“Clamor Grows for a Life Unplugged”
This is the title of an article in the NY Times by Pico Iyer. Some excerpts: “The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug…..The average American spends at least 8 ½ hours a day in front of a screen.. The urgency of slowing down – to find the time and space to think – is nothing new and wiser souls have always reminded us…..‘Distraction is the only thing that consoles us in our miseries’, the French Philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, ‘yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries’… ..Marshal McLuhan, who came closest than most to seeing what was coming, warned, ‘When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself’……A series of tests have shown..that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects ‘exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper’.”
What does all of this mean and why is it happening? This subject deserves a voluminous book, but here are a few bloggerisms to consider:
1. Information, news, “happenings” etc give us ever more data on which to base our decisions, but don’t necessarily lead to better qualitative decisions. In the end, “We” / “I” have to decide…have to take the plunge. Truth be told, there is now so much information available on the internet and elsewhere, we ignore most of it and “cherry pick” (remember Bush-Cheney?) the bits we like…which merely reinforces our original likes/dislikes and opinions. We aren’t nearly as logical and objective as we think, and consequently remain locked in our own patterns..which often clashes with the similarly locked-in patterns of others. The Dems/ Repubs in the USA are a classic example. This dynamic also shuts down the possibility of real, creative change even as its urgency grows.
2. In addition to not necessarily leading us to (or perhaps diverting us from) better decision-making, Technology and Science may be profoundly affecting us in ways not generally acknowledged…from ingestion of toxic foods and chemicals to behavioural changes that may be long-term impacting our brains and much more. Our present consumer society has no effective mechanism to vet the potential negative impact of new technology, so whatever can be marketed, is….often under the guise of “convenience”, “coolness”, “sexiness” etc. Technology is not an objective tool we use only when appropriate, but is designed to be interactive with us, shaping our behaviour and habits (for someone else’s $ profit) and often becoming addictive.
3. As an Insight Meditation (Vipassana) teacher, I have for years been warning about the effects Iyer describes in his insightful article, since these are diametrically opposed to most deeper meditative disciplines. 2500 years ago, the Buddha pointed out that we suffer because we become attached to things, people, ideas, which in fact are constantly changing and therefore insubstantial…slipping thru our fingers like sand. It should be noted that the “I”or “We” who is getting attached is also temporary and changing… the truth of which we can investigate, if we make the quiet space and time to skilfully (it helps to have a qualified teacher) look into ourselves. Being “plugged in” is shrinking our attention span through overstimulation and the turning of our attention ever more, not less, outward. Instead of making decisions from a deeper, more universal space, we now tend to regard as important what others think is important…”trending”, “going viral”, what our Twitter followers or Facebook friends suggest.
4. What can we do? Build pauses into our lives – many. Iyer makes another insightful comment, “More and more people I know seem to be turning to yoga, meditation or tai chi; these aren’t new age fads so much as ways to connect with what could be called the wisdom of old age”. My last comment: We don’t automatically become wiser as we get older, only if we from time to time to create the space to see the reality of Intercommection and Onesness..which comes from skillful meditation and self-inquiry.
For those of you who want to profoundly and creatively unplug, check out my mind-body Personal Mastery program at www.powerofbalance.com and retreats at www.harmonydawn.com. My next Meditation retreat is April 13-15

It’s a sad reflection of our conventional values that “communication” more often than not means “marketing/ selling”, “spinning”, “focus groups”, “talking points” etc. Communication in terms of “spinning” (which entails “cherry picking” certain facts while deliberately leaving out others) is deliberate manipulation of the unadorned Truth, and as such is a distortion, which invites further distortion by the Other/ Opponent/ Enemy. All of this leads to a growing negative cycle of cynicism, suspicion, and loss of meaning/ truth….not only in our public but also private lives. For your consideration, I enclose hereunder the Communication Guidelines I have just updated for use at the Tai Chi and Meditation Centre (http://www.torontotaichimeditationcentre.com).

