Connected, but alone

[Ilie Pandia]

A former member here (Victoria Tintagel) forwarded us an interesting Ted Talk about now the technology deeply affects our sense of self.

I've watched the talk and it's very worth while! Some interesting points are made, that I did not see touched on elsewhere:

t7Xr3AsBEK4

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

Thank you for that.
She definitely makes some valid points.
I do think, though, that we should not paint the whole of humanity with one brush, for there are people without internet/cellphones/ etc. who have recognised the paradigm and are choosing to step away from it. And obviously I am only talking for that part of humanity that is "plugged in", into the world wide wobbly interwebs.
I do understand what she means ...that people are losing the physical connection, but the positive nature of being "plugged in", into the interwebs via cellphones etc., is that you can connect with people far away. Like I can, with my parents, who live in another country.
And with you! :becky:

Anyway, by some weird coincidence, a blogger that I follow, posted this poem by Hafiz last night, which somehow reflects what the speaker is saying.

If It Is Not Too Dark

Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.
Get some fresh air, try to smile.
Say something kind
To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.

Always exercise your heart's knowing.

You might as well attempt something real
Along this path:

Take your spouse or lover into your arms
The way you did when you first met.
Let tenderness pour from your eyes
The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.

Play a game with some children.
Extend yourself to a friend.
Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants -
Why not let them get drunk and wild!

Let's toast
Every rung we've climbed on Evolution's ladder.
Whisper, "I love you! I love you!"
To the whole mad world.

Let's stop reading about God -
We will never understand Him.

Jump to your feet, wave your fists,
Threaten and warn the whole Universe

That your heart can no longer live
Without real love!

~ Hafiz ~

[write4change]

I just watched this with a hot cup of tea while I gather my brains together from waking up. I just got my first cell phone a month or so ago. It is now broken but no one knows how and I am waiting for fedex to bring me a new one which is now two days late. I rarely text, never chat, and will never twitter. Even looking at a so called conversation on the screen behind her looked like code that remains meaningless.

Some of her quotes about a young boy wanting to learn how to speak in a conversation but not now seemed so sad. I know some people who mostly live on virtual reality and make a living designing costumes for other people who are sharing that site. I am glad I am old. I am often alone but I have such memories of painting with the earth and loving with my body. i often regret not telling the people I loved--- I loved them more often---but I have the satisfaction of knowing if they looked that my eyes lit up in their presense and my heart lights up with remembering. I wonder does that occur with virtual reality which seems to smooth all lives wrinkles away. Will I get desperate enough as I get older to want to talk to a robotic stuffed seal about my lover dying? God, I hope not.

I have lived most of the last decade alone. For a while I thought that was terrible mostly because every one else said so. I now interact more but find I need to leave and be alone mostly because I have a hard time sorting out when people say what they mean and mean what they say.

I was once a reading specialist and we had just learned from studies that if people did not read by a certain age they never developed the ability to see movies in their mind. I think this is a form of imagination that is being more and more dumbed down. Inspiration of imagination is the engine that dirves the future. I do not know what we will do with out it. When I have an intimacy with someone that I can share the imaginations of my mind---a form of mind meld---it is the best. I think it is the first step to telepathy. Will we get there from texting? I don't think so.

I loved the internet from the moment I first got on it. it was so exciting to me to meet people as minds first. I was naive. My writing flows from my fingers and I think I may be lucky I can't even cut and paste. Thus, I never think of embellishments, editing and deleting. I don't consciously try and shape how I look in writing. What I do particularly here. Is ask why does that hurt so much? And i step back and think about quite a while before I try again. And most of all, I do not want to respond in kind. There is no need to create more pain.

Pain is the process to change. Something I see by most actions that the reality is people do not want to do the work of in depth reflection. I had a friend who loved watching Trump say your fired. When she told me that I have never been able to see her quite the same way. We have developed such a tolerance for pain as entertainment. That is the world we seemed to have created. thus, many of us are alone with the world of our mind. Maybe another cop out. I make wonderful mind movies but I can't put them on the inter net. I will have to think for quite a while about if I could would I?

