What if one of the most recognizable songs of the sixties turned out to be an incredibly prophetic insight to our time?
I recently, and quite accidentally, heard a more current recording of the song "The Sound of Silence". I couldn't explain why, but I became fascinated with the song. It was by no means the first time that I have heard this song, I have known it since I was a boy. Yet I found myself on YouTube, watching videos of different artist and interpretations of a seemingly timeless classic; but it was the lyrics that ultimately gripped my attention. As I was considering the imagery portrayed, a question came to mind.
If you were living in the year 1963 and given a vision of society today, an anonymous viewing of the masses of people completely immersed and dependent on mobile devises and internet connection;
How would you describe it?
Take a few minutes to read and consider these lyrics with that point of view in mind.
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Fools, said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence
Consider some of the lyrics:
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night,
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence,
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
If you had never seen, nor had any knowledge of what a cell phone was, how would you describe it?
If you were given a glimpse into this future and tried to describe the impact of the small box of light that everyone seemed to carry in the palm of their hand, could you put it into words?
Is technology evil? I would say No.
Will mobile devises be the downfall of our society? Not necessarily.
Let's face it, most of you are probably reading this on a mobile devise right now.
The question that needs to be considered is this: What is it that we are neglecting as we post, scroll, troll, edit and swipe; what remains unseen in our fascination with viewing everything under the sun, what do we miss that is sitting right next to us?
Most every psychological study today reveals that while we live in the most technologically connected society that has ever existed, more people feel disconnected and alone than ever before. In our quest to know everything about everyone, we learn little about what matters; particularly about ourselves. For centuries men looked up when seeking answers to the unknown, they searched their surroundings to understand the world around them; but now, we look down to see a world filtered through another's perspective.
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the end of the world.
We may not hear God's voice audibly today, but He is by no means silent.
He made sure that all of creation would speak of His greatness, and testify of His glory. After a time when it seemed that He had been silent the longest, the Word became flesh and walked among men for thirty-three years. And now that we have His written word, we have no reason to remain silent.
Life is so much more than just knowing what is going on around us. We are meant to know one another, we were created to have relationship with our creator. The greatest search engine is found in the soul, and the answers it requires cannot be found on Google.
What is more satisfying, the screen or the skies;
Would you rather study a profile, our look into their eyes?
The people will perish from a lack of vision;
Because in silence, they could not listen.
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