Is AI Replacing Your Guardian Angel?

Thomas Merton’s critique of our rapidly evolving technological world, particularly Artificial Intelligence, is not just a historical reflection for us but something we must ponder and take seriously. Even though Merton wrote in the mid-century, his profound critique of technological civilization is as relevant and urgent today as it was then. Using the See-Judge-Act method, Merton expressed his fundamental concern about the potential eclipse of the spiritual and contemplative dimensions of human existence by a mechanistic/technology-driven worldview, a concern that we must heed in our current age of the autonomous revolution.

Merton viewed the transition from ‘angels’ to ‘machines’ as a profound reorientation of human consciousness, a shift that has significantly altered our understanding of the world and ourselves. In Merton’s mind, our traditional spiritual frameworks, grounded in humanity’s history, were part of a cosmic hierarchy that included transcendent spiritual realities, often referred to as ‘angels’. However, in our modern technological civilization, this understanding has been reduced to purely material and mechanical terms, eclipsing the contemplative tradition and leading to a sense of loss and change in our spiritual landscape.

Merton’s critique is not a blanket condemnation of modern technology. Merton acknowledges technology’s potential benefits, but he expresses genuine concern about how emerging technology distorts our understanding of who we are as human beings, what it means to be a human, and the difference it makes. The key to understanding this is knowing the difference it makes. The mindset of the autonomous revolution, while potentially beneficial, has reduced human beings to efficient operators within virtual reality systems, rather than recognizing humans as contemplative beings capable of transcending their limitations. This has led to what Merton calls a ‘spiritual crisis’, a state of disconnection from our spiritual nature and the transcendent, not because technology is inherently evil, but because it has become the sole lens through which modern people understand themselves and their world.

Merton’s critique was particularly focused on the loss of genuine human agency and spiritual freedom in a mechanistic worldview. When technology, and in our case, artificial intelligence, becomes the ‘ultimate horizon of human power,’ humans lose touch with their true nature as contemplative creatures oriented toward the transcendent. This results in a spiritual “flattening”, where the vertical dimension of existence is lost in favor of purely horizontal, technological solutions to human problems. Think about that for a moment, think about where in our lives we experience the vertical and horizontal dimensions of our daily lives.

Merton’s writings emphasize the need for a broader framework that recognizes spiritual realities as equally real and meaningful in the context of technological progress. He drives home the point that authentic spiritual balance requires a process of recovering a sense of the contemplative dimension of life, not necessarily rejecting technology wholesale, but integrating it within this broader framework. This integration is not just a suggestion, but a necessity for our spiritual and societal well-being.