Modern man

There is so very much information that one can have access to these days just by a click. I remember when I was in university, one went to the library in the morning and whatever research needed to be done was done then- finding the books and finding the answers took hours. Now-we have everything at our fingertips, on our iphone. We cannot take a step without it-if we leave it at home we feel totally lost. We can choose what we want to learn about, all that was a mystery in the past. Sure, the computer is almost a magical machine that can  transport us anywhere in our imagination-but is it really? Or is it something that is has its “yin/yang component?” Its dark and light side?

I have learnt about many things, delved into many things-but I find the more I learn, the less I know for it just puts us onto a road of more inquiry. To many things there are no answers, and that is very frustrating for the human mind. We seek answers, and often all we find are human theories coming forth from human minds. I have explored many ideas, philosophies and view points. But in truth I am no closer to understanding creation, nor myself at all-and very much has seeped out from my mind-as the statement “if you don`t use it, you lose it” is a very real phenomena.

I wonder if we are more wise, spiritually more enlightened then the “yogi” who meditates in a loin cloth on the banks of the Ganges? Are we more holy than perhaps Mother Teresa was ? Or the various saints who didn`t even have access to books?  Where did Jesus` ideas, knowledge come from? Certainly not from the internet-but from deep within that place where the “divine spark” dwells.  Perhaps he did study in some monastery in the east with enlightened Buddhist monks-but again their knowledge came through spirit, and from spirit.

So, now the question is-has all this knowledge floating out there made us better human beings more empathic, more compassionate, more loving towards each other? No. We still have war, hunger, strife and disease. A large part of the planet is surviving on a dollar or two a day-yet we squander money, food , water like there was no tomorrow in the west-yet people die from basic want each moment. Yes-we are responsible, for we know better, but we don`t care-that is the mortal sin.We just talk, talk, talk and demonstrate and accomplish nothing of importance.

We-the so called “civilized ones” look down upon others who are much more advanced spiritually than we are, for we judge people according to “the have and have not” philosophy.  The material does not create, it has a more destructive power to it, for it corrupts-only a very few are able use it positively for the benefit of generating good, for the benefit  of the planet.

Having all that knowledge at our finger tips is only of value if we use it for the good of all-we are all connected and what we do to others we do unto ourselves, so says may ancient spiritual texts. Yet, we don`t listen to our own soul`s whisperings, and because of that happiness, peace, tranquility, joy escape us. We may have all the material stuff, but we are empty, hollow vessels chasing  “the more want”-that never ever gets satisfied, in fact it creates more “want” becoming an addiction.  I remember reading an old Chinese proverb when I was about fifteen: “ The feeling of happiness does not lie in possessions or in gold, the feeling of happiness lies in the soul”, we tend to forget this. We get seduced so easily by all that gold.

So are we more fulfilled, with all the knowledge, with being members of the social media? Most everything that is happening to us is mostly online in cyberspace-we are loosing the human touch, the human connections are becoming less and less binding. Our lives consist of  tweets, instagram and its various, numerous forms of  internet expressions. We are becoming more and more like machines, losing all that which makes us human. Are we then better off than we were a century ago? I wonder. What happens to a tree that looses its roots? We are that tree.