I'm going through a strange period in my life once again ... though it is harder and harder to distinguish what is strange from what is normal. Lately, I've been trying to understand my role. How does what I learn, what I realize, impact the world in which I live. Everywhere I look there are signs of an intelligence pulling the strings behind the scenes ... moving the world and all life on it in accordance with some overall cosmic plan. Things and events mean things at multiple levels ... at least to me. I have no evidence that others are finding the same meaning.

In a very real way, my personal reality is the meaning that I find in the things in my world and in my experiences. This reality is very rich and meaningful to me. Much like the WWW, my personal web increases in both content and connectivity on a daily basis. I've been moved to share much of this web here at Beyond Imagination. However, there is still a large part that I haven't figured out how to capture. It deals with the history of spiritual expression in this world. Thus far, I only have pieces, but there is a sense that everything I have learned and experienced in my life to date has applicability to discovering and understanding the pieces and putting the puzzle together.

Recently, my control systems background has become useful. It seems that much that we experience is driven by our economic system which is controlled by applying particular feedback in particular ways. Overall, relatively few principles and levers can result in very complex behavior. We get what we focus on. Where we provide positive feedback, we stir activity. Where we provide negative feedback, we discourage activity. However, we need to be careful not to be too specific or overcontrolling. The goal is to get people to "freely" choose a better way to live. If we overdue the feedback, the restriction becomes overbearing.

I've been thinking alot lately about how our economic system works. It occurred to me that even though we consider ourselves to be a country of equals, we still have a very class oriented society. It is obvious everywhere. Consider the chains of department stores K-Mart, WalMart, Mervyn's, Wards, Sears, Macys, Saks, Nordstrom. Many people never leave a particular level. Others shop the spectrum depending on what they are shopping for. Hotel/Motel accommodations are the same way, with Motel 6, Super 8, Day's Inn, Ramada, Hilton, Sheraton, Marriot, etc ... It's interesting that many of us stay in better accommodations when on business travel than we are willing to pay for when on personal travel. Restaurants are the same way, from fast food chains to very high end cuisine. Even at the fast food restaurants, the food varies from the less than $1 specials to close to $5 per person for a meal.

In general, we seem to have two scarce resources ... money and time. For most people, money seems to be the tightest constraint. It seems that time only becomes a critical factor once one has sufficient money to live a comfortable life. What does this say about what is important to us? As a society, why is it that we allow this to be? Why do we allow money to be such a restriction on the lives of people? The immediate answer is "we don't". People are free to apply themselves and make as much money as they want. This is only partially true. Yes, we do see some people succeed by coming up with some product or service that makes a lot of money. However, we see far more failures than successes. Overall, there is no sign that the quality of life for the masses is improving in meaningful ways. Then again, perhaps that is due to a lack of awareness on my part. I do not know what it is like for people in the lower third of the income tier. Further, I do not know how others experience their lives.

I am here to see how spirit flows within the world. I am here to see firsthand what ideas are manifest. In a very real way, I am the eyes through which spirit is able to observe these things. A big part of what I observe is the working of my own mind and the expression of spirit through me. It is amazing how often what I find inside is mirrored in the world and vice-versa. As above, so below is a deep spiritual truth.

Everywhere we are inundated with information. Images, sounds, text, etc ... enter our awareness from an amazing variety and diversity of sources. How do we screen what is important from what is not? Where do we find wisdom amidst all the chatter and noise? This is one of the major tasks of the spiritual warrior -- to discern the truth and the way, to know what is right and what is useful, to find important pieces of wisdom and make the appropriate connections between them.

It is one thing to observe what is. It is quite another to discern what the meaning is associated with the observations. It is especially difficult to do this without passing judgement on the meaning. One thing that makes this difficult is that it is almost impossible to verify whether the meaning one finds is indeed correct. It is not like there is some master record to check to see if one got it right. Much that we deal with is uncertain. Here we are free to venture out and explore the unknown and bring back our experiences and the things that we find. The unknown is a special place and special state of mind. It is particularly curious to consider our findings from the perspective of ONE consciousness creating and experiencing it all. "I" don't have to personally experience what another experiences. That is recorded within the ONE. However, I personally do not have access to such experience until there is a suitable link within my own vacinity for me to follow.

As an individual, I am only responsible for doing what I came to do. This requires realizing whom that I am to a sufficient degree to be able to carry out my tasks. Of course, I am free to enjoy the process to the degree that I am able. What is true for me is true for all. Though, what we came to do is extremely different from one individual to the next.

It seems that we are reaching a point where our technology is ready to put us into virtual reality where we as individuals are able to create our own worlds and experience anything that we would care to experience, including interacting with others anywhere in the world. It is as if we no longer need our physical bodies with their limitations. Instead, in a virtual world, we can fashion our own image in anyway that we chose. The goods and services that we desire could readily be available to us in whatever manner and quantities we need. It is simply a matter of running the program more.

My computer science and programming background is becoming useful as well. At the rate technology is advancing, it seems that we will soon have abundant processor speed to do anything we want to do. It won't be long before 3-D graphics are real enough to feel like one is really experiencing what is presented. We already have rides in amusement parks where this is true. When you think about it, we could use the metaphor of a car to provide a vehicle for "driving" anywhere. People already know how to steer and control the speed so that they can get where they want to go on common roadways in the midst of traffic. Actually, many already have experience with flight simulators that allow them to fly various aircraft including landing at a variety of airports.

We've raised a whole generation of kids on video games that have resulted in special hand eye coordination and mental training. At the mundane level, the complexity of the video games made them interesting, challenging, and fun. However, at the meaning level, this was orchestrated to ensure certain talents were in place that will be needed and useful in the times ahead. It is not necessarily the obvious skills that will be more useful. It is the stuff that happens in the background while one is playing the game that often has the most value.

I guess this is no different then life. We work and we live our lives spending so much of our time on a variety of tasks and activities that are on our to do lists. Often, we are unaware of what we are truly learning in the process ... it catches us by surprise. In the end, it is our understanding of whom that we are that counts. What have we become aware of ourselves to be?

Be Happy and Create Well!

LOVE,

Wayne