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We can easily name a dozen different devices, tools, or appliances that are electronic. Whether directly wired to a circuit, or using batteries for power, everything fully electronic, especially “artificial intelligence,” depends upon electricity to function. A cell phone quits working when the battery runs down. We cannot boot up a desktop computer if it is not plugged in.
We are not like electronic devices, even though our brains and all our nerves utilize tiny electrical circuits which are necessary for life. We are living beings, who, while dependent upon air, water and food as sources of energy, are also autonomous, even to the extent of choosing how and whether we will respond to whatever our bodies, minds, and spirits indicate as required for us to live. Such is the extent of our freedom that we can decide what we will or will not do with our lives and how we will manage all that is available to us.
All things electrical are for us to use, not to direct or own us. However, just as our freedom is limited by such things as our physical strength, the extent of our knowledge, and the degree to which we give and receive love, all the electronic equipment we use is each bound by its very specific operating parameters. We can choose which tool, appliance, or device to use, but we cannot make a cell phone wash our clothes, or an iPad cook dinner. We, however, can adapt to circumstances that are not what we would want for ourselves or others, sometimes in conditions that cause suffering, yet rather than diminishing our lives, can even be causes for growth.
“We are wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14), which we can appreciate when we reflect on those aspects of our lives that are truly transcendent, yet so ordinary, that we often do not realize the magnificence of our spirituality. We are so much more than all the material entities we can use or adapt to our purposes, and even the learning and life experiences that contribute to our present status. The spiritual is so completely integrated into our physical and emotional operations that we can miss it entirely. When we do pause and look within ourselves, we can see, sometimes with clarity, at other times only barely, who God has “wonderfully made.” In God’s eyes, we are not a gathering of integrated circuits put together for some use, but beings who can respond to God’s creative love by loving one another.
Acknowledgment of who we are as beloved of God can be electrifying.