We have access to so much information. Our phone is basically a portal into time and space. It can provide us tons of information, connection with others, games, entertainment of all sorts, shopping, the entire library of congress is practically available through our phone.
What does this do to our attention. I personally used to use a kindle to read from. I found that I am more engaged when reading on my phone. Why? Because I am attached to my phone. I have a phone addiction. I have a technology addiction. I have an information/engagement addiction. What is worse is that my hyper-engagement with the phone is actually leading to a disengagement with the REAL reality, God's reality. The sun is setting, it is a beautiful night, but I am not noticing this beauty. I want to take a minute to talk about the dark side of how this technology is pulling us away from the world of the spirit, the world of God. I will start with a discussion of beauty. Aesthetics used to be a form of engagement. They were important in our daily life. We are not moving towards utilitarianism. Look at how McDonalds used to be inviting and playful, and now it is simply about efficiency. Why is this important? Because people are not looking around them. They are engrossed in the virtual reality. By keeping the surrounding ugly and uninteresting, people, especially children, have no reason to leave their virtual world. This world is becoming increasingly ugly and scary. In my neighborhood there is open air drug use, urban decay with houses falling apart, and evidence of suffering. Children do not know what to make of this world. The games and entertainment on their digital devices keep them distracted from the world. What is even more dangerous still is that the devices themselves are perpetuating a vision of a violent world. I used to wonder why so many video games are violent. Isn't it possible to make games that promote positive values and experiences? Why are so many movies about serial killers? Isn't it possible to make movies about heros and saints? Sure it is, but there is an agenda, a dark agenda, and it is being fulfilled before our very eyes. God is good. God is beautiful. His creations should be celebrated. Make a decision to take a technology free day. Turn off your phones and spend time together in spaces of beauty. Turn your engagement back to the world.
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(and not everyone wants it) I have shared in this blog at other times my personal desire to know Truth with a capital T. I am willing to go down the rabbit hole, and I keep an open mind. Truth is available. It is like a relationship with God. It is available to those who want it, but it take work and the willingness to let go of personal desires. Of course I want the world to be a certain way, but I must deal with the realities of where we are in actuality. I often have called myself an idealist-realist. I believe in the existence of the ideal. This is what I call "God's vision of the world". There is also the actual state of the world, and that cannot be denied. Otherwise we are not living in reality, and delusion is in its essence a lie. The lie is the domain of the devil. It can only lead to destruction. So I choose to live in the reality. It is painful to look at the ugly truth of where we have arrived in this world. There is such a great degree of devisiveness, and isolation. I am not only a truth seeker, but a truth-teller. Very much like an evangelist who is seeking to save souls from hell, I feel like the truth being told and seen can prevent so much suffering, and move us towards God's vision of this Earth that he created for us. The sad thing is that not everyone is interested in seeing the Truth. I have been through this for many years. Come to think of it, for most of my life. When I was barely a teen, my father, who was an alcoholic, claimed to have quit drinking. I discovered his stash of liquor, hidden in various drink containers, from apple juice, to tea, to tonic water. When I said something about it, I was told I was crazy. As a young person it was so alienating. To have truth denied causes a deep inner sense of confusion. To be told to be quiet, causes the soul to become separated from the world. My voice is not welcomed. I am not welcomed. It would be better if I weren't even here. This dynamic ultimately led to my suicide attempt. Where I had an NDE that then changed the trajectory of my life. But that is a story for another time. I continued to have throughout my life the ability to see corruption. I worked in a lab as a technician at the VA Hospital in Dallas TX. Here I was using a technique that could measure compounds in the brain at the level of picomoles. After several weeks of cleaning up the system I started a new protocol and was getting good results. I had used a moble phase (the liquid medium that would help isolate the compounds of interest) from a successful University lab. Then for no reason, the lab manager switched out my moble phase. I was just the technician so I didn't mind. I can follow orders if they are not against basic core values. Also, this new moble phase had incredible "peaks", that is the ability to measure picomoles was so enhanced, it helped with the data analysis. However, after the change in moble phase, something happened to the profile of the dopamine curve. Instead of dropping after several