Continuation

"Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving." ~ Albert Einstein

I must admit I almost skipped another night, but realized I'm not ready to skip another night, just yet.  It can be difficult sometimes to decide if we are being too "rigid", and sometimes, yes, we are.  It has everything to do with balance.  

As I write, I'm listening to a live radio interview about Artificial Intelligence, and I have only been partially listening, and they are exploring if we are living in a simulation or "a digital world".  They just decided this is probably "the real world".  What IS that, truly?  What is Real?

And why is there inevitably this assumption that "advancement" is necessarily technological?  I've written about this before, but it is entirely unproven (as assumptions often are).  Just because Humanity is in a technological "phase" doesn't mean it's one that tends to last.  

Wouldn't you love to see the "survey" of civilizations that have existed?  How many are technological?  How many survived that phase?  How many combined technology with greater "gifts" of being aware?  How many rendered technological advancement obsolete?  How many wrecked their world?  How many fixed it?  

Somewhere, this is known.  

How will it all turn out on Planet Earth?  

We'll either awaken, or not.

 

 

River photo by Susan Larison Danz.

 

The Stars We've Lost

 "One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime.  Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are!  If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God, which had been shown!" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, 1836

View above the atmosphere (Photo Credit: NASA)

I came across this passage the other day, accentuating a reflection I have pondered rather often.

We don't see the stars anymore.  Not most of us.  Perhaps a glimpse while on vacation, if you can get far enough away from the city.  Meanwhile, we are filling our skies with artificial objects, as unfathomable numbers of satellites launch.  And we hardly even care.  In fact, we celebrate our "progress". 

How is the diminishment of visible stars in our skies impacting the human experience?  How is it impacting us, mystically?  I happen to believe that the mystical is actually the way the advancement of a species is measured (if it made sense to "measure" such things, which is a bit contradictory).  We've abandoned it, mostly.  And at our peril.

Do we realize we are having an entirely different experience with the skies than all of those who came before us?  

I read an article not too long ago that we never really feel at peace within a city - because we've evolved to do far better in rural locales.  This isn't particularly about artificial light, but no doubt, that isn't helping.  And yet I couldn't be here writing without it and every other technological trapping.

What if things had happened differently?

If another Carrington event arrives, as it inevitably will, we will gasp to see the stars (and the auroras accompanying them).  This foundation we have built is fundamentally an illusion.  What would we do, then?  Who would we be?

Who do we choose to be?  Why wait?

If there was a contest between the mystics and the materialists (not to say that mystics think competitively), guess who "wins"?  There's only one way forward, really.  And it's not the way we've been taught to think.  The way we're told is "real" is the illusion.  And the way we're told is the "illusion" is actually Real.  And once you know it, you know.

Car Windows

"It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you of how powerful they are." ~ Clive James

Something came up about cars yesterday that led me to reflect on a few things.  In the "old days", especially in the 70's, you would regularly see people "working on" cars in a neighborhood.  Even as a young child growing into a teen, it was a regular observation that there were plenty of people around who knew how to fix and maintain a car in a variety of ways.  Or if you did need to bring a car in to a mechanic, it was relatively simple, usually.

This has changed.

No doubt, there are countless reasons why, safety-wise, emission-wise, etc. - and yes, feature-wise.

However, for whatever the reasons, the world has changed.  And it is my continuing intent in this blog to explore how these changes have changed how we behave.

When cars became essentially impossible for people who liked to fix their own cars to independently fix, something changed.  A dependency was created that didn't exist in the same way before.  This had an impact on regular life and self-sufficiency.

Technology can solve and enhance any number of things, but it also continually takes us in a direction that makes life more intricate.  

I was watching a movie the other night from the late 1980's in which a character was in a fancy town car and fascinated with the automated locks.

It got me to thinking about the days when there were no power locks and you manually opened the windows yourself.  As convenient as that "feature" is and probably more secure, there is something I miss about cranking open a car window.  What is that about?

 

Car photo from the mid-1980's, Susan Larison Danz. 

Unveiling Clarity

"I can see clearly now . . ." ~ Johnny Nash

I dwell in the 1970's quite a bit, and there's a reason for that.  Though every era has its complications, technology has changed us.  Not all technology is bad, obviously - I'm using it right now - but let's leave that aside for the moment - because, you see, we didn't know back then what we would view as lacking now.

I have been reading poetry and fragments of essays lately.  In an actual hardcover book that I obtained from the second hand store.  Not to say that really should be all that unusual, but lately, yes.  I used to read A LOT in the 70's, pretty much all the time when I could (and in most of my spare moments in the 80's as well).  When the television only has a handful of channels (at most), there are no computers, there are no video tapes, DVDs, DVRs or "video on demand", you either occupy yourself outside in some way or you read books.  Or maybe you bring a book outside and read it in a hammock hanging from a tree (which was one of my favorite things to do in the summer in the 70's). 

We've lost something.

And it is vitally important.  

