Sunday, May 25, 2014

Inner Technology, Spiritual Sovereignty and the Consciousness of Humanity



Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Tom and Ramon of the popular Hundredth Monkey Radio Show.

Many of the topics discussed are based on my new book, Conscious Musings - Contemplations to Transform Life and Realize Potential.

In the first hour of our interview we talked about the disturbing trend of the use of technology as a replacement for human contact and the increasing reliance on social media as our lifeline to the world.

What would happen if the grid went down - even temporarily?  Might this be necessary to bring us back to our core good, re-instill our creativity, our humanity and our sovereignty?

Speaking of sovereignty, we discuss what it means to be spiritually sovereign and how a personal exploration of consciousness is key to evolving as spiritual beings.

We talk about the necessity to be authentic in our spiritual work and not rely solely on what books, workshops and other systems teach us.  Once we develop an authentic, personal path of spirituality, can that quality be sensed by others in our auras?

We muse over how people fall into resonance other people's energy field and how this can set the tone for human interaction, whether positive or negative.

We demystify the practice of meditation and discuss how I felt the need to create my own personal approach to being silent and how it became a key component in my own spiritual work.

In hour two we delved a bit deeper into our discussion with subjects including:
  • Lucid and creative dreaming
  • The Indigo and Crystal children and the new evolution of humanity
  • ET's and UFO's (I even talk about my first "UFO" sighting)
  • Paranormal as the "new normal"
  • Animal reincarnation
To listen to hour two, you can subscribe to The Hundredth Monkey Radio or purchase hour two as an individual episode.

I urge you to support this great program as part of the ongoing evolution of alternative media!





Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Tethered to Technology - Have We Reached the Point of No Return?




The following article was originally posted on Conscious Life News by Alexis Brooks in 2013, but necessitates a "re-post" as we experience our technological reality escalate in dominating our lives - perhaps with dangerous consequences!





True Story


One blustery winter morning while Michael was on his way to work, he received an urgent text: “It’s Jim. Just wanted 2 tell u that my father passed away.  His memorial service will b this Sun.” –end text.

Michael was extremely shocked and saddened; clearly caught off guard with this sobering message.  His friend Jim’s father hadn’t been ill, so this 97 character communication struck Michael as out of the blue.

Michael proceeds to his office where he immediately posts the news he just received to his Facebook page, alerting all his (and Jim’s) Facebook “friends.”  Not surprising the post almost immediately went viral within Michael and Jim’s social networking circle.

Several hours later Michael receives a call.  It’s his friend Jim.  Only it isn’t the same Jim who texted him only a short while ago with the news of his father’s passing.  This Jim (we’ll call him Jim B), another one of Michael’s friends, clearly angry, asks why Michael would post such a thing on his Facebook?  “My parents have been getting calls all morning - People calling with condolences over the death of my father.  I just spoke to both of my parents and they’re fine!

Absolutely confounded, Michael rechecks his text history only to discover that the Jim who sent the message about his father was Jim his neighbor, not Jim B, his longtime friend from college.

Needless to say, this little innocent act of concern and the technology that made it so convenient for Michael to alert Jim’s circle prompted a reverberation; the consequences of which could have led to a real tragedy for Jim B’s father and mother.  Both parents, an elderly couple, were said to be quite visibly shaken – acting as if some ominous foretelling of Jim’s father’s fate had descended upon them.  Fortunately once the parents were able to clear their heads and realize that this was just an unfortunate miscommunication, everything returned to normal.

The “new normal”

This dramatic anecdote poignantly illustrates a growing trend in our use of technology and the temptation to replace face to face or even voice to voice communication rather than to augment it.
Technology, with all its bells and whistles and promises for immediate gratification, simplicity and even friend making has increasingly usurped the authentic personal relationships that once served as the bedrock of community and union.  This appears to be our new normal.

Tools of neutrality

When you look at the use of technology, you might consider that it is a tool like anything else we engage with on the physical plane.  All tools carry an inherent neutral quality; a quality of energy.  It is how the individual enlists the tool which will determine the effect it will have on a given outcome.  Water has the ability to wash you, quench your thirst or drown you.  Fire can cook your food, warm your home or burn you.  It’s all in how the tools are utilized.  Therefore, it would serve us (and others) well to use all tools, including technology with a measure of discernment and responsibility.

In Barbara Marciniak’s classic book, Bringers of the Dawn, in which she conveys channeled messages from a civilization of enlightened beings called the Pleiadians, the issue of technology is addressed. Although they remind us that there is nothing wrong with technology per se, there has been a concerted effort to introduce technology to the masses as a means of containment. They describe modern technology as a form of “frequency control.”  Within this context, they state, “Think of frequency as individual broadcasting and receiving through which you dial into the station of your choice.  It is the broadcasting of carrier waves of intelligence.  The range of frequency is unlimited, and the range of intelligent matter transmitted is unlimited.”  They go on to say, “Frequency control limits the number of stations you can tune into.”  They assert that our modern technologies have certainly placed a finite number of channels on our broadcasting dial, although giving us the impression that we have more choices than ever! 

