The Internet and The Deadening of The Soul

Most of us dread the deadening of the body and will do anything to avoid it. About the deadening of the soul, however, we care not one iota.

-Epictetus, Roman Stoic Philosopher

You probably think I’m going to say that social media deadens the soul. I’m not.

But the way some people uses it does.

The Internet is one the greatest tools for enlivening the soul ever invented, at least potentially. It allows us to interact with more people, and more brain candy, in more ways- almost infinitely more.

To put it in Spinozist terms, “the more complex a body is the more it can be affected in different ways” and therefore “the more ideas it can have”. This is why humans have more ideas than dogs, and why the internet gives us a virtual body which (again, potentially) greatly expands the number of ideas we can have, and thus our capacity for intelligence and reason.

The buzzkiller that prevents this expansion of the soul is simply the unwillingness to be affected in different ways, i.e. using the internet not for the self’s growth, not as a school of wisdom, but as a battleground or an echo-chamber for the psyche’s neurosis.

The former happens when when one surfs the cyberwaves in the protective shell of a closed mind, and the latter happens when one looks at a social media site- say Facebook or Instagram- in a way that makes it into an envy/self-loathing machine instead of a place to learn about the delightful variations life takes and the issues and stories that the human family is grappling with.

The sad truth, though, as anyone who spends much time on Facebook or Twitter quickly learns, is that many people are not interested in dialogue or, to be more specific, are not interested in new information, or more exactly, are not open to changing their minds.

All too often this manifests as an incredible imperviousness to logic and evidence. How often has the following statement of Epictetus proven true?

“If a man objects to truths that are all too evident, it is no easy task finding arguments that change his mind. This is proof neither of his own strength nor of his teacher’s weakness. When someone caught in an argument hardens to stone, there is just no more reasoning with them.”

For Epictetus, this person is “petrified”, not in the sense of being afraid but in the sense of bring frozen:

“Now, a person can suffer from two kinds of petrefaction, that of the intellect, and that of the sense of honour, when somebody assumes a defiant stance, resolved neither to assent to self-evident truths nor leave off fighting.”

No doubt that sounds as familiar to you as to me.

According to Epictetus, allowing one’s intellect to “petrify” in this way is no less than a deadening of the soul.

What can one do with such a person? Well, our first responsibility is to prevent ourselves from becoming one. Being truly open to changing our mind can be destabilizing and even frightening, but it also leads to endless intellectual adventure and the satisfactions of integrity.

I have changed my mind on many things many times. Other people have not always been happy about that. From my perspective, though, I have been following one golden thread through the darkness and have went wherever it led. About that I have no regrets.

As for others, we can help them be more open by speaking in a compassionate and civil manner, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and trying to find common ground. We can also acknowledge the truth in what they are saying, or the emotions behind it. We must also be authentically willing to be changed by the conversation ourselves.

If after all that, true dialogue does not occur, then we might want to take the advice of Slavoj Zizek. When he was asked by Quartz whether one should punch Nazis he replied:

“If a guy talks like that jerk [Richard Spencer], you should just ignore him. If he hits you, turn around. Don’t even acknowledge him as a person. That’s the type of violence I would call for. Not physical violence. Because, you know, people say symbolic violence can be even worse, but don’t underestimate physical violence. Something happens when you move to physical violence. I’m not saying we should greet everyone, embrace them. Be brutal at a different level. When you encounter a guy like the one who was punched, act in such a way that even hitting him, even slapping him is too much of a recognition. You should treat him or her or whoever as a nonperson, literally.”

This applies as much to talking as it does to punching. If there is no chance the person will feel the impact of your words, then they are not really the person in dialogue they are masquerading as. At least for now, their soul is frozen.

quotes from Epictetus are from “Discourses and Fragments; ‘On Skeptics’ ” tr, Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics 2008.