IPhone | Conscious Bridge

As a sort of capstone on 2010, the other day I gave you some of my favorite books I discovered during the year. Today, I want to follow-up with some other resources I discovered this past year which I found helpful, interesting, insightful or just in general contributed to my personal evolution these past 12 months. So here we go in no particular order…

IPhone 4

I keep getting blown away on how extremely useful this device is! Quick example – recently Mary and I were headed into bed when the phone rang with a reverse 911 call. I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten one of these before. The message said that police were attempting to apprehend a “shooter” in our neighborhood and that we should go down into our basement for safety until we received another call. As you can imagine, this freaked us out a bit but we did as instructed. As we sat in one room away from any windows waiting for the all clear call, we wondered how far this “shooter” was from our house. Then it occurred to me that I had downloaded a police scanner app on my iPhone. Running this app we were able to discover that the police had the shooter surrounded and the address. While continuing to listen to their progress in capturing the man, we were able to pull up a map of the address on our phone and determine that we were far from harm’s way. (Fortunately, early this morning the police apprehended this man and all involved in the incident were okay.) I could go on and on with examples of how this phone assists me but I think you get the picture. I’ve heard from friends who are big fans of the other smart phones – I don’t really have any experience with them – but whether it’s the iPhone or one of these others, I highly recommend you checking into them if you haven’t already.

Dragon Naturally Speaking Software

I started with version 10 and recently upgraded to version 11. This program is great! You talk – it types! The more you use it, the better it gets at understanding your voice. Start up your word processing program and Dragon, put on your microphone and begin dictating. There is a small percentage of misunderstood words when you begin, but over time that small percentage shrinks and shrinks. You can do punctuation and formatting with specialized commands. I do most of my writing now with Dragon.

Film: What in the World Are They Spraying?

I mention this movie as I suspect many of you have never heard of it. Although I certainly would not consider myself some type of “conspiracy nut”, Mary and I do like to challenge ourselves by reviewing media outside the mainstream with alternate viewpoints on what’s going on in the world. There is a whole genre of films we call “movies that p*** you off” – films like “the Corporation”, “Food Inc.”, “The Future of Food” and so on that you can watch and feel called to investigate further and if appropriate take personal action. This film is in that category. The topic is chemtrails, chemical discharges from airplanes which leave long vapor trails in the sky that dissipate slowly. Most jet vapor trails (called contrails) disappear within a minute or two. This film has made me more aware of the high number of jet trails that linger in the sky crisscrossing one another. The film suggests (and offers some evidence) that these trails are part of a surreptitious geo-engineering effort. It’s easy to dismiss such theories and the people who offer them as part of some “lunatic fringe” aspect of society. Before you do that, I simply invite you to watch this film.

EnlightenNext Magazine

I’ve been reading Andrew Cohen’s excellent magazine for a number of years – from back when it was called “What Is Enlightenment?” Recently they changed their name to EnlightenNext to reflect their emphasis upon evolutionary spirituality. It’s as if as they explored the concept of spirituality and enlightenment, they realized that our spirituality is part of our personal and collective evolution, so much so that evolution became a critical aspect of its content. Their tagline is now “the magazine for evolutionaries”. This change took a really good magazine and made it outstanding in my opinion. If you’re focus is on where humanity is evolving, especially in consciousness and spirituality, then this magazine is must reading.

Rick Steves

Mary and I went to Europe this past year and Rick was our guide. Funny how I had never really paid attention to him before but then as we focused on our trip planning, everywhere I looked was stuff by Rick. Videos, guidebooks, web site, a PBS show, and a whole slew of things to support your travel experience. After looking at a number of travel sources, I decided that Rick’s approach met my intentions. I followed a bunch of Rick’s advice and our trip was fantastic! I even jokingly point out that I traveled to Europe with a Rick Steve’s travel bag!

Netflix

I was already a member of the DVD by mail program. I got tired of Blockbuster never having the esoteric movies I wanted to see—Netflix has almost every film I want to view! Yet, in the past year their whole effort to move to streaming video has been in tune with my desires. Funny how I can have 500 channels on cable, 3 DVDs from Netflix, on demand—-and still “nothing is on” you want to watch. Now, Netflix has opened up this vast library of TV programs and movies that you can stream on demand to your TV (through our Wii no less!) or on to my Iphone! Way cool. Now I can usually find something to watch when I am in the mood.

Some Favorite Mainstream Movies

OK, here without commentary are some movies from this past year that if you haven’t seen are worth your time….all are “thumbs up! in my humble opinion! Go check them out and if they sound interesting, give them a view! Most are fairly mainstream….a few are a bit off the beaten path.

