Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘In a way, we are in a loneliness hangover from the pandemic. Many of our embodied and connective experiences have been replaced by what Roa calls “individualized consumption of entertainment and services.” AI diagnosing our illnesses and giving us so-called care; gazing at our iPhones instead of at each other; sitting on our couch alone watching a film on Netflix and not sharing laughter in our local theatre; ordering out for dinner and not seeing what meal is being brought to the person at the next table; ordering from Amazon and missing the interpersonal negotiations of live shopping; going to a virtual museum to see a Rembrandt and not being caught in the revery of the viewer next to us; doing virtual meditation practice and not smelling the years of incense that has penetrated the wood and cushions of this sacred space; having a virtual office and no water cooler moment; being silently transported by a driverless car to a half empty glass tower in downtown San Francisco, instead of joking with the gig worker; or smashing the “like” button on X, instead of being enveloped in the “summer of love feeling” or the shared “sense of the possible” experienced at a protest rally.’ (from Lion’s Roar)