According to Eckhart Tolle, when someone says he doesn't know who he is, Tolle offers his congratulations, because the "person" is no longer identified with his own ego, or an illusory sense of self. In fact, Tolle suggests that in meditation, a good mantra as you watch your thoughts float by, is to ask yourself "Who am I?" and go deeper, beyond your thoughts, to try to locate who or what is watching. Or, for that matter, where in the body are "You." Can you single out a location—as you sense something in your leg, are you your brain?  

I discovered that abruptly confronting these ideas, and dropping the personality, without help or unexpectedly, can be a shock to the system. During the summer of 2008, I had to drop my tech writing identity as Professor PowerPoint when my "career identity" began to evaporate, relinquished an identity as my girlfriend's boyfriend/protector (emulating my father), and stopped seeing myself as a secure individual who worked and had savings, and essentially as someone who thought he knew what he was "doing."

As none of these identities or roles seemed to work, it isolated me more and more from the people with whom I'd been connected within these roles. Looking back, I think that like a snake, I was shedding the role of technologist, and knew it was no longer relevant or comfortable for me, and it scared me to death. Who was I? I tested out some other identities; I took a trip to Kauai and found that, "wherever I went, there 'I' was"…

Although the surroundings were beautiful and again comforting, and I stayed with wonderful friends, I felt alone, and isolated. So what was happening? I sought out therapy and discovered the depth of the various layers of my personality, and in many cases their roots.

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Like many people, for most of my life I've equated who I am with what goes on between my ears. Then I began reading the work of Eckhart Tolle and others and became aware that much of what passes for thought is counterproductive and automatic, and frequently negative.

As I've tried to "make sense" of my experience I've come to realize more and more that "who" I have assumed was "me" was really the result of a jumble of thoughts, emotions, sensations and experiences that are always changing—so who am I?

In fact, Eckhart Tolle suggests using this phrase as a mantra during meditation to attempt to locate the one indivisible "I" inside oneself that one believes that one is—to discover literally that there is no one or nothing there. It can be a hard notion to get one's head around—because one's head doesn't want to believe it.

Again, many people identify themselves with their minds or the activity of their brain, so I've become very interested in the science behind what we often call consciousness.

With my own background in philosophy, and specifically phenomenology, I received a first jolt in college from a different perspective—that being is prior to identity—the converse of Descartes "I think therefore I am"—which Eckhart Tolle also disputes as putting the cart before the horse. Not surprisingly the very branch of philosophy that fascinated me runs counter to conventional science, and my teacher was denied tenure for running afoul the norm in academia – logical positivism. This philosophy only discusses what it can know for certain – I said, "good luck with that."

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I had lunch with a woman whom I hired to edit my writing and to let me know if it made any sense. Among her other criteria was the notion of consistency, and she pointed out that I had seemingly haphazardly referred to life sometimes in Upper Case (Capitalized) as Life, and more often as it is normally spelled, as "life."

My first response was to think about how I might fix this problem with a global search and replace, thereby rendering my work consistent.

But when I reflected on my intention in capitalizing Life in some circumstances, and then when I began to try to explain it her, I decided that this apparent distinction was at the very heart of what I want to convey.

Along these lines, Eckhart Tolle describes his "awakening"; in the throes of deep depression and anxiety and considering suicide, he had the thought "I can't stand my life."

He parsed the words and considered the notion of who the "I" might be that couldn't stand his "life", and realized that there wasn't just one of him—the self, but rather another faculty that was making judgments among a host of conditioned "selves". His subsequent work is really about the realization that the separate "life" he was judging and hating was an identification with this judgmental intellectual part, but that that wasn't "Life". It is a misconception that leads to suffering.

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It is the core principle of this blog, and the main theme of the book I am completing, that computer software represents something completely new in human evolution, and is in fact a pointer to the true nature of both our species, and reality.

I first became fascinated with software when I needed a job in L.A. and got training in one of the first and most powerful dedicated word processors, the IBM System 6, at a law firm. The manager handed me a series of six large floppy disks, showed me how to load them into the console, and walked away. Several nights later, after completing the tutorial s on the disks, the machine had "trained me."

So what is the software itself?

Certainly not the floppy disks which I used to learn System 6, nor the DVDs we currently use.

It's not even the arcane progression of bizarre coded sentences that programmers write to get the results they want when the software "runs".