The Ghost Writer
The Kids are All Right
The Kings Speech
Toy Story 3
Inception
When You’re Strange
The Botany of Desire
Shutter Island
One Peace at a Time
Leap Year
Morning Glory

Now….Your Favorites!

I would love to hear about any books, web sites, movies, technology or anything in general that you have found made life more interesting, exciting or inspiring! Leave a post or drop me a note.

I did ask folks on several social media sites I frequent for the books that inspired them this past year. As of this writing, here is what I have received….I am going to check out the ones I’m not familiar with myself!–

The Bhagavad Gita
The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion by Leonard Sweet
The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews
The Tao of Pooh
‎Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr
The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
A Course in Miracles

Ok….give me your thoughts on these and others!

Happy 2011.

Mark

Think about it. Do you recall Kirk or Spock reading a hardcopy book? Hard-core Trekkies might be able to point out an episode where a physical book was used, but it certainly doesn’t stand out in my memory. What I recall is that every time they needed information, some device provided it.

I’ve seen a lot written in the past few months about this transition we’re experiencing in relation to how we receive printed content. The rise of e-books is ringing the death toll for hard books. The increased use of the Internet and smart phones is supposedly rewiring our brains such that we skim content and follow hyperlinks at the expense of reading fully on one subject. I discussed some of this last week (see “Casting a Wide Net Versus Going Deep“).

Although a lot has been written mourning the death of the book and the perils of our inability to maintain focus on one subject, I don’t share those concerns. Humanity has a history of adopting new technology that brings both benefits and unintended consequences. New technology always has the opportunity to serve us or enslave us. Choice always comes into play. Our intentions are always important.

My wife and I recently purchased new iPhone 4′s. We are having a blast adopting these tools into our lives. This has led to us both purchasing e-books in the Kindle format and reading them on our phones. In addition, I recently subscribed to a magazine only in digital format using a service called Zinio. I have to admit that I had to overcome a little bit of hesitation in letting go of receiving a tangible, physical book and magazine for my money. Yet I have to also admit that I really like reading content in the new formats.

I still have plenty of books stacked around me. Those of you who can identify with the experience of receiving reading material in these dual methods join me as members of this unique transitional generation. Experts say that the generations following us will be shifting more and more to purely digital content. Our grandchildren will be living the life of Kirk and Spock.

Is this a “bad thing”? It’s easy to think that if you’re like me — a lover of books. But is it really? There is a great article in the July 26, 2010, issue of Christian Science Monitor entitled “”Is Tech Rewiring Our Thinking?” that’s worth reading (link to article). The article quotes Harvard researcher David Weinberger who points out that books “are not the shape of knowledge” but rather “they’re a limitation on knowledge”. He points out that a book is a single author presenting their ideas and came about simply based on the limitations of paper publishing. It’s just one way of providing information. The Internet and hyperlinks represent another method — one that is in a sense more natural.

Think about this — your natural method of gathering information from your environment involves all of your senses working in a 3-D world picking up input, discerning what is worthwhile in this moment and what is not, then deciding which direction to next turn your senses. Sometimes your senses and choices may follow a linear path “like a book”, but you are always open to moving in a new direction at a moment’s notice based on new information.

Life in the current moment is more like Internet browsing than it is like following a book from beginning to end. Yet as we look back on the story of our life, that history seems more like a chronological book. It’s no wonder that we naturally gravitate to the Internet and the ability it gives us to skip around based on in the moment discernment. Yet our nostalgia for books seems natural as well.

So let’s enjoy our books and let’s enjoy these new electronic methods as well. They are both gifts in this life. Let’s don’t bemoan the death of books but rather rejoice in how the new methods expand our ability to effortlessly tap into the collective wisdom of humanity, connect us with people and cultures around the planet, and allow us to more greatly experience the “global brain” as well as the “global heart”.

Finally, let’s don’t forget the role our personal intention plays in the use of any technology. Books can grow our wisdom and serve to connect us or they can serve to misinform us, divide us and keep us separate from one another. New technology offers the same gifts as well as the same cautions. Each of us as “conscious individuals” can serve the planet by using the new technologies to bring us closer to a sense of oneness and interconnectedness and reminding others to do the same. In doing so we can all have a role in taking humanity boldly to where it’s never been before.

Mark Gilbert

I Got Your Resources Right Here!

Where Were the Books on the Starship Enterprise?

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