Listen now (73 mins) | Middle Ground Podcast Episode 43

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Middle Ground Podcast Episode 43

Imam Marc Manley

Jun 11

 

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Welcome to Episode 43 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Today I want to discuss the current paradox we’re living in: the paradox of “infinite” digital options. This paradox has left many (if not most) us more distracted, less fulfilled, and suffering from a kind of spiritual malnutrition. Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th Century philosopher, presaged the age of the “smart”-phone by warning of the dangers of losing our will to exert ourselves against external forces. What he foretold of nihilism now manifests as endless scrolling: a flood of content that means nothing, an curated attrition.

Our minds and more specifically, our hearts, overwhelmed by choice and a dearth of serendipity, have succumbed, resigning us to a doom of passive consumption. We confuse abundance with freedom, but true freedom requires boundaries. Algorithms, despite the ubiquitous presence, are neither neutral or natural; they inform our desires and corral us into predictable patterns like lambs for the slaughter.

But Nietzsche’s vision of the Übermensch is not the answer. After all, he is famously attributed to the statement, “Gott ist tot/God is dead”. What we need today is not the Übermensch but the muḥsin, the one who creates values and lives by them, striving for God’s pleasure as if he sees God, though in spite of not being able to do so, the muḥsin knows God sees him. In todays context this will undoubtedly include a reclaiming of our attention. We must strive to align our habits, digital, analog, and otherwise, with our highest values, namely Islām, not our lowest impulses.

What I’m advocating for here, with all due respect to Cal Newport, shouldn’t be misconstrued as a kind of digital minimalism; it's precisely an Islāmic and spiritual resistance. The Qur'ān isn't an echo chamber; it's a resonance chamber. Echoes repeat cacophonously. Resonance transforms you.

We must build a digital philosophy grounded in Islām: rooted in submission (Islām), faith (Īmān), and excellence (Iḥsān). This means creating principles for tech use that serve our goal of achieving Jannah (Paradise), not endless, short-lived dopamine hits.

In an age where every scroll is tracked, then perhaps the revolutionary act is to stop and choose. Real freedom is not infinite content; it is deliberate attention, guided by purpose.

Recommended Actions:

1. Digital Intention Journal: Before opening any app, write down your purpose and time limit. Reflect after.

2. Algorithmic Sabbaticals: One day a week, consume only human-recommended content.

3. Information Sanctuaries: Designate time for deep, distraction-free engagement with one source.

4. Digital Containers: Set fixed times (e.g., 30 mins a.m./p.m.) for digital use.

5. Create Islamic Digital Principles: Define three tech-use rules aligned with Islām, Īmān, and Iḥsān.

6. Weekly Discovery Day: Seek novelty outside the algorithm: libraries, friends, strangers, random tools.

7. Choose Content in Advance: Decide what to watch/read before opening apps.

8. Reframe Tech Use as Worship: Ask: does this tool help me emulate the Prophet?

9. Reclaim Will to Power: Choose what nourishes you—not what hooks you.

10. Embrace Constraints: Boundaries don’t limit creativity; they make it possible.

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