SERMON

Our species has a love hate relationship with technology. Since the Stone Age when arrowheads were flaked out of flint, the tools of technology have been used both to enhance our lives and to compromise them. With each heralded advance of technology, there have been unintended and undesired consequences. Today the current technological revolution shaking up our daily lives is the tiny semiconductor--the thinking rock.

I have spent better than half my life looking into glowing phosphorescent tubes programming these thinking rocks since I was first introduced to them in my freshmen year at the University of Delaware to solve basic engineering problems. I immediately fell in love with computers as I entered my simple programs on a noisy teletype machine and wondered at the speed of the mainframe computer executing my calculations, printing them out ka-chunk, ka-chunk on a paper scroll. Soon, working with computers became the focus of my early life. I stayed up late into the wee morning hours writing game programs in the basement of the computer center toiling away under the burning florescent lights which had no `off' switch. I had finally found a companion who played skillfully and by the rules, never threw temper tantrums nor complained about losing, and was always ready to play one more game.

While today I'm not sure I would like my son to spend as much time as I did playing computer games during my first two years of college, I have no question about the clear benefits computers have brought to humanity. Computers have enabled us to bring intelligence to many aspects of life. Computers have had a dramatic impact on manufacturing to make the processes much faster, more efficient, less expensive and improve the quality of the product. Computers in automobiles allow greater fuel economy with lower emissions. Computer aided medical imaging equipment allow many diseases to be diagnosed and monitored without invasive surgery. Scientific research of all types benefits from the number crunching power of computers. Using sophisticated statistical analysis tools, scientists can now discover subtle connections in data sets which reveal new truth. And those of us who write for a living find using word processors tremendously helpful in our work. In so many ways, technology has added value to our daily lives.

And computers have their bad side too. The capacity to collect and store large amounts of information on every person in our society, while perhaps useful for catching criminals can also be used to monitor and spy on law abiding citizens. No one has made greater use of the advances in technology than the war machine creating ever more deadly weapons. Our treasury is being drained to build ever more sophisticated weapons systems.

We are more and more having to conform to being like a machine. People are being reduced to numbers since this is the way machines can most easily process us. I recently had an experience of this as I tried out some software which does voice recognition. The software is programmed to gradually adjust to my voice as I train it. But I found myself unconsciously trying to change my words and voice too so the program would recognize them more easily. We have a tendency to get pulled in the computer's world rather than the other way around and adapt to it. Rather than being our servant, it is becoming our master.

So with all this in mind, to suggest that computers might be able to play a role in our spiritual lives is likely to cause many neo-Luddites to recoil in horror. And part of me couldn't agree more.

For the last 12 years I have been a devoted student of Theravadan Buddhism practicing Vipassana meditation. An important part of this practice is withdrawing periodically from daily life for a seven to ten day retreat. At these retreats, the stimulation of sensory input is reduced to a very low level as the practitioner alternates sitting and walking meditation in silence from before dawn into the quiet of the night. This is how such retreats have been done since the time of the Buddha and technology has little to contribute to the meditative process of directly witnessing one's sensations, emotions and thoughts and observing the process of attachment and aversion. The most powerful religious awakenings in my life have been in the depths of these retreat experiences.

But the other part of me realizes that the real work of one's spiritual life is bringing the awakenings of one's spiritual life back into the world and living them. And today many of us spend more time typing on a computer keyboard than we will ever spend in meditation or prayer. Because I believe that in every moment of our lives, we have the opportunity to open to the inner stream of Creativity constantly flowing through us and through it grow in our awareness and capacity to love, it follows that time engaged working with a computer can potentially be a source of spiritual practice too. While I cannot claim to be an adept at such a spiritual practice, my years of practicing meditation and programming computers has led me to a few insights I'd like to share.

