Double Down On Being Human

I recently read a story about a woman who used to bully her Alexa device. It started with the woman teasing Alexa when it made a mistake; then it developed into full-on, sadistic shaming. One day, the woman was screaming at her Alexa when she realized that her young daughter was also watching. What am I doing to my child? she wondered in horror. Then she thought: What am I doing to myself?

This has been going on a long time. I don’t mean bullying Alexa. I mean the practice of humans trying to find a place where our actions don’t matter, where we can be cruel and not face any consequences. Sometimes, it’s a racial group that people view as “human animals” and thereby feel justified in torturing. Sometimes, it’s our environment, which people see as lacking a consciousness and thereby fair game to exploit.

We sneer at “primitive” societies that used to believe there were gods in the mountains and waterfalls, but at least in those societies people felt watched and therefore in relationship with their surroundings. Now, in the cold technocene, we pride ourselves in no longer seeing faces in the rocks and trees, but we are also losing our humanity.

We can’t stop technology. We don’t have to. If AI can analyze medical data or predict earthquakes better than we can, let it. The future of humanity, I believe, lies in finding out what is most human about us and specializing in that. One day, we will stop trying so hard to create overproduced music, food, or identities, and we will come to love an out-of-tune vocal, the seeds in a watermelon, the weakness in our hearts. Or we will perish.

2,600 years ago, the Buddha said that what is most human about us is our intentions. We’re here for a moment, then gone, and we never get this life right. But for a moment, we have a chance to live with love, compassion, joy, and acceptance. So focus there, on your intentions. There is no place where they do not matter. Wherever you go, whatever you do, your intentions are felt from all sides. Double down on that. This is how you will survive.

Umika Mediratta Shriram, "The Inward Gaze: ’Om Mani Padme Hum’"