[MorningSong]

Very good posts and very important thread! Thanks, Illie and Vittoria!

Yes.....how true...how true....cuts right to the core of my problem and will have me really thinking....

Exactly 3 years ago, I was planning a trip to the USA, my original tromping grounds, and contacted about 10 Avalon members, asking for a get together....and not one accepted.... that really bewildered me and added a notch to my "diffidence of others" level.

The other day, I was chatting with a new internet friend... and found myself writing, "since (x), "I no longer have any "real" friends.. I know lots of people...but no real friends to go see, to go out with for a pizza..." How depressing! I definately need to change that, huh?

Here is an article about an interview with Sherry Turkle on the Stephen Colbert show with the video interview....


Stephen Colbert Asks Sherry Turkle: What Is There To Live For Without Latest iPhone?! (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post First Posted: 01/18/11 09:47 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 07:25 PM ET

Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and author of the new book "Alone Together," told Stephen Colbert "we have to put technology in its place" on "The Colbert Report" last night.

"What's the possible harm?" asked Colbert. "Let's say I'm texting and tweeting, 'Pass the salt, dear.' What's the possible harm of that?"

"Well because there are times, there are places, we need to give each other our full attention," Turkle said.

"Says you! Why? Why do we need to give each other our full attention?"

The author defended her book to a particularly aggressive Colbert by citing studies showing the impact on children who have grown up with parents who favor technology over their children, as well as the negative result of communicating solely by email. The author claims that the quality of interaction between people has deteriorated because of the constant reliance on text messages, emails and other digital broadcasts of the self.

So, what do you think? Has technology alienated us from one another?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/stephen-colbert-sherry-turkle-iphone_n_810446.html

Just yesterday the news reported on a Chinese boy who sold a kidney for €250,000 so he could buy the latest iPhone.... (shakes head back and forth)...

[jorr lundstrom]

Thank you Ilie for posting this video from Victoria. The message is
really important. A couple of days ago I wrote in a post" there is no
sharing", I dunno if anyone even saw it or everyone just ignored the
statement. Two days ago I posted a thread called " A bad biedwatchers
view of sharing", noone have posted in that thread. My view of the
word sharing is that its one of the worst words existing. Its not even
an illusion, its maya, the phenomenon doesnt exist. We are all alone
in our experiencing of wots written, each other and the world. Its not
in any way dangerous being alone, its a great opportunity, its first
when we realize our aloneness that we have anything valuable to
communicate.
I think we have been made to believe that being alone, ie all one is
something to be avoided, and people seem to believe that anything
will do to avoid to realize our aloneness. Realizing, experiencing our
aloneness is the basis for everything else in life.


http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt81/sakasvattaja/Gaiaochblklint.jpg


Allis well


Jorr 2.0

[spiritguide]

Communication technology has effectually insulated us from each other at the life force level. Imagine if each cell within our bodies were insulated and unable to communicate correctly with each other. When this happens we call it dis-ease. Is it so different between sentient beings? Technology is a great trickster as a loaded gun is a toy to an infant. IMHO

:peace:

Proper economy is to do not take more than you need, and use all that you take.

[write4change]

This thread has a huge potential I hope people respond to the challenge.

One of the things I find in constantly being confronted with the duality of spirituality on this site---is that it is much easier to let things go, be at peace, think loving thoughts than be confronted with the reality of the streets or people in my face. LOL

I know in my heart that social darwinism is morally wrong but after riding the bus in LA three times a week for a month, I begin to think about its validity.

The things I have seen make my hair curl. A woman bus driver stops for a blind man who then beats her with his stick because she won't do what he says which is make a short detour!!!! A gang of very young teenagers all boys get on the bus with their skate boards. There are over a dozen and they literally take over the bus. And they start making terrible jokes or rap about women and the older men start laughing and no woman wants to go there.

