The march of machines is taking our jobs from under our feet.. robots will accomplish tasks once held by human.
But in all of the futureshock we are being hit with, one thing remains clear: People are still trying to be people. And get in touch with the larger element of our cosmos..
Enter into the equation something that maybe could be the job of the future: An expert on meditation..
Mary Macvean of the LA TIMES writes that people are seeking a way to slow down.. a moment to take a breather and disconnect from the highly wired world. And in doing so, find the inner peace that is promised with meditation..
The LA TIMES opens this way:
“Bring your attention to this moment,” Janice Marturano instructed. “Be open to sensations of warmth or coolness, sensations of fullness from breakfast, or perhaps hunger.” Minutes later, the meditation ended with the traditional strikes of little hand cymbals.
Buddhists? Old hippies? New Agers?
Nope. The room was full of hospital executives and managers in lab coats and scrubs, jeans and sports coats at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. And the teacher was Marturano, once a top executive at General Mills.
And it goes from there–people who are in highly respected walks of life are the new meditators.. They are attempting to slow down a bit..
Years ago, well before the 60s generation drugged the meditation world up, this would have been unheard of. It wasn’t so long ago that even Catholic priests warned of the dangers of meditation.. you can slip out of the realm here and let evil forces take over. Now most religions are heralding in the power of yoga and mixing it with prayer. What was blasphemy then is bastioning now.
I can see it now.. experts in meditation opening up their own buildings where people can find solitude in darkness. Experts and ‘gurus’ will be the new fad–and lots of people will pay big money to those who call themselves a subject matter expert in the art of just being alive without a handheld device.
Instead of a quiet walk in the woods, we will pay hundreds of dollars to someone who can give us the experience in alternate ways.. A new movement! And a new job market.. Finally humans may have found the one thing robots can’t do. Well.. maybe not.
There is one interesting caveat, and a personal one, I’d like to share on this, however.. And an important one. For about two weeks, I was attempting a certain sleep meditation (one that will remain nameless, as I don’t want to besmirch the reputation of a highly visited YOUTUBE page.) It seemed to be putting my to sleep quite fast.. the video’s essentially said it would connect me, or the user listening, to the God of the universe. Whatever that meant..
The video clearly had an impact on my life. But not the one I expected.. For about two weeks, I fell asleep fast without trouble. But I didn’t dream.. I literally can’t remember one instance in the two weeks where I woke up remembering any dream at all. Even more, for about a week and a half my daily life seemed slower and more zombielike. I didn’t get excited about nearly anything.. I was zoned out, and even my morning coffee didn’t do much to awaken me. I stopped the meditation and without about three or four days I was back acting normal again, heart racing after caffeine. Even my tin-foil hat paranoia was back in full force.
So which ‘me’ was the better me? Zoned out and careless about most of everything. Or wired with a touch of mental anarchy? A better question, perhaps: Which was the real me? I have lived most of my life being stranger than some and perceiving conspiracy where others don’t even see smoke. But I am never at rest. The meditation-version of me was at rest. At night, and even during the day..
This showcases, at least for me, the power of meditation and the ability of the mind-body connection becoming more of an albatross than a savior.
I am quitting the nighttime hypnoses.
Instead maybe I’ll just take a phone-free walk in the snow winter woods.