Nor is it the series of zeroes and ones that the code is compiled into to make it work within the chips and circuits of the machine in which the magic happens –

Software is the first humanly created evidence of Intelligent Energy. The mental intentions of a (team of) programmers manifests through the code and exchanges information, energy, or mental vibrations with the user and the environment.

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Biomimicry-Engineering/Nature Burr=Velcro

Hofstadter, in his book I Am a Strange Loop, takes issue with futurists like Ray Kurzweil who believe that our artificial intelligence will naturally evolve according to Moore's law and inexorably lead to a conscious (Turing) machine with fully natural (human) qualities, indistinguishable from another (real) person.

To me the inevitably fallacy of any concept of "living" artificial intelligence comes as the result of realizing that although the computer metaphor for consciousness as software is perfect—we are running software (loopy programs that manifest a Mind that cannot be described completely in language)—in Nature this software represents a scale of intelligence far beyond our own. And what is a metaphor or analogy anyway—a pointer to Truth.

As an example, in nature, our limited conception of the universe is as infinite. We also know that a sequence of numbers is infinite and yet the largest actual numbers are still inaccessible to our limited minds—and even our supercomputers.

On the other hand, in Nature the Fibonacci sequence manifests imperfectly but potentially infinitely in living forms:

http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/fibonac/fibonac_8.gif

(More - Biomimicry - how Engineering can imitate Nature)

(http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/fibonac/fibonac_9.gif)

I have long been fascinated by math but I reached a precipice in school when I ran up against Calculus; I once asked my teacher if he could explain by example what in nature represents "the function of a number"—I was desperate, I said, because I could see the application of geometry and algebra, in which I excelled, but not calculus.

He looked at me disdainfully and said simply, "no." That's when I switched to Liberal Arts.

Ironically, my current fascination with computers is the result of their "living" functions—software—which are mathematical algorithms that perform tasks—they are active verbs – and of course the hardware/software relationship has been used as a powerful metaphor for the mind and brain.

But is it merely a metaphor or analogy? That is the essential issue of this post and the entire blog…

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One of the issues that has come up in my musings about technology is whether a computer can ever become "human" and what it would take.

The was the foundation of the so-called "Turing Machine" speculated about by Alan Turing in 1936 where he wondered whether a machine that manipulated data could perform at a level where a human who interacted with it could not tell it was a machine.

More recently in a piece I wrote on "Thoughts on IBM v. Jeopardy" I contended that being able to manipulate information at a spectacular speed doesn't make you human.

I would suggest that most people when confronted with this issue would say something like: to be human is to "have a sense of self" – to know oneself as separate and have an identity.

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Let me start with an admission: I talk to myself. Out loud.

I've done it to goad myself, motivate myself and too often to criticize myself, and if I'm not careful, people can catch me doing it out in public.

I've lived alone for most of my life and I'm an only child, but the question has come up, who is speaking to whom?

In Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, neuroscientist David Eagleman uses this very example to raise a common question: who or what exactly is the "self" that one is always referring to?  When I talk to my "self", which self is speaking and which is listening?

In one of his videos Eckhart Tolle suggests that during meditation one follow any train of thought down the path of "Who Am I?" as a mantra, going deeper and deeper to try to locate who the "I" may be when we refer to the self during speech or thought.

Similarly the leader of my Eckhart Tolle group, Michael Jeffreys, has suggested that we literally scan our bodies to try to identify a specific location where this "I" resides.

When first confronted with this issue I suggested it may be in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which indeed neuroscientists consider the "Executive" area which seems to have some control over which of the many "selves" are active at any one time.

But Eagleman, a neuroscientist of some renown who recently appeared on Jon Stewart, doesn't locate a single physical area of the brain that is "in charge." On the contrary, most of his book compares the various areas of the brain and their "subroutines" (patterns of conditioned behavior) to political parties that ultimately lead to behavior based on conflict and compromise.

And the prefrontal cortex, which can give attention to a habit (overeating for example) and ultimately put a gap between a thought and an execution by observing thoughts effectively enough to intercept them (mindfulness), but Eagleman writes:

"But we do not find parts of the brain that is not itself driven by other parts of the network. Instead every part of the brain is densely connected with—and driven by—other brain parts. And that suggests that no part is independent and therefore 'free.'" (Page 166)

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I've noted in the past that I've gained a lot from reading Eckhart Tolle and more recently participating in Michael Jeffreys' group studying his work. Among many benefits was the realization that I am hardly alone in feeling that "something is off" in the current culture.

