Collecting and analyzing your cell phone GPS data may take on a whole new purpose in our lives very shortly. Imagine having a God's Eye View of the world, much like Google Earth, street level maps etc., but being able to see where you've been throughout your days. Not only will it track your movement, but would analyze levels of activity, where you've been in relation to others, what your likelihood of stress, disease and other lifestyle issues based on where you go and what you do. Think of it like tracking your heart rate, but now being able to see so many more things, even the things we're so brainwashed to do, we're unaware of it.
Imagine seeing right in front of you a map of your movements in relation to others; seeing the habitual patterns we've become so used to we don't even consider what it's doing to you. By analyzing your data in relation to others, you'll be able to see your likelihood of having an accident based on your movements through high accident zones, your likelihood of getting heart disease based on where you go and your particular patterns in relation to others who have the same habitual patterns. Forget tracking your caloric intake. This will track your walking vs. driving, the amount of energy expended based on tracked speed, elevation etc. and make recommendations to you on how you can make changes to your lifestyle to avoid or reduce your percentage of self harm, at the same time increasing your chances of running into that elusive business contact. It will track how often you eat out, where you eat out including the kind of food served at the restaurants you visited and give you a picture of the person you are health-wise and socially.
Having said that, is this really the way to find out who you are? Do we need cell phones, internet, electronics etc. to do our thinking for us? Or is it possible to do our own reality mining in the moment when a choice is presented to us? Are we complicating something that is actually best in a simplistic form? Are we making a mountain out of a mole-hill? Perhaps in an ever-increasing world of electronic gadgets, the only way to find out who we really are and what our chances of getting hurt or dying are is to rely on that technology or at least use it in conjunction with our brains. I'm not completely sold, especially now that I see the world with fresh eyes. Of course I never thought I would see Monks with cell phones and iPads or clergy wringing their hands like a teenage girl at getting a smoking deal on a tablet on eBay. One's religious experience is not the same when the priest's cell phone goes off during Sunday mass.
But I NEED my cell phone! It's my life! Without it I'd be lost!... There's your answer, my friend. You're an addict. But, what if there's an EMERGENCY!... There's your answer as well my fearful, brainwashed companion. But WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF!... If the thought of something not being available to you creates a sense of panic in you, then there's your answer my friend. And all you needed to do was slow down long enough to allow the answer that's right inside of you to materialize. We'll touch on the voice (or voices) inside another time...
Any question you ask yourself with focus and sincerity will be answered by some part of you. You ask yourself questions all the time in fact. Should you keep wearing the same clothing until it wears out instead of continually feeding a desire to be something and look some way, should you choose to see the homeless person or keep walking, should you choose to be a positive influence in this world or keep taking and taking, should you continue to spend $5 a day on special coffee brewed by a coffee 'expert'... the list goes on.
Our lives are the way they are because of the choices we make in every moment and the thoughts we think. Why does this happen to me!? We shake our fists in the air. The answer is simple. You made it happen. Why is this life so hard!? Again, simple. You made it hard. The real hard part is first slowing down and paying attention to something other than you in order to see it, in order to be available when the answer to your question comes, then acting on it as long as it's good for you and others. Right now, it's mostly good for you at the expense of others. The next most difficult part is to tell the TRUTH to yourself and others. Obviously, that's not working for you since you've been led here (led by whom?). We'll talk more about these crucial steps, SLOWING DOWN and TELLING THE TRUTH in laying the foundation of awakening in future posts.
The purpose of this post is to ask you to consider the extent to which you may be controlled by your dependency on your electronics (tv, internet, cell phone etc.) and everything that goes with them as well as who's doing the controlling. What do I mean by everything that goes with them? This is the first opportunity to tell the truth, to actually take the time to avoid the excuses of what you NEED to happily exist in this world and to act on it in order for the circumstances of real change to occur. I'm sure any of us can create a long list of reasons why we NEED one thing or another in order for us to be able to function. But at what point do these little 'conveniences' start to have a negative impact on us (the definition of negative being something that takes us away from lasting joy and a connection to the Light Inside)? So once the list is made, then we can begin to start paring down those unnecessary things from our lives. Simplifying or as I like to call it, DEVOLVING.
So perhaps it's time to start your own reality mining; to start paying attention to your own habitual patterns; the things you tell yourself you need to be happy, the things you need to support the other things you've piled onto this mortal experience. You're the only one who can honestly analyze the choices you make and the way you perceive the experiences you have in each moment.
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