The Mindful Computer

In yesterday’s blog post I argued that IT is here to stay, and that the focus for futurists like me should be upon how to employ the technology optimally, so that it enhances the development of Deep Futures, and does not perpetuate the shallow materialism of Money and Machine Futures.

To use the technology wisely, we have to allow human wisdom to flourish. This may sound obvious, but it seems to me that many educators and futurists do not appreciate that wisdom involves healthy self-reflection and the development of a capacity for equanimity and inner peace. It is certainly possible that IT may assist in this process, but as far as I am aware, the best ways to foster a peaceful mind are through simple, direct first person methods like meditation and mindfulness; and through various forms of embodiment via yoga, mindful walking and even swimming. The key to embodiment is that - regardless of the exercise - attention is brought into the body in relaxed presence.

In my understanding, this development of peace and wisdom should ideally be the foundation of any decent education system.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of understanding of this getting around. I would like to refer to just one recent example which illustrates this perfectly.

In a recent South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) article, Robert J. Bahash wrote a timely column arguing that in today’s education systems teaching is just as vital as the tools of technology we employ. I agree with Bahash, but I do not believe that he goes nearly far enough, nor does he identify the essence of what is wrong with modern public education.       

Bahash writes:

Students must be prepared properly for a digitally connected world. The web and mobile connectivity have been undisputable agents of change across a range of industries, bringing our global economy closer together and providing opportunity for business to thrive where it would previously have been impossible… In the education sector, mobile connectivity, digital capabilities and intelligent software are the catalysts for making quality education available to students who may not have access to it otherwise.

There is not much to dispute here, except for the use of a single term: “quality education”. Bahash makes no attempt to define what such education might be. He seems to be implying that it is already here, merely awaiting some fine tuning. 

He goes on to elaborate the point, writing that online learning and IT tools are vital for young learners because they “build critical thinking through games, encourage collaboration and provide real-time assessment and remediation.” Bahash also argues that online course work, and especially independent study and virtual collaboration, help students to become independent thinkers and enhance self-motivation. Students also learn time management, prioritization and practice important community-building – skills. So far, so good. Not many would argue with all this. These are all very necessary skills in today’s world.

Bahash then quite rightly goes on to state that IT and online learning are not sufficient in themselves if we are to see a genuine improvement in modern education.

The road to universally raising the standards of education starts with the instructor. They are responsible for keeping students properly engaged and challenged throughout their school years. The profession as a whole needs to be held at a higher level of respect and regard in order to develop exceptional teachers.

According to Bahash the key in all this will be in granting teachers more respect. Upgrading teacher respect levels will transform teachers and bring out the best in them. Now, I am not going to argue that respecting educators is not important, nor that it cannot possibly improve the system. I am all for respect.

However there is something missing from Bahash’s arguments, and it is something that is not only important, but vital. It is this ‘something’ which so much of today’s critiques and analyses of education fails to address. The way we are going about trying to ‘fix’ modern education is something akin to gazing upon a dry ocean, looking at the fish floundering and dying upon the dry ocean bed, and deciding that the best way to help the fish is trying to teach them how to swim. In such a scenario, failing to grasp that fish need water would be incomprehensibly dumb. Yet there is a pervasive stupidity in modern schools and society which is equally dopey. We are throwing away billions of dollars trying to teach fish-out-of-water how to swim.

The basis of education – in the broadest sense – must be developing the right relationship with self. For this to happen, both teachers and students need to do self work. They need to develop wisdom, equanimity, and the ability to be fully present wherever they find themselves. The teacher's role is most important here. A teacher with a scattered psyche cannot possibly hope to instil equanimity into young people.

I am a teacher and spend a lot of time in front of students. If there is one quality in a teacher that surpasses all others in its capacity transform the classroom, it is his capacity to be fully present with the students. When I enter a classroom I make sure that I am fully present with the students. It is an act of love that surpasses in value any curriculum objective. Students know when the teacher is present, and they know when the teacher is not really “there.”

