On Spirituality & Technology

That photo was taken this past summer at the V&A museum in London. There was an entire Modernism exhibit going on at the time and this was displayed on one of the walls. After reading that first paragraph, it seems as though there is a paradox in the phrase "a belief that the human condition could be healed by new approaches to art & design - more spiritual, more sensual, more rational". I suppose if one were thinking of spirituality and technology dichotomously then the phrase would sound contradictory, but perhaps this passage is a foreshadowing of Noble's "spiritual transcendence via technology". Perhaps to the modernists, there was beauty in objects that were functional and aesthetically-pleasing at the same time. I do recall seeing "Modernist" chair designs during the exhibit, and it was mentioned that while these designs might not be overly spectacular to us anymore, they represented a great breakthrough in innovation back in the day.

In regards to the "Unfuzzying the Fuzzy" article, it should be mentioned that a more representative sample might yield similarly interesting answers. If an ethnically diverse sample were taken, perhaps there would be more accurate notions of what the "people" think of the terms spirituality & religion. We could gain insight into people's notions about Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. and explore whether there are similar assumptions about organized religion in those cultures. Because while Christianity has negative connotations, this may not be the case for other organized world religions (such as the ones mentioned). Who's ever heard of the terms "self-righteous" and "authoritarian" used to describe monks, or even the Dalai Lama?

B