So there are some things we can’t speed up. But if we speed it up in our imagination, then we begin to create a virtual reality. And I think this contributes to a lot of our problems today, that we have imagined a world that is not a real world. There’s virtual reality, and it’s been fuelled, driven, by our fascination and confidence in technology, that technology can do everything. And when we find that this is not how the world actually is, we can see that there’s a great disappointment. But the reason I mentioned this is because if there is a contemplative approach to this crisis, I think it is in this sense that a contemplative approach will help to restore us to realism, to enable us to see the distinction between our fantasy, our imagined speed of change and development and the reality of things, and to keep these two in relationship. Because otherwise, if we become totally immersed, and entrapped with the virtual reality of our imagination, then reality itself will become an enemy, and we will find ourselves being oppressed by reality.
(The Art of Waiting by Laurence Freeman OSB)
