This is my first experience at blogging so my rookie eyes and mind can be easily surprised, I suppose. I just heard there have been 150 visits to my last post of mine and I'm surprised there hasn't been at least one posting. So...since somebody is actually reading these, here's another thought fresh from my afternoon walkabout along the streets of San Francisco.
Envision a future where almost everyone makes each choice with consciousness and full attention on what they were doing. Think of the world we could have!
Look at how we got this far in our survival of the fittest evolution. Most people through the ages have been well-intentioned, passionate, caring folks who were doing the best they could with what they had and knew. A few gifted people did magnificent things with their passions and skills, inventing, discovering, creating art and literature, leading movements and serving humanity. And civilization as we know it has evolved pretty positively despite a relative few dark individuals who were more infatuated with hate and power over others than love for their fellow human beings - as most were.
Considering there has been almost no consciousness in play through the millennia, we've done all right so far! But now, for the first time in history we have a new ability...we can destroy ourselves, annihilate the human race. One person can destroy millions of us thanks to our technological advances.
With great power comes responsiubility say sages through the ages. With this significant increase in our ability to do great harm, comes a need to be a bit more mature in the choices we make, recognizing the long term impact of our actions and converting all the wealth of information we have available to us to practical wisdom.
If we evolved this far without thinking much about it, merely following invention after invention, discovery after discovery, cure after cure, think of what an exciting, sustainable, peaceful and compassionate future we could have if we stayed awake all the time.
Good Morning John and here is a response to your last posting. I have been attempting to stay "awake" as you say but these days there are so many times when I would rather simply crawl into a cave and sit in silence that it does tend to prove challenging. It is a scary prospect as you point out, that one being, with the flick of a switch could annihilate millions of us. And on the other end of it all, each one of us can consciously affect great change by simply opening up to the ONENESS within and change millions through our divine connectedness. Interesting thought don't you agree.
And on another note, I too have just recently started blogging and while I know that many are reading it, there are very few comments that come through. I started to blog as a way to stay connected as I am currenty travelling and had thought these others would respond. But it appears that you and I are simply to be sharing from our hearts and Souls with no expectations. And THAT is one of our hugest lessons. Giving without expecting anything in return. It's a biggy for those of us who are here to enlighten others. We have to be able to share and have that be enough.
Blessings to you Dear Soul and keep up the good work.
Posted by: Katrice Balmer | May 04, 2007 at 10:50 AM
Hi Katrice!
Thanks for the post and your kind words.
Staying awake is the adult thing to do, it seems to me. Teenagers have the luxury of regressing to being children and pretending they aren't responsible...but adults must accept responsibility or else stay emotionally arrested for the rest of their lives. Many do this. Many of us are doing this!
If any of us dare to call ourselves leaders for a better world we must remain awake and demonstrate maturity for our fellows.
It may not be easy but it is required if we are ever going to change the direction we are headed in.
Thanks again for your inspiration.
Posted by: John Renesch | May 04, 2007 at 06:55 PM
Hi John, it has been a while since we last 'met', virtually that is. Nice that you're blogging! I was thinking reading your thoughts:
"what an exciting, sustainable, peaceful and compassionate future we could have if we stayed awake all the time.", there is a very good reason, don't you think to not be awake all the time. I like to look at our world from this perspecive: nothing happens for no reason.
Maybe living on earth isn't about creating heaven (whatever that may be) but about dealing with and learning from whatever living heavenly prevents. Dealing with that tension might be the highest goal of menkind. Constant awakening would stop that process...
Posted by: Nynke Rinzema | May 05, 2007 at 06:04 AM
Nynke,
You pose an interesting hypothesis. Living in this age of paradox I like to think that everything is God's will on some level but I cannot fathom it is part of our human destiny that we go through life asleep. If "dealing with that tension" is the highest goal I would prefer to do so consciously rather than unconsciously.
Posted by: John Renesch | May 09, 2007 at 12:49 PM
There is certainly nothing wrong with awakeness, as long as it is heart-connected and open to new thoughts and ideas. I do find, however, that many so-called 'enlightened' people around here are themselves, in a bunker of sorts. They Don't Know and they Don't Wanna Know on many levels. Whatever information goes against their left wing, blood-for-oil, evil-Bush-and-Cheney ideology gets thrown out in favor of what? "enlightenment"? There can BE nothing of the sort without a Willingness to see what we don't want to see, hear what we don't want to hear, and DISCERN truth from fiction. Being a conservative thinker around the Bay Area I come into contact every day with those who are for Free Speech as long as I am in agreement. Dear John, I am one who desperately HOPES there remain many who still have that "storm the machine gun nest" kind of courage, lest our future be in the hands of enlightened weenies who enslave us all. Thank you for reading. My website is www.gigiloving.com. Yours sincerely, Gigi
Posted by: Gigi Loving | June 06, 2007 at 09:56 AM
Gigi, I hear your wrath which is getting all too frequent for my tastes in our society in recent years - both from the left and the right. We are polarizing ourselves with cherished opinions and there's no let up in sight.
My personal choice is to refrain from listening, reading, forwarding emails, giving any of my attention to name-calling, sarcasm, disrespectful rhetoric from either side.
As far as I can see, the only way to restore civility and move forward to a healthier citzenry, nation, world is to engage each other in respectful dialogue and cease the belittling, mean-spirited and demeaning "opinionism" that is running through our country like a pandemic...and it will most certainly have devasting results if left unchecked.
For me, it takes far more courage to ask someone with an opposing view to engage in a meaningful dialogue about our differences than to spout off ideology I subscribe to while completely invalidating the other view.
Posted by: John Renesch | June 06, 2007 at 10:46 AM