Topic: Vision

Something amazing just manifested tonight.  I have had to sit back and write about it just to begin processing it.  But before I talk about the details I would like to share some background (yes, I know, it’s poor form to save the headline for later.  But indulge me).

I’ve been on the Internet in one form or another since around 1995.  It started with chat rooms and some site surfing back in the day when a 4,800 baud modem was the business (and I’m a relative baby – I’ve spoken with people on the Internet since it’s inception).  In 1996 I met the woman who was to become my wife in a chat room (a story for another time).  We were friends at first but met in 1997, fell in love and got married a year after that.  Over the years I’ve been involved in technology in many forms.  I’ve been a chat-room guide, I’ve moderated discussion boards.  I run my own blog.  I’ve run on-line gaming communities (known as guilds).  My involvement with technology even extends to my professional consulting business and follows 15 years as a Business Analyst in technologically oriented organizations.

It should be no surprise then that someone with such an affinity for technology (and a self-professed geek) that is studying Science of Mind would start wondering if there was a way to bring them together.  And no, I am not talking about a web site.  The International Centres for Spiritual Living (ICSL) and United Centres for Spiritual Living already have those.  But a web site is limited: Its strength is as a tool to convey information.  It tends to be something that publishes outwards.

Some sites, such as the Centre for Spiritual Living in Saskatoon (http://www.cslsaskatoon.com/) have a blog on them.  This still publishes information, but the publishing of information is more dynamic.  In my case I’ve been posting these blogs on their site for over a year, sharing my journey as a Practitioner.  In addition, readers can make comments and thus communication can be two-way, between writer and reader. 

Back in January 23rd, 2009 I blogged about a vision for technology (http://consciouscalling.blogspot.com/2009/01/calling-let-us-leverage-law-of.html).  The key message went as follows:

This is a call to those intrigued or entranced by the potential of the Law of Collaboration. It is time to break the ground on building a new technological vision for spiritual living and awareness. Some of the possibilities that immediately come to mind include; the power of a Wiki being used as a Science of Mind encyclopaedia, published articles from bright minds, discussion forums loosely moderated by students, Practitioners and Ministers, video archives of Services, the blogosphere, podcasts of highlighted material, virtual classes taking our educational program to a global audience through video and audio streaming, all pulled together through a growing online community inspired by something wonderful happening here and now. I know a volunteer driven effort to translate ‘The Science of Mind’ into many languages through SpiritPedia would crack open this philosophy to a much wider world audience.

Back in late 2008 I also made an effort to launch this vision at the Centre for Spiritual Living, Edmonton.  I was on the Board of Trustees at the time and made the suggestion that the Technology Outreach Ministry (TOM) be formed.  I made a call within the Centre and a few volunters came on board.  However, as that experience unfolded I found that the culture was simply not ready. 

At the time I could not place cause, yet knew that staying attached to something that was resisting did not strike me as right.  And so I set down the vision…for a short while.

I began to explore what this vision meant to me.  I still felt the pull of bringing technology and Science of Mind (SOM) together.  My first move was to create this blog.  I reasoned that for as much as I had a long history with technology I was still somewhat new to Science of Mind, and I certainly did not have a very clear vision for how the two might intersect.

What this past year of blogging did do, amongst other things, was to clarify blogging in the SOM context.  As the year progressed the vision began to shift in its slumber.  It had never really gone. 

In 2008 my vision was set around building a website that would incorporate Web 2.0 tools to support a bi-directional way of sharing and building community.  The idea was that by going on to the Internet that we could reach out to parts of the world that Bricks and Mortar simply could not.  However, in hindsight I think two things were getting in the way.  Firstly, my consciousness was not ready to support this idea.  And secondly, I don’t believe I had the kind of clarity of vision that one needs.  I hadn’t experienced what I needed to really set the process of creation into action.  I was bringing a bit of an abstract idea to people.  If there’s something I have learned, when you take technology to people who don’t really understand it and try and tell them how you ‘might’ use it to create a spiritual community it’s almost impossible for them to see.  The problem was, the vision was in my mind.  I needed a way to make it concrete, tangible, so that I could it to people and they could more easily understand it.

And so, fast forward to January 18th, 2010.  During a meditation a vision came to mind of being in a virtual reality, and surrounded by an array of technology tools.  I could sense that there was community gathered and that we were reaching across the world.  SOM courses were being delivered, and that the tools included some of the ideas around a Wiki (to translate SOM into multiple languages) and a discussion board (to support the asynchronous sharing of ideas).  But it was the virtual reality that really got me wondering.

And then it came to me – Second Life!  The irony – I had heard about Second Life but had not tried it.  With that I went into Second Life and created an avatar (a computer generated image of a person).  I started to explore and the more I saw the more excited I got.  The program was telling me that nearly 1.5 million people had entered Second Life and that over 70,000 people were currently on line!  I found Buddhist temples and retreats, churches, and spiritual communities.  I even discovered a group called New Thought.

So in a way this vision I had was hardly new.  Similar paths were already being trodden. 

