Fascination with the Unreal

The less real something is, the more we tend to be drawn to it. 

In Eden, Adam and Eve were ultimately lured away from the most real being ever—the uncreated Creator—by a fallen created being. It’s hard to fathom. Until we consider where our fascinations take us. 

Our modern Tree of Knowledge is technology. And one of its most alluring fruits is social media. Many believers spend far more time on and with social media than they do with God…or even other real people. When questioned, they shrug. It’s just part of the game you have to play. They see today’s social media landscape as a modern, high-tech equivalent of the old town square.

That’s a naïve view.  For starters, a town square is an actual, physical place where one interacts with real people. Social media is a lot of things. But virtual isn’t the same as reality. And because social media doesn’t represent a tangible place, it’s hard to get our arms around it. We want followers and likes, but it’s shrouded in high-tech mystery that even the experts can’t explain. So it feels both essential and over our heads. In that moment, we can give it more power than it deserves by believing the artificial trinity of algorithms, apps and AI can help our creativity more than the Creator. Along the way, we gave social media the power to validate or invalidate us in ways we knew the town square never could.

The less real something is, the more we tend to let it shape our reality. Said differently, we look to the unreal to make us more real. But of course, it can’t. The artificial can only makes us more like itself—more unreal.

This reading was crafted to encourage your pursuit of story and creativity with God. Your donation makes this crowd-funded initiative possible. You can support it via PAYPAL (or by check to Allen Arnold at PO Box 62841, Colorado Springs, CO 80962).

Want More?
Order your copy of The Eden Optiontoday