Equinox Balance Act: Addressing Unhealed-Pandemic-Telecom- Dependency

by Patricia Burke with the team of Safe Tech International; Image courtesy Lori McCray.

There are two moments each year when the sunrise and sunset are twelve hours apart, when the Sun lies directly above the Earth’s equator, and neither the North or South pole point toward the Sun. Equinoxes have long been associated with contemplating the balance between polarities, including yin and yang, darkness and light, right and wrong. Equinoxes and solstices were pivotal to human societies when the sky served as the clock and calendar and cultures were aligned with Natural Law and the Cosmic Current. The equinox occurs on March 19, 2024. Juxtaposed with the equinox, this blog is part of an on-going discussion about the need to heal the growing divide between telecommunications technology and nature and health.

A few years back, I worked at a puppy rescue. Many of the adoption stories, especially involving squealing young children, were heart-warming and sweet.

But there were also some heart-breaking stories, where dogs who had been abused landed in our care. Some older dogs would be returned to us, repeatedly, because they barked incessantly and/or destroyed property when they were left alone.  

Paying Attention to What Doesn’t Look (or Feel)Right

Some dogs had specific phobias. For example, I remember when David brought Ladybug to our house. She rounded the corner and encountered a vacuum cleaner and panicked.

Another friend’s dog Casey has a barking fit when he sees people performing tai chi in the park. Although this can be embarrassing for his owner, I’d like to think that he is a good guard dog with good instincts about how the world is supposed to look. If he had been raised in the East with more exposure to mind-body practices, he might not have been so distressed. If pizza were delivered by robot, I would not blame him for barking.

Fight or Flight or Freeze, or Dissociate

At the puppy rescue, Jolanta was terrified of men. Sometimes, in these cases, the dog will become aggressive. But in her case, when the other (male) worker approached her, we quickly realized what was happening because we see this pattern too often. She froze.

She became my responsibility. As she trembled and cowered in the corner, I went into her cage to move her for cleaning. Her musculature instantly became rock solid stiff and unyielding. She almost appeared inanimate, and in a sense, in that moment, she was. I don’t know if she had ever fought to try to defend herself, but now she was in an armored, terrified state. My co-worker and I both grieved at the magnitude of her past suffering, which was still hard-wired in her body in the present. Time did not heal all wounds.

From these dogs and other animals, I learned a great deal about fight or flight or freeze, and about post-traumatic stress. Like Jolanta, humans subjected to deep trauma can appear as if their essence has left their body. The saying goes that “the lights are on, but no one is home.” They can lose contact with reality.

Walking down any public thoroughfare any day of the week, one will encounter individuals who are dissociated from the local time-space continuum, because they are glued to their screens. The body is going through the motions of walking, while focus is diverted elsewhere.

This represents a state of disharmony, and lack of conscious awareness of the outer as well as the inner environment. From spending so much time in an incoherent state, in this posture of lack of integration, it is so easy to be misled about the nature of reality.

Reclaiming the Human Capacity for “Witnessed Consciousness“

Meditative practices directed towards observing and managing “the inner experience” are the domain of the East. (See bottom of post for further explanation of witnessed consciousness.)

In contrast, in the Western consumer culture, rather than cultivating balance in the interior landscape, one is encouraged to manipulate and control the outer environment in order to find comfort, enjoyment, distraction, and instant gratification, including wealth – no matter the cost. The indoctrination to consumerism becomes even more pronounced and instinct-injured with unresolved trauma, which can sustain exploitative disaster capitalism.

The ‘Age of Technocracy‘ has combined communications, surveillance, control, and warfare. Tools designed for warfare are never evaluated or monitored for health and environmental effects.

Despite the benefits of access to the world wide web, the mass consumer marketplace now delivers a choice of addictive and degenerative options 24/7/365; intended to reach every corner of the cosmos; for all age groups, including children, increasingly representing artificial realities that scramble physiology.

Not only is the assault relentless. The method of delivery via wireless technologies is unsafe. The situation is getting worse.

Post Pandemic Fear Begets Hoarding and Addiction

We might smile at the story of a dog who seemingly over-reacts to the vacuum cleaner or a tai chi class, recognizing from our perspective that the animals’ instincts are misleading. We have the luxury of reason and perspective while observing the world view of children and animals.

Yet post pandemic, we have not yet been able to ‘catch ourselves in the act’ and re-establish equilibrium.

We have not addressed the rising risks, downsides, and true costs of telecommunications tools and infrastructure that were embraced by perceived necessity, in an unbalanced manner. Many individuals have permanently adopted the shutdown’s ’emergency’ alterations in consumer telecom and screen behavior.

More Towers, More Antennas, More Consumption, More Carnage

Like the elder hoarder who housed 40 Scottie dogs in squander, there is a growing body of evidence that we are not providing an adequate level of protection and care for the planet, for each other, for children, and for the ecosystem relative to telecommunications.

Instead, due to trauma and addiction, we have become the equivalent of telecom hoarders and/or addicts. We do not know when enough is enough, and too much is too much.

And many, especially decision-makers, are choosing willful ignorance. The regulatory and political systems are themselves in a state of imbalance, and basing decisions on a foundation that lacks structural integrity because the science is corrupted.

As Carl Sagan noted, “We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about it?”

More Cell Towers, More Data Centers, More Energy Demands = More More More

Video (instead of other options like audio alone) is one driver for the demand for resources and energy required for more antennas and more towers.

