The demise of “deep”

Emily Wintringham
the advocate

 

We know that modern life is a game of telephone. You tell something to someone and the message gets distorted each time it is retold. We see discrepancies as a fallacy. We have decided as a culture that adaptations or varying accounts to stories mean the story in its entirety is obsolete.

Yet, I strongly think the over-fixation to minute, straightforward details is the reason behind why we misinterpret. For example, the reason why I believe we misinterpret biblical stories is because we treat them like digital records, when in-fact they were at first, oral tradition. It was okay back then to have a different language or account of the happenings, so long as one didn’t stray from the purpose or lesson of the story. The question asked during ancient times wasn’t so much Who, What, When, Where? Instead, it was mostly Why?

In a conversation, have you ever gotten so lost into the details of someone’s story that you don’t remember why he or she told it, or what he or she wanted you to take from it? That’s a listening crime we commonly commit.

It’s no wonder poetry is getting buried alive in the mounds of superficial facts and trivia. Come to think of it, it’s no wonder they call the popular app “Trivia crack” – those small, increment studs of information are like short bursts of pleasure, like spurts of endorphins. But are they fulfilling, or long-lasting? Absolutely not; most lose to their friends because they quickly forget who the coach of the Indianapolis Colts is, anyway.

Facts don’t reach into the supernatural, the mysterious, and the deep fabrics of the human soul. The soul is infinite while mere observations are finite. I agree that relying entirely on our emotions and perceptions is dangerous,

but relying solely on facts and logic is dangerous because logic is limited to our dimensions, our senses, and our universal laws.

There are so many miraculous things to be sensed and revelations to discover that we aren’t aware of, because we only get skin- deep. It’s okay, you may think I’m fanatical. I give you permission.