Most of us spend several hours on the day relative to a computer, tablet or smart phone. This creates tension but also depletes the mind and can even dull the senses.On top of this we may be wired up to music for hours. The result is that most of the day we are being bombarded by electrical impulses, fabricated sounds and media images. These electrical impulses stimulate but also irritate our nervous systems, senses and minds. They wire us up and prevent us from finding inner peace.
The media is full of advertising, with political and cultural statements that are often little more than propaganda. Most news stories are one-sided and do not consist of objective reporting but trying to get us to follow a particular point of view. The amount of electronic information we are taking in has increased exponentially in recent years and is bound to grow yet further in the future. Yet we are no more clear as to who we are and what we are doing in life, either at individual or collective levels.
The crucial question arises as to how the new information technology affects our nervous systems beyond any message it may have. To put it simply this digital stimulation is like a drug, what I would call the “digital drug”. Yet on top of these digital stimulations many of us are also taking recreational or medicinal drugs. Our attention is preoccupied externally in quickly changing artificial sensory inputs. We have little time for being in nature, or to look within and connect with our own inner being and the universe within us. We may have a few minutes a day for a Yoga routine, meditation or mantra, but this is usually just a sidelight to the ongoing flow of our increasingly electronic existence, extending to an electronic self-image at times.
Obviously, the human being was not meant to be wired all the time. It is not part of our evolutionary pattern in which we emerged from the world of nature and developed civilization through agriculture. Yet curiously we human beings can easily and quickly adapt to machines, become dependent upon them, or even begin to operate like them and emulate them. The new seeking to develop Artificial Intelligence not only to help us but to guide us is part of this phenomenon. We face an uncertain future in which the machine defines our environment, culture, transportation and even self-identity.
How to Balance our Minds and Nervous Systems
So how should we handle the digital age? Shutting everything off is not an option, though we should shut everything off every day periodically as well as take vacations away from it. Compensation is the main thing. Taking regular time for our own direct interaction with life and our own inner spiritual practice or sadhana is the key. Without a sadhana to ground us, it is unlikely that we can achieve any real happiness, understanding or higher consciousness. We are likely to remain driven by our equipment and trapped in a world of artificial sensation and information progressively divorced from the organic roots of life and the greater space of the universe.
Personally, I spend a fair amount of time in front of computer. This is mainly for creative writing and for communication with students and friends. I do examine the news, mainly headlines and an occasional quick look at a story. However, I rarely listen to or watch any program or news item. I seldom listen to music. I check our social media a couple times a day and try to post some items of interest but rarely respond personally to anyone.
I make sure to periodically go outside into the world of nature, work with the plants, take a walk or a hike, look at the sky or the stars and clear my mind and senses. I take regular Ayurvedic herbs for the mind like Brahmi or use special Ayurvedic oils to the head and back. I practice regular pranayama, mantra and meditation. Notably I take time for meditation in the early morning and before sleep, and in the afternoon. I will not jump onto the computer or into media first thing in the morning, and I shut it off some time before sleep, including meditation to clear and calm the mind and move it within. I make sure that my flow of awareness and power of attention has its own integrity apart from any external influences.
