DEEP FUTURES:
Possible, preferred and alternative visions of tomorrow. Now.
It's the future, Jim, but not as we know it... There's more to tomorrow than robots, flying cars, and a faster internet. 22C+ is all about Deep Futures, futures that matter. Welcome to futures fantastic, unexpected, profound, but most of all deeply meaningful...
Please note: I use the masculine pronoun to describe the Champion of the Soul here, but it is merely for convenience.
The idea of the champion goes way back into pre-history. The champion was brave, strong, ready to fight, and always, always male. He knew how to be tough, and he knew that expressions of emotional vulnerability were unacceptable. The champion won the applause of the people by fighting for them, or standing up against tyranny. There was an ethical code, of course. The most loved champions were moral. They knew the difference between right and wrong. Hitler, Sadam Hussain and Attilla the Hun were all very brave men. But they were also demonic. They crossed the line, and had little or no sense of justice. They lacked compassion.
The Champion lives on, of course. You see them at the cinema, in video games, TV shows, and in modern sporting contests. Much bloodied and fatigued, they fight on till their bodies can fight or play no more.
There is much to admire in the traditional champion. One cannot help but admire the bloody-minded, determined heroism of Russell Crowe’s Maximus in the movie Gladiator. Despite living in a hostile world where his life was in constant threat, and his body was regularly battered by opponents and life itself, he soldiered on.
Yet the world, and humanity has changed, and it will continue to change.
This is the conclusion to my new book Extraordinary Mind: Integrated Intelligence and the Future.The book will available in about a month.
Some people ask me why my blog is called “22C+”. The short answer is that “22C” stands for the twenty-second century, and the “+” symbol represents ‘more’, or perhaps ‘beyond’. So my blog, like my writing in general, is centered upon thinking about the future within a timeframe extending beyond our current century. Sociologist Elise Boulding developed the idea of the 200-year present – thinking of this moment in history as spanning a timeframe from 100 years ago, to 100 years in the future. Boulding’s perspective has much merit, and the same kind of thinking lies behind the way I view the future, and particularly the idea of Integrated Intelligence. When we look at our place in both history and the future, we tend to think in relatively short timeframes. In part this is because it is so hard to speculate about what is going to happen much beyond the present decade, and also because it is difficult to think outside the worldview in which we are embedded.
I trust that your reading this book has helped you understand that the way you think, and your very expression of consciousness is conditioned by the society you live in, and the education systems which have shaped your mind. Science too has changed its ways of knowing. The fathers of modern science used quite different mental processes than do most modern scientists, when they formulated their paradigm-shifting theories of knowledge. The idea of God was central to Copernicus’s, Newton’s and Descartes’ worldviews, and Copernicus was actually a priest. Newton’s spiritual bent included a fascination with astrology, occultism and alchemy. He did not think that the universe could be explained from material causes, but only through reference to God. Descartes also believed that only the direct perception of God created the objectivity in the universe. Darwin was far from being a dry empiricist, and believed that there was a higher moral order to human life. A belief in Divine intelligence was therefore at the core of worldviews of the first ‘scientists’.
In 2012 the world will end because the Mayan calendar says so.
Not really, of course. But we shouldn't let that stop us having a few panic attacks between now and then. After all, what is the use of a good doomsday scenario if one can’t get a little terror out of it?
Some New Age teachings take the reverse idea and say that 2012 will be the beginning of a new era, a rebuilding into something new. The New Age version is closer to the actual Mayan belief structure. In the Mayan calendar, 2012 is the end of a cycle, and the beginning of a new one.
Yet to put it a bit harshly, both the pessimists and the optimists are delusional.
The ego fears death, and the idea that the end is coming in 2012 is a projection of the ego and its fear of annihilation. But the so-called optimists are also deluded. There will be no renewal, and no mass enlightenment for most of humanity in 2012. The idea of the coming of the glorious age is equally a projection of the ego. It’s a trick that the ego sets up to escape the present moment. And it is only ever in the present, here and now, that Heaven is found. It is not up there, beyond, or coming next week. Enlightenment cannot be achieved or reached. But Grace can be permitted by relaxing fully into the moment.
The greatest teacher of presence that I know is Australian mystic Leonard Jacobson (www.leonardjacobson.com). I have met Leonard on two occasions, and meditated with him. It was a powerful experience that I have never forgotten. His teaching is so simple that many miss it. The ego, in its haste for enlightenment, or the next spiritual fix, will look right past Leonard, and on to the next book, the next, healer, the next New Age.
There is no New Age.
