Considered one of the most outstanding contemporary philosophers, the award-winning Byung-Chul Han has dedicated some of his reflections, in particular, to what he calls the "society of weariness" or "society of transparency". The Jury The Princess of Asturias Awards has highlighted his "brilliance in interpreting the challenges of the technological society".
In fact, one of the main points of interest for his followers is that in previous books he had referred to God, but not in a totally explicit way. However, the published Sprechen Über Gott'. (Talking about God), by Matthes & Seitz Berlin, answers to the title. Y About GodThe book, which is already on pre-sale from Paidós, in Spanish, as well.
The analysis of today's society and the proposals offered by the philosopher Han, based on the thought of Simone Weil, combining Eastern wisdom, are striking. Simone Weil is, in Byung-Chul Han's opinion, the most brilliant intellectual figure of the 20th century. And the South Korean thinker relies on the French philosopher as "an ethical and spiritual compass for our time, in the face of a world dominated by performance, consumption and hyperactivity".
Rediscovering silence, transcendence...
Therefore, Han and Weil invite us to "rediscover emptiness, silence, attention and transcendence as possible and necessary forms of life", to a point that is probably analysts of its evolution, or other scholarsthey didn't suspect, or maybe they did...
One of the first authors to comment on Byung-Chul Han's reflections was the philosopher and professor at the Complutense University, José María Barrio. In his opinion, Han makes "one of the best portraits of our time, as well as medicine for its most vulnerable sides. He gathers the best of Eastern wisdom to purify our post-Christian wounds.
On the other hand, philosophy graduate and Nietzsche researcher Iván Campillo is commenting on the latest contributions of Han with some videoswhich "do not replace the original work, they are only a complement to the reading".
Some reflections by Byung-Chul Han
The exposition of the philosopher Han is described in seven fundamental concepts, according to 'Sprechen Über Gott' (Speaking about God). These are, according to the table of contents, seven points, preceded by a prologue, which also appear in 'On God'. They are as follows: Attention, Uncreation, Emptiness, Silence, Beauty, Pain, Inactivity, and Notes.
In these lines we present brief quotations, not complete, from the German edition, with our own translation, and some commentary on the selected theme, which is the difficulty of praying. Consequently, we focus on the first point: Attention, and some additional ideas, always according to Byung-Chul Han (and Simone Weil).
33 ideas. Attention to
1) Some time ago, "Simone Weil (SW) has settled in me. It has settled in my soul".
2) (Weil) never reads without shuddering "the story of the barren fig tree".
3) "The current crisis of religion is not simply because certain contents of faith have lost their validity" (...), or because the Church has lost all confidence. Rather, there are structural reasons (...)". "Among them is the decline of attention".
4) "The crisis of religion is, therefore, also a crisis of attention, a crisis of sight and hearing."
5) "Perception has become extremely voracious. It lacks all contemplative breadth. It eats constantly.
6) "Consumption is their basic attitude. The 'binge watching' (binge watching) expresses their voracity very well".
7) "Only the soul that fasts can look (...) The eternal part of the soul feeds on hunger".
8) "The hunger of the soul is hard to bear, but there is no other remedy for the disease".
9) "Contemplative attention is essential to look". To contemplate things without wanting to appropriate them. Whoever is able to look empties himself".
10) According to Simone Weil, it is the imagination that, in the service of the self, constantly dreams of food, subjecting things to the needs, desires and interests of the self.
11) "Imagination, as 'gravity', blinds the soul to the true relationship between things (...) It prevents the soul from rising towards the transcendent"....
12) Religious attention is 'looking' and not 'seeking', not 'clinging'. Perhaps that is why we clasp our hands together when we pray.
Digitization
13) "Digitalization greatly accelerates the total availability of reality. It accustoms us to everything being immediately available, accessible, predictable and consumable."
14) Mental attitudes such as waiting or patience, which would offer access to the inaccessible, fall into disuse.
15) Information as a stimulus fragments attention. Deep attention is resistant to stimuli and even rejects them. It resembles a prayer: 'With fullness of attention one can only think of God'.
Distracted
16) "We are constantly distracted (...) Only by constant distraction has God abandoned us: 'God is attention without distraction'. If we were not distracted, we would be with God.
17) Today's addicted society is "a society without attention. Perception is controlled by addiction and dopamine. Addiction and attention are opposing forces."
18) "Social networks use addictive algorithms to make people dependent, to control and direct them. The smartphone is a digital addiction machine."
19) "Deep and contemplative attention is directed to what is lasting, to what remains and endures".
20) The true is the lasting. The dominance of information destroys it by plunging us into a permanent whirlwind of actuality.
21) "An essential characteristic of good is that it does not interrupt attention as prayer. There is only one perfect criterion of good and evil: uninterrupted inner prayer."
Good, evil
22) "Good is indirect, discreet, even timid, while evil is intrusive. Evil behaves the other way around. It seduces us, makes us addicted. Only attention can repel it".
23) "Good unites and reconciles, while evil separates and divides. Evil is multifaceted. Good, on the contrary, is based on the one truth".
24) Simone Weil assumes that evil or violence is due to inattention- There would be less violence in the world if we were better able to pay similar attention to prayer.
25) The whole world is transformed into a bustling marketplace where everyone is shouting for attention. Capitalism does not value silence because noise generates capital, silence does not produce profit.
26) Simone Weil: there is no happiness comparable to inner silence, the spirit needs this silence to be able to create or receive something totally different.
Bombarded by noise
27) We cannot pray easily because we are constantly bombarded by information noise. Our senses are in constant voracity, always eating up stimuli.
28) Art in its deepest essence is a religious experience. The highest beauty is actually a sacrament.
The beauty
29) Beauty is a much stronger proof of God than the usual arguments based on the order of the world.
30) Beauty as the incarnation of God also spiritualizes science by transforming study into a form of prayer. "The silence that emanates from a great work of art is an echo of the divine silence."
Recall. The source is Byung-Chul Han, 'Sprechen über Gott,' Matthes & Seitz, 2025. The book 'Like God', from Ediciones Paidós, is already on pre-sale and comes out in October. You can inquire at Casa del Libro, etc.
