The Personal Spirit

I had coffee with an old friend yesterday.

In doing so, I was reminded of the remarkable connection that we as humans have with one another. It is this bond that allows two people to continue a conversation from many years ago as easily as one from this morning, to skip over the niceties of small talk and speak right to the spirit, and to support each other's dreams no matter how extraordinary. I also was reminded the importance of personal contact.

Sure, we communicate via e-mails, phone calls, and video chats, share our daily activities on Facebook, and keep up on our career transitions via LinkedIn. We use the modern technology to remain “in touch” across many geographic and social distances. We conduct business at any hour, instantly share our most recent vacation photos with hundreds of our closest “friends,” and divulge some of our most intimate thoughts with people we have never met.

Our contemporary society provides so many opportunities to become connected in ways that never existed. So, why, when we are so connected, do we concurrently feel so removed?

The answer is that there simply is no replacement for direct human contact. No matter how much we may IM throughout the day, or how many text messages we exchange, it is when we sit in each other’s physical presence that we truly connect. Call it the soul, life-force, inner self, chi – whatever is that energy that creates and surrounds us – it is most prevalent in person.

Over the past year, I take to spending more time at my computer – to work on my photography, research, write, e-mail, video chat, and stay in touch with my loved ones that are spread out across the globe. I am grateful for these conveniences. I also am grateful for the opportunity to sit across the table from an old friend and reconnect over a cup of coffee.