There is No Virtual Holy Spirit

While God is not limited to a particular place, we must focus to still build community as society increasingly interacts on the internet.

By Mark McDermott

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Few crises lay bare the dichotomy of integration and isolation of the modern world than those behind World Migrant Day on September 29th. The internet and accessible transportation facilitate relocation and interaction around the world, but this leads to deeper questions. With these interactions available, why is the United States (and other developed countries) suffering a “loneliness epidemic?” Why do we only hear of the struggles of migrants when they come desperate across the border, rather than of the ones that drove them to move?

            The explanation for these larger problems is revealed by the smaller ones. The internet prioritizes quantity rather than quality relationships: rather than investing meaningful time in a few interactions, the internet promotes almost constant yet superficial interactions between individuals. The “virtual community” is virtual in both form and in meaning. Yet we know that God can transcend physical location: Eldad and Medad, left behind by the group that went with Moses to the mountain of God, still received the spirit to prophesy to the Israelites around them (Numbers 11:26). God does not withhold the Spirit from anyone because of where they are, as long as they are there in His name. This means that they are willing and able to follow the will of God wherever and whenever it touches them. Moses says, “ ‘Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!’ ” – in other words, God asks for His message to be proclaimed with whatever gifts one has, not in any particular way (Numbers 11:29). The Gospel this week reinforces this message: “ ‘Whoever is not against us is for us,’ ” not in one type or manner that we choose, but rather in the eyes of God (Mark 9:40).

God bestowed the spirit on seventy elders with Moses by coming down from a cloud, but he still touched Eldad and Medad in the camp. Painting: Jacob de Wit, "Moses Elects the Council of Seventy Elders," 1737. Public Domain.

            The pitfall of the numbing saturation of the internet is settling for “service” to God that is convenient and comfortable but lacks meaningful relationships. St. James pleads with his audience: “You have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance” (James 5:6). It can be easy for us to scroll past or comment against others on the controlled environment of the internet, allowing interaction without empathy; the imposition of suffering without any resistance. It has always been difficult to build empathy for those whom one has never met, but even more so when the internet provides a deceptive sense of connection: we may never see the challenges one group or region faces, and as a result believe ourselves to be well-informed but overlook real crises. Just as unfortunate is exhaustion with a bombardment of bad news that leaves a feeling of powerlessness and stops action before it can begin.

            Perhaps the “eye” of the internet, with its wide but unfeeling gaze, is the one Jesus calls to “pluck out” (Mark 9:47). Our human ability to intervene is imperfect and limited, but God just asks that the efforts we do make are purposeful. We may only have one hand after “cutting off” that which does not serve us, but at least that service we do has purpose. Why do so many people follow celebrities and social accounts that are humorous, but comparatively few follow relief organizations and charities? Politicians are able to generate entire movements over the immediate migrant crisis, but efforts to provide long-term relief are quiet. Social media can enable this empathy, but only if we are willing to let it make us uncomfortable. The human tendency is to use the control of the internet for our own comfort, but that control can just as easily be used to build community (just see our About CRS page for one way to join in).

            Loneliness and isolation are curable, as long as we let the spirit of God flow through us wherever we are, like Eldad and Medad. Seeing the world with the eyes of God rather than of the world enables purposeful action, and that can convert a “virtual community” into a real one. There is no virtual Holy Spirit; our calling is to bring the real Spirit into the virtual world.