Staying grounded and centered in Occupy LA was extremely difficult. I was glad I had a home to come to for bathing etc. Some days I would just sleep and then go back for the evening GA. I was under such stress I did not realize my hair was falling out until I actually saw bald patches. Looks funny now. LOL When I think about how really difficult it is to know someone when I think about building an intentional community again. How fragile something like that really is. How almost everything depends on personalities and their mesh.

Being loving and enlightened alone is much much easier and much more satisfying than being even grounded and stable face to face. So how much progress have I made? Obviously, not much if even here I periodically get an urge to reach throught this screen and smack some idiot across the chops. Instead the best I can manage is to click off and go back to Terrance McKenna who works really well for me now a vehicle to lucid dreaming. LOL Interesting the very tape I use is the one in which he says he never could do it.

Lately, I have taken to imagining a giant loving female snake slithering up around me to rest her head on my shoulders and gase lovingly into my eyes. A visualization from Graham Hancock. So far I cannot let her get within six feet of me--imagining, dreaming, or what. LOL Shows how much virtual experience may count. Imagine encountering ET without having "experienced him" with Spielberg?

[Snowbird]

I am an introvert and an extroverted introvert only when it is necessary or when I choose. I am alone quite often and prefer this. I have carried a cell phone with me for years and have used it once. I don't even know the number of this phone without first looking at the bill. I don't like the hand-held gadgets that are used today. I love to email. I talk on the phone when I have to. I have reached a balance in my life that is comfortable and creative. I am a happy person within.

What we are seeing and experiencing as a society is a rejection of tradition. Granted, the pendulum is currently swinging wide, but I can't help but see this as a positive action. We will balance and co-create and find new people and places that promote the new realities that are needed for the future. Technology is here to stay and we are actually utilizing it to reach out to locate these very people. These may not live next door to us or even be members of our families. Relationships are changing and this, is a very good thing. We are regrouping with those of like-vibration.

Victoria....Hello! :hug:

[WhiteFeather]

Great Find Ilie, Wanishi.....I have since disconnected from the technology path and re-connected with the natural path since my awakening/kundalini rising experience back in 2010. The key is to be spiritually centered/balanced with Mother Earth at such interesting times, as we head into a promising age of evolution/transformational shift. Being connected and balanced is the utmost key. Technology has taken us away from what we are, and we are all a part of nature as a whole. We differ not from creation itself, for we are only a part of creation in itself. As we are all connected to each other in this natural state. Its time to get off the roller coaster ride so many are on as of late, and sit back and enjoy this sacred planet once again. Hey look check out that butterfly. Wow Just Listen To The Waves Crashing On The Beach. The thunder sounds so cool.

This video ads some credence to the thread. Much Love. ~Vince~


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk

[songsfortheotherkind]

For me, the internet was when I started talking to others- before that, I was living my life behind a screen because I simply could not find others who could understand a tenth of what I said when I really let rip with what was in my mind.

I know that it's problematic for me now because there is so little that I am doing in my physical life that I find truly compelling or interesting; my links to great thinking and exploration are in the cyberworld, they're not here, and it's a dichotomy that I have yet to resolve. I find it so difficult to connect physically with the life around me, the signal is so weak and I'm so ready for greater things. I do know that my daughters want me to be around more- how can I explain to them this driving force within me, that I've squashed and suppressed for so long that I can no stand the physical distress of ignoring it any longer.

[Earth Angel]

I find the technology is great in some ways but also is distancing us in others......I have friends all over the world that I've never met thanks to this site, facebook and others.....my kids say goodnight via text every night from another city, and keep in touch with me all day.....yet I noticed that we rarely TALK on the phone, we text/email all the time......also people who in the past I would have picked up the phone to talk with I now text or email ........its a lazy way of keeping in touch and yet it also serves to keep us in touch with people we may have let go of without this technology. I do think it is part of the divide and conquer strategy TPTW are using on us......the fact that I know that my cell phone is not healthy for me and can be used to track me and yet I can't seem to give it up (mainly because of how much I keep in touch with my kids via text) ..you have to wonder will we be like the Atlanteans all over again. I think technology is severely hampering our ability to actually relate to each other on a personal face to face level.

