The Reiki Cafe 

Am I the only one who spent most of the day contending with computer stupidities? I got caught up in the trap of trying to make things work that don't matter much, just because not having them work was unnecessary and stupid.

Wow, that's two "stupids" in one paragraph, and I tell my kids never to use that word!

Anyway, I'm liking computers less and less these days. I'm t ---- that's hilarious, I just tripped on the control button and it brought up the Compaq/HP troubleshooting window, thought it was going to censor this post!

Is the benefit we obtain from computers worth the pollution they pour into our lives? Not to mention the ever-accelerating complexity and sophistication of software and networks, a factor which paradoxically lets our in-person socializing skills atrophy at the same time we acclaim the Internet's ability to bring us all together.

I lump cellphones in with computers. Last year when I took my annual trip to New York for Reiki in the parks, I tried the Greyhound bus. When I used to ride the bus in the 70s, it was like a small village, perfect strangers chatting with each other about their lives, striking up passing road friendships. This trip, the whole ride people were glued to their cellphones.

Today, I was in a coffee shop, surrounded by cafe-goers plugged into their laptops and cellphones.

And I, staying up late to have some human connection. The only way I know for sure I'm interacting with people and not computer-generated personalities is that I've met some of you in person. I apologize, that's overstating the case, and it's true that we can still tell humans from computers in online conversation. How long will that be the case, when a computer has already beaten the world chess champion?

OK, this topic's getting to be a downer, so let's think of the positive side. All that computers do for us, we as humans had and have the ability to do for ourselves. Even connecting with each other around the world, is very doable with our intuitive sense -- otherwise how could we send Reiki to each other?

Decode the human genome? Maybe at an intuitive and mythical level. But why the push to do that anyway? If the Supreme Court hadn't decided to allow patenting of life back in the 70s, there would be no biotech industry, period.

I'm as much in thrall of the computer and cellphone as anyone else, though I turn the phone off in checkout lines. I am finding that sitting in front of the computer makes ME stupid -- my ability to think has been degraded.

I do make a point of not using the number memory on my phone, or having my computer remember passwords for websites, so I at least get some mental memorization exercise that way, and better privacy protection.

But damn, I have a website, and it helps with my Reiki practice! A Faustian bargain.

I spent a quarter of a century working more than full time with computers, then left that job last year to devote time to my Reiki practice and projects, only to discover I'm still in the technology's grip!

If you've made it this far, thank you for indulging my rant. Am I the only one who gets a sick feeling about where the technology may be leading us? With computer scientists and neurologists busy improving the consciousness and anthropomorphism of computers and robots, and enthusiasts working on making themselves into cyborgs (check out Wired magazine once in a while), will humanity disappear into the machine we have created?

It's already such a challenge finding one's way back to Oneness, how much more impossible if we ensnare our consciousness within an infinite labyrinth of articial circuitry?

My idea of paradise: living day to day with no need for things that go beep and boop. That wasn't so long ago, growing up in rural Vermont with the woods for a backyard. The dilemma -- I was lonely then, at the end of a dirt road, far from friends. I welcomed advances in technology that allowed me to connect instantly with friends.

Wow! I appreciate your endurance, kind reader. I feel the solstice is having an effect here, among other things.

Blessings,
Aronaya

P.S. My first machine love was printing presses, a way of communicating faster with more people. Hmmm, time for some meditation!

From insult to injury, my computer keeps restarting itself when all I want to do is turn it off and go to bed!

Blessings,
Aronaya

Dear Aronaya,

Technology had gotten to be a mixed blessing, that's for sure. I have made some friends by this virual world, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have found anyone in the real world who would be interested in the same things. But sometimes, I have to force myself to get away from the computer, just so I don't waste my day (or my life).

My pet peeve is people with their Ipods on the subway, and yes, cellphones. Not only does it impede personal intereaction, but I wonder about the fact that people seem to need to be constantly entertained. My subway time is for thinking, and people watching. When you're on the cellphone all the time, you can't be concious of what a nice day it is, birds singing, etc. I do have a cell phone, and it's a welcome conveniece, but for me it's for contacting people when I'm out and around about specific things, not conversation.

Well, Aronaya, thanks for bringing up the subject and allowing me to rant. At least you and I know the other one is real.

Hugs,
Roxy

Otoharo!

I am still on this speculation about what tomorrow brings, whether the sun stands still. Of course that would mean simply that the earth is standing still.

I decried the computer, but it brings me you. that is what I use it for. And my kids. I report daily on whatever goes on in my mind and what I see out my glorious windows. this house I rent is a lineup of picture windows, four in a row, which is like a forty foot panarama view of woods and the road that carves to enable me to see cars that pass. My keyboard sits right in the middle of this, so easy for making my music.

I finished recording all my current love songs and sent one to each of my loved ones. It would be nice If I could play it for you now. I like it.

May your solstice be joyful!

finality

Aronaya,

A mixed bag to be sure. So glad you introduced this topic.

The positive:
_I can connect to people around the globe. The letter lives in cyberspace. I've had pen pals for years and terrible handwriting. The computer affords me the opportunity to type, saving me from the mechanics of handwriting and saving others' their eyesight.

_Information at my fingertips. A boon for the "inquiring mind."

