A friend and I went to an Arts conference a few weeks ago. It was one of the first times I publicly identified as a writer. Although I have always identified as an artist, it was refreshing to specifically own up to writing.  Perhaps in the past, I thought if I don’t tell anyone then they won’t have expectations of me. 

One of the poets at this conference tore into us with heaps of fiery concepts he had been sharing with inmates at prisons. He said writing is like having a mirror for our soul. We can use it to have an objective look at how we’re feeling and doing. This struck deep within me. In general, I have a multitude of concepts swimming around in my head and I have always had a hard time discerning which ones to share. For example, when I speak to large groups a clutter of words always seem to jam up the production of my mind and I end up sounding like a fool (at least to myself). 

But this concept of writing, or letting out my thoughts, has been a small key to unlock my soul. It is helping me to be congruent with who I really am. 

More than a year ago I quit contributing to social media. I had been on a tear of more than a decade of giving daily, sometimes moment by moment insights on my accounts. Maybe I was getting some good practice that led me here, BUT it was happening in public which is a awful place to write “honestly” when you are mostly unaware of your true self. The last year of social media hiatus is likely the beginning of recovery from the years I spent presenting a version of me that was constantly being shaped by the audience of family, friends, co-workers, and algorithms. 

I was not creating an authentic version of myself. I was sabotaging myself with the help of everyone else’s opinions. I was not creating something to share, I was being an echo chamber of what was already being shared, swayed by public opinion and the unmanned spirit of the algorithm. 

See, the thing is we have to believe we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are unique, powerful, and full of inspiration. We have to believe we have the potential for invention and creativity. We have the Seed of God dwelling in us to actually change the history of the world. What we produce, with whatever measure of success will be the soil the World Changers will grow out of. 

The question of our current age is surrounding the use of AI. Is it good? Is it evil? Whose job has it already replaced? Which company will figure out how to use it quick enough to eliminate their competition? Which songs, sermons, and books were written by it?! My current assessment is that it’s a glorified search engine, who looks like a inept disfigured clone when compared to the Holy Spirit. So in the big scheme of things I’m not worried. It seems to me, when the dust settles it will be an equivalent to the math class calculator of the modern age where people will use it as a tool to produce better results. 

Yet, the rub for me comes on a deeper level. Where are the moral lines for this type of device that COULD write this whole message MUCH quicker than me and in a way that may be easier to read? This raises the question… what are words? What is The Word (John 1:14)? Words carry meaning, history, pain, and love that are the results of a person’s thought and experience, the product of one’s whole being. Words are the message carrier from another person. 

What happens when we use a computer spirit to represent us? What is held captive or what is being bounded up in us? What becomes deformed? What happens to our mental heath when we are no longer able to express our complex feelings and emotions? When we no longer have an outlet for our creativity? When we no longer believe something beautiful is in us waiting to be cultivated? Moreover, what happens to a society when we are no longer valued and needed? When we have avatars on our social media pages, AI relating to our friends for us, and fake photos imitate us? 

Where are we in this? I see a wave of new songs, art, and books emerging like a volcano up from these digital ashes to show we are made in God’s image, to exemplify how truly amazing and incomparable He is in us and through us. But it won’t happen if we don’t know who we are. It won’t happen if we are believing some soulless machine can express our relational selves better than us. It won’t happen if we are ashamed of who we are and are willing to literally sacrifice ourselves at the alter of popularity. 

It’s time to get dirty again. Get tactile again. It’s time to put on the overalls and get out in the fields again. Go for long walks again. Turn off the cameras and quit taking selfies. You are beautiful! More beautiful than anything you have ever seen. You are made in God’s image and I have been starving to actually hear from you.