We

live in a world where we have developed so greatly that it is possible to become hermits and still be functional. It is possible to conduct our “business” in life without having any physical contact with another human being.

I am afraid that at the end of the day, we shall come back to rue our opportunities that we had to have real interactions with each other, but we chose technology instead.

Tech is an Enabler, Not a Substitute

I am not against technology in any way, but I am here to inform us that technology is increasingly becoming a distractor of relationships. I do believe that as a human race, we can never develop technologically so much so that we no longer need to relate.

Here are my reasons.

1. Nature

If you ever go back to the origin of how things were meant to work, you will always realize that any time you veer away from the original intention, you have a problem. The world operates in structures, systems, laws and processes. That’s what is holding everything together, regardless of how much we develop.

At the very nature of mankind, we were created to relate. We are social animals. Our very nature requires us to love, to be loved, to care, to give, to converse and to exist depending on one another. There is the fulfilment that is derived from being human—that is from being relational, that can never be replaced by anything.

In other words, as much as it is possible today to navigate through life by interacting mainly with technology and not humans, the sense of completion and fulfilment we derive from relationships will always be lacking.

We, therefore, need relationships so we can be who we were created to be in the first place—relational beings. Without relationships, we cannot be fulfilled as we ought to be.

Purpose

Purpose is why we exist. Here is the thing though: Not everyone can do everything. We all have different callings, gifts and talents that we bring to the table of humanity. We all need to be good at what we do. However, we cannot do everything. I need a graphics designer who is good at what they do.

They, in turn, need an inspirational person who is excellent in what they do. How do we complement each other? We do so through relationships. Relationships help us to bring our best works into the world by depending on each other to do what we were called to do.

We Were Not Meant to Do All Things

Some Christians wrongly quote the scripture that says, “I can do all things through Christ…” That is not how God structured the universe. Each person is given a gift to operate in. The quality of our relationships is seen in the quality of the people that we interact with.

People of quality are those who have chosen to do their absolute best in deploying their potential on earth. We are admonished always to surround ourselves with the best, to learn from the best. This is only so that we can also become the best, not for ourselves, but for this world.

I am of the view that without relationships:

• We cannot become the best versions of ourselves especially in terms of our purpose in life and
• We cannot serve our purpose to the earth, the very reason for which we were created

3. Uniqueness

Variety is a blessing. How boring would it be if we were all the same? It is interesting to note that as much as we were all created individually, uniquely, and differently, we spend the rest of our lives trying to be the same.

We were all born once in one unique experience. One mother, one birth, one time. All the 7 Billion of us (probably with very few cases of operation on multiple babies from one mother). It goes to shout in our ears that we are different and that we should cherish our differences.

The reason why we need relationships is so that we can appreciate our differentness and gain completion in life from it. The problem we have in relationships always stem from the fact that we do not appreciate uniqueness.

Complimenting One Another

We want sameness. We want to be the top dog and we feel threatened by someone else’s differentness, not knowing that we are different in and of our own.

One of the greatest reasons for relationships is so as to allow each person to be themselves and allow each person to colour their world, and indeed this world with their difference. You cannot exemplify your uniqueness outside of any relationship.

Life is structured in such a way that the colour we bring on earth is only activated through relationships. You might be the greatest pianist there was, but your colour, your uniqueness and your ability is useless without a relationship. Let’s pick this up in the next article.