_Composing essays, letters, etc. and manipulating financial data, calculations, etc. is almost magic.

_Aren't there medical/surgical applications re computers??

The negative:
_Somehow, (I really don't understand why this is), the cell phone *allows* people to be rude. There is a sense of entitlement to be rude. I love my cell phone--wouldn't leave the house without it and I use it responsibly.

_Safety issues re cell phone use while driving. Multi-tasking at the wheel --applying makeup, eating, reading, whatever--is an accident in the making.

_Depersonalization re gaming and kids. Kids' time online warrants parental monitoring.

_Dangers re chat rooms and vulnerable kids.

_Computers in the workplace: More and more information is demanded faster and faster. Fastest isn't fast enough.
Also: Your work is less your own--due to computer downtimes, and queues.

In a bookstore coffee shop, a friend and I sat across the way from a couple who were stone silent with eyes transfixed, each on his/her own laptop screen. Had I a camera, I would have been tempted to snap that picture. ...sign of the times. Like a Norman Rockwell moment. Hmmm

Aronaya says, "I do make a point of not using the number memory on my phone, or having my computer remember passwords for websites, so I at least get some mental memorization exercise that way, and better privacy protection." Likewise!

There have been horror movies depicting computers of the future. They transcend their programming to act independently. (How can that be!)

And there are machines (computers...) that catapult the user into higher states of consciousness, bypassing years of meditation practice. Is easier and faster always better?

Somewhat off-topic: There was a TV show/movie about the "plugged-in" vs. the "unplugged in"....

I think computers/cell phones/Blackberries are useful tools and, as such, have a place, when their use isn't abused. It's that "double-edged sword" thing.

Whew! That's it for starters. Thanks, Aronaya.

resplen

"At least you and I know the other one is real."

And that's a blessing!

Thank you, finality, for your lovely wish! And my solstice was quite beautiful and empowering. My computer rant reflected the pressure felt leading up to the shift.

Blessings,
Aronaya

Yes, that is our feeling about technology in general -- a two-edged sword.

And we are conditioned to think of technology as morally neutral, it's just how it's used that can be good or evil. However, Jerry Mander has convinced me that's not the case -- there is much technology that in and of itself, is harmful to humans, and to our home the Earth. For example, nuclear energy, whether used for electricity supply or terrorizing with bombs. Another example, says Mander, is television, for many reasons that we as a society have little debated.

Anyway, I've resolved in the new year to shift the placement of my computer, so that it's off to the side, off my desk and onto a side table. I'll do my thinking and planning at my desk, and only turn to the computer when I have something specific to do on it. This approach worked well for me for half my life, when the machine on the side was a typewriter.

We'll see how that works!

Thank you all, for listening and validating.

Blessings,
Aronaya

Drank a little coffee and stayed up to move some furniture around.

Now, the only electrical thing on my desk is a lamp, the desk is placed in front of an east-facing window overlooking the yard that gathers healing energy and interesting wild animals. The computer, scanner, speakers, TV and stereo are along the wall opposite the desk.

So, I've created enough distance between my thinking, planning and organizing place -- the desk; and the place where I connect the ideas to the rest of the world, my computer. The space between the two will force me to deliberate more in mindfulness before I roll my chair from one to the other.

It has opened things up, and especially faced the desk in the direction I need to face, to receive the energy streaming in from the East, the place of knowledge and beginnings.

I think this will honor the natural process of thought arising from the natural world, gathering in handwritten or hand-drawn form, then only after the human processes have been honored, will the ideas then flow to the computer side of the room. Then if I create something printed on the computer, the printer is on top of the file cabinet next to the desk, so I will return to the desk to review the printed work.

Thank you, all who responded, and to Mike and Firekeeper for maintaining this space for me to rant in! -- this was a great shift, to open up the flow for all the work I'll need to move forward in the new year.

Blessings,
Aronaya

I love that you took action--rearranging your space to set priorities, giving those things electrical a place, but placing your humanity first.

And, your window to the East...drawing inspiration, beauty and healing energy. Ah, just imagining that, fills me up.

Many blessings to you in the New Year.

Resplen

Otoharo!

Very interesting. I did something similar in my diningroon where my keyboard is in front of the window, my work spaces beside it for the printing of the sheet music, and at the farest space, the computer (only during winter, otherwise it is in another room). All my masters, notebooks and such are within arms reach of my rolling chair. The organization of space is very condusive to uncluttered output.

finality

Cool!

Blessings,
Aronaya

"Uncluttered output" -- yes, that's the key.

Of course, "output" is one of those words I hadn't heard of until I got involved with computers. Did we adopt that word to describe human activity AFTER we invented it for computers, or was it used in language before computers came on the scene?

I always try to take note of how we use technical or machine terms to describe human processes (is "process" one of those words?), because the words we use can move us unconsciously in the direction of mechanizing biology.

I once saw a historian on Book-TV -- at the end of his lecture, he told the audience that each of us had a decision to make in this century: are we machines, or are we creatures? He went on to say that he knew what his answer was, and that everyone else should decide for themselves.

The point it, to be conscious of it, and not just let things happen by default.

Blessings,
Aronaya

Was it Dr. Charles Tart who likened humans to automatons.
He urged awakening to live mindfully, consciously.

resplen