Lowering the Shields

Read this when you are alone...

Look around yourself. Are you alone, or are you with others? Please, do not leave the presence of others to continue reading, however, if you are reading this and others are around you, stop reading; come back to this when you are alone. If you are alone feel free to read on.

I asked you to read this when you were alone not primarily because I wanted to have your full attention, nor because I was going to share a secret to which others were not to be privy. I asked you to read this alone so that those whom you are with would have your full attention and you would have theirs.

Now that you and I are alone we can chat.

The 17th chapter (titled Losing Oneself) of Baron Friedrich von Berger's Time Warping for Beginners he gives the following warning,

"There is another form of losing oneself that has a similar effect to my theorized one—namely being in one Time with a mind constantly set upon another. Be wary of this. If you feel the constant draw to be Elsewhere or Elsewhen occurring to the neglect of your Now, it is because you are not living by The Code. We are all Tethered to a particular Time and Space for a reason, and we must live our lives with the people of our Present more than with those in the Past."

The Baron was speaking to Time Warpers, though I think that this warning applies to us as well. Today, perhaps the most common occurrence of "losing oneself" happens as we retreat behind our mobile phone, a tablet, or a computer screen.

We use these devices like shields that are raised on a sci-fi starship when in the vicinity of an untrusted adversary.  As a culture we move in a mass like a Roman testudo (tortoise) formation—impenetrable.

 

A testudo formation depicted in Justus Lipsius' Poliorceticon,

sive, De machinis, tormentis, telis, libri qvinqve : ad historiarum lucem.

We have excuses for our escapes. We say (or think) things like, "I need to decompress. I need a break. I need an escape. I am bored. I don't want to talk.  I don't want to think.  I have something more important to attend to." And then there are the times when we feel like a fever but will not admit, "I am lonely," or "I am afraid."

Crowded restaurant tables are wastelands of mutual neglect, as we text, call, video chat with distant others through radio waves, or entertain ourselves. In schools, teachers try to get beyond the tight formation like chariots pounding on its shielded surface.

A testudo formation depicted in Justus Lipsius' Poliorceticon,

sive, De machinis, tormentis, telis, libri qvinqve : ad historiarum lucem.

The Roman testudo was protection for those who were on the offensive whereas we, locked into our formation, are for the most part, on the defensive. Sure there are times when we use these shields as weapons too. "Oh, you want to talk to me? Well take this," and up our shields go, delivering a vacuum of silence and series of graceless bludgeoning blows with every swipe. Though these attacks generally come after a battle or are employed to ignore a conversation we know that we should have. So again, they are shields nonetheless.

 

However, are we really more satisfied by those far away? What about the people in our present time and place? Is it that we fear their rejection? They need us as much as we need them. I believe the ancient book of Proverbs has something to say on this matter.

"Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off." Proverbs 27:10b

 Do we really want to be alone, or are we lonely and feel safer with those who cannot scrutinize us in person? That way there is no conflict and no discomfort of not knowing what to say. There is no chance that we may have to reveal what is going on with us. Are we afraid that others will think that we care, or that they will care that we think? It feels so safe behind our shields, but a city can only remain under siege for so long. It will eventually fall as its citizens die of starvation. It becomes a hollow city.

Are we really a city under siege? Or are those who surround us just as scared and lonely as we are?

A city under siege depicted in Justus Lipsius' Poliorceticon,
sive, De machinis, tormentis, telis, libri qvinqve : ad historiarum lucem.

"A man who isolates himself pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment."  Proverbs 18:1

We know our isolation is unwise, but we are drawn to our devices like ferrous metal to a magnet.  Sometimes it is because we are addicted to the pleasure of it?

"He who loves pleasure will be a poor man." Proverbs 21:17a

I know this firsthand. I have spent too much time scrolling and too much time watching and avoiding the responsibilities of the next day, because they are, after all, tomorrow's responsibilities. I have also spent the next day fuzzy-brained, behind, and overwhelmed.  But I give in, and the cycle continues. "I don't want to think about tomorrow because there is so much to do and so much to think about. Let me escape, just for a minute, or two."  Rarely is that the case, and my app use statistics prove as much, however I try to escape nonetheless. In the end I and those who count on me pay for it in more ways than one.

At least televisions still seem to have a limit to the number of channels they offer, and when we get through the channel list and it starts again we can turn it off and say, "there is nothing on." (Though as our televisions get "smarter" and are connected to the Internet this is becoming less the case, as we bounce from streaming service to streaming service to see if something new has been added).

Our phones are different than televisions though, if we don't like one thing there is another just a swipe away on the endless digital scroll. With the flick of our finger we go for one more pull of the one armed bandit to hit the jackpot of dopamine.

With our escapes there is less thinking involved (or the thinking is done for us, and as AI becomes more prevalent we will have to think even less).  It is easier to think less because thinking is both work and can cause us to question what we are doing or remind us of our responsibilities. It is easier to eject than fly the plane. We ignore the fact that the reason the plane is going down is not because it was crashing, but because we have removed our hands from the controls. 

How much less stress would we have if we got the sleep we need instead of making zombies of ourselves by burning the candle on both ends and in the middle.  How much less stress we would have if we did what we were supposed to when we were supposed to. We would be able to both rest well and play well.

