Modern technology: boosting or lowering?

[donq]

Someone told me about a lift in London that used a voice recognition. It was scary. If I were there I might never reached my desired floor. Or worse than that, I might be stuck in there waiting until another passenger came by, because my English accent is bad, not to mention British accent!

Nowadays you can download ton of ebooks, audio books (or even some book applications) directly on your smart phone (Android or ios) for free. I’m not a Christian but I also have some best versions of Bibles on my Android device. This means I can read them everywhere I go or even in my bed.

Recently I’ve even found some application that teaches me how to play “Romance de amor” (finger style guitar). For the last 30 years I could only play its first part, and never seriously tried to finish it, maybe I will be able to play the whole song soon? Hmm…I doubt that.

Though I know so well about the benefits of modern technology, somehow I think there’s something missing there. Say, I never felt comfortable with reading ebook. It’s very different from reading a real book. Somehow this concerns spirituality, too.

I truly believe that spirituality has something to do with what we don’t have. Could I be happy without any kind of these technologies? Just only me and my favorite (real) book. Or can I still be happy without any book?

It seems modern technology makes us too busy: there are always so many things to do everyday, and every moment. In the past, it seemed we had much more time than this. I remember that 8-9 P.M. was already a time to turn in. There were only 1-2 TV channels (black & white) that time. And radio transistor provided us both news and (radio) play. I really enjoyed it.

How can I get more peaceful time like that back to my life again?

[gruntal]

I remember way back in 1959 my sixth grade teacher Miss Richie throwing out a scenario to the class of a family that would not have a television in the house "because it detracted from the time they could spend with each other". Segue into 2014 and I have two cell phones and one land line. I never use the cell phones and most of the land line calls are telemarketers. I do have numerous transceiver radios capable of anything from AM SSB to FM from about 7 MHz to about 440 MHz. Occasionally I even do the traffic nets myself to keep in practice for an emergency.

It's not very clear if technology is my friend or if humanity is my nemesis but the two are always out there in great abundance. They come together in strange ways I have yet to master.

I do remember camping out in the desert in a tent. The sun went down and it got very cold and there wasn't really anything to do but rest in the sleeping bag and listen to the coyotes outside. All alone by myself. It was fun but I find it hard to believe prospectors would stake claims and live out their lives there. Unless of course they have electric generators and a pile of nice computer games like SIBERIA and MYST.

But no matter where I went or what I did I could never still my mind enough to do even rudimentary meditation so I guess technology and civilization wasn't to blame for that...

[sparklekaz]

I do believe modern technology has it's place. It has made our lives easier and it has also helped save lives. As with all things I believe that if something is used in the right way, it does no harm. It is when it is abused or overused needlessly that problems can arise.

I remember reading somewhere once that in this age of technology where communicating with each other could not be simpler. People were becoming isolated and lonely. We've stopped interacting properly with each other, in it's most simple and direct form. People don't write letters, they email. They don't see each other as often. They skype instead. Families don't eat together or play together anymore. Children are in their rooms, playing on their laptops or x boxes. Sat at the dinner table, phones glued to their ears, or tap tapping away texting friends.

Don't get me wrong. I believe the internet to be an invaluable way of connecting people who would not interact at all without it. Those who live in isolation and would be truly cut off without it. Particularly those who are housebound or disabled in some way. To share with other's who have similar interests but live far away. It truly can be a window out into the world.

Love and light
Kaz

[donq]

Hi Gruntal,

I could feel the deep dimension in your writing. Thanks.
It reminds me of this scene. And Let’s imagine what would happen if his cell phone suddenly rang out?



P.S. I had a hard time, many years ago, trying to switch on a faucet in the (very modern) rest room. I pushed it, pressed it, pulled it and groped every spot on it, without any success. Finally, when I was going to give up, the water flew out of it by itself, by accident. It was temperature sensor faucet.

[donq]

Hi Karen,

Very good points. Someone wrote that people today feel very lonely more than ever. They want to fill up their gaps; wanting to be heard as much as possible; needing others to hear their voices. Why? Maybe because they have less time to give and spend to each other in the real life?
Agree about the benefit of the internet, if use it rightly, wisely. But somehow I feel deep down that something is not right. Lao-Tzu said more than 2,500 years ago:

Without going out of doors one may know the whole world;
without looking out of the window, one may see the Way of Heaven.
The further one travels, the less one may know.
Thus it is that without moving you shall know;
without looking you shall see; without doing you shall achieve.

As for, “Without going out of doors one may know the whole world” though it might sound like the internet, but it isn’t. Right? There’s something more than that. It’s said knowledge is power. But I don’t think information is a knowledge, isn’t it? It seems we crave for more and more information but not knowledge. So not to mention about wisdom.
Oh! sorry. I just said what I had in mind. Some kind of the old man’s nagging. Hahaha.

