We may look at our grandparents as older people, but they were our age once.
In my own experience I have seen the way grandparents have changed over the last thirty years, with the context of new technologies, we have had a dramatic shift. Certainly people tend to look younger and for longer now than in previous generations.
My grandparents on one side had come from around 1900, the other side from 1917, 17 years, but that is a generational interval in itself. They had a 60 or 50 year head start on me.
The grandparents of today have access to technology, that helps to make them more relevant in societies where the family bond is not as strong as it is for the Indian people. Relevancy between generations has shrunk, whereas old meant old 30 years ago, old these days means thinking in a different way and being aware of things younger people are in to.
With a 40 to 50 years age difference between children and grandparents, relevancy can be an issue, or irrelevancy can likely be more of the case. Today this is a big problem, children have access to technology through phones and computers that was a dream, science fiction we might say, 30 years ago when I was their age, that certainly was the case then.
Today, this technology is not only a reality, but normal that children have grown up with from day one.
However, we can learn a lot from people who have been there, seen it and been around the block before us.
This situation confronts the Indian people now emerging technology is available to them, but they should not discard the past, the Indian society built on the past being handed on by spoken word has kept the society and its traditions alive, but the need is to counter 'Reservation Drift,' that is all of this heritage being lost as life is more about existing than enjoying.
The baubles of what new technology can offer is self evident, we now have internet content that a hundred lifetimes would not be enough to view it all. Every 10 minutes, we create the same amount of data that was created in the last 100 years.
If a situation happens when we have to go back to a basic existence, the wisdom of the Elders will prevail and give us guidance to exist in a simple way that respects the planet. Heritage will be the future as I have said before, but this needs to be combined in a new model of lifestyle that can be given to be people outside of the Tee Pee to take on board, the New Agers have gone off a bit half cocked, cherry picking the old ways, what the Elders could do is to create a new model for theses people that everyone could sensibly adapt.
The world needs to be re-evaluated, they way that many live cannot be sustained, but the Elders said this centuries ago, 'Take only what you need.'
With busy, modern lives, it is easy to lose touch with people and we should re-connect before it is too late, because people are no longer here with us.
Comments
Aho Matt. I believe that the increase technology and speed of development tends to cause human beings to forget who they are. 24 hour news, communications faster than people can think is all causing the head and body to rush ahead of spirit. Many will not take the time to balance spirit and body. At that point people spin out of control and lose their opportunity to leave the illusion and find their way home. To me it is sad but it is the way of the illusion and we are each responsible for how we learn and move forward toward the end and the beginning. Blackbird
Hello Jonathan,
I think you are right in all you say here, I think this technology and modern lifestyle means people lose a connection, to nature for instance.
I think that they have lost the connection to many things. They have lost the ability to stand quietly, view a natural vista and enjoy it without thinking of having to move onto something else, victims of this 'soundbite' culture.
They do not allow nature to 'recharge them' by allowing the natural energy around us to come back to us at a time of rest, if we are 'buzzy and busy, that energy cannot return, enter and refresh us I find. People who go to the coast and stand on the sand and watch the sea feel recharged, likely because they are relaxing and the wave rhythm is balancing them again.
The technological age has meant we live in a rapid 'soundbite world', as you say rushing ahead.
This is what I fear for the Indian people, although new technology is a part of life, they need to balance what is real and what is on a screen and to know what is more important, them. I am sure that they do.
I mean, we can now have many 'friends' on social media, but likely never meet hardly any of those in real life. I think the opportunity for the Indian peoples to have a renaissance will come soon.
What I mean by that is that they need to prepare a blueprint for life that they can present to the world as the way forward for all of us, because society outside of their own is losing its way. They may yet have the day to say 'we told you so.' It is certainly apparent from someone outside of the Tipi like me. so to speak, that moment is to come. (over here there is a saying about people either being inside the tent or outside)
I think that technology has created pressures to complicate our lives. I often like to go to a forest and just take in the peace and the moment, without a computer alerting me to something! I think that forest moment is where we reconnect and 'feel better' because that natural vibe has been synchronised to our own drumbeat.
I think society promotes these false values of 'ownership' and things to aspire to 'owning' with some sort of pressure to 'compete' on this level. These are as you say illusions and it is us that matter as people. You can't take all this with you when you die. How many rich people are actually happy people? Not many I have ever seen!
I think you are right about this great illusion, it is like spinning plates on sticks, you can only manage to keep so many going at any one time before they lose momentum and crash to the ground. Often people have lost the most important message, what is important for you? We have been sucked into a competitive and driven way of life in the last 60 years and it is starting to come unravelled.
That is where the Indian people can show people what is really important here. People are just following without asking 'what do I really want to achieve in this life for myself?' Enlightened people amongst us know what is important I guess.
Thanks
Matt