When I am present in front of a class I can ‘read’ the energy of the students. I can see beyond the faces they put forward as part of social discourse. I am able to connect with a stream of consciousness which grants spontaneous ‘intuitions’ about what is needed in the moment. Most importantly, it allows me to have unconditional love for the students. In true presence, judgment ceases (but not critical discernment), and  love is spontaneous.

When I first began teaching I was barely present at all. My mind was so scattered and uncentered that virtually any disturbance in the classroom was enough for me to lose any sense of self-esteem or equanimity. In short, fear dominated my teaching. It dominated my teaching because I had not done the inner work required to understand why I was afraid. I did not understand why at a deep level I felt inadequate as a teacher and human being; why I was terrified of losing control; and why I believed that the young human beings before me were untrustworthy and hostile. In fact, I didn’t even fully realise that I carried these attitudes and thought processes into the classroom, because I was largely unconscious of what lay within my psyche.

The only way for a teacher to be fully present is for her to engage in an inner journey. A healing journey. There is no genuine wisdom while fear dominates the personality. A frightened, mentally scattered sage is a contradiction in terms.

Is this what we are hearing from most educators and curriculum developers? No. Robert Bahash exemplifies a typical analysis.

Changing classroom teaching techniques will also improve student learning. The development of hi-tech learning applications and digital content delivery has transformed the learning platform. For successful 21st-century learning, classrooms need to embrace the power of data to create learning paths that will help shape students and prepare them for the digitally driven world… (my bold type).

What concerns me about so much of what appears as ‘critique’ of modern education is that it is in fact not critique at all. It permits no vertical expansion of the human experience, merely horizontal shifts in foci. Regardless of whether we are using a text book or a computer, unless we emphasise it, there will be no genuine inner journey. There is no silence and there is no reflection.

Computers, IT, and mobile devices contain no intrinsic qualities which necessitate the facilitation of wisdom, equanimity and presence.  If employed with the same industrial age mentality as, say, a text book, they merely exacerbate the dominance of what mystics like to call ‘the monkey mind’. They merely become another medium via which the mind becomes distracted and disembodied, and dissociated from the psyche – and from the human spirit and its innate intuitive wisdom. Saying that classrooms need to “embrace the power of data” without any reference to grounding the individual in the body, is to fundamentally invert what is required to permit a psychologically and spiritually healthy human learning to develop.

Perhaps it is true that we live in a “digitally driven world,” as Bahash states. Yet this development is an extension of the same neurosis. What he is describing is a world where information increasingly comes first, and wisdom and self-reflection are given little or no value.

Connection to the body and psyche must come first. In a sane and truly rational world the capacity for equanimity and presence must take precedence over running data through minds. This foundation must take precedence over technical training, including IT instruction. Note I am not advocating abolition of information technology and career development. IT and mobile technology are exciting and powerful developments which will be essential aspects of almost all probable human futures, as I argued in yesterday's post. These things simply have to be taught in schools as well. I am simply suggesting beginning with embodied wisdom first, then exploring the other domains thereafter.

To be given value, these things must be assigned curriculum time. ‘Spiritual’ education must be permitted a space in modern education systems, and developed syllabi must allow self-exploration and quiet time. Yet for this to happen we need teachers who embody quiet equanimity. Teachers who are vitally present in the classroom.

This is not happening.

How can we make it happen?

First we have to admit that there is a problem, and that the monkey mind is not going to deliver us from the problems we are facing, regardless of how many gigabytes of data we strap to it. It will simply create more of the same problems we are seeing in today's school and in today's society.

Information Technology must be recognised for what it is: an exciting and powerful medium, but not the goal.

Marcus

Urban Enlightenment: Wonder

 Hong Kong Central. This is not far from the scene I describe: Taken with my mobile phone.

Here is a simple process which you can practice on any given day to help restore the sense of wonder into your life. This is an extract from my booklet Urban Enlightenment. There are two simple presence tools which will help you become present and experience wonder: The Oneness Technique, and Five Breaths. You can read about them here.

Day 29: Wonder

Today I allow myself to see the wonder in all things. Wonder, I gently invite you into my heart.

There is an amazing thing that happens when we are fully present, with the mind is silent. The mundane suddenly comes alive! Even the most simple thing becomes wonderous.