[ghostrider]

just like our ancestors, our technology will be our downfall. it really is destroying our civilization. we pass into mass amounts of waves and it affects us and we don't notice little changes.

[write4change]

I find the technology is great in some ways but also is distancing us in others......I have friends all over the world that I've never met thanks to this site, facebook and others.....my kids say goodnight via text every night from another city, and keep in touch with me all day.....yet I noticed that we rarely TALK on the phone, we text/email all the time......also people who in the past I would have picked up the phone to talk with I now text or email ........its a lazy way of keeping in touch and yet it also serves to keep us in touch with people we may have let go of without this technology. I do think it is part of the divide and conquer strategy TPTW are using on us......the fact that I know that my cell phone is not healthy for me and can be used to track me and yet I can't seem to give it up (mainly because of how much I keep in touch with my kids via text) ..you have to wonder will we be like the Atlanteans all over again. I think technology is severely hampering our ability to actually relate to each other on a personal face to face level.

While I understand exactly what you are saying. What I find different about me---maybe because I wrote over a 1000 pages before I stopped hermiting--is that I will write things even in an email that I will not speak. I am not sure what to think about that. Right now I am just aware of it.

[Snowbird]

I find the technology is great in some ways but also is distancing us in others......I have friends all over the world that I've never met thanks to this site, facebook and others.....my kids say goodnight via text every night from another city, and keep in touch with me all day.....yet I noticed that we rarely TALK on the phone, we text/email all the time......also people who in the past I would have picked up the phone to talk with I now text or email ........its a lazy way of keeping in touch and yet it also serves to keep us in touch with people we may have let go of without this technology. I do think it is part of the divide and conquer strategy TPTW are using on us......the fact that I know that my cell phone is not healthy for me and can be used to track me and yet I can't seem to give it up (mainly because of how much I keep in touch with my kids via text) ..you have to wonder will we be like the Atlanteans all over again. I think technology is severely hampering our ability to actually relate to each other on a personal face to face level.

Me thinks that you offer the TPTW far too much credit. There are people who are able to communicate for example, during protests or occupy movements, while they are in the midst of what is happening. How many times have very important videos been made and offered to the world or live interviews of those who are occupying or demonstrating on the spot? These forms of communication are vital right now.

Earth Angel, you and I don't know each other nor have we ever had dialogue on these threads, and yet, we have the opportunity now to converse on this topic and share our opinions and our insights. This to me in general, is priceless. You and I will never meet in person nor will we ever have conversation face to face. And yet, we can communicate here.

I think that is great! :wave:

[lilac]

It's Easter Sunday and in another timeline I would be cooking up a storm for friends and family. But I am alone with only the sound of the birds and the occasional pop in the woodstove. I could worry about this. Sometimes I worry that I'm not doing enough. I am doing my best to be content with the way things are. Friends and family are ok in this moment - no one is dying or frightened or starving. I am not moved by a sense of obligation, or urgency or survival to be with people or work on something. I have been there - rush, rush, rush, fill every moment, multitask, tight schedule, make the most of every minute. Now I am exploring the elasticity of time and the wondrous ability to connect with minds that are exploring the truths and wonders that fascinate me. This is a great gift. I could feel guilty, but I just try not to look at the clock - like now when it's 1:11.

[Debra]

An inspiring talk, also unsettling, as it reminds me that I spend more time connecting by internet and phone than seeing face to face those who I still consider to be my dearest. I find great satisfaction from the engagement I have on this forum, and for the knowledge that I am able to access generally through technology to deepen my worldview. If you let it overtake your life, however, it comes at a price. We have found its power, I think we also need to manage ourselves in relation to that power.

