Help or Hinderance?

I've spent a good deal of time thinking about this and trying to find a way to write it so that I am clear without being deemed cynical or negative. I'm not sure where to place this, so I'm only guessing… Here goes nothing…

My question is: Is the fact that people tend to be better educated, have more resources, and more (mis)information available to them than ever before AND that we live on a rapidly shrinking planet more of a help or a hinderance toward visionary thinking?

Are we as people genuinely becoming smarter and wiser and, by extension, more visionary or are we becoming a society with an increasing depleted attention span passing off factoids and non sequiturs as wisdom?

With the glut of information common to all of us, what prevents everything from becoming (as Chuck P would say) “a copy of a copy of a copy”? Isn't Friendster just an extension of Match? Isn't MeatSpace or zaadz an extension of Friendster? Hardly visionary.

In my mind, I picture visionaries as solitary INDIVIDUALS who have spent considerable time in introspection, yet have enough charisma to make their visions actionable.

As the world shrinks, people find enough resources at their fingertips to communicate their ideas instantly and sometimes (and some may argue this post falls into this category) without careful, considerate thought. We grow closer and closer and seek like-minded individuals who will validate our “unique vision” (think Burning Man or San Francisco). I know I am guilty of this from time to time (hence my presence on zaadz).

This isn't to say there are no visionaries in the world or that they do not benefit from information and web sites like this (or going to BM, for that matter), but I have to wonder, is vision becoming watered down because there is so much external input? Are we over stimulated intellectually and underdeveloped when it comes to emotional intellect? Is this overdose of information and instant gratification conducive to the quiet solitude needed to appropriately digest and abstract the information itself?

To me, the term visionary is almost sacred and I wonder at times if we all aren't just kidding ourselves.

As I stated in the beginning, I'm not being cynical or negative, but I believe in introspection and I think there is value in posing questions like these.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

Good questions! The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and as you experience zaadz, zaadzsters and our mutual journeys to changing the world, you'll probably develop further ideas about how effective and helpful this all is.

I find it tremendously so, personally.

Namaste,

Nicole

Re: Help or Hinderance?

Interesting question……in my opinion, more or less information/education/resources around us is not of much influence toward visionary thinking. I think that the knowledge of visionary thinking is within us. We all have a deeper knowing and we need to learn to listen to and to act on it.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

I would tend to agree with some of what you have said but there is much truth to what is happening  here on this site. There are people here truely doing visionary work and I believe that part of that work is dissemination of information and ideas. The recluse visionary or sage only has a few pupils in a lifetime the information they have is sacred, but who is to say that this sacred information is not meant for a larger audience. Maybe we are dilluted or maybe we are striving for something greater which is a paradigm you wont find on myspace or friendster. There are some great recources provided here that are found nowhere else. Maybe not all will have the emotional maturity to do something but many will and here is a place for them to congregate via the web.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

P.S.
I dont think your being negative, I think that your asking important questions

Re: Help or Hinderance?

Fascinating question.

For me, I'd have to say it's both. For the most part, I just wander about amazed at all the joy, the spontaneity, the froth of ideas and the deep heart of so many who swim these murky waters. I am learning expontially and welcome the opportunity to refine my own thinking, to get out of the autistic fantasy of my own tangled garden, so to speak ;-)

That said: And sometimes I am amazed at how far afield we can get, how some of us tend to aggregate and re-affirm ourselves; how some of us are very willing to believe, some are very competetive, and a few just want to have their say without much regard for others.

As I think about it, it begins to look like everywhere else!

So I try to remember that we all bring to this effort perfectly that which we are, no matter what it is we think we bring; that each of our perspectives are the perfect reflection of the state of our own understanding which is unfolding in the only way it can, right now, in this moment…

Just like “real” life…

Having been solitary and introspective all my life, mostly because I was not well-socialized and people scared the crap out of me, to stumble onto Zaadz and be provided a forum where I can actually meet people who think like I do, and to come face-to-face with myself in so many mirrors…

Wow.

I hope this vast digi-mind experiment we are all a-cookin' yields a net gain for the planet, as it so far has done for me….

(But maybe I'm whacked and don't know it, hehe… If I am, I have faith that one of my near and dear, on Zaadz or elsewhere, will set me straight!)

Re: Help or Hinderance?

