Bots, Yachts, or Talks?
Christian minister, Christian Piatt, has stumbled onto something eye-opening.
Piatt mentions the findings of psychologist Sherry Turkle in his book, Post Christian.
Here he summarizes Turkle's thoughts from her book, Alone Together.
Piatt writes, "While we are in some ways, more connected to one another than ever before, we are also struggling with loneliness on what some might consider an epidemic level. Has technology made us lonelier? Not exactly, says Turkle. Nor has it become the panacea some might have hoped for in helping us to assuage our already-present loneliness. What the technology has done, she suggests, is keep us from coming to terms with the reality of what it means to be alone."
"...what it means to be alone."
What does it mean to be alone? Does it mean to be without human companionship or company? Does it mean to be misunderstood? Does it mean to without help in time of need? Yes, and so much more.
To be alone means to be without a heart that is fulfilled.
The famous hymn by Frederick Root, points us to what we naturally do when we find our heart unfulfilled, -- we turn to God.
The heart that yearns for righteousness,
With longing unalloyed,
In such desire sends up a prayer
That ne'er returneth void.
Many seek, though, to fill their aloneness, their quiet spaces in their lives, with communication. Texting, calling, emailing, and social media are ways we reach out to fill the void that we may be ignoring within our hearts.
Recently, a new form of filling our quiet spaces is emerging... chatbots. You can learn more about them here.
As society hurdles through this communication/information age at the speed of light we find we are reaching out to newer and newer methods -- all in effort to make sure we're never alone.
Aloneness, in and of itself, is not valuable. But, aloneness that leads us to think more deeply, to contemplate ideas, to invent, write, compose, paint, etc., is an aloneness that is productive both to ourselves and to humanity.
It's not just technology that has filled these quiet moments, some seek constant, non-stop entertainment: parties, friends, travel, drinking, drugs, while others seek more and more materialism -- consumerism -- buying and returning, buying and returning, buying and returning. My husband refers to this art as the "catch and release" art of entertainment. Others, may simply purchase, purchase, purchase: houses, yachts, bikes, boats, cars, clothes, etc., whatever it takes to keep ourselves entertained and from that awful feeling of boredom. Recently, I overheard someone ask, "What do we do when we get bored?" He answered, "We play a song."
Naturally, there's nothing wrong with songs, communicating with friends and family, enjoying a few things on social media, or buying items we truly need and use, but if the motive behind any of these things is to fill the quiet moments in our life so we won't have to face them... then, we need to re-think our purpose in life and our motives.
Wasn't it Jesus who went to the top of the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and talked only with God? And what about Moses who in seeking God saw a burning bush? Paul certainly had plenty of time to himself in prison, where he prayed and sang praises to God. Then what about famous painters, who have spent endless hours in the studio putting on canvas what was imagined in their thoughts... the same with engineers, scientists, and code writers?
Learning to be unafraid of our quiet moments, no matter how long they may last, -- to embrace our alone time and not feel alone is to mature in a way that puts off limitations and fears and enables us to tackle them instead.
Loneliness is not something that only a few face. David in his Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord sang, "O Lord,.. let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.... I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.”
But, he would also sing, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
Can we wake up each morning to see that in God's presence there is joy and not void, there are pleasures and treasures? Can we look for the true path of life which is full of all God's goodness and enables us to live true to ourselves as His beloved child? Can we vow that instead of turning to the world's means and ways to solve loneliness we will turn to God and talk with Him, commune with Him, deeply and meaningfully?
It is possible for us to do this. It is possible for us to turn around our uneasiness with silence, our search for mere entertainment, and to find our desire to fill the void within -- not with matter, but with God and His allness.
It's possible because our innate spiritual sense leads us away from just filling time with chatter and toward the fulfilling activity of listening for God's voice, for His direction, for His unfoldment, each step of the way.
It's possible because our very being is designed to talk with God, to listen for His voice, and to follow His direction.
Why would we want to do this when the world seems to have everything we need already?
Because the world's things are temporary, dissatisfying, temporal.
God's ways are eternal, forever satisfying, and immortal. His ways are truly our ways -- and this is just one way we can live true to ourselves as His child, and live true here and now in our everyday experience!
"Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him" (Ps. 12:2).