[im awake]

ive been living in cyber world for 4 years now and it has seriously effected me in real life. for example- when at work i will think of all the conversations i need to have in that day and will edit what im going to say in my head so im prepared for every question with an answer.

i have lost touch with reality and all my friends and family but im not gonna lie, i like cyberworld better than the real world

edit: also i will never initiate a conversation with another person mainly because i feel like i dont belong on this planet

[songsfortheotherkind]

I will write things even in an email that I will not speak. I am not sure what to think about that. Right now I am just aware of it.

Yes, this, yes. So absolutely. I am using the screen between my Self and another to deflect the dissonance I experience internally in being seen, in revealing my Self in honesty. One of the things I've realised I love is to use imagery, video and sound to help transmit ideas and concepts that I'm expressing, which makes things so much better for me. I love multimedia, I can mash so many things together that I experience a profound sense of rightness about what it is that I have expressed- it is a way of bypassing the energetic deafness and muteness that most individuals I encounter are living in. They cannot get the pictures and energy I constantly transmit, yet they *can* get their own sense of what I'm conveying through the imagery and music. It makes being here far less agonisingly isolated- and the internet has also brought me into contact with a few amazing Beings who *can* do things energetically and at a distance, which has been the most amazing revelation of my life in the past few weeks.

I am of the perspective that how any tool is used is a reflection of the one using it and not the tool itself: perhaps TPTW originally created the internet to control and propagandise, but look what has happened to the 'net beneath in the hands of the true creators and creatives- an explosion of ideas, imagery, connection, communication, exquisite art and vision... everything is the mirror, and if we see monsters or angels is entirely dependent on who we are inside...

[Delight]

[QUOTE=jorr lundstrom;463429]Thank you Ilie for posting this video from Victoria. The message is
really important. A couple of days ago I wrote in a post" there is no
sharing", I dunno if anyone even saw it or everyone just ignored the
statement. Two days ago I posted a thread called " A bad biedwatchers
view of sharing", noone have posted in that thread. My view of the
word sharing is that its one of the worst words existing. Its not even
an illusion, its maya, the phenomenon doesnt exist. We are all alone
in our experiencing of wots written, each other and the world. Its not
in any way dangerous being alone, its a great opportunity, its first
when we realize our aloneness that we have anything valuable to
communicate.
I think we have been made to believe that being alone, ie all one is
something to be avoided, and people seem to believe that anything
will do to avoid to realize our aloneness. Realizing, experiencing our
aloneness is the basis for everything else in life.

I didn't reply to your post Jorr because you are alone (Kidding, sorry). Maybe ultimately we are "alone" but we have bodies that crave touch.

It has been demonstrated that the information that comes from face to face interaction has a great deal more to take in. It includes the body language. Technology focuses attention much more. In autism, the sensitivity is so great that the extreme of face to face intimacy may be literally "painful"...that is something to contemplate? As we change energetically, are we needing some "distance"?? from one another??

I believe there are no clear "answers" about intimacy. There are always two sides to a coin. It is grievous to my dear friend here that she sees children becoming "detached". She feels that we are becoming alien to one another (as intimates) because some people even text one another in a room.

I also heard that the way technology has opened up the world makes us reach towards a new way of "being".

I once had a pen pal I never met. We felt each other energetically as verified by his feeling half way across the planet and mine here of one another "waking" in our distinct time zones. We became energetically entangled. Strange but real. The sad part was that we were not ever interested in "meeting" due to one thing and another. Then we stopped focusing on one another. It was an experience that couldn't be "realized" in person.

Isn't it typical of being human that we "gyrate", swinging wildly with the job of learning to achieve balance.

I know we are all energetic beings experimenting with the physical. Recently "Seth" came up on another thread. Seth as a most sophisticated teacher of energy outlines the move as future "humans" to "disentangle" from the "camoulflage" of the 3D physical.

The technology we have is a kind of tool to see a larger picture. Feeling "comfortable" with one another in body enables us to take in more information. And of course our bodies die from lack of touch.

