AN INVITATION TO SPIRITUAL FORMATION IN A DIGITAL AGE

I’ve come to realize that  over the last several years, my mind has been hijacked. Not by anything dramatic—just the slow, steady pull of a thousand small distractions that left me feeling like I’d wandered off from myself and didn’t realize how far I’d gone.

Maybe you know this feeling: waking up one day and realizing you’re different than you used to be. We all evolve, of course. But the change I experienced felt different. Less like growth and more like… erosion.

The Moment I Woke Up

I remember the exact night it hit me. I was watching my usual late-night comedian, whose daily dose of snark had become my wind-down ritual. He was mid-rant about something and instead of laughing, I just started crying.

Not gentle tears. The ugly kind that comes from somewhere you didn’t know was broken.

Sitting there in the blue glow of my screen, I asked myself: Who have I become?

Because I remembered a different version of myself. 

Someone who noticed beauty more than absurdity. 

Who approached people with genuine curiosity instead of practiced cynicism. 

Whose default setting was hope, not the low-grade disillusionment that had somehow become my baseline.

I used to resonate with wisdom, generosity, love—those big, earnest words that now felt almost embarrassing to say out loud. When had I become someone who preferred to tear things down rather than build them up?

There’s a Greek word—telos—that means ultimate purpose or aim. I realized I’d lost mine. Or maybe more accurately, I’d let other forces define it for me.

The Science Behind the Shift

Here’s the uncomfortable thing: I taught psychology. I literally spent my days explaining to college students how neuroplasticity works—how our brains are constantly rewiring themselves based on what we repeatedly think, feel, and do.

So I knew exactly what had happened to me.

Every snarky headline I clicked, every cynical take I consumed, every outrage spiral I followed was literally reshaping my neural pathways. My brain, being the efficient little organ it is, was adapting to the inputs I was feeding it.

The cultural noise I’d been marinating in wasn’t neutral. It was training me to see the world—and the people in it—in increasingly uncharitable ways. And my nervous system was learning to treat that posture as normal. Even preferable.

The research is clear: we become what we repeatedly pay attention to. 

Spiritually, that’s always been true. But now, we have the neuroscience to prove it.

In 2025, we’re not just distracted—we’re being discipled. By algorithms. By emotionally charged content. By endless scrolls that tilt us toward anxiety, outrage, and disconnection.

This isn’t accidental.

And it’s precisely why intentional spiritual formation has never been more urgent.

The Search for Better CONTENT

I knew I needed different sources—practices and perspectives that could rewire my patterns toward something more life-giving. So I returned to what had helped before: ancient spiritual practices from contemplative traditions, the kind of wisdom that’s been helping humans navigate chaos for millennia.

But here’s where I hit a wall.

Most of the online spiritual resources I found were either too shallow to create real change or too disconnected from how our brains actually work to be useful in a digital age.

I wasn’t looking to return to religious practices that hadn’t served me well before. I was looking for the timeless wisdom underneath—the kind that helps us live with genuine purpose in a fractured world.

I needed something that understood both the wisdom of spiritual formation and the modern reality of living with a smartphone. Something that could meet me at the intersection of neuroscience and soul-care.

When I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I decided to create it.

Technology as a Tool for Formation

I’m not anti-technology. In fact, I fully realize that technology isn’t going anywhere—and when used intentionally, it can be incredibly helpful for spiritual formation. The same neuroplasticity that wired me toward cynicism can also wire me toward wisdom.

The question isn’t whether technology will shape us. It will. The question is whether we’ll be intentional about how it shapes us.

This whole project—including these blog posts—is a bit of an experiment. I’m collaborating with artificial intelligence to see what happens when technology doesn’t hijack our minds but helps us heal them. I’m curious: what if we used these tools to train our attention toward wisdom, generosity, and love?

The resources being built here aim to do just that. 

They leverage our brain’s natural plasticity and our devices’ accessibility to redirect our attention toward the kind of life we’re invited into: a life guided by wisdom, rooted in the common good, and animated by love.

Imagine what your life might look like if those three—wisdom, generosity, and love—became your telos. Imagine approaching challenges with grounded wisdom rather than reactive anxiety. Contributing to your community not from guilt or obligation, but from abundance. Engaging difficult people from a place of love rather than defensiveness or dismissal.

This isn’t some lofty idealism. It’s what happens when spiritual formation meets neuroscience in practical, sustainable ways.

What You’ll Find Here (And What’s Coming)

TELOS & today centers around three main experiences called:

• Train the Mind – Short, accessible meditations and prayers to gently train your attention toward what is good and life-giving.

• Influence Reality – Semi-monthly challenges to help you move from thinking about change to actually creating it—in small, grounded ways.

• 40 Days – A guided journey for those ready to go deeper. These practices work with your nervous system to embed new rhythms into everyday life.

  
  

Over the next several posts, we’ll explore the “why” behind each of these experiences—looking at the science of habit formation, the role of technology in spiritual development, and how ancient practices can be adapted for modern minds. Think of this first 'season' of the blog as laying the foundation before we build the house.

A Few Things You Should Know

I come from a Christian tradition, and these resources are deeply influenced by the social ethics and teachings of Jesus. Just to be clear, I’m not interested in the iteration of Christianity that fuels culture wars and nationalism. I’m interested in the kind of Christianity that provides wisdom that helps people become more whole and renews the world.

As a longtime professor and therapist, I’ve spent decades exploring how real transformation happens—not just spiritually, but neurobiologically. It’s not about trying harder. It’s about learning how to work with your brain and nervous system. About being open to a greater wisdom, and allowing your soul to be shaped by it.

Spiritual formation in a digital age that does not have psychological grounding can be hollow. Psychological insight without spiritual depth can be shallow. The sweet spot is where they meet.

No Guarantees, Just Invitation

I can’t promise the resources on this site will change your life. Transformation is mysterious, personal work that requires more than any website can offer.

Think of this as one tool in your toolkit—thoughtfully designed, but not magic.

What I can promise is that everything here is created with both ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience in mind. It’s meant to be practical enough for real life, and deep enough to spark real change.

Welcome to TELOS & today. I hope it gives your soul a little room to breathe— and maybe even a place to begin again.

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The author of TELOS & today has worked as both a therapist and educator, exploring how neuroscience, technology, and spiritual formation intersect. These resources reflect years of experience guiding people toward growth—not by force, but by rewiring what we pay attention to.

To learn more about the vision behind this project, visit the About page.