Magic and Time

'Technological magic works immediately. It attempts to reduce the gap between desire and satisfaction, to eliminate the "shadow" that falls between potency and the act....But in attacking the shadow, it plunges us deeper into the shadow because time becomes more and more important to us, and more problematic, as we become more technologized. For the chief effect upon our lives of all those millions of time-saving devices with which technology has enriched our lives has been to destroy leisure rather than to enhance it. No one has any time anymore.'

'But Enchantment makes time irrelevent. The hobbits lose track of time in Tom Bombadil's house, as we do when we read The Lord of the Rings, or when we make love, or surf, or look at the stars.'

-Peter J. Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien

Time-saving devices allow us to spend our time differently. But what do we do with that time? Too often we use that extra time to pursue activities separately rather than communally. Or merely to pursue more cash so that we can afford more time saving gadgets. In this way we can gain the whole world and lose our souls.

Those who have experienced true community know that there is real magic in it.