“What I hate is ignorance,
smallness of imagination, the eye that sees no farther than its own lashes. All
things are possible. Who you are is limited only by who you think you are.”
~ Egyptian Book of the Dead,
written between 2000 – 1500 B.C.
Yesterday I watched two amazing videos. One was the Ted Talk,
“Can we create new senses for humans?” by speaker David Eagleman on the technological
developments being made that allow us to expand our human sensory systems. From
his sensory vest to prosthetic limbs, neuroscientists are pairing with
engineers to completely change the way we live in this world.
As humans, we can
perceive less than a ten-trillionth of all light waves. “Our experience of
reality,” says Eagleman, “is constrained by our biology.”
The same goes for the electromagnetic frequencies that
surround us. Every living thing continuously emits signals. Our bodies have
developed in such a way that we tune much of it out. Yet as neuroscience
progresses, what we discover is that much more is going on around us than our
brains are letting on.
The second video I watched is one about Smartstones: Headsets for the non-verbal. This short video is one
of the most heart-warming advertisements I’ve seen in a while. Click on it
above and see what I’m talking about. Essentially, people who have no voice can
wear an EEG headset that will transmit their thoughts to a smart device that
will then use a speech app to send texts and messages to others, allowing those
who’ve been left out of our communication, a place in society in a whole new
way.
Essentially, our brains are base stations, transmitting and receiving
data at a constant rate. That stream of consciousness that runs through your
head, guess what? It’s not just in your head. Every thought creates an analog
signal that can be read by any device tuned into the right frequency. Right now
you assume that those thoughts are private, but soon, they won’t be private at
all.
This isn’t a new idea. There are plenty of documented cases
of people being able to read another’s mind. While most of us write these cases
off as nonsense, it appears that perhaps what these people have is an expanded
sensory system. That instead of needing machines to take the analog signals
emitted from people’s minds, their own brains have the ability to tune into the
spectrum in which the frequency of thoughts exists. Perhaps it’s a genetic thing,
some gene is flipped that gives them this extra-sensory experience. If this is the case, then our thoughts really
haven’t been private from the start. It’s just that only a few of us have had access
to them.
For now.
But if we can create headsets that convert these brain
signals into frequencies that our machines can receive, like cell phone
signals, then we won’t even need to be concerned with ESP or clairvoyance as a
fact. Instead, any one of us will be able to access one another’s minds. Which
means our thoughts will become very, very important.
Sages through the ages have long taught us that our thoughts
create our reality. From the Tao Te Ching to the Egyptian Book of the Dead,
books so old we’re not really sure when they were written, the ability to
control the mind is applauded. Later we have the Buddha advising us to
cultivate, Right Thought. And even Jesus states, “The Kingdom of Heaven is
within you.” Oh, that quote is also found in the Temple of Luxor. Perhaps he
got the idea there?
Regardless, to know thyself has never been more important. What
does the Kingdom of Heaven really mean? Perhaps it means that the way you
experience life is directly related to the way you talk to yourself. That the messages
floating around in our brains all day long actually shape our reality. If we
see life as positive, it is. If we see life as fearful, it is. This is truly the most powerful human skill—the ability to change our minds.
The only thing you can change is your mind, not someone else’s
mind, nor their behavior. This is the way of things. Get pissed a lot, life is
full of piss. Let go of the need to control, life is pretty good. And it all
starts with how you think.
For millennium, we’ve been taught to think upon these things.
To take the time to sit with one’s thoughts and observe them. This will
eventually lead you to knowing who you are and what you stand for. But it will
also make you question the very core of what you believe. To participate in Right Thought, as the Buddha prescribed, is to be
disciplined enough to see your thoughts, and know that even they don’t
represent your true self, rather they represent your opinions in that moment in
time. Eventually, even your thoughts can be let go and instead, one becomes
a receiver and observer, rather than a transmitter spewing their stream of
consciousness out on the airwaves without regard.
As we’ve seen with the online troll phenomena, when humans
think they have some sort of anonymity, they spew trash. Cruel, evil nonsense.
The stuff of madmen. But when we all have the ability to read one another’s minds,
anonymity is gone. Poof! The separation between us will disappear, and what we
considered private will be open source for all to know. Of course there’ll be some sort of permission granting
that takes place, and you can always take off the EEG. But with time, I can see
this technology taking flight in a whole array of products and it will be next
to impossible for any man to think he’s an island unto himself.
This scares people
shitless. Most of us are ashamed of what goes on in our minds. Perhaps this
is why we’ve rejected the idea of ESP or telepathy for so long—because the mere
idea that someone could have that ability violates the most intimate part of
our lives. Better to believe it’s impossible, and call anyone who claims the
ability, insane or a fraud.
Yet with advancements in neuroscience, and the related
sensory enhancing technologies that are starting to come of age, the impossible
will become reality. And that’s really what technological development does—what
was once considered magic becomes a part of everyday life.
Want to be prepared
for the future? Then start within. Listen to your mind, and begin the work of
programming it to reflect the world you wish to see.
