We live in a world where we want so badly for people to see us and to see what we see with ourselves in the foreground, that we actually miss out on actually seeing, appreciating, and engaging in the wonder of actually seeing what we want them to see. Rather than living our lives fully in the moment, place, and situation in which God has placed us, we endeavor to find our identity in over-sharing that which has been gifted to us. Everything’s a social media photo-op these days.
As I think about kids, phones, and too many adults whose lives are filled with desires to capture so many moments and photo-dump the heck out of social media, these words from Liel Leibovitz in the November 2023 issue of First Things offer a wonderful reset to fuel what should be a wonder-filled life. . .
“When we choose to forgo being in the moment and opt to photograph it instead, and when we make the same choice again and again—in a restaurant, on a visit to a museum, at a family celebration—we lose the ability to see the minute particles of truth and beauty that float everywhere around us yet are visible only when we strive truly to connect, with ourselves and with each other and with our Maker.
Being present with a fellow human being is both a miracle and an ordeal; it requires empathy and imagination and concentration, and when it works, which is not always the case, it leaves us feeling less lonely. This ‘being present’ is, in fact, the prerequisite of any sort of moral life. To choose between good and evil we must be able to feel the pull of both, the pleasures of helping a friend in need, say, and the searing emptiness of indulging our basest appetites until we’re ready to burst. Our addiction to photography keeps us out of the human drama, leaving us as mere documentarians of a life that we’ve never truly lived. . . . If we truly want to see the world and know it, our eyes and our hearts are all we need.”