In a sobering allegory from a book by Zbigniew Brzezinski called Between Two Ages – America’s Role in the Technetronic Era (published in 1970) he states, “In the technetronic society the trend seems to be toward aggregating the individual support of millions of unorganized citizens, who are easily within the reach of magnetic and attractive personalities, and effectively exploiting the latest communication techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason.”

Granted this is an alarming and seemingly prophetic enunciation and could easily lead one to feel that the modus operandi of such a sketch was long planned.  Still, we know that the advent of technology and its ability (or our ability) to utilize it as a productive tool for good cannot be stated enough.  As a writer and researcher, I have been incredibly grateful for the technologies that have allowed me to find information, connect with wonderful people all over this planet and share.  The proliferation of social media has served as a tool for good and at times has even served as an instrument in saving lives - this cannot be ignored or disregarded.  But these results come from the conscious actions that each individual takes of their own volition and not from the dictates of a system that would prefer we inhibit our humanity rather than expand it.

As much as I acknowledge an appreciation for the technologies that have afforded so many with more opportunities than we could have imagined even 10 short years ago, I’ve had to remind myself that the tool of technology is just that, and one that I should periodically resolve to live without.  In fact I have made a conscious choice to go for periods of time without the need to read email, use my cell phone for talking or texting but rather read a book, paint, garden or just be with myself.  It is interesting that in this age of technological temptation; admittedly the mere fact that I’ve had to remind myself to “unplug” speaks volumes to the intractable lure of technology into our habitual routines.  Few of us these days are fully immune.

Is technology breeding narcissists?

A disturbing statistic emerged recently linking certain narcissistic tendencies with behavioral patterns on social media, particularly among young people. An article entitled Facebook’s ‘dark side’ – study finds link to socially aggressive narcissism, highlighted the fact that certain tendencies inherent in narcissistic personality types seemed to be further exacerbated or even initiated by constant use of social media sites like Facebook. 

The article quotes Carol Craig, a social scientist and chief executive of the Centre for Confidence and Well-being.  She said young people in Britain were becoming increasingly narcissistic and Facebook provided a platform for the disorder.
Craig states,"Facebook provides a platform for people to self-promote by changing profile pictures and showing how many hundreds of friends you have. I know of some who have more than 1,000."
Dr. Viv Vignoles, senior lecturer in social psychology at Sussex University, said there was "clear evidence" from studies in America that college students were becoming increasingly narcissistic.

Also noted from the article:

    
Researchers at Western Illinois University studied the Facebook habits of 294 students, aged between 18 and 65, and measured two "socially disruptive" elements of narcissism – grandiose exhibitionism (GE) and entitlement/exploitativeness (EE).
GE includes ''self-absorption, vanity, superiority, and exhibitionistic tendencies" and people who score high on this aspect of narcissism need to be constantly at the centre of attention. They often say shocking things and inappropriately self-disclose because they cannot stand to be ignored or waste a chance of self-promotion.
The EE aspect includes "a sense of deserving respect and a willingness to manipulate and take advantage of others".
The research revealed that the higher someone scored on aspects of GE, the greater the number of friends they had on Facebook, with some amassing more than 800.
Those scoring highly on EE and GE were also more likely to accept friend requests from strangers and seek social support, but less likely to provide it, according to the research. -Source: The Guardian (UK), March 17, 2012

Whether you are a proponent or opponent of the incessant use of social media as an integral part of daily life, these statistics should give one pause for thought.

Interestingly, it was Michael, mentioned in the open of this piece who first admitted to me that he just couldn’t live without Facebook!  “I’m on this thing all the time – I’m addicted,” he enthusiastically told me.  His newly discovered medium of choice I could see, was swiftly taking center stage in his life, although at the time he had only recently become familiar with the social network.  His statement concerned me so much, I had to wonder that if his new medium were suddenly taken away, would he then go through irrevocable social withdrawal.  He ended our conversation by saying, “Facebook is the only way I can really connect with my friends these days.” 

Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, Sherry Turkle wrote a lucid volume entitled Alone Together – Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.  In it she says, “These days, insecure in our relationships and anxious about intimacy, we look to technology for ways to be in relationships and protect ourselves from them at the same time.  This can happen when one is finding one’s way through a blizzard of text messages; it can happen when interacting with a robot.  I feel witness…to a turning point in our expectations of technology and ourselves.  We bend to the inanimate with new solicitude.  We fear the risks and disappointments of relationships with our fellow humans.  We expect more from technology and less from each other.”