Just a few days ago I was walking around the area outside IFC in Central, Hong Kong, shortly after dusk. Just outside the doors of that building there are several slender trees, jutting up through the concrete walkway. As I passed each one I marveled at the wonder of their presence. There, in the concrete jungle, nature springs eternal. I stopped by one tree, and gently touched one of its branches. I allowed myself to feel the tree’s surface upon my hand. In silence I communed with the tree.

After a while I looked up and gazed at the vast urban landscape before me: the lights, the glass, the great steel and concrete architecture thrusting up towards the night sky. Then I walked down the short steps to the walkway which runs above the busy road. I walked by the hand railing, where beautiful red flowers had been planted in large trays. I passed by each one in reverie, the colour of the flowers and green leaves filling my spirit with simple wonder. Each of my steps were slow, my mind empty, my eyes feeling the vital spirit of each plant.

There was a cross bridge just ahead, and I stopped there, gazing down at the traffic. I surrendered in deep peace, and a sense of wonder deepened as the cars and buses drove by under the cross bridge, each on its own perfect journey.

There is a traffic island right in that place, and it has been planted with beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers. I turned my attention to the plants and simply let the joy of nature fill me. Crowds of people marched by, but I was oblivious to their presence. A small child suddenly appeared beside me and was gleefully looking down at the scene before him. I knew that in my perfect state of presence, the joy and wonder of the child had been reborn within me. I let go and surrendered to the moment.

And this was in Hong Kong Central, one of the most densely populated places on Earth!

There are no excuses. Wonder is available everywhere and anywhere, once the mind is brought into deep presence.

The Process: Today, on at least three occasions, stop and be present to the wonder around you. Don’t try to force wonder. Gently invite it. She will come only of her own accord. Be still, listen, watch, and feel the wonder within you, in relationship with that which is around you.

Die Bin Laden, Die!

Bin Laden is dead. Long live Bin Laden. Which of course, he will.

Look upon this face for a moment? What do you feel? Be honest?

Scenes of celebration were shown across the news and internet yesterday, as some Americans celebrated the death of a tyrant. To be honest, I haven’t been following the details, but I suspect many Americans will be highly suspicious about the whole deal. This is not surprising, given the timing, and the numerous unanswered questions. I have not seen Obama’s address to the nation, but I have read about it. The entire thing reminded me very much of a scene from Orwell’s 1984 (written in 1948), right near the end of the novel. There is a great victory for the State. The moment is intended to bond the people in unity. It is a carefully orchestrated glorious victory for the nation.

A shrill trumpet-call had pierced the air. It was the bulletin! Victory! It always meant victory when a trumpet-call preceded the news. A sort of electric drill ran through the cafe. Even the waiters had started and pricked up their ears.

The trumpet-call had let loose an enormous volume of noise. Already an excited voice was gabbling from the telescreen, but even as it started it was almost drowned by a roar of cheering from outside. The news had run round the streets like magic. He could hear just enough of what was issuing from the telescreen to realize that it had all happened, as he had foreseen; a vast seaborne armada had secretly assembled a sudden blow in the enemy's rear, the white arrow tearing across the tail of the black. Fragments of triumphant phrases pushed themselves through the din: 'Vast strategic manoeuvre -- perfect co-ordination -- utter rout -- half a million prisoners -- complete demoralization -- control of the whole of Africa -- bring the war within measurable distance of its end victory -- greatest victory in human history -- victory, victory, victory!'

Fascinating that both Orwell’s and Obama’s victories occur through electronic media, and there is no evidence that any of it is real. All this, of course, will feature heavily in the media analyses in the next few days.

Others, including many Americans, will question how killing Bin Laden will in any way move us forward into a better future, and that is what I am going to write a little about today.

The answer to the question is: “Very little.” Justice at a social level is important. It can help people to find closure. In this sense Bin laden’s death will help Americans some move on.

However there are two essential problems, and they are related.

