https://medium.com/@dailyzen/what-is-progress-4ded42e72d05#.n48kjptwq
The cult of progress is everywhere. Science continues to plod ahead at ever-intensifying rates of speed. Technologies develop faster than most people can possibly take the time to understand. Politicians rely on false conceptions of “change” and “moving forward” to secure a place among the hearts of the simple-minded common person. Welcome to the progress of our age: material progress. What you see is what you get.
This ideology of material progress strongly relies on a dissatisfaction with the present. It is thus the philosophical credo of perpetual unrest and unhappiness. If we cannot be peaceful and mindful in the present, we certainly can’t be peaceful and mindful in the future! The modern world’s false tenet: right now is unpleasant, so if we work to move forward, things will get better. The doctrine says, “All we have to do is speed everything up, make more jobs, more technologies, more scientific advances, more money, more of everything. Then everything will be ok.”
This is metaphorically comparable to the socially estranged and spiritually bankrupt billionaire sitting alone in his fancy mansion of gold and gadgets and going, “If only I had more gold and gadgets. Then I’d be happy.”
True progress eludes humanity since we have deluded ourselves and others into believing that human history is determined by material circumstances. The influence of this concept led to more human deaths in the 20th century alone than any other single philosophical idea in history. The cult of historical materialism has led humans to believe that religion and spirituality are disposable tools used to achieve tangible goals, not metaphysical tools for cultivating the values that give life meaning: humility, love, loyalty, awe, and self-discipline. Matters of heart and spirit have gone neglected; they are perceived as secondary to the outrageous notion of external progress at all costs. Even meditation practice has been warped and bastardized by the modern mentality as a tool for efficiency.
What will save us in our materialistic, scientific and technologically-obsessed stupor is a return to the spirit and a return to nature. Progress has been ill-defined. It doesn’t mean real human spiritual progress. Humans are the same— if not worse— spiritually as they were before the Internet, TV, cars, electricity, the phone, modern plumbing, the Enlightenment, WWII, WWI, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, etc. You get the idea.
The issue here is that when we think of the material world as the most important indicator of progress, we allow materialism to progress at the expense of spirituality. We rely on our senses more than ever, neglecting the extra-sensory metaphysical world of spiritual intuition and natural force. Thus, we only recognize what we can experience on a sensory level. Deeper matters, the truly important stuff, remain covered by layers of sensory stimulation.
The result of all this? People become groomed by default to be dissatisfied with life no matter what, since they begin to equate the stuff of life with life itself. They don’t reflect and they don’t look within. And what do we have today? A massive world population of technologically advanced people whose spirituality has decayed to such a degree that they can’t stop to reflect. Real spiritual discipline is terrifying to unruly decadent 21st-century technophiles.
Let us work together to revise the false march towards material progress— a march towards a cliff’s edge. Instead, let’s direct our attention inward, cultivating the values of spirituality as they have always been cultivated by thoughtful humans. Instead of speed, efficiency, disruption, and material optimization, let us reorient our values towards compassion, mindfulness, gratitude, honesty, and discipline. All that is required is a balance. Right now, the balance skews towards material progress. If we can collectively begin a push towards real internal spiritual growth, we may reverse this destructive cycle. The natural spiritual potential of your mind is more powerful than any external invention should you choose to cultivate it.
This ideology of material progress strongly relies on a dissatisfaction with the present. It is thus the philosophical credo of perpetual unrest and unhappiness. If we cannot be peaceful and mindful in the present, we certainly can’t be peaceful and mindful in the future! The modern world’s false tenet: right now is unpleasant, so if we work to move forward, things will get better. The doctrine says, “All we have to do is speed everything up, make more jobs, more technologies, more scientific advances, more money, more of everything. Then everything will be ok.”
This is metaphorically comparable to the socially estranged and spiritually bankrupt billionaire sitting alone in his fancy mansion of gold and gadgets and going, “If only I had more gold and gadgets. Then I’d be happy.”
True progress eludes humanity since we have deluded ourselves and others into believing that human history is determined by material circumstances. The influence of this concept led to more human deaths in the 20th century alone than any other single philosophical idea in history. The cult of historical materialism has led humans to believe that religion and spirituality are disposable tools used to achieve tangible goals, not metaphysical tools for cultivating the values that give life meaning: humility, love, loyalty, awe, and self-discipline. Matters of heart and spirit have gone neglected; they are perceived as secondary to the outrageous notion of external progress at all costs. Even meditation practice has been warped and bastardized by the modern mentality as a tool for efficiency.
What will save us in our materialistic, scientific and technologically-obsessed stupor is a return to the spirit and a return to nature. Progress has been ill-defined. It doesn’t mean real human spiritual progress. Humans are the same— if not worse— spiritually as they were before the Internet, TV, cars, electricity, the phone, modern plumbing, the Enlightenment, WWII, WWI, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, etc. You get the idea.
The issue here is that when we think of the material world as the most important indicator of progress, we allow materialism to progress at the expense of spirituality. We rely on our senses more than ever, neglecting the extra-sensory metaphysical world of spiritual intuition and natural force. Thus, we only recognize what we can experience on a sensory level. Deeper matters, the truly important stuff, remain covered by layers of sensory stimulation.
The result of all this? People become groomed by default to be dissatisfied with life no matter what, since they begin to equate the stuff of life with life itself. They don’t reflect and they don’t look within. And what do we have today? A massive world population of technologically advanced people whose spirituality has decayed to such a degree that they can’t stop to reflect. Real spiritual discipline is terrifying to unruly decadent 21st-century technophiles.
Let us work together to revise the false march towards material progress— a march towards a cliff’s edge. Instead, let’s direct our attention inward, cultivating the values of spirituality as they have always been cultivated by thoughtful humans. Instead of speed, efficiency, disruption, and material optimization, let us reorient our values towards compassion, mindfulness, gratitude, honesty, and discipline. All that is required is a balance. Right now, the balance skews towards material progress. If we can collectively begin a push towards real internal spiritual growth, we may reverse this destructive cycle. The natural spiritual potential of your mind is more powerful than any external invention should you choose to cultivate it.
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