Letters from Lake Como: Explorations in Technology and the Human Race

Ressourcement

by Romano Guardini, Louis Dupré (Introduction)

This book collects a fascinating series of letters written by theologian-philosopher Romano Guardini in the mid-1920s in which he works out for the first time his sense of the challenges of humanity in a culture increasingly dominated by the machine. With prophetic clarity and unsettling farsightedness, Guardini's letters poignantly capture the personal implications and social challenges of living in the technological age — concerns that have now come to fruition seventy years after they were first raised.

Genres: Philosophy, Technology, Religion, Theology, Catholic, Nonfiction, Essays

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Romano Guardini was a Catholic priest, author, and academic. He was one of the most important figures in Catholic intellectual life in the 20th century.

Guardini was born in Verona, Italy in 1885. His family moved to Mainz when he was one year old and he lived in Germany for the rest of his life. After studying chemistry in Tübingen for two semesters, and economics in Munich and Berlin for three, he decided to become a priest. After studying Theology in Freiburg im Breisgau and Tübingen, he was ordained in Mainz in 1910. He briefly worked in a pastoral position before returning to Freiburg to work on his doctorate in Theology under Engelbert Krebs. He received his doctorate in 1915 for a dissertation on Bonaventure. He completed his “Habilitation” in Dogmatic Theology at the University of Bonn in 1922, again with a dissertation on Bonaventure. Throughout this period he also worked as a chaplain to the Catholic youth movement.

In 1923 he was appointed to a chair in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Berlin. In the 1935 essay “Der Heiland” (The Saviour) he criticized Nazi mythologizing of the person of Jesus and emphasized the Jewishness of Jesus. The Nazis forced him to resign from his Berlin position in 1939. From 1943 to 1945 he retired to Mooshausen, where his friend Josef Weiger had been parish priest since 1917.

In 1945 Guardini was appointed professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Tübingen and resumed lecturing on the Philosophy of Religion. In 1948, he became professor at the University of Munich, where he remained until retiring for health reasons in 1962.

Guardini died in Munich on 1 October 1968. He was buried in the priests’ cemetery of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Munich. His estate was left to the Catholic Academy in Bavaria that he had co-founded.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guardini states that his goal is to "consider primarily the negative element in the phenomenon of the machines, the possibility they bring of endangerment and destruction" as they isolate man from nature and from himself. However, he writes, readers should "see here neither the pessimism that we often sense in current cultural criticism or the resentment that comes with the end of an epoch against the new thing that is pushing out the old. The concern I want to express is the positive one whether the process of technology worldwide will really achieve the great things it can or should." Although many of the letters have a sentimental feeling to them, in the last letter, Guardini rejects what he calls "romanticism" and "Utopianism, the faith that a nontechnical world and life could be renewed directly out of" a simple return to "nature's essential forces." Instead, he calls for the emergence of a new kind of human nature, as big as the two previous revolutions created by the "coming of the Christian soul" and the "Germanic essence entering history" (?!), which he predicts will usher in "an emergence of a new and deep stratum of the human" that will relate to nature in a completely different way, and which he praises as beginning to be present in some modern architecture, music, etc., in which "extreme technological achievements were no longer disruptive," but rather "were found in a free field." Guardini is much less the environmentalist and more the Hegelian than popular portraits (especially post-Laudato Si) would have him be.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Specifically enjoyed the letters on Artificiality of Existence, Survey, and Mastery. Will be worth it to revisit the lecture given at the end too.

[Jacob Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, was hard for me to keep up with. Writes very intelligently, but I lost the train of thought a lot. When I could grasp it tho, it was great

[Josh Pendergrass]

A wonderful little collection of essays concerning the relationship between technology and humanity. Writing in the early 20th century after WWI, Guardini takes the position that technological progress has been destructive toward the organic development of human culture, and if it continues unchecked Guardini fears that it may ultimately be destructive to human life itself.

But his view is not entirely pessimistic, as evidenced in the final letters where the tone changes from one of foreboding, to one that is hopeful. Guardini suggests that if we are to live with the changes brought about by technology, the human race will need to match our incredible technological achievement with an equally profound spiritual growth. It is reminiscent of some thoughts that Martin Luther King Jr. had on the matter as well - “When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact...that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance; We've learned to fly the air like birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters...”

[Samuel Sadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the most thoughtful book I've read on technology. Guardini spends a good amount of time expounding the dangers of modern technological advances, but does so with a refreshing attention to specifics. This avoids blanket naysaying and gets to the heart of the philosophical, anthropological and theological questions which we should be asking. Most significantly, he asserts that the only way to deal with modern technologies are to accept them, finding their unmet potential as a positive force while sorting out the dehumanizing dimensions of it. A much better and more helpful approach than "technology bad, agrarian good."

[Mike Horne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not understand this, but I think it is very important. A priest and theologian is pondering the revolution in technology (in the 1920s). How does the machine change us?

We are entering a time of change again where we should ask how does the machine change us.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

as light musings go, these letters are easily digestible. Guardini is attempting to explain his revulsion at the "barbarism" the modern world can exhibit, and how technology often contributes to this state of affairs. He sees good in technology but it is an open-ended question how to extract the good and avoid the evil.

[David Rush · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books; when you’re reading it…you really feel like you’re reading something IMPORTANT! You recognize there is a subtly to his observations that is just out of reach of your understanding. He is pushing your mind as you read, and for me, this bears re-reading even though I just finished it.

He was a theologian, and I think you can sense he is approaching his subject from a religious perspective. But in no way is it directly about religion or theology, which is blessing. He was a philosopher, and it shows. But he uses almost no philosophical terminology, yet another blessing. That said, I am sure a theologian or a philosopher could write volumes analyzing this short book.

