The Moon of Changes

How have you been going lately? It's a common enough question, but how you have been going is not entirely of your own choice, is it? There are a whole host of factors which influence your mind, right from its immediate conscious expression, through to your neuro-physiology and the effect of the world you interact with. This is not disputed in most modern science. However, as a regular meditator and mystic, what I have seen is that there are other forces which impact the way we experience life. I have often written and talked about consciousness fields, and how these impact us. Each of us has a mind embedded in entangled multiple layers of projections and psychic forces beyond our immediate control.

One factor which I have now come to accept influences consciousness is that of cosmology - the way that the relative 'movements' of the moon, sun, stars and so on impact our lives. Although once I laughed at this idea, I now firmly believe that it is true.

A week or so ago we had a super moon. Apparently it was about sixteen per cent bigger than average. Because the moon's orbit is elliptical - not circular - it is bigger at some times than others. A "super moon" is the point at which the moon is closest to the earth, and thus at its visible biggest 'size'.

To generalise, this recent super moon heralds a time of letting go. It may mean the end of relationships, or jobs or things we identify with. It is all about change. There may be a period of sadness and mourning as the old passes, and the new replaces it. For spiritually inclined, you may need to be aware of the forces which hold you back from making those shifts. While they will all reflect internal issues within yourself, they may also express themselves in those around you unconsciously trying to stop you from moving on - or to put it more accurately, from deepening into truth (you are not really going anywhere).

I live right beside some tall hills, on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. During the night of the super moon, the moon rose over those hills, and flooded my bedroom with bright moonlight as I slept. My curtain does not fully cover the window area, so for a period in the early morning there was a huge Mr Moon staring at me through the gap! The images and dreams that I had strongly suggested to me the insights about change I suggested in the previous paragraph. 

All the images you see on this post were taken through that gap in the curtain using my iPhone. They are a bit blurry, distorted, but in some ways that blurriness mirrors the fuzzying effect the moon has on the human psyche. You can see the dark shadow of the hills just below the moon as it is setting.

One dream was quite disturbing (and disturbing dreams are 'good', for if you integrate the consciousness of them, you will learn something at a deep level). I found myself in a kind of computer hardware store. the ceilings were quite high, and the most remarkable thing was that the walls and ceiling were all made of glass. It was night time, but I sensed that there were some scattered trees outside, like as if it were on an open plain area. Suddenly there was a huge wind, and lightning, and the place began to shudder and shake. There was a huge storm or typhoon coming. Since the building was made of glass, it seemed terribly fragile to me, and I was scared it would all be blown away.

 

The guy behind the counter told me I'd better put off entering the competition as it wasn't a good time. Next, I was trying to hide, but it was no use. The whole place disintegrated and I was being blown away into the sky (at this point it became third-person, me watching another person). "I" became David Warner, who is a very talented young cricket player who plays for Australia. As Warner was blown away I was thinking "What a waste: all that talent gone because he's dead."

The dream is reasonably clear. The computer store is actually my mind, which is becoming more transparent (to me) as time goes by. This represents a deepening into presence, which leaves a person more 'honest', and the working of the mind/ego are more readily acknowledged. Wind, especially strong winds, often represent the forces of change which are out of control, and the fear of being swept away into the chaos - the fear of loss of control.

The 'competition' mentioned by the salesman in the dream is, of course, the ego's way of dealing with life - setting itself up in a marketplace to 'sell' - i.e. to manipulate and control circumstances to get what it wants. I suspect in this case it has to do with my book Discover Your Soul Template, which I am 'selling' via promotion. And I hope you noted some irony in that last sentence, as I got a plug in for the book! (the point remains valid, though)

In this case, the cricketer David Warner represents my own 'abilities and talents', which my ego fears will be wasted if I let go and shift into a different way of being. It suggests I am attached to my work as a writer and speaker, and as a "seer". My identity is caught up in those roles. This is something that people who set themselves up as spiritual teachers will encounter to some degree. We see ourselves as the teachers, the wise ones, the purveyors of knowledge. But at a deeper level we are all just here in a state of being. We are all teachers and students.

Change is inevitable. If you set out on a spiritual journey, you are inviting change. That is the 'price' you pay. The key then, regardless of what actions you may decide to take in light of changes occuring around you, is to relax and experince the shift without judgment. Integration then occurs without resistance.

Blessings,

Marcus

Crisis, deep meaning and the opportunity for change

I have failed in my foremost task – to open people’s eyes to the fact that man has a soul, there is a buried treasure in the field, and that our religion and philosophy are in a lamentable state.     Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, towards the end of his life

One day, when I was about eight years old, my school principal Mr Suley got up on the morning assembly and spoke from the heart. Now, more than 30 years later, I cannot remember all the details. What I do remember though, was his tone of deep concern. He spoke about war, the environment, cooperation, and simply what it means to be a decent human being. And I will never forget what he said at the end of it all.

“You are the future of this world. My generation has already had a go and we messed it up. You must do better, or we will not be here much longer.”

Of all the things anybody ever said in my schooling days, this was probably the most impactful. Here he was, an older man approaching retirement, and he decided to speak about something more than keeping the playground clean, punishing misbehaviour, or the principal’s old favourite: “Get ready because the exams are coming up.” Mr Suley spoke of life itself, and what it means to be a human being on this planet. They were words of deep meaning, words that moved me. They were moving words because they were not just spoken, but felt. I went through another ten years in the public education system after that, and I honestly cannot recall any teacher or administrator speaking with such impact, or about something so meaningful. This silence always puzzled me.