With that though I started to investigate the groups.  New Thought had been created in 2007 but the owner hadn’t logged on in a couple of years.  The Unity Church has a group called SL Unity Church, but only 7 members.  Buddhists were very active scheduling silent meditation events throughout the day.  But nowhere could I see SOM.

I then found an island called the Mystic Academy.  Now for those of you who have not been into Second Life you have to understand that you can literally build buildings and landscapes.  It is a complete world.  The Mystic Academy had the slogan, Many Paths – One Light.  Well, hello, I said.  That sounds remarkably like the SOM principles to me!  But they also had classrooms, meditation areas, a library with literature from many spiritual paths and religions.  And in a moment of pure synchronicity I was able to meet the Academy Director and ask him if he’d be agreeable to my working with the Academy.  He very readily agreed.

The effortlessness of this struck me as sign.  Now, not only did I have a vision that was beginning to get clarity, but I had an established virtual environment with facilities perfectly suited to my clarifying this vision. 

But I knew the fundamental question of how to build on education was critical.  I’ve got a few ideas yet, but I started with the one that most resonated.  I began scheduling an event each evening for meditation.  I meditate for an hour each morning and evening already.  I simply started logging into Second Life and posting notices around like-minded groups.  And sure enough people started to come.  However, I made the critical decision to start with 15 minutes of a brief outline (to set some context and provide a little education to those new to the practice) with 30 minutes of practice.  After that I invite participants to share through discussion.

Participants started to show up.  Within a couple of weeks the Community had 20 members.  During discussions newcomers, and those relatively inexperienced at meditation, were making comments such as: loosing a sense of time; was that 30 minutes; I felt like I was vibrating.  It struck me that what I was seeing was the beginning of something that had some serious promise.

And now fast forward to February 3rd, 2010 (just 3 weeks later).  Reverend Patrick and I had a lunch booked (for the first time in many, many months).  As we were eating, and talking about the wonderful things happening at the Centre, he asked me if I would be interested in picking up the technology ministry I’d started back in 2008. 

With a smile on my face, and the sound of ‘click’ in my heart, I promptly told him that not only would I be happy to, but I’d not been idle.  I pointed out the two learnings I’d ascertained (my consciousness and clarity of vision) and explained what I’d just started on Second Life.  And then I had idea (it came like a flash).  What if the idea back in 2008 was not big enough?  What if what this really needed was to be globally launched?  What if we approached the ICSL and UCSL Boards of Education with an idea to seek Practitioners who were also heavily immersed in technology?  This would bring consciousness and experience together.  Patrick loved the idea and promised to take it away.  And just to emphasize the point I went ahead and emailed the Edmonton Practitioner community with the story of how my blog had evolved and a map of the world showing the global reach I’d already had in the first year.

And so finally, fast forward to February 8th (tonight).  I’d scheduled a meditation and 3 people showed up.  After the practice one of them commented that he had studied Religious Science for years.  It turns out that he lives in Arizona but that his Centre had recently dissolved.  He’d done SOM 100, 200, 300 in the past and had been a Professional Practitioner.

With that I shared my vision with him and he got really excited.  It occurred to me that here was exactly what I had been talking about needing with Patrick.  Someone who was already immersed in Second Life who was also a Practitioner was expressing a keen affinity with this vision I’d been stewing over for the past few years. 

But that’s not all.  Another one of those gathered hung around to listen.  It turns out he was from Poland.  He’d never heard of SOM but was very knowledgeable about NLP, and from the way he spoke it was clear that he could relate to the SOM principles.  He also had a chance to hear me talking about wanting to explore refining the SOM educational curriculum to bring it online.  His excitement rose and at one point he started to describe a vision where he would love to learn about it in SL and then start a study group in Poland!

Well, at that point the fireworks went off in my mind.  Both elements of this Technology Outreach Ministry were manifesting before my very eyes:

1. A Practitioner already immersed in technology excited by this vision
2. Someone from a country that had never heard of SOM getting really excited about not only hearing this message but self-professing that a vision of taking this to others was in their mind

And these two elements perfectly capture what this vision is about.  There is more to be done, much more.  But it’s clear to me that something has already started.  The ‘what’ is getting clearer, and the Universe is providing.  This was my vision for Technology Outreach Ministry taking its first fledgling steps like a bird just out of the egg right before my very eyes.

As I sign off on this blog I’ve got this feeling that something very exciting has just begun.  A global vision through technology is being born for this philosophy.  I have never been so charged or excited about anything in my life.  I feel so alive right now, and so on fire, that I feel compelled to state that I know I have just hit upon what may be the beginning of a life’s work.  And given the enormity of his vision I would ask that you take this vision into your treatment work.  Hold consciousness for the right and perfect expansion of this vision, that the right and perfect Practitioner consciousness comes together to shape the foundation, and that it unfolds to create a true global Community for Spiritual Living through the Internet.

Know the Flow as you go, brothers and sisters.

As I consider events over the past few days my mind is drawn to my feelings. Perhaps it might be accurate to say that I feel a mix of peace and calm, and yet I cannot help but ponder what appears, based on my experience of myself in the past, as a relatively lower intensity of emotions.

