Copyright © 2006 by James Semark
Topics:
The Other End of the Information Superhighway
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My friend from across the world, these beginnings are important to you, for what they could mean to you, rather than to me. Whether I’ve done the greater or lesser thing, whether my achievements have high esteem in your eyes or not, the benefit of MetaKora rests in what it can do for you and for the planet — rather than how it benefits me. You should know why I play the MetaKora harp. For many years, I’ve composed music based on qualitative principles, and some know me for the “quality” of my achievements. |
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Now, my friend, consider this: what if I would choose to level off, to be satisfied with what I’ve done, to compose just a few more well-tuned works for the rest of my life? Why wouldn’t that be in the comfort zone? The reason is, like you, I’ve tossed and turned in my bed in the middle of the night, waking up with the terrible question on my mind: what about the planet?
Indeed, this is a terrible question, because the survival stakes are very high. In the course of this concept paper, we’ll explore just how high the planetary survival stakes are. For now, it’s sufficient to say that conditions in the world bring one to the depth of despair – or the depth of one’s soul (your choice). Fortunately, in my life, I was motivated to travel down the soul road, and my story is about how I journeyed down that road, far away from my friends, family and acquaintances. I grew up in a midwest town named Smallville, and my story is about the bicycle journey I took, far away from that sleepy village. My ride took me to the other end of the Information Superhighway, where I found the daily planet, and my place in it.
Ah, Smallville! The minute I began biking down its streets, I could hear my neighbors deriding me, saying, “Hey! Your ideas are not practical!” I could hear their objections loud and clear. As they receded in the distance, I could hear them shouting that my viewpoint was not relevant, and yet, the purpose of this writing is to submit the idea that MetaKora is practical, when applied totally for the sake of the planet.
I would like to introduce you to my qualitative principles. All my life, I’ve been obsessed with the application of them, first to my art, then to technology, and finally to the planet as a whole. It seems Gaia has prodded me along, from one realization of Quality to another, until finally, I stand before you today, ready to play the MetaKora song.
The trouble is — when one pursues Quality, one is gradually immersed in the first principle of MetaKora, which is the Great Within, and the Great Within has infinite depth. Perhaps the Great Within is Gaia, itself, or perhaps it is the wild duende of Frederico Garcia Lorca. The Within took me on many long descents in my poetry, not to Dante’s Inferno, but to unlimited potentiality. I found the Within dripping through my literature, and I found it running out the bottom of my music works.
What’s more — the Great Within has led my bicycle ride to a place where I must speak about issues of world survival. In my mind, I hear the voices of my mentors who taught me what I know, many years ago. In my ear, I hear them encouraging me to make public what I’ve learned and understood.
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As I travel down this road, the knowledge I’m offering is my own home-cooked stew, with some things left unfinished. The effect I intend to produce is open-ended and unpredictable. I can best describe the effect as similar to the music improvisations I’ve heard in my lifetime — in other words, an improv or a jam. Within these parameters, I’ve taken up my bike and found many people along the way — sincere folks who are concerned about the survival of the daily planet, far beyond the confines of Smallville. |
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The Other End of the Information Superhighway
Today, my friend, I’d like to take you there, where the fast lane dead-ends in the Street of Unexpected, and where characteristics of the new lifestyle are often found. When I left Smallville, I went biking down the Information Superhighway, pondering the MetaKora vision, and how it would be useful in the new meta-society. As I wheeled down that lonely road, my dream of the future was drowned in billboards of the old, collapsing civilization — yes, I saw huge billboards all along the highway, many of them advertising drugs, sex, violence, war and enslavement. In that experience, my friend, I have heard and seen all that you have — I am another like yourself.
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Since the founding of Laceweb, there have been other manifestations of the new civilization, having similar characteristics of spontaneity, energetic local activity, and indestructibility:
- What comes to mind is the World Wide Web — also a vast network — electronic, spontaneous, made up of massive local effort, and unstoppable. Governments have tried to suppress it but have been unsuccessful in doing so.
