I was struck by an interesting thought today. I do not consider this thought strange given that I work in the IT (Information Technology) industry. At times it feels as if I spend more time with computers than with people and it is very likely true. It is interesting though to wonder why this thought did not occur sooner.
A software application is a piece of code (set of writings written in a machine-readable language that causes machines to act according to the documented instructions), deployed on machines (computers/servers), which is capable of interacting with humans (for the most part) for purposes of information exchange and processing of data.
An application can consist of many parts but for our discussion we will limit to some illustrative and major elements such as the screen through which requests can be sent and responses can be received, a server that does the processing, a database that stores data and interconnecting wires (network).
With this background let us jump into what came to mind.
If one were to ask what constitutes an application specifically one could not point to any one component. For the most part the code is the application. However, this code is not an application until it is ‘live’ on an infrastructure consisting of an interface, server, backend, and network. Every part together is the application but also not really the application (server is not the application, nor is the network, nor the database).
Similar is the case with us humans. When posed with the question of who one is, one usually starts with one’s name, age, religion, social position or financial status. However, none of these is the person itself. One may then get down to identifying oneself as one’s body. However, the various parts of body although together constitute the body none of them by itself is the person per se (my hand is not me but a part of me).
It is possible to dissect various parts of the body and for the person to still exist. Similar to if one were to take away the keyboard and the mouse, the application still exists though is no longer easily accessible. Some parts are more crucial than others– like the heart or the brain. End of either of these would be considered as the death of the organism. Similarly, for the application if the server is removed, it would be the ‘death’ of the application.
This leads to the question whether human beings really are anything more than the mix of and interaction between various material things, creating an illusion of intelligence? Based on what we know and see, one can say that such is not the case. There is more to a human than just the body and thoughts. So how does that go along with the software application analogy and how is a software application different from a human’s life?
To further along this investigation requires that one contemplate on the death of a being. The entire body (infrastructure) is still there but it becomes devoid of life (non-functional). A parallel for the software application would be the infrastructure to exist but not be able to perform (and not because of some programming or infrastructure defect). Such a parallel would be switching off the electrical supply to the infrastructure. Everything would still be there for the application to perform but it could not do a thing.
Such is also the case with us living beings. There is a ‘current’ that flows that makes it possible for the body to act. The loss of this ‘power supply’ is what we call as death. This ‘current’ is of such importance to us that in its absence we are able to bury or burn the left behind body without any sense of guilt. There is more to life than meets the eye.
Just as no one essentially thinks of electricity as being part of the software application most of us do not contemplate on the energy that makes life possible (is life itself?). We go on with our lives taking this for granted (just as a programmer takes for granted that there will be electricity available to run his code).
Although I don’t think the software is capable of contemplating on the nature of the electricity that keeps it running, we human beings do have such capacity. And to exercise this capacity is to be introspective, contemplative, meditative, or to indulge into the great investigation of ‘who am I?’
Different cultures and religious organizations have given different names to this ‘electricity’ that makes life possible: soul, atma, god, prana, chi, and many other names. However, the description is not the described; description of food cannot fill an empty stomach. This has, however, not kept us from attempting to do so. This is what has led to the birth and propagation of religion. It has also not kept us from acting as if our hungry stomachs got full just by the description of the food, which is where a religion's blind followers come into play.
In absence of ready access to food it is easier to convince oneself that one is not hungry as opposed to going out to look for food and coming upon treacherous circumstances instead. However, the hunger tells a different tale and keeps us restless and in acute discomfort. Such is also the case with most of us who either out of fear, convenience, or greed, have falsely convinced ourselves of our spiritual satiety based on religious philosophies and have given up the effort required to undertake an individual inquiry into the truth.
Although this brings some comfort in the form of not needing to ‘go out’ it does not really quench the longing (the hunger) and keeps one restless, yearning, and seeking every moment of one’s life. No philosophy will ever quench this hunger.
Lack of a sincere personal inquiry into the nature of one’s true self only strengthens one’s ignorance and hence suffering. In absence of such knowledge one could get easily disconsolate by believing the loss of the outer status, relationship, health etc to be the loss of the self; become egotistically boastful by taking the outer accumulation of wealth, health etc as the expansion of the self; and could become depressed by not being able to control all the changes in the outer circumstances as a way to feel good within.
One application may be more important than the next, another may be more defect-free, another may be more responsive, yet another may have a very user friendly interface. However, at the core of all applications is the same energy that makes them run, perform, outperform. These applications may start believing that the world in which they compete and operate is the only reality but that is only until someone ‘pulls the plug’. By then it is too late to understand what went wrong.
It then, as humans, is upon us to investigate into and understand the nature of this energy that we call life while it still energizes us. It is as much a responsibility as an opportunity to remain mindful of this common source as we play our parts in the outer world. Being competitive, ambitions, loving, kind, greedy, angry, compassionate are all part of being human. However, it is imperative to make time to investigate into the true nature of things, to make an attempt at determining what lies behind all of these human experiences. Such investigation starts revealing the truth of impermanence – an application that is considered legacy (archaic) today was a superstar once; a person who is a hero today would be a mere name tomorrow.
In this ever changing application and human landscape, what is that constant factor that is never changing and which makes it all possible? What is it that we continue to seek every moment of our lives and is it ever possible to come upon the end of that search without gaining an insight into the fundamental truth that drives all that is seen driving around?