The article Cell Tower Range: How Far Do They Reach? explains. “On average, the maximum usable range of a cell tower is 25 miles. While the typical coverage radius of a cell tower is 1 to 3 miles and in dense urban environments, a cell tower usually reaches 0.25 miles to 1 mile before handing off a user’s connection to another nearby cell site. [] . However, people began using their cell phones for more than just phone calls, specifically, for applications like texting, mobile internet, and e-mail – all of which used more data than voice services. As a result, the radius that a cell tower could theoretically cover was still 5 miles, but only people in the first 2.5 miles could receive enough spectrum and thus, cellular service to their phones.”

Most consumers are completely unaware of the reality that: 5g To Increase Energy Consumption By 61 Times.

Then there are the data centers themselves. Conservationists promoting the use of AI to manage sustainability efforts are ignoring the math. See: DATA CENTERS: AI is fueling a data center boom. It must be stopped.

The Attention Span of a Goldfish?

The digital detox blog Unplugged.rest published the optimistic article Goldfish Myth: Are our attention spans really that short? Some say that human attention spans are now shorter than a goldfish. But that might not be exactly true. Are our attention spans shortening, or evolving? “You have the attention span of a goldfish.” A common saying in the British language. But this common phrase has made since its way into headlines as fact: The human attention span shorter than a goldfish – at a mere 8 seconds. []

There’s a popular narrative that our collective attention span is on a rapid decline, primarily because of our digital lifestyle. And there is some truth here. The barrage of information from social media, emails, and apps has fostered a ‘skimming’ culture, potentially making deep focus more elusive.

 It’s not that our brains are deteriorating. Rather, the world around us has evolved. We’re in an era of information overload, and our brains have adapted to filter and prioritise content swiftly. Some also suggest that evidence of ever-shorter shot lengths in films shows attention spans are dwindling. But the academic behind that research says all it shows is that film-makers have got better at trying to grab our attention.

We are served an overwhelming amount of information and stimulation, so our perceived shorter attention spans are an adaption to filter through what we do want to consume. We’ve become efficient at processing vast amounts of information, albeit in shorter bursts.” (Unplugged cabins rents spaces for travelers to go offline intentionally for a 3 or 4 night digital detox.)

Many would challenge the narrative that the world has ‘evolved.’ We are outsourcing many of our mental capacities, for example, navigation, without questioning the consequences.

The Other Goldfish Allegory

There is another goldfish story that haunts me, although I don’t remember the source.

An animal behaviorist was cleaning his fish tank, and temporarily placed the fish in the bathtub.

The fish continued to swim in a constricted circle, the shape and size of their fishbowl.

We have not recovered from the pandemic, (followed by the writer’s strike and lack of network tv, which also increased streaming and binge watching.)

Our trauma has translated, directly, into our unexamined screen habits, which threaten our eyesight, posture, brain function, compassion, relationships, communities, property rights, pollinators, privacy, sovereignty, self-mastery, health, survival and evolution, and that of our descendants.

Societal structures promoting and enabling the growth of the tech industry – from industry to politics to regulators – show no signs of being able to course correct. 

We are absolutely at an evolutionary threshold, with clear choices needing to be made about right and wrong decision-making, especially concerning children, vulnerable populations, and nature. (See the 2021 court remand to the FCC here, which the FCC and the nation have ignored.) Like many other instances of “late lessons from early warnings” corrupted non-protective decisions are being made, despite the need to pivot.

The authors of “Star Wisdom and Rudolf Steiner, A life Seen through the Oracle of the Solar Cross” are David Tresemer and Robert Schiappacasse. They noted, “In our time, images are ubiquitous and rampant. [] We have become gluttons, even if unwilling gluttons, of images. The energetic body becomes fat while the soul starves. We are meant to feed the soul with our own realizations of its gifts.”

“Forces are moving to alienate you from your own soul life.”

At the equinox, “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” (without a device.) – Kahlil Gibran

About Witnessed Consciousness: “The witness state is a gateway to self-mastery, offering liberation from the incessant pull of attachment”

Ancient yoga traditions teach that only humans have the capacity for “witnessed consciousness” which is not about watching rescue dogs under stress, but about encountering our own inner landscape.

Yoga to Transform explains, “The practice of witness consciousness is a journey of cultivating the observer within. It requires honing the ability to first observe thoughts, then feelings, and eventually, the physical sensations in the body. Through this practice, we gain the capacity to consciously choose our responses to the ever-changing landscape of our inner world. [ ] the power of witness consciousness lies in its capacity to bring us into a state of pure observation. As we hone this ability, we become architects of our internal world, choosing thoughts, feelings, and sensations consciously. The witness state is a gateway to self-mastery, offering liberation from the incessant pull of attachment and the freedom to navigate the vast landscape of the mind with clarity and purpose.” The article explains the benefits of cultivating the observer, witnessing the mind’s landscape, embracing neutrality, and dissolving attachment.”

Learn more and subscribe: Katie Singer’s Substack Policies for More Ecologically-Sound Tech

Policies for More Ecologically-Sound Tech (substack.com)

See recent related articles from Safe Tech International:

Equinox Elephant in the Ecosystem: Dying Plants and Trees vs. Wireless Antennas

DNA and Developmental Damage from Cell Towers on the Greek Island of Samos: Effects on Insects, Flowers and Vegetables.