S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 3 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 7 3 SLAVOMÍR GÁLIK – SABÍNA GÁLIKOVÁ TOLNAIOVÁ 1 Introduction Every day we spend long hours in the virtual space of digital media searching for information, communicating, learning, buying and selling but also entertaining ourselves. The cyberspace of digital media thus becomes a new existential dimension for human, a dimension that broadens, complements, enriches and influences also the old, conventional human that rests deeply in his physical 3D world. In various spheres of life, for example in the speed of communication and search for information, this cyberspace undoubtedly wins over the old ways of communication. Dominance of the Internet and new types of media in general changes the culture and society as well. Stevan Harnad (1991) states that the Internet is a new, fourth in the row (following spoken, written and printed word), revolutionary form of media. Jean Lohisse (2003, 167) speaks similarly of the Internet being a new unprecedented medium that creates a new culture and society. Thomas Hylland Eriksen (2009, 17) even claims that the 21st century starts in 1991, with the rise of the Internet and its world-wide web application (www). For this reason, as Gregory Price Grieve and Heidi A. Campbell (2014, 53) say, we can assume that the Internet or cyberspace of digital media will have a great impact also on religion: “Walter Ong argues in ‘The Presence of the Word: Some Prolegomena for Cultural and Religious History’, that different media may make different religiosities possible. Ong suggests that religion began in an era of orality, was transmitted into visual form through manuscript writing as well as print, and has now entered the world in a new way via electronic media.“ Religion, or more precisely its oldest forms (magic, shamanism) were developed under the influence of spoken word. World religions such as Christianity of Buddhism were primarily formed by the means of spoken word and later also written word. Spoken word can draw those who communicate into presence, create unity and find meanings in the depth of communication. Written word breaks up this harmony, since it represents an external medium that is based on sequencing of linearly spread characters (phonetic writing). Such a medium supports a perspective visual perception, subject-object duality in learning, linearity of time (past–present–future) and distance in communication. Written words, especially their linear pattern of characters, bring discipline into thinking and expressing ideas and therefore launch the process of scientific thinking. On one hand, the media of spoken word and written word contribute to each, but on the other they are also very different. We believe that in Christianity this difference emerges in the complicated relationship between faith and reasoning, theology and philosophy. In Buddhism, especially in Theravada school, we can find a great importance of rational knowledge. For example, in About the authors Prof. PhDr. Slavomír Gálik, PhD. (1965) is a philosopher who specializes in philosophy of mysticism, philosophy of media, and history of philosophy. He had published extensively on these issues. Among his most important publications are books Philosophy and Mysticism and The Spiritual Dimension of Crisis of Contemporary Man. As a head researcher, he lead a research project on phenomenon of “mystical death” in European and extra-European spiritual traditions. He currently serves as the head of the Department of Mass Media Communications at the Faculty of Mass Media Communications, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia. His electronic contact is s_galik@yahoo.com. PhDr. Sabína Gáliková Tolnaiová, PhD. (1973) is a philosopher with special interests in systematic philosophy, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of education, and ethics of media. Some of these issues she discusses in her last bookThe Idea of Psychagogy in the Holistic Perspective. She is affiliated to the Department of Legal and Human Studies at the Faculty of Mass Media Communications, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia. Her email contact is sabina.galikova@ucm.sk.
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