Finding our Inner Technology

Many ancient cultures have alluded to the process of “inner technology” as a true means for accessing information.  In literature stemming from volumes of mystery school teachings, accessing knowledge from a grand field of information, often referred to as the Akashic field was at one point within man’s reach.  So many often think of pre-modern man as a primitive life form and yet, scores of our ancient texts have shown quite the opposite.

In Gregg Braden’s 1993 book Awakening to Zero Point – The Collective Initiation he says that the first path, or the path of modern man was to create external technology as a way of remembering ourselves outside of ourselves.  He then states, “The Second Path is the path of internal technology.  Remembered rather than engineered, internal technology originates from within, as our expression of life.  This path remembers us as the sacred union between the atomic expression of “Mother Earth” and the electrical and magnetic expression of ‘Father Heaven.’  Ancient Essene sciences emphasize this idea as the basis of their earliest teachings.” 

We’ve heard so many references of the inner technology that the Atlantean civilization possessed and yet ironically it is also said that it was the access and exploitation of this inner technology that led to the annihilation of this technologically “astute” culture.

Here again we come to the act of responsibility and discernment as stated earlier in this essay.  Whether we choose to utilize exterior or interior technology, a sense of moral integrity should represent a vital quotient.

Framing a new meaning for “ISP”

The field of metaphysics is replete with viable data around the reality of ESP or extra sensory perception.  ESP is the ability to garner information beyond or outside of the typical five sensory framework.  Interestingly, when we think of what ESP denotes – an inner sense of perception, perhaps a re-wording may be in order.   ISP (inner sensory perception) is the true provider of knowledge as opposed to the ISP or Internet Service Provider that we have relied so heavily upon.

ISP is the innate faculty that we all possess.  Conceivably, once an exponential acknowledgement of this inner knowing becomes more apparent, we will become un-tethered to the technology that has become so near and dear to us, and return to a literal wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) or loyalty to self, and that inner sense perception that is so much of who we are.  It is then that we will no longer require an external connection of any kind.

I discuss more about the state of technology, human behavior and how we can move toward a paradigm of true ISP - Inner Sensory Perception, in hour one of my recent interview on The Hundredth Monkey Radio program.

The re-publishing of this article originally posted on Conscious Life News in April of 2013 was inspired by a recent article by Jeff Roberts from Collective Evolution entitled, Why are people so mean?  Has the Internet destroyed empathy and compassion?



Alexis Brooks is the best-selling author of Conscious Musings - Contemplations to Transform Life and Realize Potential and is the host of the popular  Conscious Inquiry Radio program, exclusively presented by Conscious Life News.  Visit Alexis on FacebookTwitter and YouTube!













Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Evolution Through the Acceptance of Paranormal Experience

Why do we tend to deny the very thing that might be key to our most profound transformation - The paranormal?




More often than I can count, I'm hearing a story from a friend, a family member, a colleague, a stranger about the weird thing that just happened to them.  

One of the most recent of which was a story that was featured in my new book, Conscious Musings about a dear friend who personally witnessed the lid of a pot she was preparing to put away, fly in mid-air like a frisbee, probably some twenty feet, aiming and landing right at her foot. Then there was another friend who insisted that a rocking chair in a family friend's home began moving erratically with no one in it - witnessed as well by both her niece and her mother. And then there was another story featured in Conscious Musings about "Lisa," a woman who shared with me an occasion where she heard her deceased father's voice on the phone while in conversation with her sister.

Now as an investigative journalist - a collector of accounts of  the "strange and unusual," you can imagine the stories I get.  They range from the classic experiences of ghostly hauntings to the outright bizarre.  But many of these anecdotes, told with the most passionate of intentions I feel are quite authentic, especially to the experiencer.  Their zeal denotes their belief that these things really happened to them - or at least you would think....

Interestingly, each of the aforementioned scenarios - the paranormal occurrences witnessed by the individual(s) that conveyed them, have a twist of the skeptical as well.  In the case of the "flying lid" account - the individual who told me the story, although she believed what happened to her and moreover that it had some supernatural or nonphysical origin was even more horrified about the backlash she knew she would receive should her husband or daughter find out about it, more horrified in fact than the spookiness of the incident itself!  "They'd think I'm crazy," she said.  Perhaps this was a self-fulfilling prophecy!  In fact, when I finally convinced her to tell them, her surmise was correct.  They laughed her out of the room, calling her silly and full of #$%. After that, I sensed a tone of abandonment in her - she was more willing to let the incident go for fear of sustained ridicule, rather than explore it further. In the case of the moving rocking chair, when the witnesses who were house guests at the time informed the homeowner, she said, "Nah, I doubt that happened...you were just imagining it."  After that, they decided not to mention it again, never mind investigate it further.  And in the case of Lisa who conveyed the story of her "dead" father breaking in on she and her sister's phone conversation, at the end of her admission, she then shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't really believe in these sorts of things."

