Is the ‘echo chamber’ all we have?
Jan 28th, 2009 by spaceagesage
Blog writing has been a process of discovery for me. Reading and chiming in on other blogs has helped as well. Even Twitter opened my eyes to some realizations.
But it was reading a book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes again recently that finalized some insights for me. The author of Ecclesiastes had enough money, clarity, and power to explore every pleasure he desired. He could say that he really did do it all, had it all, and explored it all. At the end of his life, he realizes that there is “nothing new under the sun.”
I’m beginning to realize it, too.
This book of the Bible was written by King Solomon. Eugene H Peterson, author of the The Message translation of the Bible, writes this in his introduction to Ecclesiastes:
Unlike the animals, who seem quite content to simply be themselves, we humans are always
looking for ways to be more than or other that what we find ourselves to be. We explore the countryside for excitement, search our souls for meaning, shop the world for pleasure. We try this. Then we try that. The usual fields of endeavor are money, sex, power, adventure, and knowledge.
Everything we try is so promising at first! But nothing ever seems to amount to very much. We intensify our efforts — but the harder we work at it, the less we get out of it …
Ecclesiastes is a famous — maybe the world’s most famous — witness to this experience of futility. The acerbic wit catches our attention. The stark honesty compels notice. And people do notice … more that a few of them are surprised to find this kind of thing in the Bible … Ecclesiastes actually doesn’t say much about God; the author leaves that to the other sixty-five books of the Bible. His task is to expose our total incapacity to find the meaning and completion of our lives on our own … It is an exposé and rejection of (the) expectation that we can live our lives by ourselves on our own terms.
After my last post in which I quoted a famous passage in Ecclesiastes, Jean Browman wrote:
“I love those words. They’re so much richer than the overly simplistic self-help stuff we sometimes encounter.”
Barbara Swafford wrote,
“There’s so much truth in each line, and like you, it’s taken me years to figure it out.”
Hmmm …
Let me ask you, dear readers, this:
Do you think the echo chamber of the internet — the tendency of bloggers and social media users to repeat similar posts and discussions — is an indication that there really is, as the author of Ecclesiastes writes, “nothing new under the sun?” In other words, if we all talk together online for a hundred or a thousand years, will we (on our own) find any truly new answers to the age old questions?
Has anybody really said anything ‘new’ in a very long time? Or are we simply saying old things in new ways?
ALL discoveries are simply dis covering. Everything exists and occasionally something happens and it gets dis covered. The cover in Eastern philosophical systems is called Ignorance.
I don’t care if it’s new or not. When my daughter was born it was a miracle. Who cares if it has happened billions of other times?
Yes, there’s a lot of echoing on the internet, but that doesn’t mean I have to pay attention to it. I pay most attention to posts that talk about a person’s individual experiences. For me that’s where the richness is.
Hi Urban Panther,
I think, given our lifespans, there is only so much we can know and experience from the human perspective.
Hi Rummuser,
And once the Ignorance is uncovered, what remains?
Hi Jean,
Ah, yes, Jean, relationships are more valuable than knowledge transaction or information accumulation.
Hi Lori: I completely disagree that there’s nothing new under the sun. Every year fantastic scientific discoveries are made, medicine is improved, laws are made that bring more justice to the world . . . and we still have a very long way to go. There’s a gazillion ideas out there waiting to be found.
Hi Lori. I was just about to say yes I agree, and then I read Mare’s comment. Now? I honestly don’t know. Can both answers be right?
Hi Marelisa,
I used to think the same until a few turns around the sun allowed me to see patterns in human interactions. Hate or love still manifest much the same as they ever have. Both compassion and jealousy still exist. Entropy still can’t be defeated. Personalities still fall within certain types. All tech discoveries and innovations simply help us do what we’ve been doing a little faster or more productively.
I believe how we do things has changed, but not the why, thus there is really nothing new under the sun.
Hi Davina,
Innovation and creativity, plus a handy opposable thumb, have allowed us humans to create many new and wonderful things. The motivations, however, have not changed. I know the next generation is more savvy about human interactions — the psychology of emotions and communications — but the primary motivators found in the Garden of Eden still exist today. We can land a human on the moon, but our egos still run the show and life and death still cycles in all things.
The Absolute Truth.
I’ve always believed in “there’s nothing new under the sun.” Of course there are scientific and technological developments, but as far as human nature goes, we’re not really different than our ancestors. While each generation feels the need to rebel against the older generations, and feels that they’re doing things “better,” in fact they’re not – we’re not.
I really do think there are new things out there (for us to discover, anyway). I believe our group consciousness is evolving upwards (though not necessarily individuals), and that the new levels of awareness are giving us what we call “the new age”. I believe it is all changing, and it is our choice whether we want to jump on for the ride. It saddens me greatly to see people say there is nothing new – I think it’s a cop-out, actually (many people prefer their comfort zone, even death, to growth).
I believe, that – even if the same things are said – they are often uttered in different and unique voices. Of course, a lot of people sometimes / often just repeat what has already been said. But the ones I like to read are people with a unique voice, and often I learn quite a lot from them – even if the content seems to be the same.
Hi Rummuser,
Thanks for that clarification!
Hi Vered,
I think youth does tend to have a more positive outlook, and I’m glad for that. My life experience — with tending the dying, attending funerals, reading headlines and history for decades– shows me things don’t change over the years within human nature.
Hi Robin,
Your comments reminds me of the words “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” and I have seen quantum leaps in creative innovations and in understanding why we are the way we are, but I don’t see quantum leaps in overcoming our less desirable sides. I just heard about a domestic violence situation that makes my stomach turn, and of another child whose house is filled with rats — this is in the US. I’ve realized that for everything wonderful you or I can do or see or say or write, a thousand atrocities will still occur on this planet. But that is not a reason for me to despair. My hope is not in this world, its science, or its occupants. My hope is in my relationship with God, and that is what keeps me moving forward.
Hi Ulla,
Everyone has a unique perspective, that’s for sure! I value voices that resonate with or uplift or educate me, too.