As you probably know, the Amish believe in living a simple life--no electricity, no telephones, no motorized vehicles. Yet in many of the communities there is a pay phone. When asked about this apparent discrepancy one elder explained, 'If the telephone were in our home it would control us. As long as it is out here we control it.' He went on to say, 'Most people drop everything they are doing the instant the telephone rings and run to answer it. In their lives the telephone takes precedent over everything. (Of course cell phones have only made this addiction far worse.) The pay telephone, on the other hand, is our servant. It is there if we need it but we do not allow it to intrude into our lives.'"
- Richard Exley
Seems to me that cell phones, iPods, Facebook, Twitter, blog reading (!) etc. can fill our heads and souls with so much noise that we don't even realize how much they intrude in our lives. They control us, and while we feel like we're busy connecting with the world's tweets, videos, facebook updates and so, we do so in isolation away from the people we live with. We are communicating via satellite with many, while those in our own household become distant. While we become distant from ourselves.
I work with a college program's staff...during their fall orientation, the program director reminds them that what will possibly be the most distressing experience for the college students will be the "silence retreat" where each student will be expected to spend a number of hours in silence in nature. No conversation, no music, no email, no nothing. Nothing except what emerges out of the silence from their souls as they listen to themselves and for the voice of the Divine. He reminds them that many students go without silence always--even falling asleep to music, and waking up with it. He advises the staff to carefully support the distressed students as they deal with the deafening silence, and learn and grow from the experience. The program invites students to let go of the control that technology has on us--in a way that we don't realize rather like the goldfish who knows not it is in water.
To be able to release sound, technology, and input to allow ourselves freedom to deeply connect with those around us, and even more profoundly...with ourselves. Wow.
A challenge worth taking on?
I work with a college program's staff...during their fall orientation, the program director reminds them that what will possibly be the most distressing experience for the college students will be the "silence retreat" where each student will be expected to spend a number of hours in silence in nature. No conversation, no music, no email, no nothing. Nothing except what emerges out of the silence from their souls as they listen to themselves and for the voice of the Divine. He reminds them that many students go without silence always--even falling asleep to music, and waking up with it. He advises the staff to carefully support the distressed students as they deal with the deafening silence, and learn and grow from the experience. The program invites students to let go of the control that technology has on us--in a way that we don't realize rather like the goldfish who knows not it is in water.
To be able to release sound, technology, and input to allow ourselves freedom to deeply connect with those around us, and even more profoundly...with ourselves. Wow.
A challenge worth taking on?
July 16th, 2010 // By Kara