In the past I am certain my emotional reaction would have been more varied, and most definitely more intense. At a physical level I would have felt as though I had been punched in the stomach, and as if I was throwing up at the same time. I’m so familiar with this customary reaction that this sensory experience is noticeable by its absence.

At the mental level the conversation would have been much more intense (for one thing I am writing and meditating as you can read). Over the past five years I’ve taken many steps on the journey to be better at managing ‘how’ I think. And so as I contemplate this event and my mental reaction (and ensuring response) I cannot help but be struck by the evolution I’ve undergone. As I look back I can recall a gradual shift in the inner-conversation. The inner voice that is me can still find words of fear, but the I AM is becoming clearer – the part of me that knows sounds louder, as if the static of uncertainly has faded to silence and the broadcast has the speakers humming in rich and deep tones.

However, with regards to emotions I feel compelled to step back. I read something the other day that resonated with me. As with so many things we are here to learn it often takes personal experience to truly appreciate and incorporate what this expression we are needs. The conversation between the soul and the self (sometimes called ego) must be compelling interest to both sides. Experience of adversity becomes a proof to the self that provides credibility to the soul’s positioning. It is one thing to affirmatively pray for money and investment, but if we don’t know how to accept this experience or be willing for it our prayers will appear unanswered. But what if the point is not so linear – what if events are supposed to fail so that we can succeed?

Experience of adversity instils belief. Belief influences our feelings. And feelings are expressed as emotions. With experience our feelings can come to empower belief. As I write this I find myself as clear as I have ever been on my life’s vision, on the flow of the Divine in all life.

I believe the thing I want most in this world is to inspire and support the transformation of others. I have been refining this vision for five years now. Experience is providing me exactly what I need to live for this vision. My ability to inspire will be possible to the extent to which I am inspired. My ability to support others in their transformation will be as potent as my own transformation. And what could be more inspiring or have such potential to transform others than the Divine? By coming through such experiences with an ever increasing faith and belief in the Divine my steps toward my vision become more meaningful. Events that supposedly failed are now opportunities for the most meaningful success I can think of.

I do not know exactly ‘how’ this vision will unfold, but I am clear on the ‘what’. And that really is what matters. If we believe in our vision then in turn we will influence our feelings. And how these feelings express as emotions will shift in our favour, like a virtuous circle. Like a pebble hitting the water’s surface rings of belief will ripple through our thoughts, our reactions, and our emotions – we will change, and be able to change to the extent of our belief in our vision for ourselves. If you have a vision to inspire and support the transformation of others then I can think of no better advice than to begin with yourself. And the next time you experience a thought wrapped up in a feeling expressed as an emotion, ask yourself, “What do I believe that led to this emotion?”

On one thing I am positively certain – beliefs are the result of past experiences and can be changed. Beliefs are not my truth unless I allow them to be. In this moment the belief that the Divine is in every event, person, and place is a perfect place from which to begin creating my vision to inspire others, and support their transformation.  Ask not what people or events can do for you, but ask yourself what is your vision for yourself and how much do you truly believe it is already so.

Sometimes we get to feel vulnerable. In the depths of the valley of life we can find ourselves looking for the treeline and the sky only to see fog. Sometimes we lose sight of our bearings near and far.

Sometimes it takes time and healing to bounce back. There are times where inspite of your best efforts that people will be caught in their moment and share their feelings. You may not be expecting this. You may find your emotions reeling and face reddening because the moment that others are in does not allow much space for a wider perspective.

Catching glimpses of the blue sky and treeline, and climbing from the troughs to the peaks of these valleys is a journey. Mountains are irregular, and valleys far from linear. The art of feeling vulnerable is as much about remembering you are loved as it is being able to rekindle your imagination to know your purpose and vision. Accepting vulnerability is a step towards Oneness.

Sometimes this rekindling is triggered by loved ones and friends, who with the most compassionate of thoughts reach out with their light to ignite your wick. At other times we see the beautiful Spark within and are inflamed by our own connection.

Whatever the case maybe you should know the Universe (or Spirit, God, or whatever name you choose to use to label the source of your faith) cannot imagine a world without you. And that the clearer you are on this the clearer your vision will be.

Last night when debriefing with my practitioner I came to truly know that sometimes you may only be ready for a sign. My sign was the realization that situations with high impact that see me facing some kind of time pressure equate to me forgetting to be mindful. For the first time ever I can articulate key causes behind my forgetting to be mindful:

Time + Impact = Forgetfulness

Time pressure can come from an incident where something has already blown up and needs to be fixed NOW (quoting an email I received yesterday). Or better yet time pressure can come from an impending deadline. There’s no distinction between a meeting that’s about to end or a deadline for a deliverable.

So what am I seeking help with? Well, simply put I am looking for comments and suggestions. I want suggestions on the type of affirmations I should be using to remember mindfulness when in high-pressure situations facing some form of deadline.

Let’s have a dialogue! People have been asking me how to blog in the spiritual context – well, this is the real reason for blogging people! Get a reader base and then check in with them for inspiration. Your role now is to click the comments link below and add a comment