The Bible, a Spiritual Gazing Ball

Gazing balls originated in 13th century Venice, Italy.  King Ludwig II of Bavaria, sometimes referred to as Mad King Ludwig, adorned his with lawn Gazing Balls. Thereafter, they became a fixture of European gardens and are associated with Victorian era English gardens in particular.  Today we still see them in yards and gardens all over the world and people still actually enjoy looking into them.

As one looks at a Gazing Ball it is possible to compare that process to our existence in the universe.  The Gazing Ball acts to not only show a reflection of us but, also the things that are around us.  The spherical reflecting surface of the ball creates dramatic distortion but objects around us are in the reflections we see.  We soon learn that changing our position changes the reflections that we see as well as the degree and nature of that distortion.  The time of day as well as weather, season and the entry and exit of various objects in the field of view provide an inexhaustible dynamic of change that is the appeal of the Gazing Ball!

I find it interesting that something that is essentially unchanging, the Gazing Ball itself, can be responsible for so much variety in views and inspiration.  Every time we look we see things differently.  Of course, the reason is that everything is changing, even us the observer!

The Holy Bible, particularly the essence of its message as with the Gazing Ball does not change either.  Each time we read or hear scripture and interpret the messages of The Bible it is much the same as the phenomenon of the Gazing Ball. Our experience in life has changed as we live and our minds and ability to understand has changed as well.  Again we have an inexhaustible set of interpretations and inspiration available to us. 

How many times have you read or heard a particular scripture repeated with a totally different impact on your thinking?  All of us will experience this because God’s word is written to provide a means to shape our thinking in response to His will.  The key to experiencing this Biblical Gazing Ball is to have accepted the Holy Spirit as that voice that helps us LISTEN.  Jesus, after His resurrection, sent The Holy Spirit to us to be our guide.

Use the Bible as a Gazing Ball!  Read it and LISTEN to the guidance that results.  Each time we go there our world, as well as we, will have changed providing new and fresh perspectives and experiences for Him to reflect on our consciousness.  

That, my fellow humans, is PROGRESS!   Don’t waste the opportunity!

YOU ARE THE CAMERA !

I recently received a message from a friend who had just invested in a new camera.  She was so excited that she had finally been able to get the camera that she had been dreaming about.  It had all the wonderful features that were going to allow her to take pictures like she had never been able to take before.

In the message was a picture of a small country church with a cemetery in front.

In her commentary she criticized the photo from the photographer’s perspective.  The lighting was not ideal although the depth of field was good.  She was afraid that she may be trespassing.  Sunlight was too bright and so forth.  The next part of the commentary was on the subject of what she was going to be able to do with this camera.  More lenses, filters and all of the features that would allow her to take perfect pictures.

It was at this point in reading this fantastic post that it occurred to me how similar her experience is to the way that we see ourselves and the opportunities that we are given in life.  That thought process was triggered by my simply wondering what church it was in the picture.  The grave sites in the picture were old and beautiful but, my mind went on to asking who was buried in those graves, what stories could their lives tell?  There were so many questions that I cannot list them all!

In essence we live our lives like this.  We get so excited about our camera, us!  We spend our lives trying to see everything that we can see?  Vacation planning!  New experiences!  Travel the world!  This is much like in her commentary, “How can we improve the lighting?”; “What is the best time of day to visit?”  In all of that excitement of being overwhelmed with our physical being and our ability to be in the world and interact with it, how much do we miss by not asking the right questions and waiting for the answers?  I am guilty of having pictures taken on vacations of places that I cannot tell you about!  I was there but cant remember much about it.....

Life is a similar process that tricks us all.  We can not begin to realize how short the time on earth is until we see the end.  It can happen as we get older or when we are confronted with a condition that establishes a definite end, as with a terminal illness.

As I continue to learn in my last days I am driven to share this message!  Learn to not only be excited about your ability to see and experience living but, ask the questions and #LISTEN for the answers.  What church is that?  What are the “Learning Histories” it has to tell?  Who are those people and what did their lives mean?  This concept applies to everything in the world and everyone that we meet.  Realize that there is a finite amount of time left, even if you are young and just getting started.

Yes, you have [YOU ARE] a great camera!  You can add all kinds of features to enable you to capture images of all kinds.   You can take it to the corners of the earth, and beyond.  Make sure that your perspective includes the question and answer aspect that completes the experience.  Never take a picture of a Church and not know its name and history!  Life is a “LearningWheel”  but, it is more than a fabulous camera. Ask and #LISTEN 

YOU ARE THE CAMERA!    Next SHARE your Learning!