It's interesting that many are focused on what might occur this Friday, which is the calendar date of 11-11-11 – numerologically interesting and of course also Veterans Day. Combined with the recent Wall Street protests there are worldwide meditations planned.

For many of us the first hint of things changing may well have been 9-11-2001, when our feelings of safety and tranquility were abruptly shattered by the realization that we were vulnerable in ways we'd never imagined.

Seven years later, the financial meltdown and some personal issues made me particularly anxious.

It has only been recently, as a result of a great deal of thinking, working and experimenting with new concepts that I have begun to embrace a sense of "not knowing" and being comfortable with it.

Before, the sense of impending doom and lack of control had contributed to my anxiety about the future, and I found that the first step to regulating my emotions and thoughts was a process of deep self observation. I now feel that it might be helpful to others to describe certain aspects of my process. One of the things I discovered with some help was that there wasn't just one of me—as Pink Floyd said, "there's someone in my head and it's not me." This line is quoted in the beginning of a fascinating book by neuroscientist David Eagleman – Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.

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A few weeks ago, while searching for another book in the shelves of my local library, I serendipitously noticed a book with an intriguing, presumptuous title: The God Theory, by astrophysicist Bernard Haish.

Since I've come to believe in opening up to my intuitive faculties I first looked quickly at the book and then began reading, noting to my surprise that the author's intention was very similar to my own, on this blog and in the book I am expecting to publish based on these ideas.

What really appeals to me about Haish's perspective is that he addresses the false dichotomy between spirituality and science, and directly goes after the scientific preconceptions about what is and is not "scientific"—opening his own view on reality to anything and everything.

He directly addresses the current scientific bias against anything that smacks of mysticism, pointing out that many physicists including Einstein expressed ideas that resonate with Eastern philosophy.

He goes on to take on the other false polarity of evolution versus fundamentalism or Intelligent Design by expanding the notion of what God may be beyond the material, and ultimately beyond our own ability to comprehend or conceptualize nature in the absolute sense.

He writes, for example, "I suggest that the evolution of living things may occur through a combination of strictly physical, deterministic processes, and a nonphysical tendency toward order and information."

For Haish, and for me, this opens up the Pandora's box that material science refuses to address, but that we both sense is an inevitable area for both inquiry and hopefully discovery: mind or consciousness.

Haish has the courage to deal directly with a possibility that few scientists, much less physicists, would risk their careers on—that "there exist realms of reality beyond the presently known particles and forces of modern physics"—a profoundly mystical concept that he embraces to open the door to a speculative inquiry into what these realms may represent.

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When I was in the second grade my mother packed me up one afternoon and took me to the public library. There she turned to me and said, I don't care what you pick out, but choose three books and begin reading. I remember wandering among the shelves, finding some items with pictures and large print, and beginning a lifelong odyssey to learn from written words.

This discipline has served me well in many ways, but as information has exploded through the course of my life, and now is ubiquitous online, I have begun to sense that my own love affair with "learning" or "knowledge" is a double edged sword.

First you can never know enough, especially today when information is exploding. Second, the written word is a poor substitute if it completely replaces the actual connection between people and nature.

So it was a little less than a year ago, after reading Eckhart Tolle, whose work made me acutely aware of the limitations of listening only to what seemed to be the various voices in my head, that I went on Meetup.com, looking for others who may have faced some of the same obstacles in relation to the "real world" that I had encountered; namely an uneasy feeling that something was "off" and that our view of "life as we know it", both in its day to day survival mode and in the way we conceptualize it scientifically, was wrong.

Not surprisingly I felt somewhat alienated and there weren't a lot of people with whom I could discuss these issues; and talking about politics, sports, movies and even technology was getting wearying.

With my interest in Eckhart Tolle, I found Michael Jeffreys' group studying his work on Meetup, and suddenly I was in a Community of people, some of whom were struggling with issues I was facing, and others who were merely interested in the ideas of someone who saw life differently.

What initially attracted me to the group as much as anything was its apparent "structure" – we were purportedly reading and discussing Tolle's book, A New Earth, one chapter per month.

