Cyber Or 28 Been There—Done That 1
By Rabbi DR. Moshe Dror
The last Cyber Or 27 ended with the ideas of a Cyber Hymnal and Cyber Piyut. These are texts and we mentioned that Texts are derived from the Latin for Weave—so we are talking about cyber weaving and dealing with all sorts of virtual /augmented / immersive reality—all modern and all the new stuff of Cyberia.
Right?
Well think again.
Many cyber enthusiasts are relating to some sort of techno-religious sensibility and are convinced that cyberspace is some new sort of spiritual space.
Any of you who are reading these blogs of mine would love to read a wonderful and masterful book by Margaret Wertheim-“The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet” (Norton, New York, 1999). She traces the history of Western ideas about space and how these have been informed by cultural and especially religious themes. From Dante’s Inferno to The Internet of today, the West developed a dualistic conception about the body and soul which are seen as two distinct realms. Within this tradition, the immaterial has always been equated with the spiritual.
Margaret Wertheim is a science writer and commentator and deals with the relationships between science and religion.
Much of these comments are found and interpreted from her last chapters ((seven and eight) from her book.