"Shallow" and "Deep" Thinkers

Have you ever wondered about the terms "Shallow" and "Deep" thinkers?  We know that both types of people exist in the world.  Taking it to another level, I think it is important better understand why and how, even though sometimes at opposite ends of opinion, they each have a basis for having confidence in the right outcome for doing what they consider to be the right thing.

I find the visual image of a pond to be helpful in understanding this dynamic.

The picture is of a popular place in Florida called Blue Springs.  This is a clear water park that is fed by underground springs with cold clear water that results in one of the most interesting places I have visited. 

The waters of Blue Springs sit neatly in the midst of a cypress swamp and are laced with openings to underwater caves, some never having been fully explored.  There are signs on the tress near each cave listing the number of people that have died in that cave.  The stories are told are many about those who have died exploring those caves.  I see Blue Springs as an excellent metaphor for the world that we share.  When looking at human life on earth I see an interesting comparison between what I will call “the culture of blue springs” and people living in our world today. 

These two descriptions "Shallow" and "Deep" thinkers can be compared using the Blue Springs Florida example.

Shallow thinkers are cautions people.  They only get into the water to no more that waste deep, some even less.  Many times these people have no confidence of being able to swim and/or they find the water too cold.  Some even have fears about what is in the deeper water, fearing the large fish and manatees.  In this group you will find a lot of diversity in opinion, fears, and as you would expect accuracy of information.

It seems that most people start off as shallow tinkers.  Their thinking is shaped by what they see, hear and experience but, there is that sub-group that has the drive to learn.  They venture out.by learning to swim, learning to use SCUBA technology.  With these more advanced abilities they get to experience Blue Springs as “Deep Thinkers.”  They experience seeing the fish and caves firsthand and become sources of information to some of  the reluctant “shallow” thinkers. 

In this dichotomy of experience we run head on with the problems that have plagued the world since the beginning of history. 

• ·         How accurately can we observe and capture an experience? 
• ·         How accurately can we articulate or share our experience? 
• ·         How accurately can a listener or learners hear and comprehend others? 
• ·         And finally, how accurately can a learner convey their knowledge to others?

On top of these problems add the complicating factors of language, culture, age, context and receptivity we start to see the reasons why we pass on corporate knowledge so slowly. 

Note that mankind’s progress relies on corporate knowledge gained through knowledge and the history of man being passed on to aid our understanding of reality. Looking at a pond we can see an example of a world of diversity and at least partially get the idea that it is knowable.  By adding the human aspect and the diversity brought by that human aspect we can start to appreciate the differences in understanding and opinion of that reality.

Step back and replace the pond with God’s Cosmos.  Then bring in our human diversity.  In that vision we can appreciate the “Shallow” Vs “Deep” thinkers.  We can appreciate the diversity in abilities to comprehend, observe, understand, communicate and share our experiences.  Realize too that we each are on a life-long learning adventure, then add the limit of our lifetime that limits our opportunity to observe and share and you have the metaphor.

The only way to survive and progress is to live what you know!  You may learn more tomorrow but always live what you know.  Do not let the deep thinkers confuse you.  Jesus said it when he spoke of the faith of a child.

Remember this quote: Luke 18:16

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

We are always children in life living that point in time of always being the oldest we have ever been and the youngest we will ever be again.  DO NOT TAKE YOUR OPINIONS TOO SERIOUSLY, THEY WILL IMPROVE!

Life is a “Learning Wheel!”  We must continually work toward perfecting how to use it!

Seeing the End of the Tunnel

It was 50 years ago in March of this year that I lived in a rented room in the home of some of the wealthiest people in Lexington County, South Carolina.  

I had just moved from Sumter, South Carolina and started my new job with WABCO in Batesburg, South Carolina.  I was an electronic technician on an assembly line doing trouble-shooting and final alignment of 2-way FM VHF radios sold to the railroads.  My career was just starting!  Going to school at night and working in my field by day.  WOW, talk about an Individual Training Plan!

The room cost me ten dollars per week and it was provided by the man that had donated the land to the Town of Batesburg that was the home of the WABCO plant.  I was engaged to be married to Sandy the following June and only needed the room for the time needed to get an apartment.  The Collum family did this as a favor to the WABCO management as they had done for other new employees that the company recruited over the years.

Each week-end I would go home to Sumter to be with Sandy but, during the week I would have the opportunity to sit in the den of Cora and Uriah W Collum and watch TV.  The conversations were wonderful as they enjoyed my naiveties looking forward into my future and I enjoyed their encouragement and advice.  I think they enjoyed living the anticipation with me.

It is because I remember so well one of the conversations with Mr. Collum himself that I write this piece. 