I had avoided other similar groups that merely watched videos and sat silently. Especially at that time, it was important for me to be able discuss these ideas with others. What I soon discovered in the group setting was that I felt so at home and comfortable. The leader, Michael Jeffreys, was more of a host, who welcomed our comments and I soon found myself laughing about some of the ways I had taken myself and my own ideas so seriously—I was opening up to a new way relating to myself, and to life.

As the year went on and I attended more meetings, I also followed Michael on Facebook, along with some other "coaches" I had encountered, like my friend Freeman Michaels.

Suddenly I was encountering different but powerful expressions of some of the ideas that had captured my attention from other very profound thinkers and speakers. Then I found that many of them would be attending a conference in San Rafael in October—the Science and Nonduality Conference which just concluded.

I had watched videos of several of the speakers on the Internet, and as I had with my original interest in technology, I sought out the SAND conference and got excited about hearing them speak in person over a single weekend.

But for various reasons I could not attend. Instead I went to a local event by one of the speakers, Matt Kahn, who like many of the others, emphasizes the power of attending to one's actual experience of life over being able to understand it intellectually.

The science of nonduality, as I understand it and as conveyed by teachers like Michael and Matt, actually points to the limitations of our conscious mind as it struggles to control life, and opens the way to an easing of internal tension as one trusts a different level of belief which is accessible through sensation and feeling.

This was one of the inherent contradictions I have found in trying to "study" life and consciousness—and it was brought home to me dramatically when I was a teacher of technology.

At one of the venues where I taught Microsoft Office, instructors would gather each evening in the Instructor Lounge after a long day in the classroom and discuss their latest work and projects; inevitably it became a game of competition and one upsmanship as one tried to top the other in terms of what he or she (mostly he) knew about the latest programs.

While the SAND conference might have had little or none of this dynamic, my current inclination was more to a community experience of these ideas rather than a series of lectures, although these speakers have influenced my own growth dramatically with their presentations.

Here are some of the other SAND participants whom I've encountered either directly or online, whose work I find particularly insightful.

Bentinho Massaro – is a 23 year old clear thinker and communicator who has an uncanny ability to take one past the "dueling concepts" in one's thinking mind to what seems to be their source—and point to a level of peace that I find very calming.

Scott Kiloby – is a teacher and writer whose dialogs online I found very enlightening. Like the others, the basic teaching seems very simple: "Take a moment to rest in presence. Let everything be as it is."

Jeff Foster – is another speaker whose videos exude a depth and clarity that I love. He has a unique approach to locating or perhaps dislocating the underlying "self" that can cause confusion for many.

Peter Russell – is a well known writer who I find effective in his ability to do what the SAND conference generally promises—bring the insight of science to issue of mind and consciousness.

 Rupert Spira – is another eloquent speaker, based nearby in Temecula, whose insight points the intellect past itself and makes the listener inwardly quietly aware of a nature beyond thought.

These are only five of the participants whose work and sessions and SAND I would recommend from a personal perspective; the others are no less brilliant and if any of the ideas in this blog resonate with you, I suggest you look at the the Science and Nonduality Conference web site for more information and perhaps attend a future event.

Michael Jeffreys also has a longer list of resources and teachers on his web site. For an in depth interview and a copy of the list, click this link.

For myself, I am involved in my own inquiries and really seek a balance between the continuing "search" for any belief or truth, and the experience of just allowing myself to experience the myriad of ways life is unfolding for me, instead of trying to grasp and understand it from an intellectual or scientific perspective.

To some this may sound like a passive withdrawal, but in actuality, as Matt Kahn pointed out so effectively over the weekend, putting one's attention on the energies of life, rather than on one's own "problems" is an active practice, but one that can truly lead to clarity and peace.

And finally, we need other people. The library can only take you so far. Ultimately you need a community too.

One of the earliest insights I had when reading Eckhart Tolle and more specifically, participating in Michael Jeffreys' group studying his work, was the distinction made about the content and structure of our thoughts.

Much of Tolle's work centers on first recognizing the overwhelming impact of our "thinking machine"—how we seem to be at the mercy of every thought that arises.

After this recognition takes hold, and we begin to notice how our thoughts can run (and sometimes ruin) our lives, a bit of space is created between whatever "we" are (our being) and the thoughts we are perpetually thinking and often reacting to.