One very important reason why I think working with computers can be transformed into a spiritual practice is because such work can be very pleasurable. Most would probably agree that working in front of a computer is more enjoyable employment than making athletic shoes in Thailand, mining coal in West Virginia, or cleaning and canning fish in the belly of an ocean trawler. One of the reasons to engage in spiritual practice is to cultivate energy and pleasure is a primary source of energy. Still to this day, I delight in pressing keys on the keyboard and seeing letters appear on the screen. I am pleased as I watch the word processor reformat the paragraph as I type. This may seem simple minded but we've come a long way from when I began working with computers. I used punch cards for some of my first programs and when you made a mistake on a punched card, you had to start all over again. Watching the little mouse arrow go where I point it, the crisp sound of the mouse clicking and seeing an attractive graphic popping up on the screen I find to be intrinsically enjoyable.

Making working with computers pleasurable requires the right equipment. Matching the performance of the machine to the task, arranging the computer equipment and ergonomic furniture in a functional and attractive way in a naturally lit room, and being sure there is no glare on the monitor can greatly enhance one's enjoyment of the time spent with one's computer. I had a powerful experience of this when I challenged my Puritanism and upgraded my monochrome monitor. I'd never had to have a color screen for my work so getting one seemed like an unnecessary luxury. When I did give in to my desire to upgrade, the pleasure of working in color rather than black and white was so great, I wondered why I had made myself suffer so long without the improvement. I've had similar experiences upgrading my computer processor speed. Whether or not you are attracted to using your computer for spiritual practice, be sure you enjoy the equipment you have.

The reason pleasure is so important in spiritual practice is because pleasure draws one towards the activity and thus can increase one's concentration and awareness. Deepening one's capacity for concentration and attention and expanding one's awareness and sensitivity are some of the desired fruits of engaging in spiritual practice. This cultivation of attention allows one to stay with the present moment and witness the unfolding of experience. It is in such direct experience that the holy is present and can be appreciated. And sometimes what is in the present moment may be unpleasant. Because our greatest growth is often found by connecting with our unpleasant experience, pleasurable engagement is critical to prevent the spiritual practice from being abandoned.

I visited a skilled Feldenkrais practitioner named Ron Clabeaux in Buffalo who I consulted for various physical complaints including pain in my wrists. People who work with computer keyboards sometimes complain about problems with hands, arms, shoulders and wrists. At the time I had been spending eight to ten hours a day banging out computer software. Ron looked me over and suggested I investigate just how much force was required to press each key and to touch the keys as lightly and gently as I could. He encouraged me to be aware of the speed at which I typed. Was I trying to type faster than I could spell so I ended up having to backspace to correct errors every few words breaking my rhythm and causing unnecessary twists of the wrist? How about the position of the keyboard in relation to my chair and the monitor? Did I find myself bending my back or neck in what became an uncomfortable position after an hour of work because the monitor was not at the right height? When I was frustrated, angry or tired, did I keep working, perhaps developing more tension in my arms, or did I take a break? Was I getting up on a regular basis for a stretch or did I keep my nose firmly planted on the grindstone ignoring my body's pleas for relief?

All of Ron's questions caused me to think differently about the kind of attitude and habits I was bringing to the keyboard when I sat down to do some work. Because I find working with computers very absorbing, I tend to forget about my body posture and what I'm doing with my fingers. Ron's suggestions encouraged me to break the spell and stay aware of what was happening in my shoulders, feet, back and neck as I worked. If I began to feel some discomfort, instead of gritting my teeth and trying to ignore it, I learned to pause and let my attention rest on the discomfort then check my posture and attitude to see if a change or a break was needed.

Focusing on the physical body is very important component of spiritual practice. The body is our method of sensing the world and if our sensing system doesn't work well, is being ignored or isn't giving us reliable information, then our deductions, inferences and conclusions from that data are likely to be suspect. Whether working with computers or doing meditation, I have learned again and again the benefits of attention to posture and body movement to sustaining good concentration and keeping my energy up.