- Another example is the Planet Art Network (PAN), founded by José Argüelles. PAN is an emerging, grass roots movement enabling cultural networking, based on principles of radial time and the calendar of "Thirteen Moons." A PAN node may exist in your locale, as well.
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Actually — I could go on and on. Now is the time for you and I to bring our ideas forward, applying our unique solutions to the wellbeing of the world. Although my neighbors from Smallville wouldn’t think so, there are many people like ourselves, many earth-walkers who are learning how to put the planet first, and themselves in it. Beyond these energetic individuals, what other manifestations can you think of — what features are emerging in your eyes? If you look about yourself with an open mind, you’ll find entrances to the new civilization, gestating in every corner of the world and in every walk of life. Now, reader, open your eyes — open your feelers to an abundance of grass roots networks, silky networks, waiting with answers to the cosmic puzzle, waiting for folks like you and me — “spiders” that we are! |
Do you belong in one of the essential generations — those who are appearing in the world at this time? This section is dedicated to all earth-walkers, especially those who are asking questions such as, “Where do we belong? What are we here for? How do we connect?”
My perennial friend, do you share my belief that there will come a generation that will march in the streets for world survival, having Gaia-consciousness built into its genetic code?
Some say, “How can this be?” The very idea flies in the face of today’s dominant society, one that is motivated by self-interest and greed — the very mention of world survival draws laughter in the back-alleys and bars of Smallville.
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In our quest for MetaKora, we’ve learned that civilization is slowly evolving behind the scenes, beyond the surface picture of shopping malls and traffic gridlock. For discussion, I suggest we look at a trend, one that is found in back-roads and subcultures, away from billboards and mass media of the dominant culture. This trend is motivated by a growing concern for the survival of the planet. The diagram, to the left, describes the trend I speak of, representing evolution of Gaia-consciousness in generations, arriving at the most visible and active one:
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Regardless of where we stand today, this multi-layered combination of elders, packagers and community leaders are the “spiders” of Dr. Yoeman’s lacy network, and their numbers are legion. They are doing the essential work of world harmonization — is this where we fit in?
Some say it’s a blue-sky notion. Perhaps they’re right — perhaps the essential generations are a pipe dream. Following up on that thought, let’s look at the present-day Industrial Age society — do we belong there? Of course, we all have our roots in this culture — it is one into which you and I were born — it is one with which we must interact everyday.
You will notice that everything in this society is designed from a viewpoint of self-gratifying existence. It is a culture that that strives to be successful within itself, excluding all else. This is found in the machines that run, the houses that go up, the communication links that hum, the autos that whiz by, the food products that tumble off the processing line, the consumers that consume the products — the examples of exclusive self-relevance are as endless as the lights of New York City. Yet, in an age of global dependency, this society is rapidly becoming obsolete — it is rapidly losing ground to the essential generations, those who have planet-wide survival in mind.
Some years ago, I lived with my neighbors in Smallville, and when they objected to my qualitative ideas, I went biking down the Information Superhighway. Today, when I visit that sleepy village, no longer are the objectors so cocksure of themselves — they vacillate to the left and to the right — they fail to see the big picture — they fail to see the torrent of information coming their way. To them, I offer this discussion point:
How sustainable is your lifestyle? Will it last a decade? Will it be twenty-five years – or even one year? How long will you continue your isolationist attitude, your attitude that nothing matters, except your mortgages, stock options and sports vehicles – while the gas you burn is imported from Venezuela, or the shirt you wear is made by children in China? Do you consider the possibility that someday, your megapolitan development will overwhelm the water and food supply, as well as the gas supply, and that your lifestyle will collapse, no matter how efficiently the assembly lines are running today?