[sparklekaz]

I agree with you Monty. I do think though that knowledge acquired without any real effort on our part, i.e. at the touch of a button. Somehow robs us of the experience of 'acquiring it', through experience and the effort of seeking it out. There is a quote I like. "In order to properly understand the big picture, everyone should fear becoming mentally clouded and obsessed with one small section of truth." Xunzi.

We have the ability and resources to find out facts easily. But they do tend to be in bite size chunks. As opposed to us seeking out knowledge for ourselves, through our own research. Where we would follow a trail, which tells us many other things we might not have considered or known. I see the path to knowledge, as like the trunk of a tree, with many branches. Each branch represents something else. I hope I'm explaining myself properly. Information gleaned for us by others and presented to us as fact, means we tend to blindly accept them to be true. But who is to say that they are! At least if we'd done the research ourselves we'd have a more accurate and more importantly a bigger picture. Otherwise it's a bit like viewing the world through a lens with restricted vision. As opposed to the wonderful peripheral vision we would get through our own eyes.

I like the differentiation you made when you said. "It seems we crave for more and more information, but not knowledge". I think people confuse those two things all the time. True knowledge comes through fact and experience combined. Wisdom comes through knowledge, experience, observation, introspection, contemplation and intuitive knowing. It's interesting isn't it, how your post about technology, has taken us to consider so much more. Particularly I feel, in considering how acquiring information and becoming more knowledgable and wise does not neccessarily go hand in hand. In fact it can be detrimental, if we continue down this path.

My thoughts are this; we may be becoming more technologically advanced as a species, but it is to the detriment of our personal and spiritual growth. Because that is something we cannot get at the click of a key or button is it. What good is knowledge without understanding, or knowing how to apply it, within such variance of circumstance. Ultimately, I do think that this instant shot of information without effort mentality, is making people lazy, and taking away their ability and automony to 'think and question' for themselves.

Love and light
Kaz

[donq]

Dear Karen,

Very well said, Thanks.

Here I have a story to share:

Two shoe salesmen were sent to Africa to see if there was a market for their product.
The first salesman reported back, “This is a terrible business opportunity, no-one wears shoes.”
The second salesman reported back, “This is a fantastic business opportunity, no-one wears shoes.”

I think this explains our points so well. It seems there is no exact “information.” It still depends on its context, too. In one context, "time and tide waits for no man." In another context, "Slow is sure." More than that, it depends on what kind of person who gets that information, doesn’t it?

If tear is a natural way to clean any dirt out of our eyes, sweat is also to clean our sluggishness. Information has nothing to do with this.

I remember one scene in the movie Gandhi:

At Gandhi’s ashram in South Africa, his wife was very upset that she had to clean the toilets (every member had to share all work there).
“I don’t want to clean the latrines, it’s the work of the ‘Untouchables’,” she said.
“All work in this community is sacred, and none is more sacred than to devote ourselves to make the ashram pure by cleaning the latrines. It is an act of worship,” Gandhi said.
(Seeing his wife’s reluctance, Gandhi said he would clean the latrines. His wife, realizing her arrogance, promised she would clean the latrines that day.)

I cannot help but think that the real wisdom or spiritual knowledge is something like cleaning a toilet. One will get real sweat out of this kind of hard job that some people don’t even dare to do it. And we would really feel so good (physical, mental and spiritual partl) after it’s done as we know that we did are very good and useful job and for the benefits of others. 

P.S. I just cleaned my toilet yesterday and still have felt so good now, even it would benefit only myself. Hahaha.

[aceofcups]

I think technology is a Modern tool,,, which can like any other tool can be used wisely or unwisely... There are many wonderful things which technology has brought -like communicating with people on this web-site from around the world, having a library to seek answers at your finger-tips, being able to listen to lectures or music, go to meditations and take classes in real time on-line.

Yes, there are many downfalls that one can site of its misuse.. but that is of an individual choices how they use them ...

i find it useless to complain about it's increasing use... it is here... we can only really complain to ourselves about how we use something.

peace
aceofcups

[mojomojo]

Hi all, I have never liked technology, even though I use it, was'nt it's original purpose, to enable work to be done faster, giving time back to the people. Yes, I agree the internet is a fantastic communication tool, but that remains only as long as it remains free and open, which I fear may change in time to come. There is an old, magnificent castle in Ireland, which is used as a hotel, Kinnity castle. It is a very special place, the atmosphere there , just soaks you up, there are many spirits there, it is very magical, they have kept it as old as possible, no t.v in the rooms etc.
Due to people, I feel not getting what the place was about, requests were made for t.v.'s in the rooms, making it a bit more modern. We have been back there, since the modernisation, and for us the, atmosphere is gone, sensing the spirits moving around the place, gone. It was horrible, to witness, such a special place, ruined, by what to me was, modern technology been moved in.
I watched a documentary one time, about the new world order, some ex agent was been interviewed, he was asked if there was one thing he could advise people to do what would it be, and his answer stunned me momentarily, he said, see that black box, that everyone sits in front of every night, pick it up and throw it out the window.