At the next level is the awareness that there is what we think (content), and how we think (structure), and as we disengage periodically from identifying with our thoughts, we begin to see patterns emerge.

Many of our habitual thoughts are about "problems" and "solutions"—and these problems happen to a person, the thinker, who identifies so strongly with the possible consequences that a state of anxiety can develop if there is no space allowed between what or who is thinking, and those thoughts.

For many of us this is a common state, one Michael Jeffreys calls "worry addiction" – and of course the extent to which our outside circumstances reflect and confirm this state can lead to endless loops of anxiety.

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So many beliefs in our culture are beginning to shift; I believe that is at the heart of the current protests both in the Middle East and on Wall Street. Here in the U.S. it’s a matter of values—do we worship balance sheets or human needs? Our predisposition toward one value or another is sometimes called a “meme.”

Wikipedia defines a Meme as "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." One huge meme that was the basis of our democracy was that individual had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of what a monarch decreed or wanted. People had a right to self determination.

Of course on a more mundane level a meme would be that the iPad is cool but Microsoft’s old tablet PCs, which came out several years earlier, just weren’t. A lot of that meme’s acceptance was the result of the design of the iPad, and the WiFi infrastructure and number of Apps to support it.

In a comparison to computers, a major meme like Democracy might be seen as installing a “new operating system” – one that was first downloaded during our American Revolution and later adopted in Europe and spread to various places around the globe. (More)

We've discovered the correlation between the software that operates in our cells (DNA) and the software we create for computers—it turns out that they work the same way.

So the question becomes: must there be a programmer? This comes down to an understanding of the limitations of considering life only "as we know it"—and what exactly do we "know" and what do we merely believe?  

In philosophy the fierce dualistic battle wages between Secularists or Science-- and proponents of "Intelligent Design"; the problem with the latter is their conviction that they "know the Programmer."  

It's generally viewed as an either/or proposition.  

Barbara Forrest, a well known critic of Creationism who wants only conventional evolution taught in schools, she is professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. She is a critic of intelligent design and the Discovery Institute. She is a believer in Science with a capital "S". Interestingly she has the intention of making sense (meaning) out of the unquestioned existence of consciousness purely on the basis of a "naturalistic" concept of Evolution:

She writes in Zygon, a Journal of Religion and Science, "Science undermines the certitude of non-naturalistic answers to the question of whether human life has meaning. I explore whether evolution can provide a naturalistic basis for existential meaning. Using the work of philosopher Daniel Dennett and scientist Ursula Goodenough, I argue that evolution is the locus of the possibility of meaning because it has produced intentionality, the matrix of consciousness. I conclude that the question of the meaning of human life is an existentialist one: existential meaning is a product of the individual and collective tasks human beings undertake."  

In other words, we're all that exists and if we did not exist, there would be no meaning in the universe. (More)

  Kabbalah "Tree of Life" Symbol

Tonight is the Jewish New Year, and I may or may not go to services. Many years ago during college, I decided to attend Yom Kippur services to please my father, and we were denied entry because we had not ordered tickets, and sent to a basement as "second class Jews." My father was incensed, and when he retired in La Jolla he told me that his synagogue was the beach, the ocean, and the sun.

He had a very difficult life, and he attributed his survival to a faith in something higher. I have spent a great deal of my life seeking the same level of peace by searching for meaning—or something Higher—intellectually. Recently I investigated the mystical aspects of Judaism by attending some lectures on Kabbalah, and noticed a tremendous resonance between its teachings and the concepts of eastern religions and some modern belief systems that talk about a conscious awareness at the root of life that needs to be felt with the heart. This seems to be a common theme in ancient cultures. (The image above is the Kabbalah "Tree of Life" symbol) (More)

Note:  As you know I've been blogging concurrently with Singular City for some time.  Now I am compiling my previous blogs into a new book--the tentative title is Intelligent Life:  How Can the Meaning of Technology Transform Us?  In order to generate direct feedback on these ideas and continue my work I've created a new blog on WordPress--"Intelligent Life".  The new blog is not public just yet, but you're invited there to preview it, make comments and let me know what you think.

For those of you who have supported my work here, for which I am very grateful, I will post lead-ins to my blog posts on WordPress that give you an insight into the main ideas--and then link a {more} button to the full blog.  I will try to keep the material here fresh, while on WordPress some older blog entries might find their way online as well. 