Another reason why paying attention to our bodies is so important is because the body is often the first place we sense our emotions even before they form into thoughts and reactions. And from my first days working with computers, I've noticed just how powerfully they can affect my emotional life. Just about everyone who has worked with computers has experienced hair pulling frustration as carefully followed detailed instructions fail and the computer doesn't do what it is supposed to do. Computer software is often terribly inflexible. Just one misplaced bit in a million line program can render it useless. There are so many details that have to be exactly right that finding the one that is incorrect helps sell a lot of headache remedies.

Those moments of intense frustration can cause one to anthropomorphize the computer and believe that it is possessed by demons. These migraine moments can also be great opportunities for spiritual practice. One can wake up in these moments of wanting to fling the computer out the window and use them to become aware of one's feelings. While there may be an evil programmer behind the problem, all of the emotions added to a programming problem are the computer user's emotions. These moments are opportunities to witness the process of projection. The computer couldn't care less if the software runs or doesn't run. It only faithfully obeys the instructions it is given which challenges the computer user to be skilled at offering instruction. Computers are perfect students and if they fail, the instructor also needs to be examined. This is perhaps the most challenging and humbling aspects of being a computer programmer. It's almost always the programmer's fault when things go wrong!

Along with the pleasurable, physical, and emotional ways computers can be used as tools for spiritual practice, so too can some of the computer applications which actually run in the machines. One popular application with great spiritual potential is electronic communication. The explosion of interest in computers and the Internet is partly fueled by children and parents wanting to exchange electronic mail. Those who retreat to their home office after dinner turning on the computer to surf the World Wide Web are not necessarily withdrawing from the world, especially if they are entering a chat room or sending email. They are entering a new world of interpersonal intercourse. For many, electronic communication is actually increasing their capacity to communicate.

One new form of electronic communication proving ripe with spiritual possibilities are discussion lists. A discussion list allows a group to gather with common interests and share ideas, concerns and opinions by exchanging email. Each message sent to the list is automatically forwarded to every other reader creating a open communication channel where everyone can be heard.

These discussion lists are particularly helpful to facilitate communication. Unitarian Universalist ministers are not plentiful and often live far apart making it hard for them to be in regular face to face communication with each other. A chat line was set up just for them and now over 250 ministers regularly share their ideas, troubles and inspirations. As a participant in this list at the far end of Florida, it has made a big difference in my ministry to be able to be in regular touch with so many of my colleagues. The chat line is doing a great deal to bind us together and deepen our network of support.

One of the interesting features of electronic mail is the ability to easily copy the contents of a message received into a response message. This allows the message recipient to respond directly, perhaps even line by line, to what the first message said increasing the clarity of the communication. This clarity can be helpful when the message originator might want to claim "I didn't really say that" and must face their exact words repeated back to them. As a spiritual practice, reading one's communication responded to often reveals aspects of one's style of thinking and communication which one may wish to change or investigate more deeply. The clarity of electronic communication can be a powerful tool for expanded awareness of how one relates to other people and thinks about oneself.

I hope in the few examples I have offered, I have stimulated your imagination and challenged your stereotypes about the uses of computers for spiritual practice. There are many other ways the computer can be used as a tool in one's spiritual life. While computers are unlikely be the best vehicle for spiritual practice for everyone, for those who enjoy working with them, computers can be very useful. I know they have been and continue to be very useful in my life. A computer can be used as a mirror reflecting us so we can see ourselves more clearly. The computer can help us know ourselves by the ways we use and interact with it.

And fear not technophobes, using a computer is no better or worse than any other form of spiritual practice. The goal of any spiritual practice is growth in wisdom and love. In the end, wisdom and love are independent of the practices which support them. As the Buddha wisely noted, after the raft takes us across the river, their is no need to strap it to our backs and carry it inland. Computers are a vehicle--not an end in themselves. The wisdom we seek liberates us from conditioned happiness and love opens the opportunity for the creative engagement with life.

With or without computers, all the answers we seek already reside within us waiting to be discovered.

Copyright (c) 1997 by the Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore. All rights reserved.