Internet as the vehicle of a new dawn

Share thoughts and ideas regarding what can be done to meet contemporary humanity's need for rites of initiation and passage.

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juelk
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Internet as the vehicle of a new dawn

Post by juelk »

Hello all.

Campbell let me know it was OK to be a catholic without really being catholic. I used to wrestle with the apostle's creed recited at mass due to the literal and unwavering teaching of the church. What a life changing event it was to discover Campbell on PBS and have my eyes opened to what I could experience as a human.

His teaching of the world needing a new myth, that we are heading toward a planet where there are no longer outsiders seems true to me. The image of the earth indeed has a profound metaphorical message.

Personally I think the teachings of Campbell are the seeds of the next stage in our spiritual evolution. I envision a day where religious institutions read their myths as metaphorical, a day where atheists understand the profound spiritual messages of ancient texts.

I revere the message behind the circle, that we are all one, that there is a spark of divinity in each of us that is part of the same fire. The metaphysical breakthrough Campbell talks about in the story of the policemen in Hawaii states it perfectly.

This message, that we are all one and connected on a spiritual plane I believe will flourish on the Internet. As more people become connected on-line, more cultures will be exposed to new ideas, and the realization that we are all the same, that our myths portend the same goal could actually happen. I believe it must happen.

The Internet itself could somehow be a metaphor. Not only is it the likely vehicle through which this message will be communicated but by being online we're literally milliseconds away from communicating with any one of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the planet. Surely there is a mythological message in there somewhere.

The web may be nothing more than bits and bytes, ones and zeros, etc. but I think it contains a significant potential for spiritual growth that has yet to be realized.

Campbell was so great at comparing different mythologies. He may have found it humorous that the basic structure of networking is known as the 7 Layer OSI model just as there are 7 sacraments, 7 chakras, etc.

Joe
Dallas, TX

noman
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Post by noman »

Welcome Juelk,

I think of the web as a modern version of the 13th century Cathedral. The Cathedrals were built over generations without any one person taking credit. So too, millions of minds toiling and posting on the web will create a beautiful temple; an expression of our collective mind. Of course, we’ll need a good search engine that will weed out all the trash and advertisements. But there it is now, and will always be: a modern hidden cathedral.

- NoMan

marmalade
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Post by marmalade »

Have you seen the book Digital Dharma by Steven R. Vedro?

He correlates technological development using the Chakras as a model along with Spiral Dynamics. Its interesting. I don't know if I agree with his correlatiosn, but I like the general idea that he is presenting.

Here is the Introduction:
http://webpages.charter.net/vedro/Chakr ... CTION3.pdf

juelk
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Great!

Post by juelk »

Hey that's some pretty great stuff... thanks for your response.

But what will be the new metaphors in the technological age? Is it a rats nest of wire running across the planet? Is it the spot on the wall where my cable modem connects to the world?

marmalade
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Post by marmalade »

I'm not sure what the new metaphors might be, but I'd recommend looking to the movies(and videogames) where new cultural metaphors are popularized. You can know a society by its stories. Its interesting to consider that stories are beginning to show more presence on the internet.

bodhibliss
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Post by bodhibliss »

I envision the Internet as the Net of Indra (the Indranet?).

Physicist David Bohm's research points to the theory of an implicate (hidden) and an explicate (observed) order to the universe, and so he formulated a holographic model of the universe. It’s a model – a metaphor – for the universe, and not the thing itself. But in a hologram the whole is contained in each of its parts

... which brings us back to the Net of Indra, an image which contains an infinite number of jewels. Where each strand of the web intersects there sits a perfect gem, each facet of which reflects every facet of every other jewel in the net

... the whole is contained in each of its parts.

Both are metaphors that can – and are – used interchangeably, by physicist and mystic, to portray a perception of the universe.

Hmm ... an elegant image - especially fascinating that this mythic image is referred to as a Net or a Web. I find this image useful not only as a metaphor for the holographic nature of the multidimensional cosmos where the whole is contained in each of its parts, but for the internet itself, with it's hyperlinks and nonlinear conductivity

...or not...

but it works for me

blessed be
bodhibliss

noman
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Post by noman »

The most common metaphor for the internet seems to be a ‘global brain’. I typed ‘global brain’ into my universal library search engine and got this:
The global brain: speculations on the evolutionary leap to planetary consciousness
by Peter Russell
Publisher: Los Angeles : J.P. Tarcher ; Boston : Distributed by Houghton Mifflin, 1983.

The global brain : your roadmap for innovating faster and smarter in a networked world
by Satish Nambisan; Mohanbir S Sawhney
Publisher: Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Wharton School Pub., 2008.

The global brain : imaging and modelling
by John Gerald Taylor; B Horwitz; K J Friston
Publisher: Oxford, England : Pergamon, 2000.

Microcircuits the interface between neurons and global brain function
by Sten Grillner; A M Graybiel; NetLibrary, Inc.
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press in cooperation with Dahlem University Press, 2006.

The global brain : the evolution of mass mind from the big bang to the 21st century
by Howard K Bloom
Publisher: New York : Wiley, 2000.
Peter Russell started it with his 1983 book. But the metaphor of a global brain is just too obvious and appealing with so much attention on brain research, consciousness, and artificial intelligence.

In the mid-nineteenth century there was a revolution in communication with a rapidly growing network of telegraph wires. I imagine intellectuals talking about a ‘global body’ functioning as one, and that what might follow is a revolution in consciousness and spirit.

What effect will our new improved global network have in the near future? Using the metaphor of brain, I can only speculate, that a human brain has an equal chance of becoming enlightened…

- as having a complete mental breakdown. :(

- NoMan

Sitting Owl
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Internet as the vehicle of a new dawn

Post by Sitting Owl »

Namaste' All
I just though I might make some comments here. Firstly I had to pass my internet Rites of Passage to be able to make this comment, I logged on with my password.
To BodhiBliss I can see why you are Moderator and Columnist; you have some very good ideas discussed and sometimes I think people would loose track of Joseph's good work and depth of understanding of life if it wasn't for your discussions. Below is a quote I made in the first issue of 'Earth People' magazine:
While I often refer to the knowledge and wisdom of the Native Americans, as a shaman, I am fully aware of the connectedness of all things, and understand that the same knowledge can be found in all the different human cultures, as long as your heart is full of love and open to the song of the universe. For as Joseph Campbell, the famous mythologist, has said: “God is everywhere in his work, including the computer.” But this of course does not make the computer God any more, or less, than anyone/thing else in this created universe.
While I'm aware of the 'Global Brain' concept I'm not sure that the internet will be the next mythology, although it can help us to understand the connectedness of the web of life, the hologram or 'IndraNet'. I really don't think that the internet can supply all the four functions of mythology; I feel it lacks the explanations in The Pedagogical Function. This is the function that everyone must try to relate to, and gain from the wisdom of nature, realising the brotherhood we have with plants, animals, minerals and all living beings of the universe. This function of myths is the one that can teach us how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances, as it teaches us the stages of life from birth through maturity and death to rebirth.
Yours in Spirit
Sitting Owl
www.sittingowl.com.au

Ercan2121
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Post by Ercan2121 »

Hi all. Beautiful topic. I think that we have to answer the question 'What is consciousness?' throughoutly for understanding what's happening on www (how can people project their human aspects to Internet and other related questions). Thanks.

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