"less of me, more of others" is NOT what we see typically see on facebook, but I wonder if there IS such thing as a "reverse-selfie" or an "anti-selfie." --the art and discipline of seeing past yourself in order to see others.
Or what about a profile picture that looked more like Jesus than our own face?Does this thing (this anti-selfie thing) have a name?
(actually, scratch that. The theology is good, but if someone actually did that, I would probably write them off as lame and kitschy...unless it was doppelganger day--and even then, your Jesus better not be blonde)
- "groupie" doesn't work (a valid hashtag on instagram, btw) because that would just be collective self-absorption (say cheese, American culture!)
- Rabbi Michael Levy tackles the subject and suggests the word "otherie":
"When you pay attention to yourself, you have less mental energy to pay attention to the feelings of others...(but "otherie" feels isolating and this is a phenomenon where "the other" becomes "friend")
The Torah itself urges us to be love the stranger, because we too were strangers and slaves in the land of Egypt. After experiencing misfortunes, we have the potential to notice others in distress and reach out to them.
As you try to stand in another person’s shoes, you begin to notice something else. Your stereotypical beliefs about people, which you may not have realized were stereotypes, begin to disappear....the world would be a better place if we could bring ourselves to picture the situations of others, rather than becoming entranced by photographs of ourselves."
- Alan Wherry (whoever that is) suggests "youfsie" or "yousie"
(but that runs dangerously into the type of co-dependance found in Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift songs--yes, I just put those girls in the same category)
- My so-far favorite suggestion comes from Matthew Bishop who points to (but did not pen) the word "unselfie."
(this phenomenon exists--as people holding up protest signs or words of encouragement--but when girls put on obvious amounts of make-up in order to hold signs that say "you are beautiful," that still feels like a selfie to me. It's disguised, but it's still a selfie.)
"Fellowship isn’t when we get together at church to enjoy the company of people we like, or who are like us. The Greek word koinonia means an extraordinary sharing, a radical hospitality that isn’t mere friendliness, but is the warm embrace of those who aren’t like us, whom we might not like, cutting across social and economic boundaries." ~Rev. James Howell
Unfortunately, #koinonia also seems to be some sort of fish...
