Leadership Legacy

2Technology as Transcendence

‘Wisdom occurs when you drop barriers you have erected through your concepts and conditioning’

(Anthony de Mello, Indian Jesuit priest, psychotherapist, and spiritual teacher)

What if our connection with technology, whether digital or not, is a deeply transcendental experience? This question arose from my 10-year journey exploring links between ancestral wisdom and future innovation. If we view technology as something extraordinary, our approach to problem-solving may fill us with wonder and awe. As a result, could this holistic approach to innovation change how we relate to our planet? How can this alternative perspective remind us that many of our earliest ancestral stories have been about being stewards of the land, whether through Nigerian Igbo stories of Ala, the Earth goddess, or Guyanese Amerindian sustainable land practices, rather than dominating through colonisation and extractive practices?

In the last 10 years, I have explored and connected with my ancestry. A few years back, I discovered that my earliest traceable roots include Coptic Egyptian, Ashkenazi Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Southern Indian heritage. I've been curious about how my DNA has passed down some ancient ways of being, perceiving, and choosing how to show up in the world. If we understand and accept intergenerational trauma, then why does there seem to be more hesitation and scepticism related to knowledge and wisdom? The Bhagavad Gita has appeared in my life several ...