We were outside one afternoon and he had just offered me an invitation to fish in his private ponds any time I wanted.  He promised that I could catch all the bass I wanted as his ponds were fully stocked.  It was in that conversation that he really caught my attention.  The moment is still so memorable!  He looked at me straight in the eye with a serious demeanor and said these words that I have never forgotten.  “David, I would give everything I own to just have your youth!”  That was quite a statement because at that time he owned over 90% of the timberland in Lexington and Aiken counties in South Carolina.  He was truly a millionaire but his life had ceased to be about possessions.

I was only 21 at the time and did not fully understand why he said that to me but, did get the seriousness from his tone and body language. I have remembered those words all these 50 years and have thought about the conversation many times.

Today at the age 71 I think I finally get it.  Mr. Collum actually died in 1969, just four years later, at 70 years old.  At the time of our conversation he obviously knew that he was in poor health and was looking at me through eyes that had learned that lesson of life that many of us learn too late. “Life is not about stuff and status!”

I have now been diagnosed with a terminal disease and likely have less than a year to live. I do not write this in a spirit of having regrets, I do not.  I just feel driven to convey that lesson-learned to those who are in the GO-GO Phase of their lives cautioning to not forget that living is a blessing regardless of what you have.  Love what you have!  I have heard it said, “It’s the journey, not the destination!”

In the end, our relationships will be the possessions that matter.  Treat others the way you should treat yourself and the rewards will not be physical but, spiritual.  God will take care of our physical needs but, only our behaviors toward others can provide for our spiritual needs.  #LISTEN and #DO

Has Mankind Lost the Magic of Oral Traditions?

So much of the essence of human life was initially handed down through the generations by way of oral traditions.  It is a fact that many stories in The Bible, as well as other knowledge, were not written down for generations.  The invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press is heralded as a major positive event in the evolution of knowledge management and I agree; but, there may have been a negative impact as well.  Is it possible that the printed word triggered the death of Oral Traditions?  The magic of the oral tradition is that the stories spoke to the moment and situation at hand.  Books may in fact act to separated us from that important point!

Look at what happens when a story is finally written down. First, the writer has to decide what the story means.  They then have to decide on how they are going to say what it means.  The filtering that takes place at this point of the process acts much like an optical lens.  The story is interpreted to focus on a particular meaning.  Once written, each eventual reader must do a reverse process to extract meaning from the written word with the risk that the original range of possible meaning be lost   Just look at the amount of time and effort that has been expended just discussing, arguing and translating the written documents discovered and preserved over the years.  E.g. At the extreme wars have been fought over what the Bible means to say.

When we apply oral traditions directly the ideas and lessons in a particular story event come to the surface as the stories are told.  Even in cultures where formal language skills are almost nonexistent, deep and complex meanings survive. 

Story telling is an art that is difficult to explain.  The most effective communicators and teachers are masters of this art; Jesus was a master of it.  Just study the parables that he used.  Use caution, they have been written down.

In summary we must never lose sight of the fact that knowledge cannot live in a book and many times it is not expressible.  Until it is understood by a human mind and usable it is not knowledge.  As you develop your communication and teaching skills remember that the best communications are done on the fly.  Learn to understand the other.  Learn how to help the other understand you.  Remember that the truth is not found until you find it together.

3-D Printing: A peep through the Key-Hole at a Perfect Supply Chain

As the technology of 3-D printing progresses the number of ideas on how to use these new devices grows exponentially.  Just recently we saw a 3-D printer delivered to the International Space Station.  Yes, the idea of printing tools on demand in space will soon be a reality.  Supply Chain design impact will take the form of a shift to forecasting need driving creation of 3-D print item files vs actual inventories of Stock Keeping Units in the right place at the right time.

The idea of material items being realized at the time of need has been an idea only realized in Science Fiction since the replicator in the Star Ship Enterprise.  Remember the food replicators and Captain Pilchards Earl Gray Tea?  

Today we are seeing the emergence of 3-D Printer technology and where it stops, no one can say.  In this new reality as long as there are materials and compatibility between the technology and the materials needed, the only remaining element required is the program file, or one could say, “The idea.”

I see a metaphorical resemblance between 3-D Printers and the Cosmos.  Everything that we can see and touch in the Cosmos is the product of a similar set of circumstances.  The difference is, the Cosmos has no time limitation.  The Cosmos’ 3-D Printer can take all the time it needs.  In this mental model of the Cosmos the ideas already exist in the form of possibilities that simply wait for the materials and compatibility conditions to become present.  The old adage “If it can happen, it will” applies. We just need to add, “as soon as it can.”

In our lifetime we only see a glimpse of the magnificent process that is literally taking place before our eyes.  For example, we can only imagine the collision that will take place between Andromeda and the Milky Way galaxies.  We will not see it happen.