And, how much happier would we be if we stopped comparing ourselves to others' edited and manicured stories? (It is no wonder covetousness makes the top ten list; it breeds discontentedness and with it can bring depression, worry, and self-destructive behaviors.)

How much better would we be able to love if we were fully present? If we looked up and into each other's eyes.  How much more would we be able to hear if we were to listen? Our earbuds, headphones, and AirPods say one thing louder than the volume levels can reach and with the utmost fidelity, "I am not fully listening to you." 

Are the people around us really noises who need to be canceled out?

But who are those we are hiding from, who do we neglect, ignore, and escape from in our Present? Family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and strangers. They are these and more, but all of them are also immortals.

C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory writes,

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

Maybe it's time to lower the shields. If this is difficult to do alone, try to do it with others. Lower your shields together. After the initial awkwardness you will find immortals on the other side.

Yes, life is tough at times, and we very well may need a shield, but I don't think our screens make very good ones. They tend to isolate us more than protect us, and they do better at severing communities and relationships than building them.

In ancient times people knew the reality of needing a shield in the literal sense. It was a physically dangerous world out there. Today, we don't see real shields very often, perhaps only in museums, movies, or when they are carried by riot police on the news. Tangible and sure things are often used as symbols in literature. The ancients used the metaphor of a shield quite often.

This type of symbolism is seen in the Bible. God, His protection, and salvation are described as a shield more than two dozen times in the Bible (Genesis 15:1; Deuteronomy 33:12, 29; 2 Samuel 22:3, 31, 36; Psalm 3:3; Psalm 5:12, Psalm 7:10; Psalm 18:2, 30, 35; Psalm 28:7; Psalm 33:20; Psalm 35:2; Psalm 59:11; Psalm 84:11; Psalm 89:18; Psalm 91:4; Psalm 115:9-11; Psalm 119:114; Psalm 144:2; Proverbs 2:7; Proverbs 30:5; Ephesians 6:16).

Look those verses up, or copy and paste the text into an online Bible. You will notice that they describe a very safe place in a very dangerous world.

If you have a kitchen scale you may have noticed that it came with the disclaimer NOT LEGAL FOR TRADE.  This means that although the manufacturer says that it is accurate, it has not undergone a thorough and certified testing.  It may be inaccurate, which means it could lead to a loss of profit or a customer not getting what they paid for.  I think our phones and other devices are like this.  They have promised connectedness, but left us lonely.  They promise multitasking, but lead us to neglect the things that matter most.  The book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt is a pretty good primer on the subject. 

Thinking about the subject of phones, I recently remembered an event that took place on the morning of Saturday, September 24, 1983. On that particular morning I watched one of my favorite cartoons, The Smurfs. One of that day's episodes was titled The First Telesmurf. In this episode Papa Smurf planted some magical smurfmelons that would grow faster and feed the village for a very long time. Though the best laid plans of mice, men, and Smurfs often go awry.

The smurfmelon vine quickly sprouted flowers and to the Smurfs' amazement they could speak into one flower and be heard far away from another. Handy Smurf saw the vine's potential and how Smurfs could communicate through the vine. He dubbed it the Telesmurf. It was conceived as something that would bring Smurfs together, however in a short while the Smurfs began spending all of their time in their homes on the telesmurf, they neglected their work, used the device to gossip, Baby Smurf went hungry, and the enemy of the Smurfs, Gargamel, used it to track them down.

The Telesmurf was a tethered device that came with promises of ease, community, and convenience. Instead it leads to things undone, isolation, neglect, and a clear path for harm to enter the village. Today we have untethered devices that do the same.

Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that these devices are evil. I am saying we need to start to lower the shields of our phones and other devices and truly live with the people around us.

I would also suggest getting behind the only One Who will truly protect us, love us, and satisfy us. Maybe there are things that we need to actually start thinking about—things that we even need to meditate upon.

A friend of mine explained to me that some forms of mediation are about emptying your mind, but Christian meditation is about filling it.  He went on to tell me that if I know how to worry I know how to do Christian meditation. 

That didn't sound encouraging, but he continued.  When you worry, you think about something again and again, you look at it from every possible angle.  

I know that when I worry about something I won't let go of it until it is settled.  I play it over and over, again and again, and I turn it and twist its every possibility like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube.  That is what it means to meditate as a Christian.  My friend was not suggesting that I really worry, but he was telling me to use the worrying type of effort upon something that is certain, and there I will find peace.  Jews and Christians from ancient times would fill their minds with and meditate upon what they read in the Scriptures because these are something tested and certified.  

• Are you worried? Read: Matthew 6:25-34

• Are you weary? Read: Matthew 11:28-30

• Are you loving the wrong things, lacking contentment, feeling abandoned or afraid of others? Read: Hebrews 13:5-6

• Are you afraid of persecutors or the future? Read: Matthew 10:28-31

• Do you feel lost? Read: Luke 15

• Do you need comfort? Read: Psalm 23

• Do you feel as if you are lacking an abundant life? Read: John 10:7-16

• Are you overcome by your thoughts and passions? Read: Galatians 5:16-24

• Do you need to feel loved? Read: John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 5:8, Romans 8:31-39

These are solid shields that will remind us regardless of our present circumstances, there is Someone strong and sure to know personally and get behind.