Share similar concerns with our increasing collective speed and paranoia about bacteria and using technology to achieve all our little miracles... received a very interesting insight from a close friend who suggested reading "The Spirit of Intimacy" by Sobonfu E. Somé. Am starting into it now. Anyhow the gist of her point was that Sobonfu's people welcome each new-born's spirit into this world. That's the whole village - not just the immediate family. Everyone verbally and in other ways assures the infant of their inherent value simply because they are there. The new-born is thanked for coming. And the community express their desire that the new-born be able to fulfill their reasons for coming to them. Because these people know that if a child is not welcomed in this way it leaves a huge hole in their spirit which they try to fill with all sorts of things - relationships, money, busy-ness and business... and because the hole can only be filled by communal acknowlegement and embracing of the person's spirit - and we westerners really don't live in true 'community' with each other (although some are making progress!) - our behaviour is becoming increasingly desparate. Am only into the book a few pages and will have to re-read several times, but this woman is making a LOT of sense. And I'm beginning to guess at why these kind of washing machines have come to be!!

Boy Suzanne,.... You nailed it rite on the mark here. ... If the people of the world need anything right now,.. it's certainly not 'more speed'. ... Balance is a result of a life that incorporates a harmonious blend of "doing" and "being". ... What we have now is a world that is a slave to "doing",.. at the expense of inner and outer health and harmony.

Technology has as it's goal,.. the profit motive,.. not the well being of humanity. There lies the problem.