The Internet--Our New Path to God?
A Must-read for the Technologically Timid
This service is led by Rev. Lynn Woodland
I'm usually a technology hold-out. I was the last on my block to get a computer, avoided email as long as I could, and got my first cell phone years after everyone else, purely as a result of peer pressure. Everyone swore I'd love it. For the first three months it sat on my kitchen counter and I gave it a wide berth. (I had just read Stephen King's novel, "Cell." He doesn't own a cell phone, either.) Now it has moved to the bottom of my purse and I rarely turn it on. If it ever rings, I fall to pieces and usually miss the call before figuring out how to answer it.
But, in spite of my natural inclinations, in 2006 I truly joined the twenty-first century and started offering my work as an online curriculum complete with forums, chat rooms and virtual "group" exercises. I loved the writing and was excited by the possibilities, but mastering the technology was a *#%&! At first I gritted my teeth and dove into it as a necessary evil leading to a rewarding end. But then it occurred to me that maybe mastering the technological equivalent of collective consciousness is as important as, and somehow related to, mastering the skills of spiritual empowerment.
The concept of collective consciousness is both modern and ancient. Metaphysicians call this collective mind the Akashik Record and see it as a universal container of all information. Carl Jung, an early father of psychology, called it the collective unconscious and helped people access it through dreams. Nobel Prize winning physicist, Erwin Schroedinger, one of the pioneers of modern physics, spoke of there being "one mind," theorizing that our individual minds contributed to one, universal mind.
Of course, theorizing about collective intelligence is one thing and having easy access to it is another. The latter is often left to those with special gifts of sensitivity or clairvoyance. As I pondered the metaphorical connections between the World Wide Web and universal consciousness, I wondered if perhaps the evolving technology of the internet is more than a metaphor for accessing the "one mind." Perhaps it's not only signaling a new stage of evolving consciousness but taking us there as wellÑthe easy access of the internet somehow leading to easier access of the higher mind.
My speculations were far from original. Research into consciousness is suggesting the way information on the Web comes through our home computer (rather than from it) may be a precise model for how our brains access information. Mounting evidence from the edges of quantum science, is showing that the Zero Point FieldÑthe quantum soup of untapped energy and light that underpins all realityÑis the true repository of memory and information, not the brain. The brain acts more like an individual computer accessing information from a collective, external pool. (Google Hal Puthoff or Walter Schempp for their ground-breaking research on this.) So, as science is giving us this fantastic glimpse into the true workings of the mind and the extent of our connectedness, we've simultaneously built the physical equivalent with many computers (brains) linked to a common Web (Zero Point FieldÑthe "one mind"). It's the perfect manifestation of Schrodinger's vision of individual brains contributing to a universal mind.
Author, Donald Dulchinos, veteran of the cable TV industry and involved in online communities predating the World Wide Web, pulled together many fascinating strands of philosophy, technology, and science in his book, "Neuroshphere," on "the convergence of evolution, group mind, and the internet." He presents the views of numbers of well-known theorists who all believe that humanity is moving in the direction of a higher, wiser, group mind. The chaos theorist, Ralph Abraham, for example, believes the explosive growth of the World Wide Web has increased the bandwidth of the mind's connections and increased the overall intelligence of our species. The early twentieth century philosopher, PierreTeilhard de Chardin, anticipated this quickening of human consciousness, Dulcinos writes, in his theory of noogenesis, a theory that as humans stopped evolving biologically, they began an evolution of consciousness. "The World Wide Web is the material manifestation of Teilhard's vision." Dulchinos himself speculates that, "the Internet represents the latest manifestation, in the material world, of the ongoing evolution of consciousness."
Observing joined consciousness in a less technological context, I've noticed in my work with groups over several decades, the tremendous synergy they afford. Healing, insights, altered states and personal growth breakthroughs of all sorts seem to come more easily in a group than in one-to-one sessions with a healer, teacher, or counselor (which is why I gave up my individual practice some twenty years ago). I've even discerned a shift, over the years, in why people attend groups. In my early years of group facilitation, it seemed that people mainly just wanted to learn or fix something and go home. Then, in the 80's, support groups came in vogue and people found, not just healing in groups, but community and belonging. They came to mend or learn, but stayed for these secondary gains. In recent years, I've noticed people joining groups less from a feeling of lack and more because we all somehow sense that together we're more. We come for the "quickening."
Perhaps this alchemical synergy of group consciousness and the incredible growth of connecting technology, are evolving into a new sort of quantum spirituality where science and technology, rather than being at odds with spirituality, actually help awaken us to our oneness and become a pathway to God consciousness. Melvin Morse, M.D., a well-known researcher of near-death experiences and what they tell us about the nature of consciousness, goes so far as to suggest that the current debate between "skeptics" and "believers" [of mystical experience] has become obsolete because it's based upon old science. Science writer and author of The Field, Lynn McTaggart echoes this notion suggesting that, "Far from destroying God, science for the first time [is] proving His existenceÑby demonstrating that a higher, collective consciousness [is] out there."
Could the technology of connection be part of some super-conscious, evolutionary urge to join? And might it become, to use Ralph Abraham's words, what will "save us from the 'Death Track'" of human greed and exploitation? Might mastering the World Wide Web actually help rewire our minds to more easily access the limitless potential of the One Mind and tap Zero Point energy? Is the internet itself expanding our consciousness and increasing our intelligence?
Who knows? Perhaps one day, we won't even need the computers and the cablesÑhumanity will look back and see them to be the mere training wheels of an evolving species.
Thank you for coming.
Namaste
For a deeper dive into this journey of consciousness and practical spirituality, consider participating in Rev. Lynn Woodland's Quantum Spirit Unlimited online course of education and ordination, offered on a self-determined tuition basis. For information, see www.quantumspiritunlimited.com. For more on Lynn Woodland's work, see www.lynnwoodland.com.
Rev. Lynn Woodland is a writer, and founder of Miracles of the Spirit. She has spent her entire professional life promoting spiritually empowering alternatives. To learn more about Lynn Woodland's work, visit www.lynnwoodland.com.