by Campbell Jefferys

Is the overload of information in the modern world derailling the quest for transcendence? In addressing this question, Campbell Jefferys spoke with Dan Millman , author of the Peaceful Warrior series and other guides to daily enlightenment.

I am 32 years old. That means, old enough to remember a world without mobile phones, internet, mp3 players and GPS, but young and tech-savvy enough to have easily adapted to and utilised these new technologies. Given the choice, I would prefer to live in a world without them, to live independent of digital dependence. That’s not necessarily nostalgia, but more a yearning for a return to simplicity. All this information, all these phones ringing, all these headphones blaring; I just want to turn off the noise.

I feel bombarded, overwhelmed, and I can’t possibly process all this information nor make sense of all these distractions. Do you feel the same? And why must almost all of our information come from a screen? Is that how wisdom now gets passed? With virtually everything ever said, known and done on the internet, is there nothing left to learn? I can find out anything in just a few seconds and go on the quests for digital enlightenment offered by thousands of websites and online programs. Yes, transcendence is a click of the mouse away. But is that what we want?

The digital age, for all its simplifying of tasks and lifestyle betterment, should be renamed the difficult age. It has become nearly impossible to find peace, while inner peace has become a slogan for selling cosmetics, shampoos and luxury retreats. We are surrounded by information, immersed in it, and have to utilise filters to separate our ‘favourite’ information from what doesn’t interest us. Can’t find what you want? Feeling disillusioned, lost? Relax. Google can help you find your path. Perhaps Google has become part of your path. And all these digital tools have made it easier to find and communicate with your teachers and guides. No need to sit down and learn together though. Text each other or speak via Skype. Don’t have a teacher? Then log on to an online forum. There is a multitude of ‘enlightened’ people floating around on line who will readily advise you. If all else fails, Google ‘Self Help’ and watch the hits roll in.

“We have to learn to adapt to the technology”, says Dan Millman, author of more than a dozen books. “I think there will be a movement back to simplicity, back to quality.”

Perhaps, but until then, we remain swamped with emails to read, phones to answer and information to digest. Even when everything is turned off, there is still the lingering sense of all that is waiting for us when we switch it all back on.

I first read Way of the Peaceful Warrior long before the internet, before the yoga-pilates boom of the nineties, before a spiritual life meant an hour every Wednesday in the gym with bank tellers and office assistants desperate to relax and stay in shape. And before ‘new age’ became a million dollar industry with a billion Google hits. And before ‘self help’ morphed from learning about yourself and growing to getting what you want and fulfilling desires; namely, money, success and attention, the ‘secret’ to wealth dressed up as the quest for inner happiness. Success is now our most important goal and understanding the world normally entails understanding economics.

“Successful people are suffering along with everyone else”, Millman tells me at a screening of Peaceful Warrior the film. “More than anyone, they find out that being successful doesn’t make you happy.”

This is right, but that doesn’t explain why self help has moved from improvement to attainment. The digital world has made ‘getting’ our goal. We live in an age of instant gratification, and spirituality has been as much affected by this as all parts of our lives. For many, inner peace, or even happiness, is too often linked to financial security and to the gratifying of desires. All the external noise and information, our goals and expectations, have drowned out our inner voices, but don’t despair, because online you can find answers to questions that not even history’s greatest philosophers could reconcile. On the internet, everyone can be enlightened if they want, and there are thousands of would-be sages ready to dispense wisdom and to help you as much as they can with your self help.

Interestingly, the turning of Peaceful Warrior into a film sums up our current spiritual world. A book about a quest for self-improvement and enlightenment spawned a sports film with a few wisdom catch-phrases dulled down for mass consumption. “The time is now. We are here.” Everyone can understand that, and it’s short enough to send as an SMS to all your friends, but at the screening I attended, the closest most of the audience came to living in the moment was when they convened outside to meditate in a nicotine fog.

Through the teaching of wisdom, concentration and focus, the Dan Millman of the film becomes a successful athlete, but he is far from enlightened. Which brings us to the ‘here’ and ‘now’, the digital world where success is inexplicably linked to a higher plane of existence and consciousness. This can be seen in our fixations with celebrity, media and bling. Showing off has become proof of ‘exceptionalism’, while modesty, etiquette and the humble search for a bigger picture have been replaced by quick fixes like pharmaceuticals, gym classes and, of course, attainment (see the wisdom-spilling shoppers of Sex and the City).

What is thought of as a meaningful, happy life is being redefined, as is our search for spirituality. Millman thinks of his books as reminders for living and has cause to feel perturbed that his practical and applicable works sit on shelves next to UFOs, the occult and other ungrounded magical thinking. There’s nothing esoteric about eating well, trying to breathe right, exercising, and attempting to find your place in the world. Best of all, Millman’s books remind us to pay attention, to notice the spiritual all around us and to be aware of where we are, to be fully in the moment.

It seems that this concept of constant awareness has gotten lost in this current world of distractions and gratification. Just look at those around us, barking into mobile phones, hypnotised by screens, or staring dumbly into space while music pours into their ears; all of them tuning out with the aid of technology. If you walk while talking on the phone, chances are you won’t remember anything you passed while walking; the same goes for those listening to music. As entertaining, communicative and informative as it all may be, this technology has succeeded in removing us far away from the moment. We experience the world with our heads down, looking without really seeing while always listening to something else.

Even the aware and attentive can be thrown off course. Millman readily admits that today there are “interminable distractions. One can stay distracted just by playing with a mobile phone. I find myself doing it sometimes too.”

So, what does all this mean? Will there be a return to simplicity? Will we eventually turn away from all the technology and information which fills our lives and start again with learning how to eat, breathe and be happy? Or is the search for the transcendent soon to be lost in the digital quagmire? There are already countless websites that will guide you step by step towards enlightenment. YouTube can show you how to meditate, Amazon will recommend all the books you need and bring them to your doorstep in 24 hours, while Wikipedia easily explains all the eastern philosophies.

But all the noise, all the devices, all the content that overwhelms our lives, and all the media telling us what we need to attain to achieve happiness and success, just drowns out the voice we should be listening to – the voice coming from ourselves, from within. But in the digital din, can we hear it any more?

Campbell Jefferys is an author and freelance writer from Perth currently living in Hamburg, Germany.

photo: JasonDGreat