[jorr lundstrom]

Being archontic devices, cellphones, computors, TV can be used
to disconnect from the world around us. If we do, if we loose our
abilities to relate to our near and dear, the archons have won.
Then we have turned ourselves into artificial beings, just like
the archons, unsentient beings. The archons can be used as a
challenge, using the technics without loosing our humanity. But
then we have to handle ourselves, thats the way of the warrior.
But of course, if anyone want the archons to rule his/ her life
feel free to do so. It seems like a lot of people want to be
helpless IRL. So.........................


http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt81/sakasvattaja/baldeagle3.jpg


All is well


Jorr 2.0

[John Candido]

Is technology invading and diminishing our lives? I don't think so. It is a balancing act. You can't spend your life on a blog, but who would do that anyway? Life has a habit of catching up on us all. We can make the grandest and most noble plans, but things can go wrong. When they do, we hopefully will re-evaluate our experiences and make adjustments. I think that technology is a very useful tool. A blog can enable a remote and disparately located collection of individuals, or a community, to communicate with one another. Genuine discussion and debate can help people grow as people.

What is essential is our starting point. Are we motivated by generosity or selfishness? Do we value the truth, however painful at times? Do we value humanity, freedom, fairness, and justice in our lives? Do we respect others' point of view, however we may disagree with it? Do we have a respect for the rule of law, democracy, human rights, a free press, and the importance of the political economy? Do we aspire to a personal sincerity and honesty with others? Is logic, rationality and academic integrity important to us? Finally, can we tolerate, and see other people's point of view, when others don't have the same starting point that I have outlined previously? It is a difficult call at times but worth working towards.

[another bob]

In 1999, I was working in New Jersey, directing the natural and organic products division of a prominent nationwide wholesale distributor. After several decades in this business, I had achieved a level of success within my field that had yielded more material and social blessings than I could have hoped, though bundled with all the complications of the corporate life. Still, I regarded it as “service”, since my aim had always been to be utilized for the greatest benefit of all, and this seemed like a good way to fulfill that calling.

Mostly, my efforts now consisted in just doing what had to be done in the midst of arising dream scenes and conditions, and this included projecting a functional self to navigate the life-level experience, while in the meantime not getting trapped by any of it to the point of taking it all that seriously. After the “Void” experience during an NDE 15 years earlier, the empty nature of all arising phenomena sooner or later bled through and informed my default view, but I was still fairly imbalanced and detached from the Heart. This was a huge area that I had attempted to somehow bypass, but nothing slips by – everything needs to be inspected and illumined, especially the emotional contraction.

That year, our office had just been wired for the internet, and I was naturally curious about this new medium and its capacity. While browsing, I came across several online groups not unlike this one, and I was thrilled to find kindred souls with whom to explore subjects that my offline relationships were not at all attuned to or even interested in. I discovered a part of my psyche that had been lying dormant, and so became quite absorbed in seeing it blossoming now, in a collective atmosphere not confined by physical limitations of body and location. I even found myself writing poetry, and being introduced to new voices that resonated deeply.

In the course of events, I also made efforts to meet my new friends in person, since I had the luxury of being able to travel around the country, and it was quite a different experience, after having established an online relationship first. The emotions that arose in these meetings were amazing, and I found myself in tears more often than not, as if I was meeting intimate members of an ancient soul family. Suddenly my life began changing dramatically, and I was quickly moved through major transitions.

After a year or so, I happened upon a forum where I encountered a post from a member that pierced me through and through. I was compelled to write a private email to her, and by the third email exchange, we fully recognized each other. Within a month, we had both left everything and moved in together. Conditions set in motion prior to our reckoning had ripened now, enabling our reunion once more in the synchronicity of this form world.

Indivisible since pre-existence, there’d been a number of intervening lifetimes since our last adventure in 3-D together, and this time we were both equally submitted to making the best use of the rare and miraculous opportunity now again afforded us in the play of consciousness. This was the work we were brought here for. Everything in our lives leading up to this glad re-union had, in retrospect, been preparation. We took form here to see something through together -- something amazing -- for the sake of the Heart’s deepest longing.

