Rambi.....
(NOTE: Please, for you and anyone else reading this, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR....DEPENDING ON THE CONTEXT, INSERT ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CAVEATS BEFORE EVERYTHING I WRITE:
"It is my opinion...."
"IMHO....."
"Speaking personally....."
"From where I sit........"
(I completely accept the fact that the technology to transmit over the net the sound of teeth grinding has not been perfected....)
>>Frederick,
The internet is only another tool-- one more in the progression of technological achievements that man keeps churning out. It can be used positively or negatively and has no inherent value in and of itself.>>
Agree.
>>So we gain knowledge faster, so we can reach farther. If we didn't use our gifts, our lives, positively in our immediate real 3D time, it's doubtful we will use them any better on and through the internet.>>
Realtime 3D is a gift, blessing. I felt thrilled to be able to walk with my wife and two boys while they were on bikes to the park yesterday evening. I was a kid, just like them. Playing, running around, sliding. Matthew - a 6 year old who's mom is in the same "play group" and his 3 1/2 year old sister, Allison, were trying to either take my hat, or chase me so they could spit water at me. My response was to tickle them, run away, tickle and run away. My two sons were trying to help me and there were other kids. I was lost in the 3D moment.
>>Time cannot disappear. We live in the moment, one at a time- it is all we have- I don't care how you want to play with the term; it is what it is- one moment- no faster, no slower than any other--ours to live.>>
Time is only relative. If we were fully realized in the present moment with all our potential energy, light and love we'd not only be creating our future but the past disappears. There is only the present moment. Time exists, but only in a relative plane. We can move away from its constraint.
>>Technology has changed the duration required for many things to take place (just as the printing press replaced handwritten manuscripts, or the railroads replaced the Pony Express or the phone reduced the need for writing letters or sending messengers), but I'm not at all sure that we have gained-- and suspect we have lost-- quality in both the enjoyment of and reflection about much in our lives.>>
Yes, it's very easily take the position that technology is to blame for the speed, rush, etc. of our daily lives. But bottom line, we are in control for we make choices that determine how we feel, etc.
>>Have you considered that there is as much danger as promise in the internet- How can we, still bound by our own mortal limitations, possibly accommodate not just the overwhelming amount of information, but the necessity of judging that information in terms of reliability, and value, and even morality.>>
I think we need to learn the value of giving ourselves more credit. We are so much more aware, powerful and in touch that we give ourselves credit for. Personally, I have found that I alone create my limitations. If I think "I can't" I won't. This applies to how we weigh our mortality. I don't believe in "death." I believe our spirit is timeless and lives on. Death is something we bring on ourselves by our own judgment and belief in our limitations. I know this sounds absolutely crazy and I'm prepared to take a hazing, but this is what I believe.
As for our ability to assimilate and make sense of all this information, I find that in my own case I'm not sitting, reading, taking as much as I am doing, communicating, connecting, risking, acting. If I was passively simply trying to take all this in the technology and information would be too much - like an out of control firehose. I just believe we need to be the one's in control to make choices - not have the technology or things outside of ourselves "in control" to influence choices.
>>Sven Birkerts writes that the price of this expansive lateral access we now have is a sacrificing of depth. We no longer are willing to invest in the slow absorption of an idea- we rush to react, to click on the next site, to get to the next thought.>>
So what? Each person has a free will and power to make sense of his/her world. For Sven, me or anyone else to presume we know "what's best" gets back to the point I've been ridiculed for - preaching. Sven is sharing energy. He is sharing ideas. Again I will try to make the point. It's less the ideas and more how they relate to energy in relation to others. Does the energy create a positive reaction. Does it create a negative reaction. The fact that my energy creates a negative reaction should not influence me to "be negative." It's not what others say or do or how they react, but it's the way we react - the choices we make - in response.
I chose to remain positive and not react negatively. I may be different, but so is everyone. I think we should celebrate our differences. For the more celebrate our differences the more we can actually begin to understand how connected we all are to each other.
>>By the time I finish writing this, I daresay there will be several, maybe many more, posts that I will have not yet read, because I took time to try to express clearly why I feel you are making surficial statements without clear support and to wonder why that is exasperating to me. E.g., your statement that "internet time" is when all past guilt, blame and problems disappear into the timeless light of forgiveness, hope and opportunity. These strike me as words without substance- a new age facileness that replaces depth with pretty nothing- I am left with nothing solid after I read these words. Do they teach, offer true solace, provide wisdom or guidance?>>
Words offer no value unless we apply them to real things that create real value in our lives - ie. taking real risks that create real meaning.
>>Next I'll feel frustrated because I haven't read all the posts, worry I might be missing something, but this is exactly the problem: often we rush so to read, to respond, that we lose any chance of quality in our writing. Not just in spelling errors and grammar, which abound here, but in the chance to ruminate on what we read and judge it for its truth and content- its depth. >>
Speaking personally - there's one out of respect for this board - I think the more we learn to take ourselves less seriously and the more we learn to laugh at ourselves the more we can help narrow the separation between us. I'll be the first to admit that my life story is crazy, wacky and different. But I still forgive and love myself.
>>We don't need the internet to touch those around us, for heaven's sake. Can you really believe that you are accomplishing anything here that could in any way compare to what you can do in 3D? All this talk of light and love and conquering time is newagespeak. It strikes me that you spend a great deal more time talking and writing about doing it, whatever it is, than just doing it.>>
I fully acknowledge that I have no control over how I "strike you." I can "write, talk and do" till I am blue in the face and it really won't make any difference. I'm not sharing this to prove something to anyone. I am simply sharing energy, period. And if you want to call this newagespeak, fine. I'll be in East St. Louis in the heart of the ghetto with some great jazz musicians, a woman flying in from Boston who's got a double PhD, an MBA, two masters as a former rocket scientist and professor who's working directly with me on a project to apply in REAL 3D what I share on this board: music, song, connectivity, training, technology, helping and serving, etc.
We are doing this with folks from all over the country. It's a viral model. And it's real 3D. Full impact. Real people. The internet just allows this energy and these ideas to get communicated and flow more readily.
I'm not saying I, you or anyone else has all the answers. But I do believe the closer we get to embracing and risking in the present moment that more energy and power will come into our lives. And the biggest thing is just the opportunity we have to close gaps which used to separate us from one another. If there's a gap that just means there's opportunity to make a connection which can create positive energy which we need more of in this world.
Peace.
. |