This will allow me to continue a "mirror" blog here through Singular, but also to expand on my ideas in one central location at "Intelligent Life".  Thanks again for those of you who read and comment.

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 We Can Copy and Paste Life--What Does It Mean?

I've taught quite a few people how to embed a video into a web page or blog as means of creating compelling content for their social interactions online; in fact I've featured the process in webinars which drew upwards of 1000 attendees.

The process is essentially is to copy and paste a block of "code" – a segment of computer instructions written in English – from a video hosting site like YouTube into the HTML panel for the destination page.

HTML is the coding language of the Internet and instructs the web browser what to display on screen when a web page loads. Once the code for the page includes the proper syntax for the "" tag that points to the video, that video will display when the page loads.

Here you can see a block of embed code from You Tube pasted into a post for Blogger, Google's blogging program—in the HTML tab—so that it will display in the blog page as shown on the right.

Coincidentally a few weeks ago, Sixty Minutes did a segment in which they showed exactly the same process—used to revive extinct or endangered animals

Essentially the DNA of the endangered species is "copied and pasted" into the egg of a host animal that is similar in type. The only difference from the YouTube embed code is that DNA is made up only of combinations and syntaxes represented by the letters ACTG, not the entire English language. {More}

The following is a fictional “article”—one wonders, however, if the fields of biophysics and astrophysics evolve at their present pace, whether it might not one day be true…
 

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, May 26, 2011

Editors at the prestigious scientific journal Insight made a startling discovery today, when two papers they were about to publish from divergent fields overlapped in their findings.

Neuroscientists at UCLA had used Cranial Telemetry to measure brain waves of thoughts as they passed through synapses between neurons in the prefrontal cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain to a sensitivity never before attained, and come upon a wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum never before discovered—a higher frequency and shorter wavelength than even gamma rays--and simulating light in its combined wave/particle structure.

The lead scientist had named the new waveform Prometheus wave radiation and published its frequency at far less than even gamma rays. Gamma rays have a (wavelength) nanometer of .01 and a frequency of 3 x 109 Hz; the new wave found in the brain was measured at 0.001 nm 8 x 1011 Hz..

What is even more startling is that at the same time that the Cranial Telemetry findings were submitted to Insight, astrophysicists at the M.S. Observatorio Nacional in Brazil used a refined version to create an ultra sensitive Gamma Ray Spectrometer, and discovered a new level of radiation on the Sun at the same wavelength and frequency: 0.001 nm 8 x 1011 Hz. They named their new discovery Copernican radiation and also submitted their findings to Insight, which is the only way that the connection became apparent.

While the lead scientists from the two disparate laboratories had not communicated, as they were in far different disciplines, the synchronicity of the two discoveries startled the editors at Insight and a conference is planned online to discuss the relative similarities and perhaps differences in the two waves.

However, since the prefrontal cortex is the “executive” function of the brain, regulating emotion and thought, is it now fair to wonder, what is the Sun thinking (or feeling)?

After all, the Sun provides the executive function for our Solar System.

 When we look at our civilization in comparison to the age of primates, everything human is pretty much flattened into a relative minute of time.

 And, if we take a larger perspective than that even the entire span of human history becomes almost insignificant…

 

Based on longevity alone one might surmise that a much Higher Intelligence has been “at work” on Earth for a span of time that is almost infinite in comparison to our own Science.

One might ask if other cultures have been in closer touch with this intelligence. I would submit that the Egyptians, with their mathematically and astronomically precise pyramids and a philosophy that did not seem to distinguish between philosophy, science and religion, or spirit and matter, might have been so connected. This would be supported by renegade archeologists who claim that the Great Pyramid is an astronomical marker and observatory and that the source of Egyptian wisdom predates the pharaohs by centuries if not millennia.

One of these archeologists puts the actual date of the Sphinx at 5000-8,000 years BC—altering our sense of the span of civilization significantly. The basis for this is the apparent presence of water erosion at the base which would have presumably been caused when the area was still fertile (not a desert).

One might well speculate how a civilization that used a different set of symbols and deities to represent what we consider psychological and metaphysical concepts might have experienced life on earth—in many ways they could be considered to have been running an entirely different “operating system.”

