Like so much related to life, privacy bears a variety of definitions and contexts. The first meaning for privacy in the context of nature is for self-maintenance, even protection – both personal and social. In the personal sense we need privacy so that we can see ourselves for what we are and becoming. In privacy we take on responsibility for ourselves. We are not carried along by others around us, to postures, to relate to other externals (good or ill) to determination about what we feel, think, and do. There is modesty and humility in privacy where we can be alone to be and do some things that belong to us alone, or, if a faith person to share with God. Persons who do not pray in privacy miss some of the highest meaning for prayer that can form us to better beings. Even Jesus would arise some mornings before the disciples for prayer. On one occasion he took three disciples to a point, and moved on alone – but in eyeshot, so they would gain the concept of the island person going beyond social context. The prayers of our privacy are different than our prayers with friends, or family members – even when we pray about the same matters.
Recently the public has become ambivalent about the invasion of privacy. Cameras and sound devices are becoming so commonplace that we no longer can assume that we have even semi-privacy in our activity, Stores have surveillance cameras, some are installed at street lights, and on corners of buildings. The ubiquitous camera is now a major factor in crime solving. Thugs are adjusting a bit through increased masking. Even conduct, like that of the Marathon Bombers in the Boston Marathon was traced to films that showed the two young men walking in the opposite direction from the crowd, unmoved by the tragedy. Recognizing the invasion of privacy rights which they do not like, the public recognizes the benefits of the new approaches which they do like. There appears to be an increased film coverage of the area of the White House in Washington since a fellow leaped the fence and made it to the front door before being intercepted. Even so, it is presumed to be the right of parents to have the faces of their children blocked in public release of films so that kidnapers are not informed about the children to make them targets. The opportunities for privacy are being reduced, but they can be arranged, perhaps with better application than former escapes from social context. We must have the social as well. Privacy helps us in the social and perceives the rule of the one and the many assisting each other. When we see ourselves for what we are and learn to use the information for improvement we are in league with God.
Using privacy wrongfully David sinned, as did Bathsheba using privacy wrongfully. That cost them. Today they might have been found in surveillance, something only God could do in their generation. The mystery of life includes the one and the many in virtually everything relating to creation. We refer to it as the law of balance, of moderation, of reality that permits the individual and the mass to proceed together without loss of meaning or effectiveness. Human beings in nature work at finding the golden mean. In the meaning and understanding of the individual unit we think in the terms that gurus have offered to us in meditation, in body building, in reading, in mindfulness, even in the individuality found in motorcycle riding – even riding alone with a group of motorcyclists riding alone or perhaps joined with reluctant mates. This last was related to grandpa at 75 years of age for approval. (All these, and more, I found in one Sunday supplement of the public newspaper. The concept of private meditation was touted as the #1 health booster for the future.) The Apostle Paul knew he was doing what God wanted him to do. Even so, he wanted to know how the Apostles evaluated his ministry so to account to God and colleagues. The Christian finds all this in a spirit of prayer that may include anything constructive to the experience of the spiritual selfie. Especially we may be aided in reading, writing, recording even walking, that focuses on the meaning of self to thought and conduct, to identity, to relationships with others, and to God. One quotation singled out and related to mindfulness in the above publication was: Mindfulness looks like you aren’t doing anything, but you can literally CHANGE YOUR BRAIN through this practice. Reality as interpreted by the individual becomes the formation of the person in sincere privacy of soul and mind. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020