Author Archives: grnthei

What Most of the World Is Missing Is the Sense of Daily Inspiration

October 18, 2018

We are all familiar with the obvious top-priority problems such as terrorism, the economy/jobs, and the environment. Less or nothing is said about one of the background conditions that has caused these three symptoms to exist. Our collective view of the world has ceased to be driven by a sense of higher purpose. The average person remembers that in growing up, science had disabused us all of spiritual ideas and feelings. We have more or less given up a search for meaning. Life is then all about money, pleasure, power, and thankfully love is still part of the picture.

During Paleolithic animism and the heyday of old-time religion, there existed a shared mythos that made life itself important, thrilling, full of awe and wonder. Life was numinous.

The terrorists are given their (un)holy jihad as a way of finding meaning, belonging to a group with a sense of what is portrayed as higher purpose, as the alternative to a meaningless existence without opportunity. In that choice is the potential for the recruitment of another billion terrorists, and more.

For those of us who have jobs, we have created a sense of more modest purpose for ourselves that also pays the bills and allows us to support families we love. And yet there is a sense of worldwide depression not only in the economy but also frequently in our daily existence, as we fear losing our jobs, our income, our surrogate sense of purpose.

It is highly unlikely that without worldwide catastrophe, the world could ever go back to the days of old-time religion as the source of day to day inspiration and higher purpose.* There are too many disconnects between our technological scientific world and the doctrines of the established religions and their sources in ancient scriptures. The average person reading those scriptures does not tend to become inspired to a higher purpose.

How can we add back inspiration to life?

What If?

Numerous scientists have regained the sense of awe and inspiration from studying the findings of quantum physics and relativity, notably Bell’s Theorem, which implies that everything in the universe is connected at faster than light speed, along with Einstein’s placing the observer in the picture of what creates reality. Despite quantum physics having recognized consciousness as a key factor in the creation of reality, to the average person these ideas are arcane and do not resonate in the gut, so there is no effect on behavior and attitudes.

It is right in front of our faces, but we cannot see it: consciousness is spirit. This is how religion and science are tied together, except that physics has yet to deal directly with consciousness.

One thing we know from studying the past is that lifting up millions of people to an inspiring vision of reality requires three things:

  1. Drama
  2. Early Wins
  3. Credibility

If, for example, Jesus had lived out his life as a teacher, he might still today have many followers of his philosophy, perhaps as many as Buddha has, but instead Jesus has four times as many. Conceivably it was the crucifixion and then the resurrection that stuck in people’s minds and provided riveting drama, which forced them to pay attention for many centuries and to grow one of the largest movements in history.

If Jesus and Buddha had not improved the lot of the people they touched—early wins—their movements would not have spread. The terrorists supply early wins in a baser way, but they do check that box.

What if a few motion picture industry leaders were to take a chance and see to the production, distribution and marketing of an epic series of dramatic motion pictures and novels that artistically, authentically, and scientifically meet the three requirements above? Presenting a view of reality that combines physics with the underpinnings of religion if not its superficial trappings? Providing content designed to transform hearts and minds, by which people could change their spirit, attitudes, behavior, inspiration and enjoyment of life day to day?

The First Son by Bill Harvey

Click the book to read about my novel.

This, then, is what we are aiming at in THE FIRST SON and in the other four episodes in the series we have written aimed at creating positive historic change. The series is called AGENTS OF COSMIC INTELLIGENCE.

Our proposal is founded on the hypothesis that drama and our most powerful media can touch millions to billions in a way that brings them inspiration at a higher level than media have yet to achieve. We must merely show a credible and vivid scenario of how God and science could actually be pointing to the same Truth — we are all connected – we are all the same One Self.

*To put these remarks in perspective, out of the 7.4 billion people living on Earth today, the lack of inspiration described above applies to the great majority. Yet millions or billions of us are inspired by something larger than ourselves, a religion, a path, a role model or teacher, a transcendent intuition, love, passion work, life itself…

Best to all,

Bill

Follow my regular media blog contribution, “In Terms of ROI“ at MediaVillage.com under MediaBizBloggers. Read my latest post.

THE FIRST SON – My Intention and Hope

October 11, 2018

Just as with my nonfiction books MIND MAGIC and YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE, my intent in THE FIRST SON is to free the consciousness of the reader from habitual thinking and feeling. Sharing with you here my hope for the effect that reading my new sci-fi alternate history novel will have on its readers.

The First Son by Bill Harvey

Click the book to read about my first novel.

First of all, I hope the reader will be drawn into the characters and their love for each other. THE FIRST SON is like a family drama in a way. I’ve spent years working to make each of the characters three-dimensional and alive.

Almost as important is the visceral realization of the heroes’ dilemma. If you don’t get the trouble the heroes are in, or don’t care which way it comes out, I haven’t succeeded in really immersing you in the story, in which the whole multiverse is threatened.

At some point in THE FIRST SON story’s unfolding, I hope the reader experiences a shift, recognizing the subtle differences between the traditional historical account and the alternate perspective of the story, and gets the feeling that either way of looking at these events could be true. I am also hoping that the underlying thrill of history itself becomes part of the reading experience. The mystery of history—the fact that we don’t know exactly what really happened, and have always been just trying to piece it together.