minutes, it stayed elevated for hours. I spent several weeks trying to figure out this anomaly. Ultimately to no avail. My lab manager switched me to a new project, to supposedly finish something they had worked on and never completed. I started on this new project and was given an assistant. This was key to my discovery. The new assistant accedently added too much of a particular binder in the moble phase. The result was that a new "peak" appeared. I uncovered the fraud. This is probably too much for people who are not familiar with HPCL to understand so I will just leave it at that. I discovered fraud. I wound up leaving the lab. I did try to confront the situation, but everyone just denied it. My regret is that I didn't say something to the higher-ups. I had called a professor I respected at Rutgers to ask her opinion. Dr. Morell. She had taught our course on ethics, and I remember her saying how falsifying data can cause so much confusion in the field. It can take years to undo the damage done. She told me that to open up that can of worms could be ruinous to my career, and they may never find the truth even so. Now I realize, it would have been worth it. Several years later, I saw a Congressional Hearing with a panel of experts who were exposing evidence from ground zero that there was the presence of military grade thermate in the sample. The professor Steven Jones from Brigham Young University used a technique similar to the one I had used. A technique that could give a chemical fingerprint so precise they could actually determine what lab the compound had been created in. Things like Potassium Permanganate were present. This compound is so volitile it does not stay stable in the environment. When you add water, it will burn a hole in your clothing, or your finger as I found out when in my college chemistry lab. That led me to a deep investigation of the matter, and I spent the next several years trying to talk to people about it. I finally gave up, realizing most people are unable to accept uncomfortable truths. I made the decision to try to work in the light. I could discuss those areas people could agree on. I could stay in truth, but not alienate people. There are always things we all agree on, right? Kindness, neighborliness, taking care of one another, educating our children. These are core values everyone shares. But now, I am being called to expose corruption again. I am a truth-teller. I do not feel right keeping secrets. I have been convicted in my own beliefs, and I am willing to stand behind them even at the risk of losing friends, family members, and even my own life. Today I see with clarity. God's plan is perfect. I have been given these challenges throughout my life to galvanize my spirit. Making the decision to see Truth is liberating. Through this, I am able to see my true purpose and walk confidently on my path. This process of embracing Truth has helped me to developed discernment. The ability to sense physically and through direct knowing, the resonance of Truth. Am I perfect at it? Not even close, but I believe the more I make the decision to seek Truth, and let go of how I think things should be, the more I can sense the presence of Truth. Just as the ability to know God is available for those who want it, the ability to know Truth is there for those who want it. It comes with a price, but just as Neo had to give up his comfortable existence in the movie The Matrix, what kind of life would it be to live a comfortable lie? I choose the Red Pill. Why is forgiveness so difficult?
Anger, frustration, the desire for revenge. The desire for justice. When things are unfair, what is the right thing to do? I know we are supposed to forgive, but how? How can I let this evil deed go unpunished? It is hard not to feel like the victim. I can make the list of sins against me, and it is long. I can feel the pain and hurt, and remember the tears and despair created by those who sought to intentionally destroy me. What do I know of truth? What do I know of life? What do I know of Justice? Do not look back. Do not take it upon yourself to dole out retribution. Do not waste energy on those who deserve none. The parable of Lot's wife is one to be taken to heart here. What is needed now is to look forward. Teal Swan spoke about forgiveness, and said you cannot make the decision to forgive, or force yourself, or do affirmations until you do so, you make the decision to move on with your life. When your achieve resolution, that is the opposite of the pain that was caused by those who intentionally or unconsciously hurt you, then you can forgive. You do not expect resolution by those who hurt you. They are now in the past. They are far away, long gone, distant memories. You achieve resolution from your future, the direction you are headed, the goals you are seeking to achieve. And when you achieve them, you are healed. When you were destroyed by someones rejection and exclusion, you are healed when you are finally welcomed into the place you were meant to be. This is when the resolution comes. Now the forgiveness comes naturally. So move forward towards what you are wanting in your life. Use the hurt to show you where you need to go to be healed, and then walk that path of healing unwaveringly. The resolution you seek is seeking you. Your pain becomes your purpose. |
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