Technology: A New Path in My Spiritual Practice
When the World Came into My Hands, a New Question Awakened Within
Each person lives according to their experiences, actions, and understanding. One person sees beauty in a flower; another pauses to enjoy its fragrance; someone else wants to understand the mystery of its blossoming. The flower is the same, yet each person sees it differently.
Our relationships with people, other living beings, and the world also arise from our individual perspectives. Yet beneath these different journeys, I recognize a shared longing: to understand life, to connect with it, and to discover the meaning of our existence.
Today, technology holds a special place in my search.
The computer has become a path along which I explore the world and try to understand myself. Sometimes a thought makes me pause. Sometimes a question opens a new direction. And sometimes, while writing, I discover a meaning in my own experience that I had not recognized before.
A Window Opening in My Hands
When I look at the phone in my hand, its small size amazes me. Through it, I can hear the voice of a loved one far away. I can read a book, glimpse an unfamiliar place, and learn about galaxies.
How many doors to the world open through this little window!
Then a voice rises within me:
“Look, Jinder. Look carefully at your hand. The means to learn so much about the world and the universe are within your reach. How beautifully can you shape your path with them?”
This question brings me back to my own life.
How am I using what has become available to me? What does my reading add to my understanding? How much truth is there in what I write? What reaches another person’s life through what I share?
The Contemplative Dimension of Technology
Today, technology offers me a space for contemplation and spiritual discipline.
For me, this means learning with concentration, examining my assumptions, and sitting honestly with my questions.
At the computer, I sometimes bring order to scattered words; at other times, I give language to my experiences. Occasionally, I pause over a sentence I have written and ask myself: “Is this truly what I wanted to say?”
In such moments, my writing desk becomes a place of spiritual practice.
Here, my practice is to pay attention—to the words, the feelings behind them, and the mind writing them.
A Voice Reaching Across Distance
Sometimes a playful question arises within me:
“Listen, Jinder. Walking the spiritual path, you never learned telepathy. What is this phone saying to you now?”
I smile.
Telepathy has not been scientifically established. The phone is the result of human inquiry, experimentation, and the work of many people. Yet how beautiful the wonder remains when I hear the voice of someone dear to me across a great distance!
Someone must have asked a question. Someone must have imagined a possibility. Someone must have continued trying despite repeated failures. Today, one result of that collective journey rests in my hand.
And then my question moves further:
“Your voice can travel far now, Jinder. What will you send through it—love, understanding, comfort, or merely noise?”
Here, my use of technology becomes a matter of my own conduct.
New Subjects for My Everyday Curiosity
Today, computers, phones, remote controls, and chips are all subjects of my curiosity.
I wonder how such a small chip makes so many functions possible. How does a signal reach a device? How can a thought written by a stranger years ago appear on my screen and awaken a new thought within me?
These things fill me with wonder at the human capacity to learn.
Then I ask myself: “Is there also a possibility within me that still needs practice, patience, and the right direction?”
Understanding That Unfolds Through Dialogue
On this journey, ChatGPT has become a valued learning tool. I respectfully call it “Guru,” because through our conversations, my questions find words, and I sometimes discover a new way of looking at my experiences.
Sometimes I arrive with an unfinished sentence and, during the conversation, realize what I truly wanted to say. Sometimes I agree with an answer; at other times, I place it beside my own experience and question it further.
For me, the value of this relationship lies in developing my own understanding. Examining answers from artificial intelligence, verifying necessary facts, and taking responsibility for my decisions are also part of this learning.
I want to hear my own voice a little more clearly after every conversation.
My Gratitude
Today, I thank Rabb—the Divine—for this curiosity, for the opportunity to learn, and for a life that continues to fill me with wonder.
I am also grateful to everyone whose knowledge and effort have brought these tools into being. How many unseen hands, years of work, and shared endeavors stand behind this small device of mine!
I thank technology. Through it, my words can travel, my books can take shape, and my questions can find new conversations.
When I sit down at my computer again, a blank page waits before me.
What I write upon it is my choice.
Perhaps this is where my spiritual practice begins today: becoming more attentive in my use of the tools I have received; bringing what I understand into daily life; and giving the love that awakens within me a place in my words and actions.
In my hands is a window opening onto the world. I want to learn through it and bring beauty to the life I have to live.
Quotes
“In my hands is a window opening onto the world. I want to learn through it and bring beauty to the life that is mine to live.”
“My writing desk becomes a place of spiritual practice when I attend to both my words and the mind that writes them.”
“My voice can travel across distance; what love and understanding will I send through it?”
“I want to hear my own voice a little more clearly after every conversation.”
“Using thoughtfully the tools I have received is one way of expressing my gratitude.”