To Know and Be Known

I had the privilege of sitting in on a social networking forum a few days ago. I must say that I found it quite fascinating. The human soul longs to commune. We were made that way. I believe God gave us this gift because He wanted us to taste the wonderful blessedness of communion in which the Trinity exists. I also believe God gave us this longing so that we would ever seek communion with Him...our true Home. He also gave us this gift to allow us to experience the joy in communion with others. This is so evident in the astounding and varied ways we have discovered to communicate with each other over time. We long to know and be known.

I spent some time looking up advances in technology. We have pushed ourselves forward to discover new ways of expression. I was truly amazed and astonished at mans communication progress through time. I thought I'd post them here.

Here is a condensed history of communication:

• Before 3500 BC-painting by indigenous tribes
• 3500's BC-Cuniform and hieroglyphic writing (one symbol at a time)
• 1500's BC-Alphabet writing (one letter at a time)
• 1450 AD-Gutenburg printing press (mass communication possible)
• 1835-Morse code developed
• 1843-First long-distance electric telegraph (long distance code communication possible)
• 1876-Discovery of telephone (long distance voice communication possible)
• 1901-long distance radio signal (voice communication to the masses)
• 1925-First television signal (voice and image transmittal to the masses)
• 1947-Cellular phone discovered
• 1958-Photocopier for office use (mass business communication)
• 1963-First communications satellite (world-wide mass communication)
• 1976-Apple home computer invented
• 1985-Cellular telephones in cars become wide-spread (mobile communications)
• 1994-USA government releases control internet and www is born (communication at light speed)
• From these latest technological discoveries, texting, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc... have become of age.

The discovery of new ways of communicating has accelerated exponentially in this day of information technology. On a personal note, I remember when my daughter was on her eighth grade field trip in 2002. Only two children on her bus returning home had cell phones. Those two children were practically pummeled to a pulp because the children without phones were begging to use those two phones to place calls to parents awaiting pick up times. By the time she graduated in 2006, the majority in her class had cell phones but didn't have a clue about texting. Her sister just graduated this year 2009. Her graduating class barely speak audibly with their phones preferring texting and twittering.

It will be interesting to see what advances we will make in communication in the next 25-50 years. Humans will continue to push forward to discover new ways to communicate. After all, it is a drive God has placed within each of us. Spirit will yearn to connect with spirit. Deep will call to deep. We will long to know and be known.