Technology refers to the scientific efforts to shape nature into new forms and harness nature for the progressive benefit of humanity. Etymologically, the phrase “techno” in technology comes from the word teckhne, meaning art, skill, craft method, system, and from the proto European world tek meaning to shape or make. In more recent years, much of the direction technology has taken is to employ greater and greater precision, and at the same time employ smaller and smaller objects in their technological creations. Microchips for computers, for example can lay down smaller and smaller circuits at the atomic level and nuclear reactors work with processes that involve subatomic particles. At the forefront of scientific research, scientists currently seek to visualize the Higgs boson particle and field, which is believed to represent the fundamental components of the gravitational force.
As science moves in the direction of the tiny and the precise, it challenges spiritual belief systems that
treat of the whole. The more complex our technological products become, the more they stand at variance with the world in its natural state. The very thought processes called forth in man’s efforts to create modern technolgoical inventions challenges traditional beliefs. Man can no longer believe in a creator who is enthroned in the sky because he know that stars and planets are objects containing gas and matter. At the same time, if one should sit down to try and visualize what the nature of a “creator” is, and where he is located, in a scientifically accurate way, he has to admit that the creator of the universe must be something smaller than the smallest particle that can be viewed or studied. The creator must be at least as small as the Higgs Boson particle, for example.
While thought processes such as these may challenge the spiritual life of many scientists, and people working in a scientific discipline, Ted Sun, author of a recent Viking text, “Super Life Secret Codes,” has suggested that instead of thinking of technology as something which takes man away from a spiritual connection with the Universe, we can appreciate technology as demonstrating many truths, which ancient religion talked about.
The first example the author brings to his thesis is the radio, which demonstrates, that communication can take place between two points via invisible waves. The concept is ancient, and now as author Sun points out, it is demonstrated by a human invention. Religions and spiritual traditions are full of stories about mystics who knew or claimed to know what was occurring at a distance from them, as if they were receiving some type of communication. While ancient prophets or seers had no radio technology to help them out, the invention of the radio and other modern forms of communication at least opens up the mind of the greatest skeptic to the possibility that these seers with the ability have been employing some form of communication, which helps them learn about things at a distance
Sun goes further in his exploration of the concept. Possibly relying on the fact that human technological inventions spring from the imagination of man, Sun suggests that the structure of technological communication (telecommunication) can teach man details about how spiritual communication works. While his concept jumps ahead of the current paradigms of scientific research, Sun suggest that ways in which radio communication is organized into bands, which frequently corresponds to radio channels, correspond to the ways in which communication can take place between humans and a Universal integrative center. Interestingly, the concept which Sun talks about in his book “Super Life Secret Codes,” is found in Mayan cosmology.
While there is a tendency within mankind to distrust new technology, Sun’s idea encourages man to welcome new inventions as personal diapasons that manifest on a daily basis the revelation of heretofore well kept secrets of the Universe. Nuclear energy, for example, teaches man about our relationship to the energy world in a way never before possible. Nuclear energy, which seemingly creates a huge amount of energy from small amounts of matter, might frighten some people, but it also contains a powerfully positive message. If so much energy can be created from almost nothing, than we should never be so pessimistic about our lot in life. Even a person living in relative poverty might create a great deal out of his life with the proper amount of concentration and effort.
The harnessing of nuclear energy on Earth also teaches mankind a great deal about the Sun. Modern man can appreciate that the Sun is a great furnace in which large numbers of nuclear reaction are taking place. It’s not a divine being, its not an object to be worshipped. We can thank technology for our new and improved relationship with the Sun. And in fact, we can look with excitement on almost any new type of technology because it is liable to manifest some new knowledge or secret about life.
The hidden beauty in the Viking author’s suggestion about relating to technology is that it brings with it a positive outlook about life and the future, and removes worries. It is so easy to worry about progress. Technology may lead to terrible global warming, technology may facilitate nuclear wars. Such pessimistic thoughts can trammel life’s enjoyment. However, when these thoughts are replaced by a positive wonder about technology, the mind is free of worries. And that’s not to say that we shouldn’t have concerns about the possible by products of “technological progress” such as Global Warming and nuclear war. To handle these possibilities , the author recommends that readers should try and connect to the Universe. As more and more people increase their love for the universe and appreciation for its existence, they will naturally want to avoid creating objects or technology that will harm the planet.