The term “reboot” referring
to the restart of a computer is used as metaphor for many other occurrences in
which we wish to perform a restart. On
rebooting a computer, sometimes difficult to specify and define glitches can be
made to disappear as good performance returns following the restart. Unfortunately, “reboots” in other realms do
not share the ability to dump memory so easily and start afresh. Especially in human affairs (as in US –
Russian relations) memory is long and retains its presence and influence well beyond
any symbolic reboot. “Feel good”
seminars of many types face this same challenge. Designed to reboot our attitude and outlook,
enthusiasms of the moment cannot be sustained as entrenched memory and habits
reassert themselves. Elections are sometimes
thought of as reboots in which an instant and reliable society-wide refresh is
deeply yearned for. But we inevitably find
that society’s problems are ingrained and are in part deeply
psychological. They do not simply disappear
with dispatch following election of new leadership. In religious terms salvation is a
reboot. But many find after salvation
the tendency to sin does not vanish but recurs to present daily diverse
challenges. Much in human behavior is
deeply imprinted in the mind and shares in many respects the characteristics of
addiction. To break free of low
self-esteem on the one hand or a strident self-confidence on the other can
present a challenge easily extending beyond the ready purview of the will. We are forced to conclude that reboots of the
mind in a computer sense are more than rare; they are in all likelihood impossible.
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