The first one will no doubt come to attention in the next few days. The death of Bin Laden will exacerbate blame and hatred in many Muslims throughout the world, and many other non-Western people too (e.g. some Chinese, Africans and so on). And that will include many who hold no respect for his teachings or methods. Blame and hatred begat blame and hatred. Violence begats violence.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

It is that simple.

The only way forward is through healing. And this requires a complete shift in consciousness. It requires moving out of the mentality of the ego (the mind), and into complete presence. It is only through complete presence that we can see the other, the enemy, for what they really are. It is only through presence that our own pain and suffering can be fully acknowledged, fully felt, and fully and healed. When we are present it is impossible to project, to hate, and to blame.

However, for the vast majority of humanity the mind is constantly in a state of projection. It projects anger and blame out into the world because it does not want to feel its rage, its fear and its sadness. No matter what anybody tells you, perfect healing is possible. But it cannot occur at the level of ego. This is why anger and blame begat anger and blame. The ego will constantly try to go one up on the “other”. Today, America “won”. In September 2001, Al Quaida “won”. Who will “win” tomorrow?

In truth at the level of mind, there is no winner, because the ego is fundamentally insane. It chooses chaos and separation where peace and love are possible - and possible right now. Yet to feel that peace and love, we have to feel our pain. That is why so many refuse peace. That is why we hate and blame. That is why we feel “good” when the enemy is “defeated.” It is simply the ego’s sense of justification that its insanity is “right.” There is the promise of peace in the future, but true peace cannot be delivered by worldy action alone. It requires inner work.

The truth is that it is very simple to heal. Certainly, the presence of someone who is already healed - a teacher - is highly beneficial for healing to occur. That is simply because there are few people who are truly healed.

But is essence all that is required is the following two steps.

1) Bring the mind into presence.

2) Feel what needs to be felt (which will rise spontaneously in the moment).

How many of those celebrating in the streets of America and elsewhere today will choose healing over “victory.” The answer is not many.

And that is why the war on terror continues.

It will continue until we choose peace.

Yet in a sense that does not matter for you. You can choose peace. Right now.

Do you?

Look again at the face of Bin Laden, above. What do you feel? If you are in a suitable place, say out loud what you think and feel (internalise it if you are in public). But as you do so, don’t get caught in the story of the ego. Just witness it.

I hate you. You are evil. You are a monster. You tried to destroy my people. I am glad you are dead. Fuck you!

It is not wrong to feel or think such things. It is just the way of the ego. If you feel such things, just confess it to God. Own it, but don't beleive the ego's story.

Now, turn away from the image of Bin Laden. Place your attention on some simple object near your computer. Feel yourself breathing, and bring yourself fully into your body. Look upon the object with relaxed concentration. As the mind wanders and thoughts come in, just gently let them go, then focus upon the object again. If you do this properly, it will seem as if you are looking the thing for the very first time, like a small child finding wonder in something like a pen, a ball, a cup. Do this for at least 30 seconds.

When you feel you are in relaxed presence, gently return your attention to the photo of Bin Laden.

What do you feel?

When you can look upon the face of Bin Laden and find acceptance, without projection, you are free. Your war on terror will be over.

The Joy of Attraction

BTW, I wrote my most recent take on the law of attraction in an ebook called "A More Attractive Law of Attraction", which covers some of the ideas written here, but in much more detail. Marcus

I have written about the law of attraction quite a few times, sometimes in detail, and sometimes in passing. To summarise, I believe that there is some truth to the law of attraction. Yet my take on it is that we attract not so much what we want, but what we are. What I mean by this is that there is a constant interplay of consciousness and cosmos. You mind is deeply connected to those around you, to life and the universe. The very existence of synchronicity – meaningful coincidences - is suggestive of this.

However some takes on the law of attraction don’t quite resonate with me. I find The Secret videos and books, for example, to be far too materialistic, and there is too little about introspection or understanding the relationship between ego and Spirit. Basically, it’s all about “I want, and I shall have”. So I have tended to stay away from law of attraction philosophies.

