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Today's
quotation:
Technologies of the soul tend to be simple,
bodily, slow and related
to the heart as much as the mind. Everything around us tells
us we
should be mechanically sophisticated, electronic, quick, and
informational
in our expressiveness-- an exact antipode to the virtues of the
soul. It is no wonder, then, that in an age of telecommunications--
which,
by
the way, literally means "distant connections"-- we suffer
symptoms
of the loss of soul. We are being urged from every side
to become efficient rather than intimate.
Thomas Moore
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Today's
Meditation:
I do all I can to stave off the effects of our
supposed technological revolution. Personally, I
don't consider it to be progress in all senses--
in many
ways, our technological "advances" represent a
form of regression, not progress. We may have access
to more information, but we're not nearly as good as we
used to be at talking to other people, sharing our lives
and our stories face-to-face, enjoying other people's
company up close, or even being contributing members of
the society and culture in which we live.
Intimacy is dying rather than growing stronger. I
walk into classrooms filled with 30 students, and I'm
faced with silence, not talking. I used to have to
get students to stop talking to each other when I wanted
to start class; now I need to get them to put their
screens away, because rather than talk to the person next
to them, they're checking social media or messenger
programs to stay in contact with people who aren't with
them. So much for being "in the moment."
We can be intimate (a term which does not necessarily
include the concept of sexuality, as we seem to have
re-defined it) with people only if we're willing to share
with them, to listen to them, to actually hear what
they're saying. So much of intimacy has to do with
the looks in our eyes and the tones of our voices,
though--
things that are completely lost with electronic
"communication."
We don't have to follow the world's lead. I have a
cell phone, but I leave it at home when I'm with other
people. I have a computer (two, actually), but I do
my best to limit my time on it. I never pull out my
phone when I'm with someone I know because I want to give
them my undivided attention. I don't want to become
a product of this information-worshipping era. I
want to connect with my fellow human beings during the
relatively short time that I'm here.
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