Of course even more “far out” theorists, starting with Erik von Daniken, author of Chariots of the Gods, have speculated that ancient monuments around the globe are evidence of visitations by extraterrestrials that might have altered the course of evolution with scientific wisdom (genetics) that we are only now discovering.

These speculations have been derided by conventional science as unfounded – but if we consider that only 750 years ago everyone in the western world believed the world was flat and now we “know” that the universe is about 14 billion years old, we might wonder what else we don’t know.

Von Daniken himself has been exposed as unscrupulous, making him almost a modern day Trickster, whose methods might be questionable but whose beliefs and theories seem eerily provocative.

For example, if you think about the Bible as a historical account of humans without technology, and consider that perhaps beings with advanced technology were present, then the “chariots in the sky” of Ezekiel would suggest flying craft, while the concept of preserving species from extinction with an “Ark” might similarly suggest a genetic storage facility—like the seed banks that the government is now creating to store the genetic source of the earth’s food supply in case of disaster or war.

Why are these issues so intriguing?

We base so much of our beliefs on left brain science without questioning it.

We take a lot of things for granted—starting with Existence.

Where did a universe with billions of galaxies that is still expanding after 14 billion years come from?

Is it an accident or a matter of chance? What would that even mean?

One might ask if such knowledge is not as far beyond our comprehension as the difference between the span of time of our own species or civilization, and the span of time of life on Earth—or the age of the solar system or our own galaxy, the Milky Way?

It is interesting to consider that our own software development in the computer field often refers to matters of “scale” –which are influenced by physical storage and computing power but also can be a function of programming acumen; in other words, new concepts like an algorithm can exponentially scale the power of a program to perform its task.

In the case of genetic decoding itself, it wasn’t until we reached the capacity of a Supercomputer that storing all of the genetic information for an individual or a species (its Genome) was possible.

So, are “primitive” cultures that “worship”, or relate directly with something Higher really so backward, compared to us, or do they have a relationship with a reality that we have lost, in spite of our magnificent scientific progress?

What would it mean to have such a relationship with reality? 

Might it mean changing our own inner programming in some way, as to be able to literally connect with something much Higher and greater than ourselves?

How would that be accomplished. Does meditation begin to open such channels?

That’s what I sometimes meditate on when I have twenty minutes to spare.

 

 

Recently I was turned on to some great resources in the form of two books, Emotional Freedom and Positive Energy by Dr. Judith Orloff – her web site also has some excellent videos.

What I really like about Dr. Orloff’s work is its warmth along with its practicality.

While both books have the usual set of self assessment tests, and are filled with anecdotes and case studies from Dr. Orloff’s practice, they both also provide pragmatic and positive steps to achieve growth and a more fulfilling life, difficult and worthy goals in our current cultural climate.

In Emotional Freedom Dr. Orloff uses the concept of “transformation” of negative emotions as a basis for being happier and more fulfilled. This is a much better foundation in my opinion that beginning with the idea that something is fundamentally “wrong” with you; for example, you’re diagnosed or feel like you’re depressed.

The fact is that life is challenging and filled with emotional issues ; alternatively avoiding these issues leads to a disconnected existence of isolation which is equally challenging.

The impressive structure of the book addresses four dimensions of emotions that Dr. Orloff suggests must each be in balance for a harmonious existence: the physical biology, a spiritual meaning of one’s state of being, the energetic power that can deplete or revive you, and finally the psychology or sources of the various feelings that can overwhelm us at various times.

She deals with each of these aspects as she identifies seven main emotions, describes their effect on us, and provides concrete recommendations for transforming the negative states into their positive counterparts.

She refers to this as “alchemy” and for those who face challenging feelings in their daily lives, learning techniques to transform emotions is worth its weight in gold.

Particularly for men, who sometimes are not as adept at articulating or identifying what they are feeling, specifically naming both the negative and positive states is particularly helpful. Here are the seven transformations Dr. Orloff cover:
 

In each case, the negative conditions are thoroughly described and identified along with practical steps to transform them into their positive counterparts.

What I found particularly useful was merely the ability to pinpoint common causes or triggers for the negative states and then the payoffs that ensue when one successfully transforms them through positive steps.

In Positive Energy, an earlier book, Dr. Orloff covers similar ground but from the perspective of a series of therapeutic “prescriptions” which are actually best practices for daily life. This book also features interviews with famous people who have put these practices into action in their own careers or personal lives.