Mr Suley has probably passed on by now. I heard some years ago that he was involved in a car accident, and that his wife had been killed. I was deeply saddened. It would also have been a tragedy if he had passed up the opportunity of speaking meaningfully on the assembly all those years ago. He may not be here anymore, and maybe he suffered greatly though personal tragedy. But the seed he planted on that day lives on in the man writing this article in 2011.

Many of us can probably remember a defining moment from our younger days when a teacher, parent or elder spoke from the heart and moved us, made us think deeply. But what about public educators today? How many have ever engaged in a discussion or a lesson where they shared something from deep within? The answer for many educators is that they rarely touch upon the deeply meaningful. Why is that? 

At first glance the answer might seem obvious. There is the issue of personal vulnerability. Maybe the students will ridicule or ignore them. Maybe the teacher will offend someone’s religious or philosophical beliefs. And who wants to upset parents in these times of legal accountability? Besides, it is not in the curriculum or syllabus, so why go there?

To go deep requires courage.

Yet (rather appropriately) the absence of meaning goes deeper. To understand why education discourses have become an effective litany of surfaces we have to look at the situation in depth. At the bottom (or perhaps “top” is a better term) of all human experience lies the transcendent, that which connects us to a greater whole, where the boundaries between self and others, individual and cosmos become blurred. And that takes us into the awkward but profound territory of human spirituality.

Yes, the dreaded “s” word. 

To truly appreciate the lack of depth in modern education, media and popular culture, we must examine the way that our society has developed, who controls the dominant discourses, and the ways of knowing which under-gird them. And finally we must take into account the very way in which modern science and education view the human mind and its intelligence.

In this time of shifting global power and economic uncertainty, the restoration of cognitive depth along with associated “right-brained” cognitive processes (including spirituality), is something we can no longer ignore. The reactivation of cognitive depth is a necessity not only for economic and social stability, but for the long-term survival of the human race. The current uncertain global economic climate is the perfect time to begin to initiate change in both culture and curriculum, and expand the ways of knowing that we employ in the society and in the classroom. This is a discussion which lies at the heart of the creation of  Deep Futures – futures that are profound, passionate, engaging, and most of all deeply meaningful. More money, machines and amusement for everyone is not enough. These do not fulfill the human spirit.

Crisis and opportunity often arise together. Will we grasp the chance? Or will we be yet another generation that has failed to take the opportunity, the responsibility,  that we are being given.

Marcus

Rise of the machines, ascent of the spirit

In the original Matrix movie (that’s the one that was watchable, in case you have forgotten) there is a scene where Neo is hooked up to a computer, and is learning all the martial arts moves by downloading them into his brain. He is actually asleep at the time, and the fellow watching him remarks that this is incredible because nobody has ever been so fast.

A fascinating scene, it makes for an interesting dilemma. What will it be like in the future when we can hook ourselves up to computer databases and just download information into our brains? Then we will be super intelligent. It will make the humans of bygone eras look like cognitive Neanderthals by comparison.

The scenario reminds us of certain arguments regarding artificial intelligence. Computers can already store and organise masses of data, and they can process it much faster than human beings. The human/computer memory differential becomes vaster with every passing year. Mores law states that computing power doubles every  two years or so. Computers will soon have infinitely more memory - and processing speed  - than any human being could possible dream of. We will be dumb as donkeys by comparison. And your tiny little mind, which can’t even remember where you put the car keys, will be little more than a source of amusement to the vast computers than will soon run this planet, if not cosmos.

Or maybe not.

The aliens (part 2)

In yesterday’s blog post I described the basis of the Seti programme (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence), and outlined some of Seti chair Paul Davies’ ideas related to the programme and the idea of initial contact with alien life. Today I am going to go a little deeper and say why I believe that Davies is most likely wrong on several accounts. Most importantly, I’m going to outline the significance of this for the future of science and the future of possible human-alien interaction. Many of my critiques are founded upon my first-person exploration of the human mind, and working with other extraordinary individuals who have spent time doing the same. This gives me a rather different slant on the problem of human/alien interaction than Davies. All argument is only as valid as the soundness of the presuppositions upon which it is founded. In Davies case, there are certain givens which (by definition) he assumes to be true, but which are not.

Professor Davies argues that mathematics will be the only common language that we will have with the first alien civilisation we contact. His error is that there are cognitive processes which transcend language.

What would you say to ET? (and how?)

When the aliens contact us, what should the first communication to them be? This was the subject of an interesting article in The South China Morning Posts’ Post Magazine, today. The article consisted of an interview by the writer Jon Ronson, with famous physicist Paul Davies. Besides being a scientist and academic, Davies is the fairly famous author of many best-selling books, including The Mind of God. He also just happens to be chair of Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which uses radio telescopes to scan the cosmos for signals from other worlds with intelligent life. Seti was instigated by Frank Drake some 50 years ago. Drake calculated what he thought to be the number of intelligent civilisations there are in the galaxy, given all the variables that might contribute to the development as life as we know it. He came up with an answer of 10 000. That’s an awful lot of ETs getting around up there.

Like most mainstream scientists, Davies dismisses popular UFO culture, and ridicules reports of cattle mutilations and alien abductions. He says that if there are aliens out there, it is statistically very unlikely that they are just a few years ahead of us in terms of technology. It’s an interesting point.

One of the ways we know that UFO witnesses are lying or delusional, Davies says, is that the descriptions of the aliens and their craft are so unimaginative. Here is where Davies shows some lack of understanding himself.