The Concise Oxford dictionary defines “communicate” as “transmit or pass on by speaking or writing”, “succeed in conveying information, evoking understanding”, “share a feeling or understanding; relate socially”. To deeply communicate is to “commune”, which means “speak confidentially or intimately”, “feel in close touch”.
The way of communicating and relating within the Tai Chi and Meditation Centre (especially in our on-going meditation, Personal Mastery and Instructors groups) is a form of “communing”, since our foundational practice is Insight Meditation (Vipassana), which is the unconditional inquiry into everything that arises in our consciousness, including those mechanisms that create the “I” or ego. While thus seeking Truth in its deepest sense, it is counterproductive to lie, mislead, manipulate, keep secrets or engage in various ego-defensive behaviours. Speak from the Heart and Listen from the Heart. In the long run, I find it makes life much simpler, and no less effective than trying frantically to “spin” and control each interaction.
In any conversation, whether heated or not, it is best for one person to speak at a time and to use phrases like, “I think..” or “I feel…”, rather than “You are or you do….” Etc. Not everything we believe is right, even if we are given to skillful introspection, which is relatively rare. Remember that everyone strongly believes they know “reality” because of their life experience…yet opinions commonly diverge and conflict. Moreover, different cultures and religions give rise to different foundational beliefs and attitudes. It is easy for those in presently dominant cultures to think of others as lesser. Speaking from the heart is not only speaking honestly, but with compassion.
You can deeply listen without necessarily agreeing. If you are preparing a rebuttal in your head while the other person is speaking, you are probably not really listening. If you interrupt the speaker, you are definitely not listening. When my daughters were young and getting into spats and quarrels, I suggested a way of listening which I called the “Four Ls: Listen, Let go, Learn, Love”. Listening and letting go help us from falling into kneejerk reaction. This hopefully creates the space for learning and opening the Heart. Relationship and communication is like a conduit or pipe – the pipe must be open at both ends for flow. The best we can do is to keep our end open and encourage the Other to do the same. We cannot do it for anyone else
For me, a sign that my ego is at work is whenever I feel compulsion, resistance and rigidity. Right or natural action flows like yin and yang seeking harmony.

The criticism of the Occupy Wall St movement for not proposing specific solutions is predictable, but like the movement itself, touches on fundamental issues, in this case…Is it better to try to deal with specific problems in a limited, temporary way, or try to get to the root of the problem? Overwhelmingly, on both the individual and collective levels, we choose the former. This is not a coincidence.
Over the last 400 years with the rise of modern science, we have been encouraged to analyse and fragment life into ever smaller pieces. However, we have forgotten, if we ever knew in the first place, how to integrate / truly see all the pieces as a coherent whole …which in a way is what Spirituality is all about. Thus we juggle issues like ever more balls in the air and of course, many fall to the ground. Parts of a budget, whether national or family, represent competing, often conflicting and contradictory, demands for limited resources. We desperately struggle to keep up , but rarely ask ourselves, Who we truly are and What we really want. It should be obvious (and studies prove it) that Consumption in itself doesn’t really make us happy and can’t be sustained, since resources (including water, food and energy) are limited and since the number of consumers, each with insatiable demands, is exploding.
It seems to me that Occupy Wall St is about a growing number of people feeling exploited and discarded by the System and rather than look for specific options within the system – policies, parties, members of Congress etc – are questioning the System itself. This questioning and inquiry into our collective hopes and visions is long overdue, because without it, our efforts are like putting the proverbial cart before the horse.
Although Occupy Wall St presently focuses mostly on economics, it must go deeper to underlying human Values (not in the Religious Right sense), if we are to make better qualitative decisions. As I have written in this space many times before, we have been conditioned to respond to Quantity rather than Quality. To begin to recognize the latter, there must be qualitative changes within ourselves, specifically within our consciousness.
How can we transform our consciousness? Meditation would seem to be the most direct route. However, be aware that not all forms of so-called “meditation” lead to the same place and that the process of transformation, while appearing simple, is not easy….otherwise we would all be enlightened by now! The deepest form of meditation is inquiry into the Self, which if skilled and persistent enough, leads to the transformation of the Self, since its true nature is not what we conventionally take it to be.

