I’m betting that a major slice of artist seekers are somehow involved with tech, and that they would be delighted to help their kumpis with support and suggestions. Although I am not a coder or engineer, I love helping to the extent I’m able – especially when it comes to recommending tech that can help us spread a sense of life’s meaning and high opportunities.
A particular blessing of living in the Mountain View Ananda Community was that during Swami Kriyananda’s frequent travels to Europe and India, he would stay overnight here. I fondly remember how we would all go out and stand in the driveway to greet him with a shower of rose petals, songs, and broad smiles. But then inevitably the phone would ring and David Praver would answer. “That was Swami,” he would announce. “He’s on his way, but he wants to stop at Fry’s.” (A tech super store in Palo Alto.) An hour or two later, Swamiji would arrive, pronaming and smiling happily as the car slowly passed.
Speaking of Fry’s, I remember a humorous experience – yes, it’s Swami-related. I wanted to buy a small Segway (two-wheeled scooter) for shooting video at our school’s fundraising Joyathons and other events. Divine Mother found the money, and so I set off to Fry’s. There were two shelves with new and refurbished Segways. I thought, “Well, it’s Divine Mother’s money, and I should be frugal with it – I’ll buy the used one.” I duly loaded the big box into a cart, and I had gone no farther than ten feet when I heard Swamiji’s voice. It was very cheerful and filled with his usual high energy and enthusiasm. He said, “I would have bought the new one!” I thought ha-ha, okay! So I purchased a new one and put it in the bike trailer and pedaled home, smiling happily all the way.
I’m certain that the tech in the Kindle Scribe would be helpful for those who write and who like to scribble their inspirations. But first, here are some musings by way of introduction.
Most tech is neutral – it can be used expansively or contractively depending on the happy or sad thoughts of the user. I’ve employed tech with deliberate spiritual intent since 1966, when I borrowed my father’s 1939 Zeiss Super-Ikonta camera in hopes of sharing glimpses of God expressing Himself in His world as beauty and joy.
Soon after I moved to Ananda Village in 1976, an India Faire was planned. As the only photographer at the Village who regularly took pictures of events, I felt that my camera, a Nikon F, was no longer adequate. I remember standing outside Master’s Market one day and talking with God about the need for a new camera. I reached in my pocket and pulled out 43 cents – my entire net worth. I said to my heavenly Partner that I would be willing to do whatever work might be required to raise the funds. The next day, a client that I hadn’t heard from in several years phoned to say that he had written a book for bicyclists, and that he needed pictures. Would $400 be enough? It was exactly the price of the camera! A bike race was scheduled for the weekend in Nevada City, and the client liked the photos.
I got my first computer in 1983 – it was a Morrow Micro Decision that ran CP/M with WordStar, and that refused to get out of bed on cold mornings in my office above Master’s Market at Ananda Village. It required a warm room and patience to overcome its unwillingness. But who knew how to set it up? Not me. Amazingly, there was a professional software engineer at the Village who managed to get it connected to the monitor and running nicely.
Today I received the Kindle Scribe, purchased with a timely tax refund. Nayaswami Jyotish introduced me to the Kindle some years ago. For a long time I’ve chafed at the need to scribble my thoughts on 3×5 cards and then copy them onto the computer. Far better would be an instant-on tablet that I could write on anywhere, and that would turn my scrawls into text and send them to my email. That’s the Scribe – and it is spectacular.
iPads can do the same function, but they take longer to start, and the Kindle’s screen is wonderful to write and read on. If you’re nervous about the cost, you can get a good refurbished one for about $300 and pay with Amazon Prime member payments. Not only can you load it with many thousands of pages of spiritual books, you can draw on it (black and white only), and the handwriting conversion is amazingly accurate. If it can read my chicken-scratching scribbles, it definitely has super powers.