There is only now. Today is the day you allow peace, or it is never. But do you want it badly enough?
To order your copy of Extraordinary Mind, email Marcus today, mindfutures@gmail.com, for a personally autographed copy. You will also receive the eBook absolutely free! Total cost including postage, US$19.95.
It is my hope that Extraordinary Mind will broaden readers’ awareness, and encourage them to think more deeply about the future and the way our minds function. The book details much about Integrated Intelligence, the way it functions, and even how to develop and apply it. The context for this is Deep Futures – futures that are profoundly meaningful; which honour universal human values such as compassion, connection and spirituality; and which permit the expression of a full range of ways of knowing. To this end, I have included what I consider to be the most interesting and informative material for the book. There are many personal stories included.
Extraordinary Mind: Integrated Intelligence and the Future will be published by Benjamin Franklin Press Asia, which of course, is my own little publishing venture. It will be available here directly through www.22cplus.blogspot.com, and through the normal online book retailers, such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Quite possibly though, at a later date I will share it with my agent and seek a broader publication.
Extraordinary Mind book is a compilation of some of my best writings, specifically about Integrated Intelligence, and its potential impact on the future. You’ll note that many of my articles and blog posts are quite long and detailed. Some are 2000-3000 words long. The re has been a considerable amount of research, time and effort that’s gone into my articles and posts, and now I would like to make them available to a wider audience. Lots of people don’t surf the net anyway; and of those that do, the exact time they spend at any given site or blog is probably just a few minutes. Most people agree that reading a book is far more conducive to holding one’s attention.
Peace,
Marcus
Table of Contents
Extraordinary Mind:
Integrated Intelligence and the Future
Foreword
Introduction: What Does It Mean to Have an
Extraordinary Mind?
Section 1: About Integrated Intelligence
What Is Integrated Intelligence?
Where Integrated Intelligence Comes From
Is the Psychic Real?
Should We Pursue Psychic Development?
Transcending the Rational Mind
The Greatest Gift
Section 2: Tales of Integrated Intelligence
Bright Lights in the Sky
The Aboriginal Shaman Woman
The Amazing Power of Synchronicity
An Extraordinary Woman, an Extraordinary Time
Entangled Minds
The Terror and the People
Out of Body, Out of Mind?
The Long Journey into Now
Go West!
Section 3: Applying Integrated Intelligence
The INI Tools
Can Psychic Ability Be Developed?
Can We See into the Future?
Making Wise Decisions Using Integrated
Intelligence
Is Your Spirituality Delusional?
Can Intuition Be Distorted by Those Around You?
Reading Synchronicity
Are You Living Your Bliss?
The Idiot Opposite Me
The Great Fall of Sedona
You Attract What You Are, Not What You Want
The Not-So-Simple Law of Attraction
Section 4: Integrated Intelligence in the
Modern World
Deep Futures: Beyond the Machine
Sleepwalking Through the Extraordinary
The IT Trap
I See Dead People
How to Make Monday Disappear Forever
The Subway as a Path to Enlightenment
He Stoops to Belong
The Dead Heart of the Orient
Section 5: Integrated Intelligence and Education
The Machine of Modern Education
Piled Higher and Deeper
The Battlefields of the Mind
How Darwin Lost Half His Mind
When the Loonies Come Round
A Rejected Genius Who Dared Say “No!”
Section 6: Integrated Intelligence and Human
Consciousness Evolution
How Enlightened are You?
Can Consciousness Levels be Measured?
When Gaia Speaks
Obama: Saviour or Anti-Christ?
The Death of Michael Jackson
Love Is Blindness
China, Islam, the Love and the Anger
Section 7: Thinking About the Future
2012: The End of the World?
Digging Deeper for Oil
Entanglement: The Next Big Idea?
Entanglement and Deep Connection
Biophobia: Be Very Afraid!
Mechanical Mind, Mechanical Eye
Will You Fall in Love With Your Robot
Psychiatrist?
Rise of the Machines, Ascent of the Spirit
Like Tears in the Rain
When the Aliens Come, What Will You Say?
They Come to Feast!
Conclusion: Integrated Intelligence and the Future
Appendices
Glossary of Important Terms
Recommended Reading
About Marcus T. Anthony
IndexTo order your copy of Extraordinary Mind,
email Marcus today, mindfutures@gmail.com, for a personally autographed
copy. You will also receive the eBook absolutely free! Total cost
including postage, US $19.95.