The internet has provided the expedient means, and so I’ll always be grateful for this marvelous tool! I see it as an evolutionary element leading towards the unfolding realization of unity consciousness – not in a hive-mind sense, but one in which the richness of our unique individual “signals” can be investigated and celebrated along with the recognition of our deeper interweaving union, without reliance on the denser 3-D limitations. Perhaps it’s also serving as a precursor to the synchronous telepathy heretofore only available in a collective sense at the higher dimensional levels of awareness. In any case, there is so much more that can be said about all of this, especially about how to arrive at a balance between on- and off-line worlds. For example, Buddha recommended to his followers that they spend part of each year in solitude, so that when they returned to the sangha community, they would be able to enrich it with the discoveries gained from time alone. I find this works well in the internet world too, and so I regularly will take time off, away from the computer (especially during planting season).


:yo:

[songsfortheotherkind]

In 1999, I was working in New Jersey, directing the natural and organic products division of a prominent nationwide wholesale distributor. ...

Thank you for this crystal prism glimpse into you. I really resonated with it on many levels, especially-



I see it as an evolutionary element leading towards the unfolding realization of unity consciousness – not in a hive-mind sense, but one in which the richness of our unique individual “signals” can be investigated and celebrated along with the recognition of our deeper interweaving union, without reliance on the denser 3-D limitations. Perhaps it’s also serving as a precursor to the synchronous telepathy heretofore only available in a collective sense at the higher dimensional levels of awareness. In any case, there is so much more that can be said about all of this, especially about how to arrive at a balance between on- and off-line worlds. For example, Buddha recommended to his followers that they spend part of each year in solitude, so that when they returned to the sangha community, they would be able to enrich it with the discoveries gained from time alone. I find this works well in the internet world too, and so I regularly will take time off, away from the computer (especially during planting season).

:yo:

I am reminded to tend the planting season within my Self, as well as without. :)

[onawah]

What an inspiring narrative, AnotherBob! Thanks.
It's definitely planting season here, and I've been taking a sabbatical from the forum, tending to my garden, spring cleaning and doing some cleansing with burdock root tea and vegie juicing. We are having an incredibly serene early Spring here in the Ozarks, and I am enjoying every bit of it.
Have also been lurking :pop2:at the PATEOTU during breathers, and enjoying all the creative lunacy there, for which I thank all the usual suspects....:madgrin: :biggrin1: :smokin: :lol: :mullet: :dirol: :hat: :hug:

[Paranormal]

Although I am alone 99% of my time - I live alone and work from home. I agree with Sean Morton who said that our "higher selves" are all like in a movie theatre, watching the movie that is this lifetime (and all other parallel lives we have). While angels and demons are directing the movie and inserting props for us.
I personally find friendships, dating and "relationships" a waste of time as too many people are basically "palying games" or living in a dream-world and think they deserve Victoria Beckham's life (for example). However, I hope things will change and I will meet people who care one day.

[Timreh]

Interesting talk Ilie with some valid points, thankyou.

Even though I utilise social media and technology I find it very important to maintain what I consider a healthy balance by keeping "one foot on the ground".
Etiquette such as not tweeting, texting, updating or whatever during meal times, family time or work should not be ignored, then again I guess that also depends on what manners and values we learnt growing up right?
I find these gadgets can be very superficial and impersonal as we miss important aspects of communication such as eye contact, gestures and other body language.. yes we are becoming better at multi-tasking, we are renewing and creating new friendships, we are making connections but I hope we are not becoming too dependant or even misguided?
Our attention and our connection should be focused internally not externally.

I am going over many points raised in the talk but speaking my mind and I am not against technology.

[sandy]

Great Post Ilie,

Love the authenticity in this thread. Thank you my fellow brothers and sisters for your words of wisdom and love It is refreshing and renewing to interact with "each other" even through this medium and the real reflecting of our thoughts and opinions beats debating theories of what is or is not.

I too live alone and choose to not be in the rat race world too much. My heart yearns for real connection, for genuine, authentic contact and I find it slipping away more and more as we become so technically adept.

