Social Media and Spiritual Materialism
I was recently re-reading Chogyam Trungpa’s “Spiritual Materialism”. He describes it as having a beautiful piece of art in the middle of a white room with a good light. It’s beautiful and easy to appreciate. You like it so much that having more works of art will of course be better and so you set out on a quest to acquire more and more art. Soon your room is full of so much art that it just looks cluttered. It’s impossible to appreciate any of the beauty now that it has become a matter of acquisition. Of course I paraphrase and couldn’t possibly say it as well as the author. If you’ve not read the book, do yourself a favor and find a copy. Well I happened to be reading this on the very day that I set up the Brunswick Portland Shambhala Center’s Twitter feed and was struck by some parallels. A website for the Sangha. . . that was a good thing helping us to reach out and disseminate information. Then the Shambhala network to allow us to connect with various aspects of Shambhala that interest us from around the world. Then our Facebook page and now a twitter feed. (and I hope before long a YouTube channel) It could easily feel like our nice white room with our single beautiful work of art is getting cluttered. I believe though that this should all be viewed as a matter of choice. If you find a certain type of social media or electronic connection is helpful on your journey, then it is here for you. If it isn’t helpful, then don’t use it. These are tools for you to use if you would like. It will be my aim to make our website your destination for one stop shopping, where all of our Shambhala Social Media can be easily accessed in one place. I remain open to suggestions and comments. For now, I’m going to my white room and try to get rid of some of the clutter.
Neil