So the real question becomes WHY are people so loathed to accept experiences that don't fit perfectly within the nicely behaved Universe they think they inhabit?

I suspect there are a few explanations for this.  First, from the time we land on this little blue planet, we are taught and told what reality is.  It's black and white.  It's three dimensional.  If you can't see it, touch it, feel it or kick it, it doesn't exist.  Various belief systems have rules, and if an experience doesn't fit within the given framework you've been taught then it is impossible to have any validity.

Dr. Dana Zohar
I recall this quote from physicist and philosopher Dana Zohar who commented (about the experience of after-death communication): "People experience things.  And that experience is denied because science doesn't have the instruments of the moment to measure it."

Measurement comes in many forms. Experience not being the least of them. And yet, so many are so quick to deny the experience because it doesn't fit within the 3D reality they've come to know, or the science they've come to trust.

The late Michael Talbot, researcher and author of the acclaimed book, The Holographic Universe once said:

"It's not that I am just interested in the 'weird,' I am interested in what these things have to teach us and the practical applications."
Late author of The Holographic Universe, Michael Talbot
And yet, for some reason we are dumbfounded and perplexed by "the weird," and thus quick to dismiss it altogether.  We are not keen to investigate and are more apt to shrug the paranormal off, determined to dig for some practical explanation that will keep our nicely behaved reality in check (and our relationships in tact).

On the other hand, some have chosen to truly explore the world of the unseen and inexplicable- determined to probe the underpinnings, realizing that these experiences may shed light on who we really are, what reality really is and ultimately, our true potential.

It was Albert Einstein who said, "The only source of knowledge is experience."  But he also said, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

I agree.  In fact, as a child I would have "unusual" experiences, mostly in the form of what we call pre-cognitive dreams.  I'd dream of an event, whether mundane or magnificent, and invariably the event would play out in real life!  But rather than shrug it off , I made the decision to explore it, delve deeper into the true mechanisms at work in this reality that the Hindus refer to as Maya, roughly defined as illusion.


Anita Moorjani, author of Dying to be me
Speaking of unusual experiences, it would behoove me here to mention this para-normal, extraordinary and life changing experience of a woman named Anita Moorjani.  Moorjani had been suffering from a terminal form of cancer and given the edict that she would not live long.  After experiencing what is referred to as a near-death experience (NDE), and given the opportunity to evaluate her life and her reality while in this supernatural state, she woke up to the notion that her life was so much more than she surmised.  In this state she was healed and subsequently emerged from a coma, despite the doctor's certainty that she would die in just a short time.  She was completely healed of her cancer.  But what is more profound about this experience is that while having the NDE, she had the epiphany that life and reality is far greater and infinite than we have been accustomed to knowing. Moreover, she realized that the reality that we are mostly acclimated to, is illusory and that we are only glimpsing a tiny portion of the scale of reality.

Talbot's holographic universe intimates much of the same - that reality is but a holographic projection emanating from another level of reality that is far from 3D.  It's infinite, fluid and malleable.  And if this is so then the idea of paranormal experience is far more plausible, making the idea of a sticks and stones reality as the ultimate reality the real illusion!

But if this is so - If 3D reality is a construct, an illusion of sorts, why do we hold on dearly to the illusion?

Now that's a loaded question.  But let's look at this...

Does Hollywood influence our perception of reality?

Over the years, many have criticized Hollywood's portrayal of extraordinary or paranormal experience.  In some cases it's glorified and magnified but ultimately vilified as an inauthentic component of reality.  It's just "fantasy" or "fiction."  The larger than life possibilities that are portrayed in movies under the auspices of "fiction" are paraded in front of our eyes and our senses, but are relegated to wishful thinking and pure entertainment.

These days, our "entertainment" is Reality TV.  A snapshot of "real" life, complete with the defective and demented behavior of everyday people (or so we would think).  No time for paranormal stuff here, and thus, no time to reflect on the extraordinary goings on (the underpinnings of reality). Most importantly, with the media projecting reality to us, we certainly have no time to investigate our own potential, on our own terms.

To veer our attention away from the real juice of reality is to veer us away from ourselves. Maybe some want it that way!  ...But that's another story altogether!

As you peruse this post, contemplate the vast nature of reality, of the Universe and most importantly of self!  When you have an experience that doesn't fit within the average, everyday world you've come to know, you might ask yourself the question, "Am I the average, everyday person that I've been taught to be or am I much more?"

Recognizing the paranormal in your life might just hold the answer!

Explore - Embrace -  Grow - Share - Live!


Alexis Brooks is the best-selling author of Conscious Musings - Contemplations to Transform Life and Realize Potential and is the host of the popular  Conscious Inquiry Radio program, exclusively presented by Conscious Life News.  Visit Alexis on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!