This is why, much to my surprise, I found myself buying another book on the law of attraction recently. I was browsing a bookshop near my home in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong, when I stumbled across a book called (strangely enough) The Law of Attraction, written by Esther and Jerry Hicks. I have watched one or two short videos of the Hick’s on Youtube, so I already knew who they were. Esther Hicks is a channel, and she channels an entity called Abraham, which she says is actually a collective of advanced minds in another dimension.

Over the years I have taught myself to follow my inner guidance when making just about all decisions, and the moment I laid eyes on this book, the energy of it felt good. Many years ago I developed this capacity to feel intuitively by imagining a stream of consciousness moving out from my heart and into the thing I am “reading”. These days I don’t even need the visualisation part – my psyche immediately connects with whatever I focus upon, if I choose to do so.

The feeling I got with this book was one of light and peace. So I picked it up. I didn’t open it at first, but did a Quick Check, a particular divination method I often use to double check the “energy” on decisions. Much to my surprise, I got a very high reading. As I held it in my hand, it just felt good. Actually, I barely opened the book, just quickly taking a few seconds to glance at a sentence or two.

So, going against my rational mind (which has a slight aversion to such “channeled” books nowadays) I took the book to the counter and paid for it.

I must say that I am very glad that I did. This is by far the best material I have ever read on the law of attraction.

I particularly like the fact that the philosophy of the book is not so much about accumulating assets. The essence of the material is about coming to a greater awareness of the way you use your mind. Personal responsibility lies at the heart of the message, especially the need to take responsibility for the thoughts and feelings which one allows to enter the mind.

I found many of the ideas and techniques in the book very useful.

One part of the book talks about the “art of allowing”, which is an attitude of acceptance of whatever comes into your experience or perception. Non-judgment has long been a foundation of my own spiritual practice, and I found this idea of allowing to be perfectly compatible with it. What I noticed from applying the ideas in the book is that there are many things that I have not been allowing. Judgment brings forth a subtle desire for control and power over people, situations and things. If you pay careful attention to judgment, there is a certain destructiveness about it. Unfortunately, judgment also destroys love and acceptance. It creates walls between us and the world, and solidifies the ego’s sense of separation and alienation. I found that this became clearer in my own mind as I read the book and observed by own mind more closely during the days of the reading.

A simple process outlined in the book is to keep the mind focused upon what one desires, or what brings happiness, not upon that which one dislikes. Again, this is an idea that I was aware of, but I found revisiting this habit to be very powerful. Again, I observed that my mind was tending to gravitate towards a focus upon certain undesired situations, and that this created a negative shift in my physiology. By simply returning attention to the desired outcome, my energy changed immediately.

One idea that I really liked from the book is something called “segment intending”. The process simply requires stopping at certain points in the day, and allowing yourself to visualise and sense a desirous outcome for the event you are about to undertake. In a sense you are projecting a positive expectation into the event. I have been applying this to my life, and find it very powerful.

For a while I stopped visualising desired futures, because my focus is now upon being present. But now I see more clearly that the two concepts are compatible, as long as you release the expectation of the desired future at the end of the visualisation. If you don’t release, then you are projecting a subtle level of power and control, and this takes you away from presence, and from the connection with Spirit. Once you let go, you will tend to find joy in whatever outcome arises, even if it was not what you wanted.

I also liked a tool outlined in the book which is part of what it calls “deliberate creation”. This involves thinking of something which your heart desires, than increasing the “energy’ on its creation in the following two ways. First, write down three reasons why you want that thing, and secondly three reasons why you believe that you can create it. I have tried this, and I find that the process does create a subtle positive shift in energy. It forces the mind to imagine the positive outcome of an event. Often the mind will automatically do the opposite and come up with many reasons why you can’t have the thing you want. This method helps counter that.

These are not new ideas. I have read, and practiced many of them before, and you probably have too. However it seems that for me this was a case of being reacquainted with important truths at just the right time.

A few days before I came across this book I received a message from Spirit in the form of a song. I awoke one morning and the old Christmas Carol Joy the World was playing in my head (I receive a lot of guidance from songs). For a moment I couldn’t quite work out what the message was, but then as I reflected upon things for a day or two, I came to realise that it was time to allow more joy and happiness into my life. What has this got to do with The Law of Attraction? The answer is that a central theme of the book is about allowing joy. In fact the one idea which sticks in my mind from the book is where Jerry Hicks asks Abraham how we can tell if we have been successful in deliberate creation. Abraham’s answer was as follows.

