Not Experiencing The World Poem by gershon hepner

Technology enables us to not
experience the world, by isolating us from heat
and cold, so we can as it were boycott
whatever's natural, but we can't make it obsolete
since ultimately we are tightly bound
to circumstances that we can't escape, because the earth
is of all our existences the ground
that will not let us go, except of course, by means of mirth,
which is the only method that releases
man from reality. Though bad religion often tries,
its premises then tend to fall pieces
when people learn they do not get assistance from the skies.

Inspired by Rabbi David Wolpe's Off-the-Pulpit sermon for Shabbat wayyiqra 5772, which is also Rosh Hodesh Nisan:

Bound to Earth:

Rabbinic legends tell of Adne Sne, 'man of the mountain.' His form is exactly that of a human being, but he is fastened to the ground by means of a navel string, upon which his life depends. Should that cord be snapped, he would die.
This is a powerful rabbinic image of our dependence upon the earth. It also tells us something in reverse about our own time. As the Swiss writer Max Frisch put it: 'technology is the knack of arranging the world so that we need not experience it.' We live in controlled climates, travel so that we need not feel the road underfoot, appreciate the sights of nature on television, all without the messy inconvenience of creatures, drafts, and outdoor plumbing.
Yet as periodic natural disasters remind us, we are still at the whim of the world. Technology is the frail rampart we throw up against the encroachment of nature. We remain tied to earth, stewards and subjects, uneasily making our way. Our technology is often remarkable, but it should not deceive us into thinking that we have protected ourselves. Strung to the ground, we must guard our connection; should humanity allow the cord to be snapped, there would be no salvation.