Several days ago on Rob and Trish Macgregor’s synchronicity blog there was a post entitled “Synchronicity or delusion?" . That blog post received a large number of responses, including one from me. I thought it would be good to elaborate on the answer that I gave there. I am also going to expand the topic a little, and talk not just about synchronicity, but about the idea of spiritual guidance in general (as synchronicity could be interpreted as a sub-category of the ‘spiritual’).
The post-rational stages of cognitive development have often been confused with the lower, prepersonal stages. Philosopher Ken Wilber makes this point, and he's right. One of the commonalities is seeing and hearing things that others don't perceive. How is anybody else supposed to know whethrer the person is a compete loony, or a prophet? How is the person perceiving the spiritual guidance to know whether he/she is a complete loony? Many sceptics would not even bother to make the distinction, but as someone who has had many spiritual experiences, I think it is not only worthwhile, but extremely important. We don’t want to spend time going down the wrong track in life because we followed the advice of some guidance that was nothing more than a delusion. And we don’t want to dismiss all guidance out of hand, because it can be very helpful
First a distinction that anyone who deals with intuitive or psychic realms has to know.
Note: Workshop is limited to 12 participants, so book early!
What does it mean to be empowered in the 21st century?
Empowerment is being able to get what you need, when you need it. Yet most people confuse needs of the ego with the needs of the spirit. In the consumer society we are disempowered by messages that we must have things that we don’t need. The deeper voice of the soul is drowned out. In Champion of the Soul workshops, you will learn to reconnect with your spirit, find out what you really need, and discover ways to get it.
Another essential part of spiritual empowerment is being able to stand in your power as a man or woman. The requirement is that you learn how to assume greater levels of responsibility for your life and your emotional energy in a world where most people relate to others by giving their power away, or by manipulating and dominating.
Champion of the Soul is an inspirational workshop for those wishing to truly commit to a greater spiritual consciousness. In doing so, you will become part of a greater groundswell of humanity moving us towards the greater spiritual evolution of our world.
What will you discover in the Champion of the Soul workshops?
In Champion of the Soul (Level 1) you will learn:
• How to connect with your inner champion, your courageous and ennobled higher self.
• How to recognise the way you give your power away to others and to the system, and how to break this cycle of disempowerment.
• How to recognise how you came to develop the patterns of disempowerment (soul issues) that you have developed in early childhood.
• How to use power wisely and responsibly, for the greater good of all and for the spiritual evolution of our species.
• How to connect with your deep emotional energy and assume responsibility for it. This includes reclaiming and healing your inner child.
• How to develop your intuitive intelligence, including the thoughts and emotional energies of others.
• Identifying your true intentions in relationships, and your partner’s.
Marcus has the ability to read and channel the consciousness fields of individuals and groups. This is something he has learned from spiritual teachers, and through committed dedication to the process over several decades. In Champion of the Soul, you will be taught how to do this too, and the way to use this intuitive ability to empower your life.
The workshop will be particularly useful for people who have faced significant spiritual issues, such as shyness, lack of confidence, a history of abuse, and childhood problems. Those with ongoing relationship problems will be assisted in finding the deeper spiritual causes, as well as healing. Individuals with a more confident and empowered personality will also benefit greatly, as the process enables the development of advanced perception. This includes both insight into our own deeper nature, and an awareness of the consciousness fields of our relationships. The Champion of the Soul workshop enables the responsible expression of personal power in a way that enhances the spiritual evolution of humankind.
Champion of the Soul is potentially transformational, and so requires a high degree of personal commitment, and intention. The process may require some exploration of the deeper workings of your ego (the shadow), and may possibly bring forth the emotional energy of the wounded child. This requires courage and a commitment to seeing the truth. If you feel that you are ready to take the next step in your life and be a part of the long-term spiritual transformation of humanity, then Champion of the Soul is for you.
The following is the introduction to 'Extraordinary Mind: Integrated Intelligence and the Future'. This is my upcoming book, which should be available in about two months. Feel free to make any comments about the introduction or the book!
What does it mean to have an extraordinary mind? The word ‘extraordinary’ literally means ‘beyond ordinary’, so by definition, few people have the kind of mind that I write about in this book. That extraordinary mind belongs to a person who has developed what I call “Integrated Intelligence”, or INI for short. INI is the innate ability to perceive and use spiritual intuition in your everyday life. This kind of spiritual knowledge presents itself in many different ways, and it is true that each person’s preferred ways of knowing are a little different. In my own life I have accessed Integrated Intelligence through dreams and visions, words and songs that pop into my head, and through getting an immediate and deep knowing about whether something is right or wrong. Synchronicities, deeply meaningful coincidences which occur spontaneously, have also been an invaluable source of INI in my life. As I shall explain in section one, this spiritual perception has various sources. These can include extra-sensory perception; the connectivity resulting from the sudden collapse of the distance’ between self and the thing you are perceiving; from a higher part of the mind which kindly processes information for you; and from direct spiritual guidance.