You will know that you have been successful when the outcome brings you joy.

In my mind, I think it is this idea more than anything which sets The Law of Attraction apart from some of the more superficial books and philosophies on the same subject. It is not in the acquisition of more stuff that the life we live is judged, but in the joy and love we shine into the world.

I do have certain doubts about some aspects of the teachings. Like many law of attraction philosophies, Abraham says that all events we experience are attracted to us because of our thoughts, and that includes rapes and murder. I find this a little hard to accept, but who knows, maybe there is something here I don’t understand. I’m at the stage now in my life where I don’t need to believe or reject things emotionally, but instead allow the uncertainty or ambiguity of them to rest within my mind until such time as an understanding develops (and if it doesn’t that is fine). I can do this because these days I am spending more time in presence, living in the moment. In presence the intellect falls quiet, and you do not have to stake knowledge claims or believe anything. You just are.

Will reading this book and practicing its techniques bring into your life the things you want? You know, I’m not sure, and in a sense I don’t even care. I found the overall energy of Esther and Jerry Hicks and the teachings of Abraham to be gentle, joyous and generous. The Law of Attraction has been a very worthwhile read for me.

Marcus

A Woman of Grace and Grandeur

Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight is one of those books that I had heard mentioned and referenced many times, but which I never actually got around to reading. Well, recently I did actually get round to it, and I have to say that I am very glad I did. This is a wonderful book. I have found it to be particularly useful for me, as someone who practices meditative and spiritual disciplines. It also has relevance to me as a futurist.

The most attractive feature of the book is the honest narrative of the author. This is not so much the retelling of a life-changing personal experience, but the generous sharing of great wisdom gleaned from profound personal and spiritual experiences.

The author was a 37 year old neuroscientist when she suffered a stroke.

One of the most fascinating and important aspects of the book is its detailing of the neuroanatomy of having a stroke, and in turn of spiritual experience and inner peace. This may sound dry to some, but I personally found it fascinating. It confirmed much of what I have felt to be true for a long time, according to my spiritual experiences.

The actual account of her stroke makes for fascinating reading in itself. It occurred early in the morning, and at first she does not know quite what is happening. She feels dissociated from her body. The aneurism in the left side of her brain begins to debilitate several key modules of the brain. One of these is the Superior Parietal Gyrus, which is responsible for the perception of physical boundaries. As a result her sense of self as a discrete individual separate from the world begins to diminish. She is filled with a great euphoria, even as she senses herself as being one with the cosmos. If this sound like a mystical experience, then this is precisely what she makes of it.

Assisting in her rapid and involuntary shift of consciousness is the fact that the stroke also affected two neighboring areas of the left brain, including the Superior Temporal Gyus (hearing and speech). Blood flow was thus restricted to Broca’s area (speech generation) and Wernicke’s area (comprehension of speech). This caused the chattering inner voice of the left brain to go quite. It also meant that Jill Bolte Taylor was virtually unable to generate any intelligent speech when she finally managed to phone a friend to tell him that she was having a life-threatening medical emergency!

The middle section of the book details Bolte Taylor’s rehabilitation. Some of the details given here are very useful for those passionate about spiritual and consciousness development. Though the author literally lost a golf ball sized chunk of her brain as a result of the after-stroke surgery, she is fully aware of the plasticity of the brain, and how important it is to immediately begin to fully activate her brain again after the stroke. She begin first by learning how to walk again, then how to speak, read and even go hiking by herself.

Bolte Taylor states that her complete recovery took eight years! However, what is most fascinating is that she chooses NOT to reactivate aspects of her former personality. For what changes most after her stroke is her value system. She comes to value inner peace and tranquility above all else. Her controlling and short-tempered personality traits are discarded. The story of how she does this is invaluable. I believe that much of her strategy can be applied even to those of us who have not had such a brain-altering experience! How does she do it? By determined self-discipline, and carefully monitoring her inner world. Reading the book I was struck by how much her personal methods mirror my own spiritual disciplines.

