Cyber
Spirituality
“The
computer was born to solve problems that did not exist before.”
Bill Gates
I just spent an hour
transferring my computer files to an external hard-drive. I have had
this laptop for seven or eight years, and I only now figured out how
to pull up my documents on one side of the screen, and the external
hard drive on the other, so that I can easily transfer documents.
Yes, I know how totally dumb that sounds, but it's the truth. Now,
instead of feeling extra stupid, I am proud of myself for figuring it
out! The question is, will I remember how I did it the next time I
need to move documents? Ah, well, cyber-life is an exercise in
frustration for some of us “oldies.”
There is so much that is
new and misunderstood about living our lives out in the open, in
cyber-space for all to see. What do you dare put on line, on
social media, on email knowing that any and all of it could become
fodder for someone else's nefarious enterprises? Ignorance only
exacerbates the problem. Since I grew up in the days of typewriters,
I still have no idea what to do with all those F-keys at the top of
the keyboard. I know I could sit down and go through a training video
to inform myself, but the inertia around spending precious time doing
such a boring thing is massive. As is reading those white-paper,
three-hundred page brochures that come with the software to explain
every detail of what is included. I actually know someone who reads
those things—cover to cover. Yikes!
As a metaphor, however,
cleaning out one's computer files is a great exercise. It reminds me
of all the other “files” I've been dragging around for years—the
old resentments, the lingering wounds, the crippling insecurities,
and petty attitudes. I know there's no recycle bin for those, so I
will just have to shred them and put them in the trash. All our
little wounds, and sometimes even our big ones, are simply part of
being human. They hurt for as long as we keep them alive by feeding
them energy. There comes a time to simply shred them and put them out
with the garbage. Sometimes a ritual is required for doing this—a
letter written but never sent, an article of clothing torn to pieces,
and a burial or burning of mementos—whatever it takes to mark
the moment of letting go.
Like the emptying of the
recycle bin on my laptop, I know those documents still exist
somewhere in cyber space, just as each of us knows that we can't
erase our personal history. But, for me they are gone. I have
unloaded them, freed up space, and washed my hands of them. You can
do that, too. It's a good feeling to let things go. It unburdens us
of extraneous psychic junk—not to mention computer files.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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