Houston, I think we have a problem.
Imagine a human standing in front of you asking you a question. It is not the easiest question for you to answer. In fact, you would rather turn, run in the opposite direction and dive into a hole filled with fat,slimy earthworms than answer the question. But this person is in front of you. Face to face. Eye to eye. Nose to nose. So you dig down deep inside of you and you find the courage to answer the question to the best of your ability. Phew. That was hard, but you did it, and it may not have been the perfect answer, but you faced the question and you did not run away. I say good for you.
Texting. It’s a bit crazy to me how this technology has severely wounded the sensitivity and even common sensical part of human nature: we speak. we listen. we respond.
Curiously, with a cellular device in our hand we transcend humanity and become the all-powerful, fearless immortal. We kick aside three of the four Buddhist virtues: compassion, empathetic joy, and loving-kindness. Suddenly, a person writes things that they would never say in person or they avoid completely questions that they do not want to answer.As far as practicing non-reaction? You just hit that send button and shoot of something that has the power to ruin someone’s day. You don’t have to look at that person and see the damage your writing may have done. Worst even, maybe you don’t even care.
I like human voices. I like to see smiles and hear laughter. One of the things that I deepened my understanding in through yoga is the power of touch. Humans! We need to work on this. We need to teach others to do this. I believe it will increase happiness in ourselves, our homes, our communities, and maybe even someday in the world.
Remember this. Those great memories that you have were not from reading a screen, they were made from hearing words or doing things with others, or maybe with the help and support of others. People give hope to one another with the power of eye to eye contact, and the intonation of our voices.
Lifting each other up, cheering each other on…are not products of technology. Let’s be mindful with our writing.
I was just thinking about that.