#hiddenness

"We ourselves are mystery and our proper ambience is mystery. When we speak of God’s hiddenness we are saying he is the answer to our yearnings. He is unfathomable mystery offered to us."

...I have sometimes thought about the ancient Irish book-shrines, the exquisite containers worked in metal that held a book, usually a manuscript of the gospels...There are some that, once the book was enclosed, were never intended to be opened again. Viewing the book was not the point. It was enough to know it was there, sacred and holy. That the power of the pages did not lie in being seen. That the story they contained did not depend on being read. That the story imbued the space, the people, with its presence. Took flesh in them. It seems counterintuitive that something of such beauty should be hidden away. Greedy, somehow. And yet there is something powerful about it, something comforting. That looking, seeing, understanding is not always the purpose. That our story, the sacred text of our lives, gathers itself nonetheless--the terrible pages, the beautiful pages, the pages marked by pain and loss, the pages limned with wonder and unexpected joy--and there is something of this that is necessarily secret and hidden away, sometimes even from ourselves.

One of the biggest—if not the biggest—factors driving this phenomenon is social media. These parties wouldn’t be so popular if it weren’t for the exposure they get on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, where others see them and, perhaps, then feel inclined to throw their own. Social media can amplify forces such as ego, peer pressure, and FOMO. Perhaps America’s young adults are celebrating so much because they’re accustomed to packaging the events of their life into narratives for their virtual networks.