Modern technology is amazing. And while we blame mobile phones for a lot of problems regarding our holistic healthy, it provides, for the first time, a clear model of how our soul, energetic self, and physical self interact.
Mobile Phone Holistic Model
Our physical body is analogous to the physical hardware of the phone. It could be well made apple like or it could be something cheap and flimsy.
Our mind is like the OS. It helps us control the physical device. It could be a clean android or apple OS. Or it could be glitchy or more often, bloated with unnecessary software.
Our qi is like the power system. It powers the physical device. It has an actual physical substance, a battery where it is stored, and it is stored as ions that one can physically find and measure.
Our prana is the data signals. It is formless. But it exists and is passed from input to processors to output. You can’t perceive it directly but when it hits the screen it becomes an image, when it hits the speaker it becomes a sound. It can also go to the antenna and be sent beyond the phone, or received from beyond the phone. Chakras are like antennas in that sense.
You can kind of see how the power system and signal system would have some overlap, but can be interfering each other if not properly kept apart.
The Soul and User Experience
Our soul is the mobile phone user. It is apart from the phone. It has an agenda. If the phone components are working good (hardware, OS, power system, data system) then the user has a good time and the appropriate result is achieved. If something isn’t working right, frustration and failure can happen.
If it gets bad enough, the user might throw or abandon the phone! But if everything is working in harmony, it’s a wonderfully pleasant and productive experience.
Social Networks and Technology Addiction as Maya
On the other hand sometimes the phone works so well, the experience is so fantastic, that we become addicted to it. We forget about our life outside the phone. We become caught up in the social networks on our phone that we neglect our loved ones around us.
We get caught up looking at what other people are up to, getting more likes for our virtual life, and playing more and more games as we complete each game. We log in and don’t log out.
That is an analogy of how our soul gets lost and caught up in the maya of physical experience. This is how we become bound in the karma obligations of the social network. This is how our souls forget about the infinite and the divine from which we originate.
So let’s build ourselves a great mobile phone. But let us use it with awareness and intention so that we can accomplish our life’s purpose, without addiction, without getting lost! In Yiyangmen, we practice a simple but reliable meditation to remind us that we are more than our physical body and our mind.
Does this help your understanding? If you found this to be helpful, or if you found the meditation to be helpful, I ask that you please share it with someone else that you think it could help. Our goal is to help people reconnect the fragments of their existence and become their best self. Together we can reach more and more people and transform our world into a better place.