Approaching Cybernirvana: Oneness with the Web

The Internet is a virtual manifestation of something we each yearn for deep within our hearts and souls: Nirvana, which is the end of suffering and the ability to connect with and be one with all things. It may be challenging to consider realities not based in pain and fear, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Deep down we would rather live in a society where we lived in peace, a place where complete strangers could hug each other with the purest of intentions and say, “Hi! How can I help you today?” But we’ve been conditioned to live otherwise. So instead we build walls around our homes and around our hearts. We draw lines in the dirt and say “this is my country, and that’s your country.” We force people into groups based on their race, age, gender, and economic class.  And many times it seems easier to exchange bullets or harmful words than loving embraces.

And that’s what makes the Internet so valuable, because while you might be permanently shackled to the label of “male”, “ugly”, or “poor” in the physical world, those same shackles can fall off (if you let them) the moment you enter the online world.  The internet connects all people, places, and things regardless of time and space.  It strips us of our age, race, history, and our very bodies, leaving nothing but the human consciousness to interact via words, sounds, and images.

You might live in San Francisco, be 20 pounds overweight, and be called Mike in the physical world, but in cyberspace all of your experiences and characteristics are reduced to 1’s and 0’s in a completely neutral and unbiased way. On a server your data of 1’s & 0’s are no different from anyone else’s data of 1’s & 0’s. As a matter of fact, everything that represents all of humanity online – all of our data – are all merely fluctuations in voltage. What this means is that all things are equal in the online world: there are no differences between your tweet and say, a selfie from an Eskimo living in the North Pole. Every person, every computer, and every device that’s connected to the web are essentially one large cauldron of fluctuating voltages. Online, the web is one, so we are one.

Cybernirvana is the immense bliss and inner peace that naturally emerges when one trades in of all the labels we’ve been conditioned to believe, for the nameless, formless, non-judging, egoless, voltage fluctuating oneness of the online world. In this virtual space and with the right mindset, there is no need to defend, criticize, or judge; because the internet is simply a medium that allows the formless consciousness to exist.

So the next time you open your browser and see that blinking cursor on the Google homepage, remember that this is your opportunity to leave all the mental baggage and labels behind. Doing so will allow you to approach cybernirvana as you see the internet for what it really is: a place to let go of who you think you are, and end your suffering as you become one with everything else.

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