As the July 4th holiday comes to a close today, I am still contemplating the larger theme of Independence--not independent nation but what independence means in terms of individual functioning, choice, and common sense. In particular today, my thoughts have turned to the looming growth and power of Artificial Intelligence and human dependency. That' a huge, but fascinating topic, in unchartered psychological and spiritual waters. I just want to dip our toes into considering an Artificial "thinking" machine and living, humans with independent thought. Human history, of course, has moved through many eras of both evolutionary and revolutionary changes, and faced conflict and fear in the process. Never-the-less, Life is not stagnant. My purpose today is to simply encourage you to trust and sharpen your independent choices, the innate capacity of your inner guidance, and your own, personal spiritual intelligence.
Last week I had planned to attend a dance performance in downtown Los Angeles, directed by a friend. I didn't know the area very well, but I scoped it out the night before on my maps app, got a sense of distance, timing and a place to park. The next day, I headed for the Theater in what I thought was plenty of time, but I misjudged L.A.! Even though I had my phone Artificial Intelligence, a.k.a. Siri, instructing me, I must have missed an interstate lane change and ended up in a nightmare of traffic. Siri took me over one freeway after another in a weird route that I gave up trying to understand. As the minutes clicked away, I suddenly found the parking garage. By then it was after the start time of the show, but I ventured forth anyway on foot, phone in hand. Siri led me from one street to the opposite corner and back again, then up the street, and back again. It kept telling me, “almost there”, but numbers on the buildings, were not the address numbers of the theater, and it became clear that I was going in circles. By then, I knew it was too late to be admitted. I stopped, turned off my phone, and closed my eyes to clear my vision and just be still. Then, I walked back to the garage. I easily maneuvered through the massive structure to find my car, right where I had left it, and headed out of L.A. I decided to give Siri another chance--this time to lead me home. About 10 minutes later, on some random street near another interstate, my phone died. I had no clue where to go next, so I pulled over to regroup and recharge the phone. The charger didn't work. I sat and watched the continuous flow of traffic, then closed my eyes again, to just sit.
In my years of travel with my teacher, U.G. Krishnamurti, he would repetitively insist while we drove highways, or walked unknown streets, "Use your eyes, not your head!" These days, he most assuredly would add, use your eyes, not your machine! The point is to rely NOT on what you think you know (which is the past, including memory and advanced planning), but to rely instead on the body's sensory input, as Life unfolds in the moment. In this instance, my ideas and emotional state interfered with truly seeing where I was and where I intended to go. My way was further skewed by reliance on the artificial, the manufactured, machine synthesis with an 'assumed intent' connected to 'the standard direction' for that neighborhood. And then the machine, dependent on electric charge, stopped. And again, I stopped, remembering another U.G. quote: "You are lost in a jungle and you have no way of finding your way out. Night is fast approaching. The wild animals are there, including the cobras, and still you are lost. What do you do in such a situation? You just stop. You don't move."
In my own stopping, I reflected on cultural and personal dependency on the mechanical and the artificial, and it's cost to humanity, when we are encouraged to pretend that technology is more than--will become more than--a helpful tool, a machine. In my stopping, I saw the potential price of that pretense. Then, came a realization! There was another charger in the car! I found it, CHOSE to re-charge, and the phone awakened. I ALLOWED Siri to guide me home--this time, on a totally different route. I also VOWED to add paper maps to my car! This week, I encourage you to reflect on your independent capacity to evaluate and choose in this emerging shift of technology. Stop when it's time to stop. Let the stopping be your space of reminder. You are Life, not machinery, you are Creative Intelligence Itself. As Rilke wrote: "Look, I am living, on what? Neither childhood nor future grows any smaller. . . . . Superabundant being wells up in my heart." (Susan Nettleton)
https://www.thehealingpoems.com/almighty-gut-feeling.html https://digitalcornbread.com/shawshank-redementia-day-341-poem-tech-on-trial-a-frustrated-techies-anti-tech-rant/ https://www.bu.edu/quantum/zen/readings/keepingQuietNeruda.html