Nature shows us many examples of this time frame limitation phenomenon.  E.g. Dragonflies only live a few hours but, play a part in the big picture.  We live longer but are here through the same process and also have a time frame limited impact.

In summary, I see us all as being a part of a Perfect Supply Chain.  We can ask the question, are we an idea, a material or a finished product?  The answer is not important.  What is important is the fact that we are one of God’s possibilities and I am sure that he will use us in his plan, “as soon as He can!”

The Infinity of Nature

As you read the following, think about this question:  

"If this idea of the Nature of Infinity is true, how would you explain it to a people who had no scientific understanding of anything?  How would you impart the concept of the quantum nature of reality to a people who only have knowledge of themselves and the small part of the world to which they had access?"

The Bible is sometimes described as the story of God revealing Himself to man.  To have been effective from the time it was created it had to be written at the level of knowledge and terminology that the people of the time could understand.

The Old Testament reveals The Supreme Being.  (first words: "In the beginning God....." (KJV)
The New Testament demonstrates supreme being.   (last words: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (KJV)

With our current level of understanding of science, I think that some of us are ready to start understand the current known facts and theories in a way that ties everything together.  

To do this I will divide our thinking into two systems.

System of Simultaneity  (Quantum View - in which time does not exist)

Infinity is not conceivable by the human mind.  In order to be a viable concept characterized as not having a beginning or end, it must be defined as a timeless domain in which all possibilities exist at once.  Such a state of being I define as the "System of Simultaneity." In this system time does not exist and all things and events are expressible only as possibilities. All of these possibilities are conditional because they are linked and interdependent. In the quantum view all things are possible and they exist simultaneously.

System of Sequence  (Our Time-Line in which Cause and Effect exist)

We live and exist in the "System of Sequence."  Humanity and we individuals, have a past and a future, but are continuously in a place called the present that I have named "the moment of now."  We all, in our moment of now, are the expression of one event possibility that is a function of all that has happened to us, around us and before us until now.  I am talking about all history from The Big Bang, and probably before, to what you decided to have for breakfast this morning and even the decision to read this article this far. Our current state of being is truly governed by the rules of cause and effect. Our every decision or response to our environment branches us into another set of possibilities in that infinite list of possibilities. Each decision and action taken enables the next set of options available while closing the door to others. The rules of cause and effect tell us that our actions also interact with the sets of possibilities for other people as well. (For a simple example: If I decide to write a book and do it, then others will have the option to read it. If I decide to not write that book, others never have the option to read it.)  Once a possibility is achieved it becomes a part of history adding to the list and order of events that actually happened.  This history is continually being created and is the basis for the "System of Sequence."   In such a system the Who, What, When, Where and Why of all history can be questioned, possibly discovered and maybe understood.
Science is in the business of attempting to do just that.  The fact is, sequence requires the notion of time; therefore, a part of science is stuck in the System of Sequence and will forever be incapable of dealing with the full understanding of infinity.

So what does it mean? 

For the Universe to be more fully appreciated and understood it must be seen as the manifestation of an interplay between these two systems.  Since we are the observers it must be seen by us from our perspective, the System of Sequence.

The Bible offers some helpful clues to observers from the System of Sequence! In Genesis God defined Himself to Moses as "I AM."  Interesting that the quote uses the verb To Be!  Could it mean, The I Am, the sum of ALL in the System of Simultaneity.  We are made in the image of God because we each represent one event solution from the System of Simultaneity in which all things are possible.

Realize that everything that has happened since the beginning of time is in our System of Sequence.  This chain of events brings me to writing and revising this and you to reading it; ONE possibility, ONE event.  This is your moment of NOW.  Everything that exists and has happened until now, no matter where or when in the universe(s), is a part of this event.  How each moment impacts you will partly determine what you do next.  Every Moment of Now has the same power to influence action, action becomes history and history becomes us, and we are the result of creation.

Summary

It must be understood that the System of Sequence is made possible by the System of Simultaneity, not created by it.  The rules of cause and effect direct what actually happens.  We individuals are actualized possibilities, free to make decisions in our moments of now impacting future options for ourselves, others and countless other variables in the System of Sequence.  In essence, the System of Simultaneity "God" has made all possibilities and we make the decisions that have impact.  All decisions produce outcomes, all outcomes are possibilities, but we have the power and responsibility to choose well and do right or not!

Knowing right from wrong choices is a function of our ability to hear that smallest voice in our consciousness that gives us the answer.  If you are wondering "what small voice?" it is that voice that is asking "what small voice?"

LISTEN!

As I say in the header of this Blog:

“The space between yesterday and tomorrow, the only lever that we have!” 

As I live my day to day life the question can only be: "What am I going to do now?"  I must remember that even inaction is a decision.

By: David Connor Mims Sr.