Think Logically, Live Intuitively

Book Excerpt: chapter One

1
The ?Hurrieder? We Go,
the ?Behinder? We Get

     Caroline and I talked long into the night on the evening this book was born (see preface). Our conversation took several paths. I listened patiently as she expressed her frustration facing an ever-busier lifestyle that she feels increasingly helpless to influence. She is very successful in business, but at a great price. There is not enough time for the things she believes should be important. As Caroline says, ?I am so busy all the time, but it doesn?t seem that I ever get anything done.? She is coming to realize that we live in a culture where the pace of our lives is moving beyond our control.
     She listened attentively as I shared my experiences and explained how I had learned that expanded states of consciousness and psi offer tools that can help in dealing with the complications of modern living. I told her how my day had looked just like hers only a short time before. I shared my belief that losing control of our daily activity is more than a time management issue; it is a direct challenge to our freedom to choose our life direction. And life paths are something that should come from deep within us, not be dictated by society.
     I told her I had learned that it is no longer good enough to do things right. It is now more important to pick which are the right things to try to do. She needed to understand that when one is faced with nothing but ?must-do? items, priority-setting loses clarity as one faces the question of which two of the top ten priorities can be tackled today, or more realistically, in the next hour.
     She wanted to know how we can be sure we are right as we make such decisions. In her world, decision-making processes are being squeezed and compacted into unrealistic time frames. Technology and the increasing speed of change are causing the ?shelf life? of a decision to be much shorter. In Caroline?s world, ?long-term? planning may now be viewed as encompassing weeks to a number of months instead of years.
     We talked about living in a world where even the speed of the speed of change is speeding up. Today, if a response to an e-mail request for a decision is not made in a matter of minutes, then the decision-maker is considered an obstructionist. Woe be unto those who dare not enter the ?connectedness? of mobile e-mail or cell phones and thus are cut off from the business of decision-making and the constant flow of information.
     As I thought about these issues later, I realized that there is a great deal of unnecessary anger all around us. It is an obvious by-product of this compaction of time and the mounting pressure to complete an ever-increasing list of tasks that there is seemingly insufficient time to do. Anger, in general, is on the rise in society as we look at the short fuse of many who feel ?put upon? to stand in line, wait their turn at the traffic light, or simply be bound by roadway speed limits.
     While this may not be the lifestyle of every person now, if current trends continue, it cannot be too far distant. A quick peek at the Internet-capable cell phones carried by teenagers in a shopping mall illustrates that being ?connected? has moved far beyond the on-call status of essential workplace personnel of only a short time ago. Even grade school children are intensely focused on their electronic ?daily planners? as they are already ensnared by our time-pressured culture.
     Facing the issues of a fast-paced world is further complicated by our need to find the right information to make our daily decisions. We are clearly living in an age of information inundation. Facts, figures, and data fuel everything going on around us. From piles of unread books by our bedsides to ever-expanding Internet resources, the predicted ?information explosion? may now have even given way to information overload. There is so much information available, yet many times we have difficulty finding just the facts we need. I told Caroline that I believe we are drowning in a sea of data and simultaneously parched for a drink of knowledge, not to mention thirst-quenching wisdom.
     If one is lucky enough to find the information one needs, how does one process it and turn it into new ideas? Where are the true sources of inspiration and insight that provide new or breakthrough information and knowledge? And how can we incorporate inspired insight into the fast-paced decisions needed today? Finding the right pieces of information to address difficult questions is also an advantage that Caroline and all of us seek.
     Yes, Caroline?s world was my world only a short time ago. But that has changed now.
     Time is not the rigid equally measured ticks of a second hand. Time is a perception of the participants in an event.                                  
                                                                                                                                ?J. R. M.

Interlude One
Visionary Insight in the Information Age

     Solutions are difficult. I believe that it is solutions that my niece Caroline is seeking when she asks the question ?Of what benefit . . . ??
     In this age of technology, searching for coping mechanisms within our time-pressed and stressful lives is the overarching question for many people. Another way of exploring these issues is to ask: What good is all our information and technology with no direction? What about the knowledge and wisdom needed to effectively use abundant information and technology wisely? With all the benefits of modern life, we still seem to be very weak in our basic understanding of why we are here and what direction we should be taking with our lives.
     Finding inner direction is the real knowledge I think we are all seeking. Wisdom about our ultimate place in the universe is our real goal of life and the one that counts. Without a perspective on who we are and where we are going, we have little clue as to what information we should be paying attention to. Yet how can we consider something as esoteric as inner wisdom or ultimate life paths amidst the e-mail, cell phone calls, pressing deadlines, and unrealistic expectations of our daily lives?
     I mentioned in the introduction that we are all seekers in some form. The limitations of traditional paths do not bind the seeker. This is both fortunate and unfortunate. It is fortunate as new trails are blazed and new worlds explored. It is unfortunate because, on the return trip home, the seeker is faced with a credibility problem. The seeker returns with new knowledge that challenges current concepts of what is true. Natives in tribal cultures who have visited ?civilization? are often considered deranged on their return home. Since their families and friends back home have not shared these new experiences firsthand, a balance of traditional constructs of reality and totally new experiences can be difficult to achieve. Just as ?seeking? can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, ?seeking balance? amidst massive new information can also be very challenging to an individual or a culture.
     Caroline?s question of ?How would expanded consciousness benefit me?? is not easily answered. This book is the result of my efforts to provide an answer. Intertwined with seeking solutions to common problems in our daily lives are much deeper questions. Mystical questions like ?Why are we here?? and ?How does the universe work?? do not seem like pragmatic avenues of inquiry for solving problems of overscheduled time and too much information. The world of the mystical, however, may contain the very secrets we need to conquer our complex societal problems.
     Because of the fear of ridicule, people may be afraid to share the benefits of their journeys into the world of the mystical and unseen. If you are one who is afraid to share your experiences in these areas, you have my sympathy and support. Please understand that you are not alone. Millions have had similar experiences, but because so many are afraid to share them we are unaware of how widespread these phenomena are.
Beginning in the next chapter, I will share with you the experiences I shared with Caroline. Some of this is emotionally and intellectually challenging for me to convey. Every event is true, but I do not share my experiences for the sake of notoriety. Indeed, I struggle mightily to admit some of these occurrences publicly. But I now realize the need to share such activity. I have met many people over the past few years that have been severely ridiculed for sharing similar experiences. Facing the extraordinary impacts you greatly, but not being able to communicate a resulting major insight is extremely frustrating.
     In our journey together in this book, we will encounter both personal experience and scientific fact that challenge consensus belief systems. The journey begins with some extraordinary personal experiences in the next few chapters and continues through exploration of related scientific implications in later chapters. The second section of this book is very different from the previous one. The one after that is different from the first two. This is a path with many twists and turns. It is like the collection of different stones that can serve as stepping points to get you across a river. Each adds to a process of eventually arriving at the desired goal.
     I hope that traveling the path of this book will not only offer you new approaches for addressing the issues of daily life presented in the last chapter, but will also enable you to realize the existence of greater realms of your consciousness.

Continues . . .