A Vision For Us All

Keeping The Technologies In Their Place

One morning, I am reading a yogic text as part of morning practice, when I come across the Sanskrit phrase, sama-darshana. It translates into “the vision of sameness.” The author is referring to the state of equanimity where pleasure is seen as the same as pain. Where getting what you want is seen as the same as not getting what you want. Where nothing is seen as more valuable than anything else. So while, of course, we all want certain things and we all don't want certain things, when our mental and emotional states go up and down accordingly, we are slated to live imprisoned to the whims of the world.

Reading about “the vision of sameness,” my mind immediately turned to the technologies, and to the ways we use them. More to the point, to the ways they use us. I turned to the observation that we are anything but established in sameness, what we could call equanimity, when it comes to our use of the technologies.

We flame up every time we see a post we disagree with. We live on pins and needles to see how many “likes” we get. We rise and fall based on a text and how long it takes to be responded to. We hinge all of our happiness and well-being on an email. We take selfie after selfie because we don’t like how we look. We act as if our lives are over when the Internet goes down, or when we can’t get service somewhere. And we keep checking and checking and checking. Hoping, always hoping. That what comes in across a screen will somehow brighten our day. Make our lives better. Save us somehow. From what? From ourselves. From life itself. From what we have agreed to buy into.

Of course, the mind will immediately go to all of the ways that the technologies are necessary and unavoidable now in the world we live in. That this is just how it is. That this is how we connect. That this is how business is being done. Okay. Let’s say for the moment that all of that is objectively “true.” That this is Life now here on Earth. And that without doing what we are doing, and how we are doing it, we would be left out. Or left behind. Somehow out of touch and out of sync with the requirements of the world.

But if you listen closely enough, out of this perspective is born the belief that you are left with only one way of being with the technologies. That they run you. That they tell you how to respond. That they tell you how to spend your time and where to give your attention to. That they tell you the arc of your moods and what it is you put your faith in. That they, and everything that stands behind them, creates the vision. Your vision. My vision. All of our visions.

But there is another way.

One where you stop being subject to their vision, and decide to create one of your own. One where you stop playing by their game, and decide to create your own game. One where you stop letting your life be decided by something other than you. But this takes the courage to create your own vision. It takes establishing yourself in meaning and purpose. Otherwise, you are left trying to piecemeal equanimity around the technologies experience by experience. This is a fool’s errand. It is the whack-a-mole game where you take care of one thing, only to have another technological intrusion pop up.

The technologies themselves are built to capture, inflame, outrage, and to create desperation and performance in relationship. They are built to confuse your real self with your curated self and to have you believe you must always be tethered to them. And they are built to keep you rising and falling on the next thing that shows up across your feed. Something, at this point, that is virtually endless. Nowhere in this game will you find a sense of equanimity. Nowhere in this game will you ever feel satisfied or at ease.

Which is why, the first step here has always been to create a vision for yourself around how it is you want to live. A vision, by the way, that does not consult the technologies, their creators or public opinion. Then, and only then, do you place the technologies in a carefully chosen way into your life. This way the screens are given their rightful place. This as opposed to them taking top billing in how you live and what your vision of equanimity is.

Once you have your vision, it becomes so much easier to post, and then let go of the response you get. So much easier to read something you do not agree with, and then surrender to the fact that not everyone shares your opinion. So much easier to lose service, and not lose your mind. This and more is available to you when you decide to get clear about what brings you peace, and what it is that steals it from you. Or should I say, that you give away willingly.

**If you would like an extended reflection, go to the 5:07 minute mark in the blog.