“Solitude is a gift from God. Isolation is not — it’s a tool of the Enemy.”- Carey Nieuwhof
“Nothing feels quite as strange as people treating you as poorly as you regularly treat them. It brings out an indignation that only the hypocritical can truly appreciate.”-Carey Nieuwhof
In Chapter 5 (“Is Anyone Out There?”) of Didn’t See It Coming, Carey Nieuwhof discusses why so many of us feel so alone. While technology enables more connection as a culture, we’ve never felt more disconnected. Also, Pastor Nieuwhof quips, our devices possess an uncanny ability to interrupt anything significant. And, a growing number of people in the tech industry are speaking out against this effect of the very things they created.
However, Carey posits, what if technology isn’t good or evil, despite the challenges and dangers it presents? Rather, perhaps technology simply reveals and amplifies what’s already there. Hence, it simply reveals what’s already inside you. It didn’t create these issues. Therefore, we’re not facing a technology problem, but a human problem. In essence, Pastor Nieuwhof observes, “technology is like money. It makes a terrible master but a wonderful servant.”
Finally, Carey admits that he’s a fan of change. For without change we stagnate – or even die. Yet, change produces mixed results. While change brings much good into the world, it creates casualties as well. As a result, Carey raises two important questions:
- What are the rapid change of pace and instant connectedness to millions of people actually doing to us?
- What’s happening to our souls, to intimacy, to us?
Essentially, Pastor Nieuwhof notes, we’re technology’s parent. For we invented all this. But, on the other hand, we’re also its child. Because we’ve created things we don’t fully understand, we’re unsure how to relate to them. Perhaps some of this exposes the root of our disconnection.
Today’s question: Do you find yourself drifting toward solitude or isolation? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A collective allergy to applying the word sin”
