross. Perhaps a believer should strive
to be powerless. Perhaps one must look for ways to live with technology and
its artifacts. But how?
Moral
teaching can be best presented through stories.
Hence, one is often inspired by well
done hagiography. Without any intention of writing about
saints, I have portrayed persons and their approach to death in the book, Dying is Not Death. I’ve
found that grace is always present. Some of the stories illustrate how one
can avoid technological intrusions of the medical system as the end time
approaches.
Lee Hoinacki