Week 18 – I Am

I plan to watch both recommended videos, but I was able to rent I AM, so I’m able to pull together some thoughts for this week. I have been fascinated by the quantum aspects of this course, and the quantum aspects discussed in this video also fascinate me. I found the discussion about aboriginal cultures valuing cooperation at the highest value and holding competition as a very low value enlightening. Especially that competition beyond certain boundaries is considered mental illness. Decades ago, I lost most interest in intense competition. I always thought that meant something was wrong with me. The revelation that that intense competition might be considered mental illness amuses me. I believe too much of any one thing is considered mental illness, with a balanced approach being considered the healthier approach to most things in life.

The message our culture sends that to be happy we must buy stuff is flawed. The truth is, we need a certain amount of stuff to survive, and that makes us happy. The lie is that more stuff equals more happy. But how many of us engage in “retail therapy?”  George Carlin’s “A Place for my Stuff” piece is always a great way to call attention to this tendency to relate to our “stuff.”

I liked the discussion about democracy in nature and how that’s coded into our DNA. But the part that really got me thinking was Marc Ian Barasch and Rollin McCraty say, in essence, “The heart is the boss of us.” Love, care, gratitude are healthy and renew our physiology. Our heart sends a stressful or emotional pattern, it literally inhibits our brain. The heart’s electromagnetic field is huge and can be felt outside the body. It can be measured and have a physiological effect. The discussions in this area are stunning. They hypothesize that the heart is the access point to the spirit. Thoughts and emotions affect more than we think. The discussion about the effect of emotions on random number generators in cities around the world and the effect of 9-11 on those numbers was astounding, lending support to the theory that what we do on an individual level does affect the world. Dean Radin admits it sounds way too close to the New Age concepts that so many people poo-poo, yet it has a basis in quantum physics.

Thom Hartmann’s analogy about disassembling a car and reassembling it, and disassembling our dog and reassembling it (not a good idea, by the way) proving there is something fundamentally different between machines and life. Note: Your doctor generally gets you are not a machine. Your insurance company? You’re a machine to them.

I am adjusting to the idea of connectedness. I think I can accept that. I’m not certain their approach is the most correct one for that; however, the discussion is valuable. Changing of perceptions. True. That can make all the difference.

Tom Shady’s questions he sought to answer in this documentary, and the answers he came up with (spoiler):

What is wrong with the world? I am.

What is right with the world? I am.