Five times in five minutes–
No new emails,
No texts,
No likes;
Time to check again.

We studied infinite loops
In computer science;
The basic logic is
A condition
That can never be fulfilled.

And so the machine,
So programmed,
Performs the same operation
Again and again,
In search of that necessary and sufficient
condition.

But the machine cannot know–
For it has no power of reflection–
That its condition
Will never be fulfilled;
Always and forever false.

Woe is man! We are worse than the machine.
For though we know
And can reflect,
We are, and continue to be,
Trapped in infinite loops
By those ingenious machines.

The unfeeling phone becomes our tyrant,
Social media our means
Of fulfilling some mysterious
Necessary and sufficient condition;
We must check, again.

What is the condition which
Traps us in this loop?
For what do we long for?
Why do we refresh, or scroll?
Why must I pull out my phone again?

And yet I do,
Full knowing that no condition will be fulfilled;
And so perpetuate the endless torment
Of unfulfilled life;
Trapped.

Where is wisdom for this infant age
Of information, and the technology
To harness that information?
Where is wisdom to be found?
In email? On Insta? YouTube tutorial, maybe?

Seek wisdom and be free
From the tormentuous fantasy
Of unfulfillable conditions;
Unfulfillable, that is, by the little screens
We have in our pockets.

The condition is, perhaps, relationship;
Relationship with God and man,
With beast and earth,
With truth and wisdom;
No sparkling screens will ever fulfill
This condition.

And so you will remain trapped
As so many do if you
Keep reaching for your phone;
Instead, be wise, and open your eyes;
God loves you, and does fulfill.