Meditation and Web Surfing – Zenosaurus

Steve Silberman who often writes for Wired  has an article, “Did You Get The Message” in Shambhala Sun, March 2010. The theme is mindfulness and the Internet.

(A section in which he interviewed me is included below.)

Another friend who has embraced technology as a way of exploring the nature of mind is John Tarrant, author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros and other Zen books. For years, John has been evaluating various ways of including online life in his students’ field of practice. I recently shared with him a concern that the web could act as a jungle gym for ‘monkey mind,’ the restless part of our ego that hops from one potential source of gratification to the next, chattering internally all the while. How is it possible to stay grounded in the face of perpetual distraction?

It may just be a matter of acquiring new skills, John observed. People first learn to meditate while sitting, then while walking. Eventually they learn to cultivate the mind of awareness while talking or preparing a meal. Why should web-surfing be any different?

At the same time, he said, “The Zen take would be that there isn’t a ‘right way’ to be online. There’s a kind of freedom deeper than the right way—an awareness that’s always happening while all this other stuff is going on. I woke up with a splitting headache the other night, but this awareness knows it wasn’t really a problem. It’s calm and having a good time, noticing, ‘He’s got a headache,’ or, ‘He’s online now and he thinks his attention is scattered.’ The relationship between this foreground creature that you think you are and this vast background is the question. When there’s a relationship, most people feel their experience is more nourishing.”

For the whole article—http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3492&Itemid=0