The Spiritual Consequences of Intellectual Impatience

by Stephen Rankin

We live in a society that assumes that faster is (always) better. In the 1950s, computers used vacuum tubes or transistors to process a thousand to several thousand bits of data per second. Today, the micro-processing speed of computers is a billion times faster than seventy years ago. (And yes, since I know next to nothing about computer technology, I used AI to come up with this little tidbit of information.) The Internet functions much faster than it did in the 1990s. And we like it. It seems like a time-saver and saving time is a good thing, right?

Not always. Research on the impact of digital technologies on learning has rendered some surprising results. In the classroom, typing notes into a digital device is obviously faster and just seems better for learning than physically writing things down, the way we used to have to do it back in the dark ages. Studies are showing, however, that the physical act of putting a pen or pencil in one’s hand and writing down notes engages a specific area of the brain not activated by keying the exact same information into a device. The physical act of writing helps one to retain content better than typing. There is a specific kind of tactile experience in the physical act of writing that makes a significant difference for learning.

The old-fashioned act of writing does more than help us remember. It enhances our capacities for language, which deepens our ability to express our thoughts. Again, the studies show that the tactile act of drawing out the letters gives us an experience of building words into thoughts that typing does not. We need words to understand almost everything about human existence. The better we are at using language, the more capacity we have for understanding others and expressing ourselves. Physically putting pen to paper activates our minds and stimulates a richer awareness of our internal states.

These research results have important implications for Christian life. We suffer a kind of intellectual impatience with spiritual consequences. It’s too easy these days for people to seek the desired outcomes, but to assume we can get those outcomes with a foreshortened process. If I can get the right idea and save time doing it, why not?

If you’ve read other pieces I’ve recently written, you’ll recognize my underlying assumption, that, to grow spiritually, we need to grow intellectually. The intellect is another word for the understanding. Not many people outside the academy think of using “intellectual” for themselves, but I want to change that tendency. We all need to recognize that, to grow toward maturity requires that we increase in the knowledge and grace of God, as 2 Peter 3:18 says. To grow in knowledge of God is to grow in our understanding of God’s nature and ways. To grow in understanding is to grow intellectually. It’s an absolute must for Christians to grasp this truth.

True understanding so important in Christian discipleship is more than simple cognitive grasp. One common way to put the matter calls to mind the adage about the need for gospel knowledge to travel the eighteen inches from the head to the heart. I confess, I don’t love this old saying because it assumes a separation between head and heart that doesn’t exist, but it does make the point I’m trying to make. Much of the problematic shallowness in Christian discipleship afflicting the church these days seems to me to be analogous to keying words into a digital device rather than writing them out physically. It yields a degree of learning, but it doesn’t produce the results of spiritual maturity we find inscribed in scripture.

Why? Because, under the influence of “faster is (always) better,” we are predisposed to a vexing intellectual impatience. But most of the Christian faith is slow. It is analogous to putting that pen between your fingers and thumb and scrawling out the letters. If we accept that the time-consuming work of learning is best served by the slower but more effective physical acts of writing over typing, then we can accept the reality and necessity of the time-consuming work of Christian discipleship. It is daily. It requires practice, persistence, and a degree of discipline that goes beyond what most of us think is necessary. It demands close attention, tackling topics that are complex and multi-faceted, with shades of meaning that cannot be overlooked if we want to draw near the truth. This process takes time.

There is something deeply satisfying about the experience of learning, once we accept that most of us need to slow down, once we, enabled by God’s grace, bend our wills to the truth that Christian growth just takes time. It’s worth every bit of time that it takes.

But, of course, getting to this point of acceptance is not easy. It’s much easier to succumb to our impatience and to keep hurrying through those spare times we do devote to study for spiritual growth. Recognize this temptation for what it is. It’s the devil’s deception to think that you can skip the effort and get the result.