In Front of Techne, Everybody Kneels
It was one of those chicken and egg situations: I needed to work on my son’s new website in Photoshop; Photoshop wouldn't work properly because the graphics card needed to be updated to a new driver; the new driver was designed to work in Windows 10 and nothing earlier; so, with a heavy heart, I agreed to download Windows 10.
Upgrading your computer system must be similar to childbirth – in both cases there is a psychological tendency to forget how painful it was the previous time, so you keep doing it. After three hours of watching out of the corner of my eye and seeing the icon still spinning around and the bar barely moving a centimeter, I went to bed. In the morning upon rebooting I discovered that Windows had "lost" all of my data, files, folders, photos, videos etc.
I didn't panic. Having been well trained by someone who's actually a computer geek and who had forced me to understand that there was nothing I could do - at the level in which I operate - that could actually destroy the hard drive. Therefore, the worst that could happen would be I would have to shut down and start up again. That simple lesson has been the foundation for any success I may claim in the digital world. (Thank you, Julia!) And so, I calmly started scouring the internet for information on how to retrieve my lost data. And, sure enough, there were multiple posts of other people who have had similar problems and by putting bits and pieces of this information together I was able to track down into my system and find a deeply buried folder where all of my stuff had simply been dumped.
In this respect computer upgrades are exactly like having your house done over by an interior decorator: Do you know why it always look so terrific on television when the designer shows off the new space? It's because 90% of your crap has simply been taken out of the house and put in boxes and shoved to the back of your garage! That's why the interiors looks so nice. In the same way these computer upgrades take all of your old stuff and simply dump it conveniently in some back corner. Then their splashy new homepage looks pristine and inviting.
But I don't just want to rant. No, I actually learned something incredibly important about myself today. While waiting for the download of the new driver update for my Nvidia GeForce 840 series Graphics processor card (!) I turned to my husband and asked, "Why is it that I can so patiently follow directions for all of this stuff that sounds like Greek, but I can't follow English directions for a baking recipe to save my life?" He studied me intently and then said slowly, "I think you'll have to search deep in your soul to an answer for that one.”
And that's when it hit me, and a deep blush began to spread over my face. “Oh my God,” I said. “It's because when I cook I am completely arrogant – I think I know what I'm doing. But in front of the great God Techne, I am completely humble, as if I knew nothing.”
And there it was – the naked truth. In a position of humility I can accomplish amazing things. As a simple folk singer and philosopher I can actually build websites and use fancy computer programs because I've learned to follow directions! In the kitchen, I can do anything on the stove top, but ask me to bake anything in the oven and - unless I have my husband standing over me reading the recipe and watching me like a hawk - it’s a disaster.
And so this is one of the curious ways in which the religious impulse follows us into the secular world: In front of the computer screen most of us are brought to our knees.
As the mythologist, Joseph Campbell, noted when he first attempted to use a computer:
“Computers are like Old Testament gods: lots of rules and no mercy!”
New Windows 10 logo . . . with worshippers added