Hey Larry! I loved your substack. Can you speculate on how or whether emerging technologies like AI, VR, etc could enhance our ability to control the observer effect in our lives?
Thanks for following me, Mario! Please share your thoughts with me whenever you care to!
From what I've seen of AI, which isn't much, it just trolls the contents of the Internet and makes guesses about what you want to say next. Artificial, yes, but intelligence? I really don't think so. In any case, if its only input is what's already online, then it's just more of the same but probably better organized.
When I say 'More of the same', I'm referring to one of the two ways humans approach 'knowing', which is the gathering and organizing of information. That way of knowing is, I think, subject to Einstein's maxim about 'You can't solve problems with the same thinking that created them', or something to that effect. It's not very powerful in restoring our ability to positively affect the quality of our lives.
The other way of knowing we share, but are largely unaware of in this culture, is to quiet the rational mind and allow ourselves to connect to a vastly larger field of knowledge, a broader perspective, infinite awareness which by definition has no limits. That connection is sometimes called intuition, and it's been relegated to a distinctly secondary position in our culture.
As to virtual reality, that's a different story. A VR headset creates a stereo image out of electrical signals generated by a computer. These signals don't originate from any sort of external reality that lies outside our awareness of it. I think that's a useful metaphor for what's really going on... the world we experience comes into being when we observe it. That means that when we 'tune into' a set of vibrations of the quantum field, our brains make pictures out of those vibrational signals and we call those pictures the world. In that context, VR can show us that the world we think is 'out there' is just an interpretation of the field's vibrations, and the feeling and the love/joy content of the interpretation is up to us. That awareness should give us a much better ability to choose how we want to live, but it requires a redefinition of the world 'observe', as I've tried to make clear in my writing.
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear your take on all this!
I had to look up solopsism to make sure I understood its meaning. What I gather is that it refers to the idea that only my mind is certain to exist and that nothing outside of my mind, the 'external world' and others' minds can be known to exist.
I believe that we humans have two centers of knowing. One is familiar to us all... it's called reason, and it functions by gathering and analyzing information. In our era, we depend almost entirely on that center to inform our choices. We think of this center as 'in our heads'.
The other center is called will, or intuition. It's our connection to an intelligence that doesn't reside in or depend on an individualized mind or body, like yours or mine. It's almost entirely ignored in our culture, but I believe it's vastly more powerful in the way in which it informs our decisions. Some of us refer to that center as located in our hearts.
If we ignore this connection to broader perspective, infinite intelligence, I think solopsism makes perfect sense. Reason is quite powerful, in that it has enabled us to develop our culture to the point where we can destroy ourselves and the planet. However, reason can't seem to make sense of human Being as temporary manifestation of that which is without limit, eternal, all-knowing and supremely loving.
Also, I think reason will be unable to solve the problems it has created. That will require a knowledge that goes beyond reason, beyond separation and beyond solopsism. "Getting back to the garden," as Joni Mitchell put it, will require our recovery of the knowing that we are all but a part of something unfathomable to the mind but yet knowable in our hearts. In that context, solopsism can be seen to be petty, powerless, maybe somewhat adolescent in the context of the development of human Being.
What do you think? I'd love to continue the conversation...
Thanks for the response, Larry, and I think I'm on the same page as you. We are a part of something much more vast than our individual minds. I had a spiritual awakening nearly six years ago that opened up that heart or intuition realm in me. I saw clearly that a profound and unconditional love pervades all of reality. My life has been all about love and peace since then.
Ordinarily, people do not feel that profound love even though it is all around them at all times. If a majority of us on the planet did experience that, I think we would live in a vastly different world. I think the opening of the human heart is going to be the next development in human evolution. That is, if we can hang on long enough. The global situation is looking rather dire at present.
I really liked your take on quieting the rational mind, it’s a topic definitely worth exploring in this culture. Thanks for your insights, Larry!
Hey Larry! I loved your substack. Can you speculate on how or whether emerging technologies like AI, VR, etc could enhance our ability to control the observer effect in our lives?
Thanks for following me, Mario! Please share your thoughts with me whenever you care to!
From what I've seen of AI, which isn't much, it just trolls the contents of the Internet and makes guesses about what you want to say next. Artificial, yes, but intelligence? I really don't think so. In any case, if its only input is what's already online, then it's just more of the same but probably better organized.
When I say 'More of the same', I'm referring to one of the two ways humans approach 'knowing', which is the gathering and organizing of information. That way of knowing is, I think, subject to Einstein's maxim about 'You can't solve problems with the same thinking that created them', or something to that effect. It's not very powerful in restoring our ability to positively affect the quality of our lives.
The other way of knowing we share, but are largely unaware of in this culture, is to quiet the rational mind and allow ourselves to connect to a vastly larger field of knowledge, a broader perspective, infinite awareness which by definition has no limits. That connection is sometimes called intuition, and it's been relegated to a distinctly secondary position in our culture.
As to virtual reality, that's a different story. A VR headset creates a stereo image out of electrical signals generated by a computer. These signals don't originate from any sort of external reality that lies outside our awareness of it. I think that's a useful metaphor for what's really going on... the world we experience comes into being when we observe it. That means that when we 'tune into' a set of vibrations of the quantum field, our brains make pictures out of those vibrational signals and we call those pictures the world. In that context, VR can show us that the world we think is 'out there' is just an interpretation of the field's vibrations, and the feeling and the love/joy content of the interpretation is up to us. That awareness should give us a much better ability to choose how we want to live, but it requires a redefinition of the world 'observe', as I've tried to make clear in my writing.
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear your take on all this!
Does quantum physics indicate solipsism, or something akin to it, is a reality?
Hey Tobin, what a great question!
I had to look up solopsism to make sure I understood its meaning. What I gather is that it refers to the idea that only my mind is certain to exist and that nothing outside of my mind, the 'external world' and others' minds can be known to exist.
I believe that we humans have two centers of knowing. One is familiar to us all... it's called reason, and it functions by gathering and analyzing information. In our era, we depend almost entirely on that center to inform our choices. We think of this center as 'in our heads'.
The other center is called will, or intuition. It's our connection to an intelligence that doesn't reside in or depend on an individualized mind or body, like yours or mine. It's almost entirely ignored in our culture, but I believe it's vastly more powerful in the way in which it informs our decisions. Some of us refer to that center as located in our hearts.
If we ignore this connection to broader perspective, infinite intelligence, I think solopsism makes perfect sense. Reason is quite powerful, in that it has enabled us to develop our culture to the point where we can destroy ourselves and the planet. However, reason can't seem to make sense of human Being as temporary manifestation of that which is without limit, eternal, all-knowing and supremely loving.
Also, I think reason will be unable to solve the problems it has created. That will require a knowledge that goes beyond reason, beyond separation and beyond solopsism. "Getting back to the garden," as Joni Mitchell put it, will require our recovery of the knowing that we are all but a part of something unfathomable to the mind but yet knowable in our hearts. In that context, solopsism can be seen to be petty, powerless, maybe somewhat adolescent in the context of the development of human Being.
What do you think? I'd love to continue the conversation...
Thanks for the response, Larry, and I think I'm on the same page as you. We are a part of something much more vast than our individual minds. I had a spiritual awakening nearly six years ago that opened up that heart or intuition realm in me. I saw clearly that a profound and unconditional love pervades all of reality. My life has been all about love and peace since then.
Ordinarily, people do not feel that profound love even though it is all around them at all times. If a majority of us on the planet did experience that, I think we would live in a vastly different world. I think the opening of the human heart is going to be the next development in human evolution. That is, if we can hang on long enough. The global situation is looking rather dire at present.