Spiritual Gains

When I was in high school and I wanted to get bigger and stronger for sports, I was at the mercy of my high school lifting coach. My coach was perhaps better than most at the time, but honestly the programming was not effective. We were stuck doing 3 sets of 10 with no concept of progressive overload so we made some progress if we stuck to it but without better programming the potential for progress was extremely limited.

Fast forward to today and I have watched a high school kid come into the gym and go from completely untrained to an absolute beast in a few short years thanks to the information that is available to him via the internet. He has access to a free education via YouTube where he consumed content from powerlifters which made it possible for him to achieve numbers I never dreamed of as a teenager. Beyond basic programming he learned proper technique, nutrition, and supplementation. His powerlifting total passed mine in short order.

Does this same concept carryover in the spiritual life? Young men who are joining the faith are able to go online and learn more about Orthodoxy than was available to previous generations. They know A LOT about the faith. I have probably forgotten more about the faith than these kids (Ahem!) but because I am getting old and my memory doesn't serve me well, if I have forgotten something about Orthodoxy I can reliably ask a catechumen at my parish to remind me about a particular aspect of the faith and chances are good that he will have the answer.

So to answer the question, does the availability of information on the internet translate into making men Holy? We will have to wait and see. When science carries out it's task in longitudinal studies, it takes a long time for the results to come in. It may take decades before we will be able to see whether this new class of entrants into the spiritual life will bear fruit unto Holiness. Doubtless some of these men will become Holy. Some will enter the monastic life, some will be made martyrs, some will become Saints. But as of yet, it is too early to tell whether their "gains" will outstrip those of previous generations simply because of access to information.

By the way, the example of progress which the young high school trainee made wouldn't have been possible without in-person coaching. Coaches who have themselves become strong through training. Coaches who offer encouragement and moral support. Without this aspect in his training, the young man likely would have had very limited success.

My personal admonition: if you want to become Holy you must go to living sources of water. You must seek out and learn from Holy men who have gone before us, and from those who are still alive and have themselves had living contact with Holy men and women. This can only be done to a very limited extent online, and not in any complete or comprehensive manner. Seek out living examples of the faith and learn from them while you still can! That is the only way you will be able to bear fruit unto Holiness.