Over the past few years, there has been an increasing number of people who feel the need to highlight the fine line between technology that serves humanity and technology that takes away our freedom. We have smartphones and smartwatches that make our lives easier or, sometimes, more complicated… while at the same time, the user’s ability is declining and devices are becoming more sophisticated. It is enough to notice the degradation in our language usage and the complete disregard for the traditional practice of writing on paper to understand the price we could potentially pay. In recent years, social networks, ironically called so, heavily criticize sometimes the very people who are at the heart of that industry. These networks are often non-social and easily diminish the quality of our relationships and the values we share. It is no secret that they can serve commercial agendas by strengthening polarization and extremism.
There is no doubt that we should become aware of how we use technology and establish a dynamic balance. In principle, this can seem easy, but in practice, it is not. It’s easy to differentiate between means and goals and not allow the tool to become the driver of our most valuable purpose.
Whether it’s a knife, a vehicle, a software component, a medicine, etc., whether a tool is good or bad primarily depends on its usage. And while we make ethical judgments, we must never neglect that. Likewise, it is clear that technology in the service of humanity is not inherently negative. On the contrary, it is an undeniable expression of our ability to improve and enrich our lives. However, we also know that it can destroy us if we use it wrongly or for the wrong purpose.
The tools we use in life can be evaluated and judged if our fundamental goals, our purpose in life, are clear to us. What purpose do we use them for? What consequences can they have? Do they truly serve us? Despite the feeling that we are missing out on something considering what the “whole world uses”, it is crucial that we constantly ask ourselves if they really serve us in our search for our life purpose, or if they enable us to deviate. off our path. This fundamental need to make a distinction between means and ends is not just a challenge of our time. For thousands of years, many traditions have noticed that human beings are inherently dual. On one hand, there is a transient and material aspect, and on the other, a spiritual one. This latter one is the inner identity, the immortal soul or higher self, while the former is just a vessel, a mask that we wear (persona or personality), with which we are born and die. This biological vessel may be more complex in nature than the expression “bio” in today’s world; it contains numerous factors, including our physical body, which is already a miraculous whole in itself, but it also encompasses subtle forms of energy (prana) and levels of emotions and thoughts beyond the biological interface to which they relate. If we pay attention to the teachings of our ancestors through cultures and civilizations, we will realize how little we know about ourselves. It seems to suggest that this incredible “device,” our body, is far more capable than we think. However, as they remind us, it is still just like a ies throughout history. Sloboda nije samo fizičko oslobođenje, nego i oslobođenje uma i duše. Moramo shvatiti da smo više od biološkog stroja i da naša prava sloboda proizlazi iz naše svjesnosti o vlastitom identitetu. Tko smo mi zapravo i kako želimo živjeti? To su pitanja koja moramo postaviti i istražiti kako bismo postigli istinsku slobodu. Existence. It is a battle that requires constant discernment between means and goals, internal and external, higher and lower, what enables development in life, both individual and collective, flowing from within to the outside. It is a continuous search for the discovery of hidden inner truth. We are human beings. Living beings. Not machines, nor programs, nor tools.