You and I are living in an unprecedented era of human history. In ancient times, societies operated on the basis of oral traditions. That is to say, information was passed down from generation to generation through memorization and rote. With the advent of alphabets and writing came scribal traditions that facilitated the passing on of information through texts and manuscripts. The scribal tradition society lasted all the way through the end of the Medieval period and into the dawn of the Modern period, when Guttenberg’s printing press enabled the advent of a print tradition society. Over several thousand years, the medium became gradually more efficient and reliable, but the basis of information sharing remained unchanged – the word (spoken, written, printed). The word laid the foundation for a society based upon propositions.

Then came photography – the beginnings of what might be called an image tradition society. With Edison and the light bulb came the catalyst for technological forces that eventually converged and coalesced into the electronic image society that utterly saturates life in the 21st century. Specifically the 1960s seemed to inaugurate the realization of a final transition from the propositional society (based upon words) to the image society (based largely upon the propaganda of cinema and television). Admittedly, the possibilities seemed fresh, exciting, almost transcendent. Finally, in the last couple of decades arrived the personal computer and the world wide web – the image society has cemented itself irrevocably in our consciousness. The electronic image society has taken over in a full fledged coup d’etat. Propaganda has displaced the propositional. (Pretty ironic considering we view ourselves as having been so enlightened by the scientific method.)

At first, the new medium imitated culture. Then the medium began to dictate the culture (by definition that’s called propaganda). Now culture finds itself seeking meaning from the medium. (I’d call that nihilistic insanity.) In short, the image has taken control just as Dostoevsky predicted. Scholars around the world are talking about how English is emerging as the dominant world language. But even more universal is the language of image. Just ask Sprite. By the time a person graduates from high school, they will have spent 15,000 hours in front of a television compared to 11,000 hours in a classroom.

Is it any wonder then that we are losing our ability as a society to think deductively, syllogistically, and abstractly? Is it any wonder that if you ask someone a serious intellectual or moral question that you are most likely to receive a ‘sound byte’ answer or a blank stare?

Despite the hype, the electronic image society is a society that is intrinsically restrictive and enslaving. Images from TV and cinema impose upon reality and create a dumbed-down and Orwellian world where media do the thinking for the masses (in visual form). The politically correct milieu of our day doesn’t base itself upon objective morals, but rather expediencies, band aid solutions, clichés, and utilitarianism (at least utilitarian in terms of the elite). Media propagandists are the quintessential thought police. The leftists in this country call it the Hegelian dialectic. The rebels of the 60’s are now in charge, and they have cultivated a generation of negative, apathetic, and ignorant narcissists with an utter inability to think in terms of the transcendent. They don’t have anything left to revere and the world of art has degenerated into the theatre of the absurd. We have been robbed of our ability to reason – or more pointedly, our desire to reason.

We are seeking our satisfaction and meaning in the image and in the arts (cinema, music). The arts are meant to point beyond themselves, to the transcendent. (To me, music is about as close as I can come to the transcendent.) The arts, properly framed, are a reflection of a greater reality that lies beyond space-time, beyond the metaphysical, and in the very realm of eternity itself. When we seek to assign transcendent value upon art itself we are like a man, hungry and thirsty, who dreams of feasting at a great banquet and of drinking deeply from a gushing fountain, only to wake up and realize that he is still both hungry and thirsty. The exhilarating and euphoric longings that the arts can produce only point to a greater reality – they do not represent the reality itself. That this is true is attested to by the transient nature of the longing. We try in vain to recapture the longing but it’s gone. But the desire for the longing remains. This is what C.S. Lewis meant when he wrote “an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction...anyone who has experienced it will want it again.”

This is hope. This is joy. This is satisfaction and meaning. Isn’t it interesting that this generation is probably the busiest generation in human history, but it’s also the most bored generation in human history. The world is wired and our ability to communicate seems almost omnipresent and omnipotent, yet we are a generation defined by loneliness. Could it be that we are bored because we are lonely for ourselves – that is, our authentic selves devoid of all the falsities and contrivances of a self-image we are constantly pressured to convey. Young people, take a look at Myspace, it’s all about image.

The world tells us to be ourselves, but the world leaves out the part about our brokenness. We are fatally flawed, it’s called sin, and there’s nothing in this world we can do to fix it. Building up a façade based upon a false self-image won’t help. Our search for meaning and satisfaction will always come up empty if our search is limited to this side of eternity. The truth is that there is a transcendent God who has given us his Word, His propositions, not because He’s a Divine dictator, but because He cares and has in mind only that which is in our best interest. He won’t force Himself upon us because He’s given us a gift – the gift to choose. Yet, in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son Jesus Christ, the Lord has already provided a means of reconciliation between us and Him. He is the font of all hope, joy, and love. If we will allow Him, He will show us His purpose for our lives. He will give us a glimpse of eternity, a glimpse of the joy that awaits us. He will give us hope, liberty, honor, and freedom that truly lasts – because it’s from Him, the eternal One.

It is this eternal perspective that the arts should tap into. The false images that presently prevail simply represent dumb idols that are incredibly boring, unsophisticated, and enslaving. These images are short cuts and cheap knock-offs of the original – that which alone is True, Beautiful, and Real. God has written eternity in each of our hearts. Deep down we all intuitively know that there’s got to be something more. How else do we explain imagination and creativity? Note, image-ination. The True images worth seeking reside in our hearts and minds as illuminated by the Holy Spirit, not on a big screen or a boob tube. Satan wants to impose his false images upon our imaginations so that we will doubt and be deceived. So that we won’t experience lasting joy and hope – the kind that cannot be moved by the fleeting but persistent problems of this life. Satan tempted Jesus with a false image, but our Lord appealed to God’s Word, saying, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Matthew 4:10).

It’s kind of like how a good book is always way better than the movie. Well, the Good Book is way better than Satan’s false infomercial version of life. Don’t waste your life (and your eternity) buying into the enemy’s false images – his Hollywood version of what happiness and fulfillment look like. His propaganda machine is pervasive, but if we have eyes to see we can identify it for what it truly is – a ridiculous and shammy imitation that seeks to eliminate our eternal perspective. Please don’t bow down to his crumby counterfeit. The media and the arts are gifts from God, and intrinsically good. But given over to our own devices, they are instruments of incredible wickedness, deception, and delusion. Don’t see and automatically believe. First believe, and He will open up your eyes to the things unseen.

Adapted from:
Ravi Zacharias, Mind Games in a World of Images, CD160, RZIM.org / Let My People
Think Broadcast 10/14 – 10/28, 2007.