When All That Dust Settles...

   I walked through Fairview Mall after work to have my cellphone replaced. It seems that, at least according to the amiable salesclerk, my cellphone is simply getting too old, and too slow to accept the latest downloads of new updates. All this information reminded me that phones these days are connected to huge networks, where information is continually being exchanged. And the more information is downloaded, the more complex the phone ends up being. I almost became nostalgic for that long-begotten time when my cellphone was only good for the occasional text. Being permeable to any influence can definitely slow things down, as well as complicate them considerably.
   There is something about technology that offers an interesting metaphor into spirituality. I am thinking about that difficult balance between allowing things to arise according to present conditions, and not allowing mind to be stirred by them. If technology is subject to 'slow down' through the latest downloads, I can only imagine how this can also affect the 'hardware' of one's own brain and body. But here is an interesting question: when the brain and body 'slow down' from fatigue or over-use, does the mind also 'slow down'?
    This question interests me, because any time we talk about 'slow down' or 'speeding up', we are seeing that behavior relative to something else. When we tell a person to 'hurry up', we are often only looking at the person's behavior relative to a thought of where we need to be at a certain point in time. But what would that person's behavior look like from the perspective of the number of things she needs to do per day? If I see the whole person, it's not so easy to tell whether the problem is that of 'needing to hurry up' or 'needing to slow down'. This is because 'hurry up' and 'slow down' are relative to a king of arbitrary reference point. And this reference point often overlooks the kinds of conditions that might be influencing something.
    The scary thing is, if for a moment one were to see the relativity of time, there would be almost nothing to hurry toward. But when all the dust settles, does mind not seem to emerge more clearly?