If you believe what you hear the visionary’s future is made of machines, artificial intelligence, and interplanetary resources. This future is appealing to some, but horrific to others, whose lives will be reduced to squalor, as functional adjuncts to machines.
It is considered to be inevitable because it is assumed that technical progress is human progress and that this progress is good, that it is inevitable, that it will lead to an imaginary omega point, a convergence of potential and fulfillment. That is an imaginary view, not supported, rarely examined, but is broadly operational.
It is operational because it is consistent with a second popular myth: the belief that more, better, faster will lead to improved conditions. This is also not well-examined and not supported when analyzed.
There is an alternative to this vision. This alternative path of development does not lead to human degradation or subjection to the will of a few or to the power of the machines but instead to human happiness and freedom.
The path of development to which we would be better off committing our person energy and cultural incentives, with the urgency of a war or a space mission, is toward the development of serenity and insight into the way the world functions and the meaning of our place in it.
We are not frail, inadequate, random biological fluctuations, in need of redesign, to be used, to deliver pizza, to eat pizza, or look on as others eat pizza, or similar functions, however exalted.
We are the completed vehicle for perfection. Majestic in our capacity to fulfill the complete path for which we are equipped. To achieve this takes training, of our minds and bodies. We will need to train with complete dedication, persistence, a clear path and a good guide. We have access to all of this.
Deep training, practiced continually, aimed at tranquility, insight and liberation, allows us to fulfill our humanity, help people who need our help, find peace, courses of action, purpose and a pathway beyond life and death.
The fear that is driving the current passion for more, better and faster, for all-fronts engineering, for machinery in hyperdrive, is the fear of pain and death. It is ironic that by following this path people will still face pain and death. This superhuman effort, of great minds, and the dedication of massive cultural resources, will fail in its intended purpose.
It may seem that greed drives the urgent quest for more, better and faster. But that greed sits on top of the fear of humiliation, pain and death. Both the greed and the fear ride on confusion about this world, our bodies and of the human mind.
Inner training is not a way out of engagement with the world we live in. It is a way in. To overcome alienation, fear, greed and the clouds which obscure our condition and hide the world. It is inner training alone which can put an end to the difficulties we face, completely. No engineering solution, no matter its magnitude, subtlety or power; no matter how pervasive, how intimidating, how demanding, how rewarding, or how impressive, can do this.
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Post copyright © 2024 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu, Mountain Karate, Saluda, NC
Photo by Felix Mittermeier via Pexels
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read True Karate Dō by Jeffrey Brooks
“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling. Jeff Brooks moves effortlessly from martial arts to Buddhism to consciousness studies, self-transformation, and related fields in this wide-ranging and Illuminating study that has much to offer both novice explorers and veteran practitioners. A splendid achievement.”
— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series