A great deal of the action involves beings taking over each other’s minds, which is a metaphor for the way we continually hijack our own minds and feelings. The way psychic agents in the story protect themselves from takeover is the same advice I give in MIND MAGIC, morphed into fiction. I’ve found that one has more ability to discipline one’s own mind and feelings if a lens of defending oneself against an outside adversary is used. Readers will let us know the degree to which the novel has this effect of increasing self-mastery.

The most important cognitive/emotive shift THE FIRST SON hopefully creates is the opening of the reader’s mind to the possibility that science and religion are entirely compatible, and that what we call religion came out of visionaries who had psychic powers that are at the heart of all religious experience, what Freud called “the oceanic experience”. This can manifest as Flow state, being taken over by a benevolent and super-competent higher Self. It can manifest as speaking in tongues, channeling, shaking/quaking, dervishing, the Subud Latihan, oneness, mind reading, precognition, bliss, chills up and down the spine, hair standing on end, crying with happiness, laughing at a suddenly perceived cosmic joke, and other phenomena associated with all religions in one form or another.

In our culture today, these phenomena have been assigned to a sort of   by many people, and are not given much serious attention. By turning our backs on the most important questions in life and in history, we diminish ourselves. The wiser course of action is ours for the taking.

I have high hopes, as you can see.

Most of us would like to make at least a small contribution to making humankind less warlike, greedy, and unkind, and more loving and peaceful. Each day many of you readers are doing your best along these lines. We have to try new ways to achieve these important ends. THE FIRST SON is my current offering to this end. I hope you enjoy the journey.

One experience I know you will enjoy is listening to Paul Harvey’s brief and inspired A Letter From God.

In similar spirit to THE FIRST SON, except where Paul says we can never understand The One Self Inside Us All, and where he says that The One Self never speaks with us individually.

All my best,

Bill

Follow my regular media blog contribution, “In Terms of ROI“ at MediaVillage.com under MediaBizBloggers.

Why am I just publishing my first novel?

Some friends say, “Bill I love your non-fiction writing, why are you switching to fiction?”

It’s really because I’m trying to get my main ideas to more people, including people whose reading is mostly fiction. Also, novels get turned into TV and film which reaches even more people than books.

I’m also trying to get across one very difficult idea in particular, which people can understand in the abstract but not get any kind of image of in their minds. That’s the idea that One Consciousness is living through each one of us, through each object in the multiverse, even the rocks. I feel that this idea comes through at a level of intuition and feeling in this novel, in a way that non-fiction can’t achieve.

I’ve been a science fiction fan all my life, so naturally it’s written as science fiction, although it’s really speculative fiction, i.e. I am betting that it’s close to the truth.

If you’re curious, here’s a picture of the front cover, and if you click on it, it will open up the back cover. Next week: What I am hoping the effects of this novel turn out to be.

The First Son by Bill Harvey

Click the book to read about my new novel, The First Son.

The printed books and the Kindle edition are both being released later this month, I’ll let you know when they are available, in case you’d like to read a free sample of the opening chapters.

Thanks for the encouragement over the years, it’s definitely motivated me to keep going, and I’m personally thrilled to be reaching this goal. Color me blissful. Hope you are too, because of how your own life is unfolding!

All my best,

Bill

Follow my regular media blog contribution, “In Terms of ROI“ at MediaVillage.com under MediaBizBloggers.

The Regenerative Method for Stimulating Innovation

Volume 2, Issue 2. Originally posted April 12, 2012

This blog takes a shortened form optimized for Acceleritis™ conditions

Listening to you readers, I have enjoyed writing this blog more than ever. Everyone I’ve talked to has said it is something totally different and therefore worth reading. Thank you all again for the encouragement.

Habit is the biggest obstacle to innovation and adaptability. The number of repetitions in our ingrained mental habits is in the millions by age 30. Each repetition reinforces many synapses thus increasing their automaticity. This is your challenge in breaking out of mental ruts, which is something you must do if you aspire to Flow state. And something you must do simply to innovate and adapt yourself and your company/organization to an accelerated treadmill of inputs, questions, challenges, and opportunities.

Imagination is the best tool we have and the one that is the most fun to use. Use of imagination regenerates synapses that have fallen into disuse and dials back the automaticity of the ones you use all the time.

Take your company, for example. Imagine the wildest scenarios you can — radical changes in partnerships, a totally different pricing model, an impossible dream of a new product you’d love to have — you make it up. See if this mental exercise doesn’t give you some imaginative yet prudent immediate actions. I bet it will.

Do the same for yourself. Think the unthinkable. Every seven years every cell in your body is different, the old ones are gone. We are a new self every moment. Daydream your near-term and far-term future, knowing you are purposely being unrealistic and perhaps grandiose — it’s allowed because it’s only an exercise.

Or is it?

Best to all,

Bill

Follow my regular media blog contribution, “In Terms of ROI“ at MediaVillage.com under MediaBizBloggers.