Another aspect of both books that I appreciated was the identification of how our energy or emotions can become sapped. Frequently I have thought “what’s wrong with me – why can’t I cope with what others seem to handle effortlessly?”

Dr. Orloff describes toxic people and relationships as “energy vampires” and provides suggestions for how to combat their negative effects.

She also identifies societal drains – such as “techno-despair” – which can overcome us as we feel overwhelmed by the complexities and demands of the many media with which we’re constantly assaulted.  (My previous blog on the stresses of working with Microsoft software are a good example of techno-despair).

Part of the benefit of her descriptions is the “aha” moment when one realizes that one is not alone in feeling challenged by these kinds of experiences, and that there are solutions.

Though she is a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, Dr. Orloff also describes herself as an “intuitive” healer and strongly suggests that as we work with our emotions, we pay particular attention to what dreams may be telling us about our waking lives.

The way that I have used Emotional Freedom is to quiet myself when I feel agitated or overwhelmed and to notice the negative emotion that seems to have me in its grip; for example, as Dr. Orloff describes, the grocery store and a checkout line might frustrate me if I feel rushed. Taking a greater perspective, however, and focusing on being patient (and creating some space for myself internally) can allow me to not only negotiate the current circumstances, but feel better about my own capability to handle other issues going forward.

Either of these books provides a helpful set of practical suggestions for getting through challenging times and situations. Taken together, they are a resource a heartily recommend.

I’m proud to report that my new book, “Tools of Engagement:  Presenting and Training in a World of Social Media,” is now available at Amazon.com. As someone who has written extensively on video and presentation, I wanted this book to reflect the many changes that are impacting how we communicate with each other using technology.

I’ve been intrigued for some time by the attraction of Twitter to the social media crowd, and more specifically the concept of @Jeff Pulver, the creator of the 140Conf, about the “real time Internet” and immediate communication.

Several weeks ago we were treated to the following headline on CNN, “Genetics pioneer J. Craig Venter announced Thursday that he and his team have created artificial life for the first time.”

Since I have been deluged with requests for more pics of my cat, here is a link to a slide show:

http://whrrl.com/e/hCFqr - I tried to embed this but I couldn't seem to make it work.

• corporations are owned by free citizens, and are just a way we organize ourselves economically in the modern world
• corporations provide the bulk of our employment
• corporations produce the wealth that makes our lives easy: the plentiful food, the cars, the drugs and medical innovations that allow our longevity, the amusements that enrich us etc.

I’ve been living alone for the better part of 40 years; never married and never living with anyone for longer than the duration of a vacation.

I had been apprehensive about going to lunch with my two old friends from high school, but William was coming in from the Bay area, and we’d had a wonderful reunion two years earlier, and I looked forward to seeing him again.

To me, the most interesting guest on the many talk shows about Tiger Woods, was John Gray, the author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus—because what is so clear is that both genders see the situation from a different perspective. Another guest discussed how hard it would be for Woods to repair his image with women.

Joe the Burglar shares his experiences and insights about online dating and the life of a single burglar.

On Saturday afternoon while picking up a prescription, the pharmacist told me that my doctor had asked to be called for a follow up. Before leaving I decided to check my blood pressure on the automatic machine, only to find the reading stratospheric and scary.

I walked around the store sorting it out, and realized that I had let the machine read the pressure through my sweatshirt. Surely that explained the high reading since I’d been normal for some time.

A close friend of mine with whom I often talk about esoteric subjects once commented on how I get to positions that require leaps of faith. He said I work from a place of rationality first, and go as far as I can with scientific or factual notions, and then I extrapolate inside to a place that cannot necessarily be validated scientifically, but which grows within me truth.

This morning I briefly insinuated myself into a Twitter discussion between Marsha Collier and Chris Brogan, co-author with Julien Smith of the best seller about social media, “Trust Agents.”

In my blog on Social Media as a Woman’s World, I mentioned the shift from considering social media as a standard marketing and self promotion platform to making a commitment to active participation and building relationships.

Like many of you, I read John Hazlehurst’s article “Liar, Liar” as well visiting the cyberdating expert’s site – Julie Spira – who is a member here.

I’ve been thinking lately of the amazing effect Michael Jackson’s death has had on so many people, and while the sheer volume of media attention has surely contributed to the phenomenon, other factors are clearly at work.