Recovering Solitude
In a world of constant connection what we inevitably lose first is absence. At the end of his book, Michael Harris talks of his "Analog August," a month he spent with no device or digital connection of any kind. In almost documentary fashion, Harris noted the following on August 24th, “Behavior that seemed normal on the 30th of July now looks compulsive and animalistic. Now when I see teenage girls burrowed into their phones…I think of monkeys picking lice out of each other’s hair.”
At the end of his "Analog August," August 27th, Harris stated something profound:
"I wanted to remember the absences that online life had replaced with constant content, constant connection. I’ve remembered what it is to be free in the world, free from the obliterating demands of five hundred “contacts.” But, of all the absences I’ve remembered, there’s one that is the greatest, the most encompassing—that is solitude. And yet, of this absence, a little goes a long way…Still, if solitude feels painful it’s only because we don’t know how to be alone…We aren’t lonely because we are alone; we are lonely because we have failed in our solitude."
Harris hit on something that not only confronts our cultural moment, but also something that has the potential to make some people feel very uncomfortable–we forgot how to be alone. Solitude offers us something powerful, something that I think we all know we need deep down–the space to reflect and meditate on God. How can we hear God when our lives are filled with noise? How can we see God when our gazes are fixed on something else–something far less glorious and life giving?
Reality is, the faint glow from our smart phones is not even a shadow of God's divine supernatural light. It's a substitute for it. Solitude may very well be the thing we're missing and need. Solitude may indeed be the pathway of recovering communion with God.
If our smart phones in general and social media in particular, if their job is to impinge on our solitude then it is our job to notice. But we will never notice this while being consumed by constant connection. “Real thinking requires retreat." We must watch our lives, seek moments of solitude, and keep ourselves from idols (1 Jn. 5:21). Smart phones and social media are a cultural good, but we demonstrate a particular proclivity to turn good things into ultimate things–good things into God things.
Recovering solitude might be what our souls need.
At the end of his "Analog August," August 27th, Harris stated something profound:
"I wanted to remember the absences that online life had replaced with constant content, constant connection. I’ve remembered what it is to be free in the world, free from the obliterating demands of five hundred “contacts.” But, of all the absences I’ve remembered, there’s one that is the greatest, the most encompassing—that is solitude. And yet, of this absence, a little goes a long way…Still, if solitude feels painful it’s only because we don’t know how to be alone…We aren’t lonely because we are alone; we are lonely because we have failed in our solitude."
Harris hit on something that not only confronts our cultural moment, but also something that has the potential to make some people feel very uncomfortable–we forgot how to be alone. Solitude offers us something powerful, something that I think we all know we need deep down–the space to reflect and meditate on God. How can we hear God when our lives are filled with noise? How can we see God when our gazes are fixed on something else–something far less glorious and life giving?
Reality is, the faint glow from our smart phones is not even a shadow of God's divine supernatural light. It's a substitute for it. Solitude may very well be the thing we're missing and need. Solitude may indeed be the pathway of recovering communion with God.
If our smart phones in general and social media in particular, if their job is to impinge on our solitude then it is our job to notice. But we will never notice this while being consumed by constant connection. “Real thinking requires retreat." We must watch our lives, seek moments of solitude, and keep ourselves from idols (1 Jn. 5:21). Smart phones and social media are a cultural good, but we demonstrate a particular proclivity to turn good things into ultimate things–good things into God things.
Recovering solitude might be what our souls need.
Rev. Mike Hernandez serves as the senior pastor of Crossroads Presbyterian Church. He is a graduate of Trinity International University (B.A.), Knox Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) at Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando.
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