A Key To Lifelong Friendships

What is held up as a strong friendship is typically shallow, devoid of any mutual love of abstract truths or any emotional bonding beyond a surface level.  One of modern life's grand ironies is that people, even though they have the technology that could keep them in communication with friends across the world or even just hours away with ease, do not tend to have friendships that holistically engage them or go beyond superficial connections.  Part of this is of course due to philosophical shallowness inherent in non-rationalism, for a person without the light of sheer rationalism will always be adrift in ignorance of themselves and how they want or need to relate to others.

In fact, the primary problem in most relationships is a lack of mutual adherence to rationalism, for the consequences of this extend deep into all aspects of life.  People will not thoroughly understand the difference between truth and assumptions, deep sincerity and indifference, or relational connection and the appearance of relational connection without looking to reason.  Beyond this, there is a common claim that a greater immersion in technology robs people of their ability to form lasting or deep relationships.  This false idea would never be believed by a rationalist, but even non-rationalists can suffer because of its popularity.

For those who actually want lifelong, authentic friendships based on honesty--philosophical honesty and emotional transparency--there is always a way to ensure such a relationship actually lasts wherever one's friends are.  This key is the use of current technology in whatever form is best to keep a relationship thriving.  Now, constant communication is not necessary for a relationship to thrive.  Reason shows that there is nothing conceptually impossible about two people having strong affection for each other, thinking of each other, and longing to reunite technologically or in person even when circumstances make it more difficult for this to be expressed.  One can also personally experience this beyond knowing it is a possibility.

Still, phone calls, text messages, and emails, among other things, provide people with unparalleled communicative ability with every person they care about who also has access to this technology.  There is no real excuse for a relationship standing on intellectual and personal depth to fall apart due to mere lack of communication.  If someone wanted to stay in contact with a friend who has given evidence of their rationality, sincerity, and loyalty, there will be ways to do so as long as contact information is retained.  Technology, rather than discourage closeness, can actually let it flourish when two friends might otherwise literally be incapable of communicating with each other.

While medical and travel technology are rightly praised as enhancing the quality of modern life and making it safer, the way technology has allowed for friendships to be preserved and even strengthened despite massive distances can go unappreciated given that so many people pretend like technology is somehow an enemy of deep relationships.  Without the variety of ways to communicate with people from a distance, the in-person side of relationships could suffer from lack of coordination of physical meetings, and some relationships would not exist at all without technological communication.  Technology is largely a blessing to relationships rather than a restraint, with any relational difficulties tied to technology reducing down to how people handle it instead of technology itself.