Babies born in a materially advanced, mechanized and technological location like the ones found in most modern hospitals of the western hemisphere are the most prone to grow up to be very unhappy people what are always distracted by working hard for material things they don’t need whilst simultaneously being fascinated by the ever-changing technological wonders we create.
Conversely, those babies born in a more natural, rural outdoorsy kind of setting (such as in so-called Third World countries) grow up to be very happy people unconcerned with acquiring material goods, who are happy with what their Fate/Destiny and/or Self-Determinism/Choices brings into their lives. They are not so heavily and overtly seduced by the material world and technology as we are in the West. Though leading mostly poor and non-materialistic lives (which westerners think is some kind of curse), they tend to lead happier lives. I have noticed that when westerners travel to the poor regions of some eastern countries, they always return home amazed at how the local peoples smile so much more than western populations, how they “own so little, yet are happy” as though ownership is a prerequisite of happiness.
I do not think that technology is the enemy per se’ but rather that the problem is that we tend to misuse and abuse technology for selfish reasons, personal gain, etc. We often use technology for any reason other than to genuinely help each other. I wonder,…if we westerners suddenly had no technology and had to rely on what we (with no knowledge of God within) could rend from Nature with our bare hands…just how long would we all survive? Would we all then realize in a big hurry that maybe, just maybe (according to various sources)…WE DO NOT BELONG HERE.
Still in that vein, I remember one yogi who stated that in the oldest times of our manifestation here on earth that we peacefully fed ourselves with what we could find from the land, such as honey and fruits. (If that sounds like a caveman or hunter/gatherer kind of scenario to you, I agree) My God…if this is true, then it could possibly mean that the cavemen phenomenon was not necessarily brutal or uncivilized (as we are today). Then again, it would not surprise me to learn that our histories are inaccurate. None other than Napoleon said, “What is history but a myth we agree on?” (Keep in mind that this guy waged war on everything and everyone he could think of.)
Sometimes it seems to me that technology provides a way to selfishly cling to life when we no longer belong on the physical plane. Cavemen didn’t have iron lungs, for example. Back then, if you couldn’t breathe on your own, it was your time to die. Good health and only good health gave you a descent guarantee that you would be here for a while, or at least long enough to find your next meal.
In that vein, consider this—good health is generally viewed as a blessing because it prevents the pain and suffering in your physical body. But good health may also correctly be considered a curse as it may be the major contributing factor to promoting (or cursing) a long life of experiencing the current hell of suffering going on outside of your body, on earth. And perhaps it is no coincidence (there never is, really) that the word healthy sounds like it could be spelled “hellthy” as in, being healthy keeps you in hell—living in hell on earth. Is it right or wrong to want good health, or even to not give a damn (as most people don’t)? Maybe after all is said and done, there really is no right and wrong—there are just choices that bring about results.
Perhaps the best choice is to not play the game of life beyond the limit of one’s ability to tolerate suffering (one’s own or other’s). This may mean that the best thing to do is to meditate as much as one can and behave as though you are not on the merry go round anymore until God makes it so. Then when you come back (if you do) it is just to spread the message to others that they don’t have to stay on the damned ride anymore, that there is a way out (1 of the 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism), and teach those who are interested in earning the eternal prize that you already possess.
Don’t live beyond your means. Be thrifty with you funds. Eliminate what you don’t need. And don’t take more that what is needed. Be reasonable and balanced in all things.
And be happy.
