Uncaptured
…surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know… Job 42:3
Yes, I realize that the title above is not, in fact, a real word but under the circumstances perhaps it doesn’t really matter…
Ours is a time that might be described as an “age of reduction.” Thoughts are distilled to 140 characters or less. Text messages substitute for conversations. Abbreviations substitute for words. And why use the alphabet at all when an emoticon will do.
An image, after all, is worth a thousand words, especially when it has been properly filtered and cleverly titled before being publicly posted.
Before I get out of bed in the morning I have the opportunity to travel vicariously with friends to the beach or the park or the party without the fuss of taking a shower or putting on shoes.
Celebrating a person’s accolades or pointing out their flaws doesn’t require the messiness of ongoing conversation or the awkwardness of looking them in the eye.
And the clever image titles come easy for us. We are experts in labeling, especially when it comes to the people around us. We efficiently categorize, putting others in their place and convincing ourselves that we’ve got them figured out, that our branding of friends and acquaintances serves as an adequate and full description.
But, as they say, “you get what you pay for.”
Quick-witted tweets may be pithy but they are rarely comprehensive. Describing the nuances of our lives that way is like trying to take in the Grand Canyon by dropping in your quarter and then pressing your face up against one of those massive, shiny, silver binoculars contraptions. You might catch a glimpse, even a close-up, from the viewfinder but there is simply no substitute for taking a step back into the panorama. Some things cannot be reduced.
Text messages may be efficient, they may allow us to respond in our terms and on our timetable, but they are void of voice inflection and eye contact and facial expression. They fail to communicate all of the messages that we convey beyond the actual words. Some things cannot be reduced.
LOL may be easy to type but it is no substitute for the inexpressible joy that comes from laughing so hard with a friend that your rib cage aches and frosty comes out of your nose. Some things cannot be reduced.
Emoticons may yield a thin smile but they cannot reproduce the experience of an embrace or a secret handshake or a head on your shoulder. And there is no Instagram filter capable of inviting you into the fullness of actually being there. Seeing the sunset and the shore in the background of a “selfie” cannot compare with hearing the rhythmic crash of the waves, feeling the sand between your toes, and smelling the salty, fishy air with the days last rays of warm sunlight upon your scorched cheeks and nose. Some things cannot be reduced.
Especially people. We have all had moments when we are jolted out of our delusions by an experience that proves that our label or category did not adequately or fully describe a person that we “thought we knew.” People cannot be reduced. In fact, the most vivid and meaningful experiences, like relationships, cannot be captured at all.
It’s not as if technology is the enemy, but it’s not our friend either. Tablets, or smartphones, or laptops make for great tools but they are severely lacking as companions.
And while you can surely purchase an app that will provide the experience of building a virtual tree house you miss out on the smell of fresh cut lumber and the vibration of the saw in your hand followed by the slow dance of sawdust as the tiny particles catch the sunlight while floating down to land on your sleeve. And the experience of actually standing midway up a towering cedar on a deck that did not exist a day ago far surpasses the virtual image of one, even if in high definition. In fact, experiences like that are worth the risk of potentially slicing your finger or dirtying your shirt.
There is an untamed and undistilled world beckoning. There are experiences that do not require a color filter and cannot be contained in a #hashtag. There are faces to be gazed upon and voices to be heard. They call to us with sounds that can only be discovered if we remove the earbuds. The lure of rich, full experiences can only be perceived if we set down our devices and show up in the moment. And the God who made all cannot be described or contained by our technological inventions, nor even by his own creation. He is uncaptured and running free. Perhaps if we looked up for a moment we would notice.
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