I am now curious about his religious books, because in one part of this work he sounds like he is yearning for a Zen Buddhist like approach where concepts are the enemy and a "vital" life is the goal (maybe akin to Buddhist Enlightenment?)

There is another similarity with Eastern thought, in that the thing that prompts the whole book is how can Mankind live in harmony with the world. THAT is the question. And within his life time he saw that even though people were not immediately part of nature, there was still an elastic connection with nature that grew out the organic nature of the tools people used. And the way of life and tools people used, and event the structure of their houses showed that.

His most quoted example is that of ships on Lake Como, where for the sailing crafts...

“The lines and proportions of the ship are still in profound harmony with the pressure of the wind and waves and the vital human measure. Those who control this ship are still very closely related to the wind and waves.”

But machines have such force they break this elastic connection and distort civilization so that ironically even though it is more technologically advances he says it is a form of Barbarism.

“On the steamer that is no longer present. We can no longer be seafarers in the first and special sense in which seafaring is a basic form of human existence filled with its own content. The crew members of a liner are not essentially different from employees on the assembly line of a factory... ”

[BTW the above quote is from Second Letter: Artificiality of Existence. Isn’t that a beautiful chapter title?]

Some of the middle letters are wonderful to read, but holding onto the message is hard to do. But that is definitely a failing of me and NOT the writing.

And then with another great chapter heading…Eight Letter: Dissolution of the Organic

"Ford has shown this in a way that all can understand. The objects of consumption are slowly are slowly being reduced to a few practical types, whether it be casks, automobiles, houses, clothes, words, schools, or, finally people."

Here are more acknowledgements that the modern age could breaks the organic connection to our world.

"What has come since seems to be governed by a different basic attitude, by the desire to set goals independently of organic connections and on the basis of rationally emerging forces that are mechanically put in the service of this desire and its goals."

And then comes the Ninth Letter.
Here I was the most perplexed as he come through it all with an optimistic view that mankind can reconcile these two different trends.


"The battle must now be joined on a new plane. Totally technical events and unleashed forces can be mastered only by a new human attitude that is a match for them. We must put mind, spirit, and freedom to work afresh."

He even goes on to say we need more technology not less. Basically he is buying into the notion that mankind can and should take control of its destiny and use the modern world to "to bring integration and to arrive at a new ranking of value and humanity."

"But the genuine demands for authenticity, simplicity, soberness, brotherliness, etc., are quite compatible with what is being created in modern manufacturing and industry. The demand is that this essential element be taken out of the hands of those who distort it into something thing nonhuman and misuse it as such and that it be given back its true role."

Again, I need to reread it because I don't know how he ends up with this happy ending.

Very interesting book that more people should read

Postscript: Now that I read this I see I probably should have waited until I read it again before putting anything down. But I am too much a product of this modern world, so I just through it out there right now

[António · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta obra de Guardini é uma abordagem simples e profunda a algumas questões que agitam a contemporaneidade. O autor, nascido em Itália nas paisagens do lago de Como e criado na Alemanha industrial, regressa aos lugares onde nasceu, e esse retorno suscita nele reflexões importantes sobre a relação do Homem com o mundo natural e sobre o impacto que a tecnologia produz sobre essa relação (e sobre o próprio Homem).
Mais do que as respostas, o livro é estimulante pelas perguntas que deixa. O que poderia tornar-se uma romantização inconsequente do passado converge, afinal, para uma grande indagação sobre os novos caminhos que a Humanidade pode trilhar na contemporaneidade.

[Jack Geise · Rating 4 out of 5]

in the modern technocratic society we inhabit, there's a temptation to turn towards writing luddite manifestos of sorts...but this is certainly not that.

within rather, lives a series of thoughtful reflections on what it means to live in a world transformed by technology. really interesting turn about halfway through when the discussion turns from what has been lost and towards where do we go. worthwhile to spend time with and i certainly will return to these letters from time to time.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guardini was thinking critically about technology before a lot of other serious reflections on technology had been done. He lands in a surprising and strange place - Guardini is no romantic, but far more of a German idealist - that I would not agree with. But he does a fantastic job of asking the right questions about the impact of technology.

[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read.

[Renée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and powerful. A call to recall ourselves

[Annmarie Dinan Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Dolores Downey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small book, some of it difficult to understand.

[Mo Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a light read but a thought provoking one. Small but mighty. Incredible how it holds up today.

[Jenna McFall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this, much easier to grasp than I thought it was going to be but it’s going to take a few more reads to really understand the intricacies of his argument.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a series of letters written from 1923 to 1925 in contemplation of the author's nostalgia in response to returning home to Italy after having grown up in Germany. He muses over the effects of culture and consciousness in developing technology, and how that effects our relationships to ourselves and to nature. They are quite thoughtful and insightful, and interesting in their particular context between WWI and WWII by someone close to two of the Axis powers. They are also interesting in their faintly sketched theological underpinnings. Technology gains us freedom, but he asks both "freedom from what?" and "freedom for what?" He is concerned that technology and thought can drive action without consideration of the underlying ethics, and that that produces a certain kind of barbarism. Although not discussed in the book, many of his thoughts might also be of interest to those interested in environmental conservation.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5. Prophetic but at times curmudgeonly and elitist. A good analysis of mankind's mastery of nature through technology and how human beings have lost the sacred connectedness of life through that process. Romano Guardini frequently evokes the Italian novel "The Betrothed" by Alessandro Manzoni, which is a favourite of Pope Francis.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written as a series of letters, Guardini meditates on the relationship between culture, nature and technology.