technospirituality

The speaker discusses using technology for spirituality, focusing on Buddhism and Linux-based technology. They mention using computers and phones as temporary shrines, with apps for chanting and meditation. They also mention Tantric Buddhism's use of various tools and its growing acceptance in the West. Leaving technology behind is another approach to spirituality, with some people finding nature to be their focus. The speaker mentions using a phone with an internet connection for photography, finding it relaxing and sharing the pictures with others. They also mention editing the pictures to reflect their memory of the scene. Hi everyone, I thought I'd talk a little bit about using technology for the purposes of some form of spirituality, and as usual I'll concentrate on two aspects. Buddhism, which I know the most about, Tantric Buddhism, even though I've studied other forms. And the technology I'm going to talk about is probably going to be Linux-based, because I've been using that for so long. I used to use Windows, AMD-powered Windows computers, and I used to set those up as shrines, temporary shrines, you know, you could have images and chanting appear on them, and that would become a form of focus, a way of focus. And you can do this with a phone, you know, you get shrines, shrine apps, and chanting apps, and all kinds of stuff like that, and even meditations that you can just listen to, and podcasts where people talk, excuse me, in a very soothing way that always keeps people happy. If somebody has a soothing voice, they enjoy that, and again, that's another form of using the existing technology that we have in some form of spirituality. Tantric Buddhism is quite interesting because it utilizes everything, it doesn't just limit things to things that we consider directly and obviously as a form of spiritual endeavor. They will use all kinds of stuff, and that tradition continues as the Tantric tradition now is moving more into the West and is becoming more acceptable. So, what else can we do? Well, one of the things is leaving technology behind. A lot of people do that as well. They find that technology itself is not conducive to being out in nature. Nature is their form of reverence, their point of focus, and they don't want technology to invade that. So, leaving technology behind, having a break from technology, and having a break from your computer systems, whatever they involve, whatever they are, is another way of approaching this. So, I very rarely use computers outside. Sometimes I take a phone with me. The camera that I use to take pictures when I go out, that has an internet connection. It has Wi-Fi in it. So, that again, even though I don't tend to use the Wi-Fi connection, it is there. So, the technology is always present, or not always present, but it can be there and can be utilised, because the act of photographing, especially when I try and take pictures of birds, because that's quite difficult, because they're very, very sensitive. They're only tiny things. Most of the birds I come across are tiny, the ones that I'm interested in. They sense that they're being watched, and other animals like other birds, like kingfishers and finches, can be very, very timid, either because they've been hunted in the past for their feathers, or they're very susceptible to the electromagnetic excitement, if you like, that people produce, and you have to learn to calm that inner signal that you're giving out that frightens them, and they fly away. So, even if you're out there with your technology devices, your phones for taking pictures, I mean, people take high-resolution pictures now and share them, and that can be very relaxing for you, and also for other people as they see your pictures and just are reminded that there's a real world out there, and even if you're just taking very scenic, very still pictures and then editing them, mind you, I find editing very relaxing, and I tend to manipulate the images in some way to improve them, or make them more the way I see them, or what I remember as having seen, because the camera does lie, it just can produce something that is very different to what people are experiencing. Anyway, that's all from me for today. Bye now.