MEDITATION

There is no technological short cut to enlightenment.

 

Technology is weaving itself into every aspect of how we live out our everyday lives. Every day, our society is becoming more and more dependent on Information Communication Technologies (ICT).

 

"Technostress",  generally defined as the psychological, physical, or behavioral strain responses to stress caused by technology, is only becoming more prevalent in this digital age. Additionally, our “technologically hegemonic world” causes issues related to people understanding their own identities and spiritualties. Meditation perhaps has become more valuable a tool than ever before because of how it's helped people find their path and come to understand themselves in relation to the world around them.

 

Traditional forms of meditation that have been imported to the west from the east have a history of being stigmatized. Meditation practitioners have been negetively stereotpyed by the media and western culture as "hippies" and often as slow people who cannot compete in the fast paced technological society that most of us have already been swallowed up by. 

 

Despite the stereotypes, medical professionals are increasingly recommending meditation practices after there were studies conducted concluding that, in fact, practices rooted in Buddhist and Hindu traditions are viable methods of treatment for health issues related to the mind, body and soul. Meditation is not just seen as an "alternative lifestyle" but is now respected as "alternative medicine".

 

In result, western culture and society has been giving more attention to eastern meditation and traditions. And what happens when the western world shows interest in and starts studying a concept or subject? It is westernized by being made into a technological and consumer product. But can these companies selling these technomeditation boosts honestly promise consumers enlightenment? Is modern day science there yet?

 

Western culture holds value in our industrialized and technologized lives that are filled with instant gratification and convinience. Since technomeditations or technoboosts are considered to be any modern technological adaptation to traditional meditation practices,  can these western meditation adaptations truly be benefiting people and relieving them from the stresses of western society if they are using the same technological mediums that cause the stress to meditate?