As a result of her stroke (in fact right in the middle of it), Bolte Taylor immediately sensed the importance of communicating a powerful spiritual message to humanity: that inner peace and spiritual love are an innate aspect of the human experience, and that they can be experienced at virtually any given moment if we simply still the mind. The key is to allow the left brain to go quiet, and the wonderful and spontaneous presence and mindfulness of the right brain to find expression.

My Stroke of Insight also contains some simple and effective processes for allowing inner peace. These are worth the price of the book alone.

The message of My Stroke of Insight is powerful and clear. Deep inner peace and “divine” love are available too all of is right here and now, and that a little understanding of neuroanatomy can help us understand how to allow this.

The book does indicate what I have long realized: that the physiology of the brain greatly affects the expression of consciousness. Bolte Taylor does not quite go so far as to suggest that the brain does not generate consciousness, but it is clear that her worldview is deeply spiritual.

For me the book has granted me further permission to allow presence into my own life. There is no reason for you, I and everybody not to experience perfect love and fulfillment. Not one tiny little reason! The ego sets up a host of reasons why it cannot allow “divine” love at any given moment. Let me be blunt. These reasons are all bullshit. Many years ago when I was a door to door salesman, my boss used to tell me “Don’t buy their lies!”. He meant don’t listen to the excuses of potential customers. Keep selling! “You”, as the manager of your mind, have to be the boss, and you have to learn to call BS on the mind’s endless tricks, it’s relentless excuses as to why you cannot permit love and peace in this moment.

What I love most about Jill Bolte Tayler is her personal courage. She has not been afraid to go out and tell the world about her experiences and the profound insights she has gleaned from them. What a remarkable contrast she represents to the dry, politically correct detachment of so much of modern education and science! More power and success to her, I say!

Why is this book important for the future? It is because this is a story of a scientist who is catapulted out of her mundane rational world and worldview by an extraordinary event. The insights she has gained are relevant to us all. In the modern world we spend too much time stuck in the head, in the rational mind. The non-ordinary perceptions granted by the right brain are only deemed extraordinary because the way we have developed our societies creates brain structures and processes which lock us into a fragmented, linguistic experience of life and world. Our society creates talking heads. It time we must permit the creation of feeling, listening, receptive souls. People like Jill Bolte Taylor have a special role to play in this regard, because she is literally accredited by mainstream science.

If you take the time to watch to her TED talk, below, you will see what a remarkable woman Jill Bolte Taylor is.

Marcus

What Lies at the Heart of the Future?

I typically describe myself as a futurist. I often write about the future, including in Futures Studies journals. My book Extraordinary Mind is subtitled Integrated Intelligence and the Future. Yet I am a futurist who believes that the one thing that all the possible probable and preferred futures of humanity must contain if they are to succeed, is... presence.

Yes, the essence of my preferred future is to be here now.

It is only through presence that human beings can become fully conscious, and bring darkness into light. It is only in presence that consciousness becomes fully alive.

Most of all, it is in presence that we find the love that lies at the heart of every human story that has ever mattered.

It is in presence that we find God... or something that feels like God.

Visions of the future which fail to address this story are ultimately empty. They are like a person turning up at a baseball game, then sitting backwards in his seat and watching the wall at the back of the stadium. The essential point has been missed. Most visions of the future are out of alignment with the essence of our story. They have become lost in the flickering mind. The present worldwide obsession with gadgets is simply an extension of the scattered awareness of the ego. The flickering screen is an extension of the flickering mind.

The way back is simple. It's quite easy really. Simply return to what is real, what is here.

Rather than my telling you, here is a short video from someone who taught me much about presence. He speaks straight from the heart: Leonard Jacobson. Leonard is a modern mystic whom I first met in Australia 19 years ago. He is the real deal. He is not trying to sell anything nor be anything other than what he is. I invite you to take a few moments to listen to his wisdom.

Here is Leonard talking about what God is. Nothing is more important.

Marcus