Before Technology

What happened before technology? Before telephones and before televisions, before cell phones and before the internet?

What happened was that we had no escape from the things that plagued us - we had to resolve them or live with them. We could go talk to a person face to face, feel their energy, hear the vibration of their vocal chords, touch their hand in a hearty hand shake or a hug. We could go out and work off our excess energy. We could find ways to entertain ourselves like humming a tune, getting together with friends, playing music, reading or crafts and hobbies. We could sit in silence.

What it comes down to, all too often in todays world, is that we are no longer capable of sitting in silence or occupying ourselves in those same ways. We move restlessly from one sensory overloading activity to another, numbing ourselves out so that we don't have to deal with the the things that are plaguing us, so that we don't have to hear our own silence.

Obviously there is something to be said for the expediency and the connectedness our modern, technological world can offer us - but there has to be balance. There has to be the time when we still seek out the human in person, where we can work through the things in our lives that affect us to successful completion rather than numbing them, and move on. We have to have the ability to endure our own silence, drop our fears and face who we are without the crutch of electro-stimuli to distract.

Before technology, we had to face Who We Really Are in a very different manner. It's time to bring some of that back. I leave you with this funny quote that I just read:

"Last night my sister and I were sitting in the den and I said to her, "I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all, If that ever ...happens, just pull the plug." So she got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my wine. She's such a bitch." - anonymous

Even if it takes some work, it's worth finding some balance between the beauty and luxury of modern technology and the old fashioned concept of knowing oneself.


Blessings.
- Darshan


© 2009 Darshan F Jessop