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Discussion Points
Here we are, far away from Smallville, at the other end of the Information Super-highway, where technology transforms into non-technology, and where machine-oriented lifestyles are transformed into Gaia harmony and magic. In the MetaKora celebration, the butterfly (humanity) has emerged from its cocoon. At this juncture in the story, I offer discussion points on MetaKora and its tool, the qualitative information system. These should be of interest to you, my essential, multi-generational audience:
- If you dwell in future generations – if you find yourself in a critical, planet-wide survival mode, then, I’m sure, you will eagerly embrace the qualitative information system and you will have no objection to its basic principles. In this case, my discussion of the MetaKora event would be like preaching to the choir, so I offer you an opportunity for dialog by asking: what is your piece of the cosmic puzzle? How does it fit into the silky network?
- What other global populist movements have you found (i.e., grass-roots movements with global consciousness arising spontaneously) – what connections and networks can you bring to the table? What other manifestations of new civilization have you noticed (e.g., Laceweb, World Wide Web, Planet Art Network etc.)?
- What is the destiny of your community and what role do you, as a person play in it? Does it have something to do with providing cultural experience to the new global order that is now emerging?
- How are you going to do it (“it” meaning transformation into the new social order)? This is probably the most profound question of all, because the answer lies not in formulas nor in blueprints – but in creativity and community interaction.
- The MetaKora way of life provides solutions to the world’s major problems, i.e., overpollution and overpopulation. Could these problems being symptoms of a deeper dilemma, where collections of humanity have lost touch with the Source?
- MetaKora suggests that we forego superficial lifestyles of the quantitative civilization. Does this mean we are entering into a new era of quality and depth, where isolation and despair are replaced by joy and Gaia harmony? What do you think? How are you affected?
- How sustainable is your personal lifestyle? Based on your requirements for food, water, clothing, housing, energy, transportation, etc., how much longer do you think you can survive without compromise? One year? Many years? If we rephrased the question this way: how sustainable is your community lifestyle? Is there a better chance of survival for all of you together?
- If you take the major problems of the world, e.g., environmental factors, population factors, economic factors, sociological factors – and you put them all together in one focus – on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the planet’s chances for survival?
Finally, my friend, you may ask, “What do I want of you? If all I say is worthwhile, then what, if anything, do I desire to obtain from you?” The short answer is: synergy — the integration of all your ideas and influences into your unique expression, one that is unpredictable, one that participates with the whole of humankind. In my lifetime, I’ve grown up under the influence of generations of poets, musicians, engineers, philosophers and astrologers, whose goals are similar to mine, and so, I feel comfortable asking that of you. To me, synergy is the essential human experience — it is experience in the act of transforming into world civilization. You have the Omega Point * of humanity in your collective future — drink to that, my earth-walking companion!
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Chapter Notes:
* I’m referring to the “Omega Point” concept of Tielhard deChardin, the ultimate fulfillment of all potentialities of humanity since its inception. Dane Rhudyar has written about the concept and numerous science-fiction writers have developed a mythology about it. My friend, John Nelson, a new-age novelist, has a very imaginative portrayal of the Omega Point, as it might have suddenly occurred in a small, twentieth-century town. I would like to share with you two of the final paragraphs of his book, Transformations, the next step:
"In the cave the final note had been struck, and the illuminate beings gathered there were now reduced to a billion particles of light, each particle singing its own individual song, yet each harmonically blending with the others, until they converged into a single all-pervading note of incredible power. As the beings coalesced into monads of light, the sound vibration blew the top off the mountain and sent their souls hurrying home.
"In the town square the explosion shattered store windows around the block. At first, due to the extraordinary brightness of the light given off, people feared it was an atomic blast. If so, they soon realized that, at this distance, they would have been instantly vaporized. And then they saw the first of the shooting stars rising skyward. A roaring cheer went up from the crowd gathered there. As more of the shooting stars shot across the night sky, these people, who had fed the process with their faith and love, were now overcome with such joy that it set them ablaze. One after another of the witnesses were transformed. Some of them shooting skyward, while others remained behind in their former bodies but now illuminated selves. "