We need to be "entertained".  Some of that entertainment may require us to think, but most of us are just not reading like we used to.  I aim to take it up a notch, truthfully, as not everything I read independently (i.e., apart from school) in the 70's and 80's was particularly demanding.

We have forgotten simplicity, and what it feels like.  We are over-stimulated much of the time.  Perhaps the Covid era has provided glimpses of simplicity - but probably not enough.

We need more clarity.  And it isn't going to arrive by continually being distracted from it. I am thankful to be unveiling it, ever more deeply.

 

 

Blue Skies photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Living in the 70's, Again

"There is nothing permanent, except change." ~ Heraclitus

I was watching a movie earlier from 1988 in which a person is looking for some simple information, walks into a government office, and is told it will be sent to him in a month.  On the internet, you could find it in about a minute.  But we didn't have the internet back then.  In some ways, 1988 feels like yesterday.  But when it comes to technology, it feels like forever.  

I wasn't really intending to talk about the internet tonight.  I was thinking about microwave ovens - and when they first arrived - it was a little bit before 1988, I suppose - I know I didn't have one in my college apartment in the early to mid 80's.  I've used them at times in my life, when in a hurry,  but then that changed.  I've mentioned I'm a bit of a neo-Luddite, and here is another way I suppose it is true.  

I almost never use the microwave oven anymore.  Occasionally for popcorn (I'd use Jiffy Pop on the stove if they still sold it or a good old-fashioned popcorn popper pan with a crank - it tastes much, much better - why don't they sell Jiffy Pop anymore?  And as we speak, I looked it up on the internet, and they DO still sell it - it took less than a minute to find out).  I might melt butter in the microwave or I might use a pan.  And that about sums up my current microwave oven usage. 

You see, I actually DO remember that Jiffy Pop popcorn is better, and pretty much everything else.  And just about every kind of leftover imaginable tastes better if you heat it in the oven.  You just need to be patient - the same is true with defrosting.  When it comes to making meals, I'm still living in the 70's.  And that's perfectly fine with me. 

 

 

Ripples photo by Susan Larison Danz. 

Time Warp

 "Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master." ~ Christian Lous Lange

It was 1972 or 1973.  I can't quite remember exactly.  It may have even been 1974, but I tend to think it was earlier.  I remember the moment quite vividly.  My mathematically-inclined brother walked into the house and held out something in his hand.  

"What's that?"

"It's called a calculator."

And so it goes, with time. 

Photo Credit: NASA

"Avatar" and the Voice of Expanded Consciousness

I have now seen James Cameron's "Avatar" twice, and I will no doubt see it at least one more time during its theatrical release. Why is it that so many feel this movie calling them back to theaters again and again? Is it the special effects? Perhaps, for some. But I think for most, it is something far more profound. It reminds me of how we lined up for "Star Wars" again and again and again in the 1970's. That wasn't all about special effects either.

Some have claimed that the storyline of "Avatar" is simplistic, but the greatest messages of humanity are often delivered in simple packages. I realize in retrospect what a remarkable impact "Star Wars" had on me in my sheltered youth, despite its simple story. The themes behind the story, exposing many of us to the concept of expanded Consciousness in a subtle way, were what gave "Star Wars" its true power. And the "Avatar" phenomenon is the "Star Wars" of the present day, both in special effects and more importantly, Consciousness effects.

We are at a point in our history where "the little people" will no longer tolerate being disempowered by those who claim authority over us in unethical, insatiable ways. That's because we finally realize we are not "little people" at all. Corporate greed and power plays are being exposed for what they are. The ignorance of selfish, war-hungry arrogance, such as what led to the utter desolation of many indigenous cultures on this planet, is rapidly falling out of favor. Religions claiming fear-based, violent, authoritarian "gods", veiled with a veneer of privilege and conditional love, are losing their resonance. Fear itself is losing its grip on the planet, though it may not seem that way at times.

The Voice of expanded Consciousness is speaking to us through "Avatar". The Voice of true transformation. We are fully capable of connecting to the planet, the Universe and each other, even more readily than the fictional Na'vi. We can already "see" into the hearts of others and All That Is, if we simply open our eyes. We can finally release our fear of death and even connect to the voices and the hearts of the past, once we realize Life is never-ending.

"Avatar" is leading many to ponder whether the supposed glories of our technology are truly worth the price. The sarcastic, atheistic snickering quietly explored in "Avatar" reveals just how arrogant, vacuous and destructive the strictly materialistic mindset can be, when taken to an extreme, in light of TRUE reality. Ultimately I believe technology will become one of many tools in a much grander toolset, until it is one day rendered obsolete by Consciousness itself. Technological evolution is not the answer for mankind. That path, when pursued at the expense of all others, only leads to emptiness, unbridled greed and utter destruction. The real answer for humanity is our quantum leap in Consciousness.

Dawn is breaking, after a very long night. Can you "see" the Light?

We are ALL "avatars" dreamwalking on this planet we call Earth. Our true Consciousness resides in Infinite Love.

I See You.