J.J. Abrams, mastermind behind the hit TV series Lost, Alias and Fringe and the reboot of the Star Trek empire, wrote a fabulous essay in the May issue of Wired magazine on the Magic of Mystery. You can read the article in its entirety here.

J.J. writes that we are in the middle of the “age of immediacy” where wonder and mystery are lost because of the instant access to information that will, at best, give us a satisfying understanding. Because information is ubiquitous, knowledge a mouse click away, true understanding has become bothersome. As he puts it, “an unnecessary headache that impedes our ability to get on with our lives (and most likely skip to something else).”

Kids don’t want to discover for themselves the hidden “easter eggs” in video games so they go online and get video game “cheats” and “hacks” that enable them to leap frog the experience of discovering those on their own. Want to know absolutely anything about anything, “google” it! The question is though, have we lost something in this “age of immediacy”?

This got me thinking a lot about God and spirituality and my role as a communicator of what I believe to be “truth.” In our quest to instruct, teach, impart wisdom and knowledge, communicate the deep truths about God, inform about doctrine and theology, have we inadvertently stripped away people’s desire for the mystery which is God? Have we robbed people of the experience of mining these deep truths for themselves? Have we eschewed the insatiable desires for easy answers and inspired people to explore, unearth, probe and uncover life changing revelation for themselves?

We live in an age where if you have a desire to learn about Jesus, a simple search will yield 223,000,000 results. However,knowing about Jesus is not the same as experiencing Jesus. That can only come through a careful examination of his teachings, embracing his way of life as our own, wrestling with the hard issues he confronts us with, dealing with our fallen nature in light of his resurrected one and living our lives with him at the center of our existence. A total experience! No easy answers, no “7 steps to knowing Jesus”, no shortcuts, no hacks and no cheat sheets.

I have been challenged to not strip away mystery by self-serving easy answers and savor the experience of discovery. Information is cheap these days. We must go through the process and not underestimate it.

J.J. closes his essay with this thought. “Perhaps that’s why mystery, now more than ever, has special meaning. Because it’s the anomaly, the glaring affirmation that the Age of Immediacy has a meaningful downside. Mystery demands that you stop and consider—or, at the very least, slow down and discover. It’s a challenge to get there yourself, on its terms, not yours.”

Savor the process, enjoy the journey, embrace the mystery! That’s life!