However, what is deemed ‘extraordinary’ depends on what we consider ordinary or normal.
The USA has been the world’s single superpower since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But will China soon usurp it as the dominant world power? Before I try my hand at answering this crucial question, let me sidetrack a little.
I was leafing through the internet a while back and came across an interesting book titled When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order. I haven’t read Martin Jacques' book, but as I scrolled down the page on Amazon, a particular piece of text from the publisher caught my attention. It was this:
According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050.
I am a futurist. More precisely, I write in the field of Critical Futures Studies. Futurists like me question things in depth. We like to probe away, and get into the gaps, identify the assumptions, and ask questions that others may not think to ask.
Firstly, there is an obvious factual error in the statement by the publisher.
For those of you who have enjoyed reading 22c+, I have a new book coming out soon which includes many of the articles and themes addressed here. It's called Extraordinary Mind: Integrated Intelligence into the Future. Here's one of the segments from the book. Those who have read Sage of Synchronicity will recognise these tools. If you are keen to develop some of the skills that I outline here regularly, these will get you started.
One of the reasons I developed the theory of Integrated Intelligence was because I felt that much of the writing on ideas like intuition and spiritual intelligence was too vague. So I came up with not only the core operations and end states of INI, I also developed some practical ways to develop and implement the intelligence. Here I am going to outline the main ones in brief. For a more detailed and compressive outline, see my book Sage of Synchronicity, which goes into more detail about how to apply INI.
The tools do require practice and commitment if you are serious about using them. Remember, I learned much from other teachers. But I also innovated, and invented things for myself. You can do the same. Because integrated intelligence is everywhere, all the time, there are innumerable possibilities. Don’t let my tool kit limit your thinking, and your practice.
The human mind tends to work in binaries: good/bad, this/that, me/her, us/them, is/is not, and so on. Bart Kosko wrote a book quite some time ago called Fuzzy Logic, where he pointed out that this black and white thinking of the human mind creates distortions in the way we perceive the world. Being aware of the same problem, lateral thinking guru Edward de Bono invented a new word, “po”, to help move us beyond ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
The older we get, the more we tend to label the world and life’s experiences according to pre-assigned rigid categories. The world then loses its novelty, and we also forgo the opportunity to see things anew, or from the perspective of another. I developed a process called Harmonic Circles to assist people in moving beyond these kinds of binaries.
However, today, I am going to provide you with a piece of wisdom that a spiritual teacher of mine, whom I refer to as Jessica, once told me. She said that when she sat in a circle or group of people, she always took careful note of the person sitting opposite her, because that person represented a polarity that she needed to acknowledge. Ironically, the very first time I ever met Jessica, she was sitting directly opposite me in a large circle of people (and, no, she didn’t mention this idea at that time, but much later). I mentioned the amazing synchronicity that occurred as a result of that meeting in a previous post. As soon as Jessica saw me, she related precisely the same image that I’d had in a dream just a few hours before, where I’d seen my hands covered in blood. That synchronicity helped me to come to terms with an issue I had, related to sexuality.
It is often the people that we push away at a personal or intellectual level that have the most to teach us. The simple process of allowing yourself to look at the person opposite you, and ask, “What is it about this person that I need to acknowledge?”, can produce a great deal of insight. You can also take this in a metaphorical sense and ask the same question about a person whom you see as an intellectual or spiritual rival. Many people who read this blog have a spiritual perspective. “We” (if I may allow myself to place us in a group) often feel threat and hostility from sceptics and those critical of spiritual discourses and mystical experience. You can probably think of one such person or group right now. Is there something that you can learn from them? Is it possible for you to receive them without emotional judgment?
Note here the distinction between ‘judgment’ and discernment’. Judgment is laden with emotionality, while discernment is a nonattached perspective. You can still discern a perceived error in another’s thinking without taking it personally, or needing to change or destroy it. Judgment typically contains an element of destruction – there is an often unconscious desire to annihilate the object of judgment.
I would like now to recount a significant event in my life which helped me to understand this issue at a deeper level. It occurred in 2005, when I attended a Futures Studies conference at Tamkang University in Taiwan. I wrote about this in an essay for The Journal of Futures Studiesthe following year. Here’s a part of what I wrote there. It involves an somewhat uncomfortable encounter with Michio Kaku, the well-known physicist and author of Visions.