Collectively (certainly in North America), we’re not making good decisions. We’re exporting jobs; we’re destroying the middle class, sending more wealth to the top 1 % and swelling the numbers of the impoverished; we continue degrading and poisoning the natural environment, which feeds and houses us . We are encouraged to live in constant fear - the Commie Soviets quickly replaced by Islamic Terrorists and soon perhaps by the Chinese – so we won’t object to dumping vast, precious resources into the military, the police and jails…out of which certain parties are making lots of money.
People feel powerless, confused, and worn down, working long, grinding, competitive hours with no job security. There’s no solution in sight since the biggest populist movement at present is the Tea Party, supposedly fighting for Main Street rather than Wall Street. Ironically and absurdly, they shout the simplistic slogans of the Free Market Republicans/ Conservatives who helped create the situation in the first place! “Cut taxes and Big Government; sell off public assets; expand the military and Law and Order”. What this actually does is increase the power and control of Wall Street, since it replaces Big Government with Big Business, which goes unregulated. Big Business isn’t elected -except through your purchases -and doesn’t care for your quality of life…only for the benefits for Managerial Executives (who make the decisions) and subsequently Shareholders, who collectively own the enterprise, but typically get little say in its operation. Corporations are touted as the most efficient way to go, but that ignores the quite common occurrences of top execs skimming billions in expenses, “bonuses” or outright fraud, cutting short-term corners to boost profits and closing enterprises/ exporting jobs to cheap-labour countries.
Political observers/ experts tend to focus on leaders, policies, polls, trends etc but rarely question the System itself or the intelligence/ consistency of the Voters (who are also viewers/ consumers. If the voter is easily manipulated, how much is Democracy worth? We spot such manipulation in “under-developed” countries, but rarely question ourselves because we’re “developed” and “savvy”. A recent authoritative article suggested that “citizen resilience” is the best form of terrorist defense. The fear and panic that terrorists create is way out of proportion than any similar damage or death caused say by an earthquake or accident. Bin Laden clearly stated that his main goal was to create fear and panic. When leaders and media amp up the crisis rhetoric, they actually aid the terrorists, whichs doesn’t mean you don’t respond to terrorism with decisive action. Here are a few suggestions for wiser decision-making:
1. Learn to pay attention in each moment and build attention span (which is what a skilful meditation practice does). Listen attentively (not shutting off prematurely) to what someone is saying. It’s rarely necessary to make an instant judgement even though this is what opinion polls, social media etc encourage us to do. Over time, a person will reveal whether they are honest, consistent, intelligent or trustworthy. This applies to personal interactions as well as our evaluations of those who set themselves up as Leaders.
2. Look beyond surface attractiveness and charisma and remember most people are trying to sell you something. In the Entertainment/ Celebrity oriented society we have helped to create, we expect everyone to be Hollywood-like: attractive, youthful, perfect teeth, eloquent and more. What relevance has this to a person capable of intelligence, insight, compassion and strength, which are the minimum requirements of a good (national) Leader? It’s an absurd and illogical requirement, which voters and internet users nevertheless seem to want. This is not an accident, but has been crafted by the media/fashion/entertainment industries and political strategists for the past few decades. Opinion Makers aim to override the thinking mind and they overwhelming and factually succeed!
3. Quantity does not guarantee Quality. The fact that the Internet, media opinion polls or most of your friends (Facebook or otherwise) agree on a certain issue or perspective does not make it right! Profound decisions require that you can transcend the fleeting emotions of the moment, not elevate them into Truth! A recent article in the Toronto Star featured prominent Canadian pollsters warning about the effects of carelessly conducted opinion polls within a small time frames. How can we appreciate Quality – try formal and skilfully directed meditation.
4. Ask yourself what kind of life/ society you want? Do you want to work 12 or more hours a day in abusive circumstances? Do you want to be thrown on the Attractiveness/ Cool garbage heap if you lose some hair, some teeth and put on some weight as you age? Do you want to destroy agricultural land, trees and animal species so you can get a few more gallons of oil or build a few more suburban residential boxes? Do you want the majority of humanity to live in such squalid circumstances that they want to cut the throats (or blow up the malls) of the Affluent? Or perhaps you can settle for a few less tech toys, high fashions, cool cars, killer houses and holidays if you get peace, liberty and relative equality?

Come election time, voters (certainly in N. America) invariably put the Economy first, but this seems to me illogical and as much a spiritual issue as a political or economic one. Some thoughts to ponder:
• If other issues – environment, security, health care, education etc. – top the opinion polls at non-election times, but almost always give way to the “economy” at elections, it strongly suggests that the “economy” is the key/fundamental / underlying issue to most people, whether “left” or “right”.
• The “economy” seems to be code for “I want more”, which is eminently understandable.
• The present Right wing neo-Cons in N. America assert that we can all “get more” by giving cart blanche to the big corporations and to the richest, cutting taxes and regulation. They reason that “rising water raises all boats” and are somewhat correct, taking society as a whole.
• However, studies show that the discontent and stress of the less privileged in the developed countries are related to relative poverty rather than an actual amount of material goods. Thus, undeveloped countries envy the developed ones and the poorer citizens in the rich countries envy the most privileged, who are becoming ever richer because of current Free Market policies...increasing the “envy gap”.
• All of these current 21st century dynamics point to an underlying truth that the great spiritual teachers have taught for well over 2000 years – that for most people, there is never “enough”. Even, the richest, most famous, most beautiful do not have “enough”. Since we live in a consumer society, we tend to think more consumption will satisfy us..but it does not, even though the average N. American’s standard of living is a distant, unattainable dream for most of the planet’s population.
• In changing the world, very few think to change themselves, but we and the world are interconnected as One...a fact that should be becoming increasingly apparent. Real change – transformation – takes skill and perseverance and is as necessary for personal fulfillment as for harmonious global advancement. Occasional positive thinking and affirmations are not enough.

Getting back to the upcoming election, think of the kind of world you want and the political leadership that will move you in that direction..or at least not take us in a negative direction. Most people, including our elected representatives, don’t understand the economy...that at least I know as a former accountant and economist. So think of what else is important – honesty, integrity, compassion, tar sands, nuclear energy, the environment, vision for Canada (which is not a carbon copy of America’s conflicted one).