IMHO I believe that intimacy creates bonding, bonding to one another, which creates compassion and empathy and a loving civilization. It seems to me people are truly afraid of intimacy because this means vulnerability not only to another but to ones self also. If one is afraid of their own intimate self, how can one share with another from the heart.

Technology facilitates functioning from the head and intellect and it is much safer as what comes from the heart is spontaneous and unpredictable.

Coming from the heart is real and the energy is so tangible one can feel it even through technical gadgets!! :)

[Sidney]

Very good posts and very important thread! Thanks, Illie and Vittoria!

Yes.....how true...how true....cuts right to the core of my problem and will have me really thinking....

Exactly 3 years ago, I was planning a trip to the USA, my original tromping grounds, and contacted about 10 Avalon members, asking for a get together....and not one accepted.... that really bewildered me and added a notch to my "diffidence of others" level.

The other day, I was chatting with a new internet friend... and found myself writing, "since (x), "I no longer have any "real" friends.. I know lots of people...but no real friends to go see, to go out with for a pizza..." How depressing! I definately need to change that, huh?

Here is an article about an interview with Sherry Turkle on the Stephen Colbert show with the video interview....


Stephen Colbert Asks Sherry Turkle: What Is There To Live For Without Latest iPhone?! (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post First Posted: 01/18/11 09:47 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 07:25 PM ET

Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and author of the new book "Alone Together," told Stephen Colbert "we have to put technology in its place" on "The Colbert Report" last night.

"What's the possible harm?" asked Colbert. "Let's say I'm texting and tweeting, 'Pass the salt, dear.' What's the possible harm of that?"

"Well because there are times, there are places, we need to give each other our full attention," Turkle said.

"Says you! Why? Why do we need to give each other our full attention?"

The author defended her book to a particularly aggressive Colbert by citing studies showing the impact on children who have grown up with parents who favor technology over their children, as well as the negative result of communicating solely by email. The author claims that the quality of interaction between people has deteriorated because of the constant reliance on text messages, emails and other digital broadcasts of the self.

So, what do you think? Has technology alienated us from one another?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/stephen-colbert-sherry-turkle-iphone_n_810446.html

Just yesterday the news reported on a Chinese boy who sold a kidney for €250,000 so he could buy the latest iPhone.... (shakes head back and forth)...

If you are ever in the Midwest Unites States again, I would LOVE to meet you. Don't give up on meeting real friends. You have a friend in me. : )

[mosquito]

Although I can't view the video, I can see what the discussion is about.

Technology is, and has always been a double-edged sword. The internet, like so many other technologies, came into being as a useful tool for people to access information, but has since been hijacked by businesses and governments, and people have been subtly conned into accepting that it needs to be policed. Personally, I've found it all too easy to get sucked in and to rely on the internet for everything, especially as I loathe TV and therefore don't posess one. For the last 3 months I've been in a "relationship" with someone over the net, which is going as well as can be expected and will hopefully lead to a meeting. It's been a strange experience for me, as I'm much more of a hands-on person in relationships, I need to see and touch someone to truly know them.

My concern about the internet is that people will not realize that we are in fact all connected, and with a little careful cutivation we can learn to communicate with one another energetically, or however you want to call it. I try to stay connected to the Earth, to the people in my life, but being a teacher and living in a school with 6,500 students, I cherish the moments of solitude.

During the 90s in the UK, it used to bother me that so many people would walk around, txting on their phones, totally oblivious to their surroundings, and I'm saddened to say the same thing is happening here and, far more worryingly, it's isn't uncommon to see people txting while driving, cars AND MOTORBIKES !!!!! Sadly, we now have an entire generation worldwide who wouldn't know what to do without a mobile phone.

But surely it has always been the same, an inventor invents, and the more the invention saves time or effort, or provides diversion, the more eagerly the people use it, be it a wheel, a ballpoint pen or a GPS.

AnotherBob - That was a lovely story, thanks !!