Dalai Lama in Arkansas

Today, along with teachers and students from Clear Spring School, many members of the UU church, and hundreds of residents of Eureka Springs, my wife and I are up early for a trip to the University of Arkansas to spend a day with 15,000 others and the Dalai Lama. The theme of his first panel discussion is changing swords into plowshares, and as one who has given great consideration to our tools and how they are used creatively, as expansion of intellect and development of character, I plan to take great advantage from the event.

I was contacted by a woman who is interested in interviewing me for a documentary film on the effects of modern technology from one who has great respect for the old. I am reminded of Chaucer:

"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne, the' assay so hard, so sharp the conqueryinge"

It is interesting that technology is leveling the playing field, making everything easier for those who can afford it and yet it is the challenge of doing something difficult and demanding that leads to our growth. We offload intellectual content onto the tools we use and then have so little else for which to recommend ourselves. Call it the death of character, if you will. But think back to those things that demanded the best of yourself. Are those things of so little value?

Make, fix and create.