We are all tied at the hip to portable phones, internet access, instant information, and micromanagement of our environment.  We hope to six-sigma enlightenment from the plethora of external inputs when it is available only through inner awareness and consequent transformation.  Rather than find an expert or authority to show you the way, be your own authority and accept that this is one area in which you are an expert.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

“Is this overdose of information and instant gratification conducive to the quiet solitude needed to appropriately digest and abstract the information itself?”
 No. There is no doubt about it. When Buddah sat under the tree he was looking inward, in silence. There was no instant gratification for him.  Buddha sat under the Bodhi-tree and vowed not to move until he learned to eradicate suffering. He sat there a long time. He  emphasized the importance of making individual effort in order to achieve spiritual goals. I agree that technology only makes us take two steps back. We become impersonal by communicating throught modern devices instead of face to face contact. We search without instead of within. It is a distraction of the goal. Yet, like you say, here we are on Zaadz contradicting ourselves a bit.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

So then I guess that Zaadz is what is supposed to be doing the meditation for you? Zaadz is not the thing that does the work of personal growth, it is aplace for those who do that work to connect, bounce ideas off one another. You cannot actually self realize through the internet, I'm not sure that anyone is making that claim.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

For me, connecting with others (that I would not be able to do without technology) allows me to maintain my focus. From reading what others say, I'm reminded of our common values and goals. It gives me energy. The contributions of attention from others keeps me on track and reminds me to take the actions I need to take. If I disagree, I'm also reminded of what I want. I will search internally as well, for my own choices. And I need to make sure I get beyond talk and into action as well.

Besides, by pursuing what we enjoy, we are contributing to overall world happiness, right?

I'm new here, and really appreciate this type of question and thinking.

Cheers,
Angela

Re: Help or Hinderance?

It is possible .Is it realizable? True it's a work in progress and science like life is built one funeral at a time.
my ideas have got me blocked on zaadz from posting not on replying. at least I think that why I can't post. I have been asking for a response for two weeks and have not got one. so now I am assuming I can't post because of some internal censorship.
Their does seem to be a general thread of people on zaadz in search and of a lot of people who think they have the answer. so many answers and all saying the same thing. we need to act ,think ,feel differently.
focus and clarify. we could discuss facts and get lost in numbers forever. we could discuss economics and see the illusion of reality there or we can discuss god a dialogue which goes on forever.Or we could come straight to the point and realize we have to start all over in a new and living way and write it in the heart that love is all their really is and all that ever really need be. Now love is a mystery with a history as big as all outdoors and it includes me and you with room enough for everyone . What is to be done is to be done heart soul and mind with care .What do you care for? What do you value.is it life for everyone. True life truly lived.Then your going to have to put your body on the line and stand up for what you really cannot say yet must continually try to say.

Re: Help or Hinderance?

to me the word visionary
is just a big ole buzzword itself

what does visionary even mean

it means to see

in the present context it means to see what is coming
or to visualize what could come
something like that

whys it such a big deal

visionary this and visionary that

were all visionaries
we all have some sight

it seems to refer to the future
but can you even see the present

jesus said if you cannot tell what the weather is by looking at the sky
i dont know what to say to you

if you have ears you can hear me
but if you have not ears it doesnt matter what i say

and if you have eyes you will not need to ask
because you will already see for yourself

and if you see the truth for yourself then i need say nothing at all anyway

if you could see you would not need to ask these questions
but if you dont see but do ask questions
my answers will be meaningless for you cannot hear

its the usual doublebind

one blind person ask for directions
having no idea he is talking to another blind person
who got his directions from yet a third

is there no end to this nonsense

yes there is

the answer is me
i have to be the answer

directions from the outside are of no avail

i must see for myself

if you meet the buddha on the road kill him
but the buddha is never met anywhere at all except on the road

if you are the buddha yourself thats not a meeting
that is simply your own self
the same self you have always been

you need not search
you merely need to have eyes
searching has been the problem all along

its not necessary to search nor to stop

if you have eyes you will see period
and we all have eyes or we wouldnt be here

if you understand i need not say it
and if you dont understand it wont help

what you long for is already the case

all love

Re: Help or Hinderance?

When we see clearly and describe what we see clearly there will be an element of prophesising because truth applies universally. The reason to try to see clearly and the reason to try to share effectively is the same basic reason we are here: to play   :-)