Blog 121 – 9.22.15

I actually had the idea for this piece before yesterday’s tribute to Limitless Lucy – Lucille Ball. I was thinking about two recent movies Limitless (which will be airing as a weekly TV series this fall) and Lucy. Both of these movies have the same theme, one of enhanced brain function due to a powerful new drug; sounds a bit like the LSD trips of the sixties. I am amazed at how desperate we are to believe there is a wonder drug, a magic pill that will not only, solve all our ills, make us beautiful and shapely, grow muscles and other things, and yes even make us smarter than the average bear. What do you think, Boo Boo?

In the movies Limitless and Lucy we see a young man and a young woman unlock the brain’s limitless potential. Far fetched as that premise may seem to you, I think we do have within us unlimited potential. Whatever the mind can imagine or visualized can be manifested. Some call it mind, some call it spirit, some call it soul. The electricity in each one of us is more than enough to power all our dreams and even create new worlds. Woe, brother, I think you may have waxed a bit bold with that one. Really, the electrical network of even a baby’s brain is so vast that they begin at birth limiting or shutting off connections in the neural network to make sense of, the for lack of a better term, the Field of Infinite Possibilities, FIP. I did not coin that phrase some much smarter quantum physicists did. It is actually the opposite of what we think about learning, knowing, or choosing to focus on one view often causes us to close off our mind to the other equally viable opportunities or interpretations of information. Therefore new thinking can also limit as well as expands the brain. When we think we “know” something we close our mind to the other possibilities. How much more we are able to see when we question what we think we see and continually leave our minds open to new possibilities. To walk this world in awe of the vast possibilities is to be a child of the Universe to think we have Found It, Figured It All Out, is to be stunted, closed off, and narrow. I am thinking of a line from Glen Campbell’s Try A Little Kindness where in passing he mentions “The narrow minded people on the narrow minded street.” I have been one of those people so I try not to be too hard on them.

As an example of what I am trying to get across often when someone quits smoking cigarettes they are the hardest on smokers trying to get them “to see the error of their evil or self destructive ways” as it were. We need to be more patient with others and with ourselves and realize that others may not be ready for “our truth” and that there is at least a remote possibility that we have something yet to learn that will at least modify our own perception of truth or reality. What we believe is our truth, our reality and we, I think, need to respect others right to a different point of view.

I once believed, thought that it was all a matter of education. But I have come to believe that even education like history is a matter of view point. We can be so convinced that we have the correct view only to have it all change when we are forced by circumstances to see things in a different light or from a different perspective.

I have quoted Bill Shakespeare’s remark from one of his plays, “There are worlds not dreamt of in your philosophy.” We are most of us, even those of us passed three score (60 for you non Gettysburg Address folks), still trying to get passed limiting beliefs that we learned as young children. Psychiatrists believe many of our fears, phobias, are directly related to these early beliefs, misunderstandings, narrow views. Even a famous Christian based seminar some years back was all about dealing with basic youth conflicts.

I heard someone once define being an adult as having the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in you mind at the same time. Understanding there are two sides to a coin or more appropriately many sides to diamond is, I think, a more mature world view. It is childish to think my view, my opinion, is the only true way to believe, think, or see a thing. Yet we live in a culture of “right and wrong”, “good and bad”, “positive and negative.” It is a false or misguided way of looking at the “whole.” God or the Universe is not a schizophrenic or split personality. And God or the Universe, is way more than a Dualistic or Two-side Coin (i.e. Good God/Bad Devil). God or the Universe is even more than a three headed angel or dragon (i.e. dad, boy and a spook – and no I don’t believe that was blaspheming the Holy Spirit which probably has more to do with denying Who and Whose you truly are than what words one chooses to try to communicate). God the Universe is more like the many faceted diamond. That God has many faces, yours and mind and everyone’s. That God is a god of infinite possibilities. I like the name FIP for him/her/it.

I close this long piece making fun of God’s name in the best sense. You have probably heard the exclamation “Jesus H. Christ.” Ever wonder what the H. stands for? Leave it to a child to come up with a simple but fun answer. When asked if the little child knew what God’s name was he/she said, “Sure, that’s easy. It is right in the Lord’s Prayer. It says, ‘Howard be thy name.” So call God whatever you will, GOD, The Universe, Allah, FIP, or simply Howard you cannot take his/her name in vain, nor anyone else’s who like Dorothy’s Scarecrow has and truly uses their brain.

Your friend and fellow traveler, the wordy guy,
David White