It’s 1030pm PST right now (I started writing an hour ago) but my East Coast body is telling me it’s later. The energy from the day is still here so I’m in the lobby of the Sofitel Hotel, having a glass of wine and doing what I know will release some of the energy – writing. Apologies that I am not including links, I’m just too tired to do more than write and summarize and share my comments with you.
Here are some of my insights and interpretations and aha moments from today at the Wisdom 2.0 Conference. Click this link for the live stream.
- It is in the present moment that we find what he called spaciousness. We remove the restrictions which keep us separate from our inherent unity with all that is. We think we lose ourselves in that spaciousness but indeed we reconnect with our essential selves and with the infinite universal energy. We have built “story walls” to individuate throughout our lives and in doing so have forgotten our unity with all, and our essential selves. We create this identity and live through it as if it were reality. And we become very invested in it.
Spaciousness (consciousness) is and will always be. Our stories are mutable and limiting. At any moment we can go back to our persona or identity when we need or want to but the spaciousness is always there. This consciousness or spaciousness can shine through our persona. Do we know this however? Are we aware of this or do we only identify with the persona?
- We look outside ourselves for our answers. This looking outside gives us responses and stuff that fills the space clouding our essential nature, which is where our answers do lie. We don’t see this because we are not aware of our spaciousness, we are only aware of the persona we are trying to appease or our suffering we are trying to diminish.
Echart Tolle said today: “Your entire life unfolds in this present moment. This is it! This is all there is ever!” When you truly get that in your DNA, then you have to ask yourself, am I being present to this moment and in this moment how do I choose to unfold?” If you truly get this then you will experience the future more as a thought than a potential reality. This is a BIG deal!
- True creation begins in this spaciousness. True creation is not a rehash of something that already exists or an assimilation of a concept or idea. True creation originates from nothing, from the void in this universal consciousness or spaciousness.
- By focusing on our joyful experiences, we access what Meng Tan (Jolly Good Fellow) calls non-energetic joy. Joy without effort, without thinking. This kind of joy is sustainable and accessible because it requires nothing outside of ourselves to have it be so. This is what meditation can do. Eventually, the joy becomes you.
- Roshi Joan Halifax posed this question today. “How do we nourish contemplative practices and traditions in this modern world?” A powerful question to ask ourselves in this time of complexity, challenge and opportunity to attune to a universal energy.
- Kelly McGonagle was asked, “How do you or can we stay grounded?” Her answer was “By having a sense of yourself that is spacious enough to handle whatever arises. First, breathe!” A sense of yourself that is spacious enough to handle whatever arises. For me, this is Presence with a capital P. Can I be present to what is?
- Dr. Daniel Siegel on neuroscience and the brain – Mindfulness focuses us on our inner experience. The brain changes according to our experiences and throughout our lives. ”The mind is not just about the activity of the brain but it is connected to the body and other.” ”Mindfulness stabilizes our lens in order to see with clarity.” “The only way we will save our planet is with this awareness.”
- Laura Andreesen of Giving 2.0: “Be mindful of what you consume and what you share (on social networks).”
- Premal Shah, President of Kiva.org – “I went from a life of achievement to a life of fulfillment.” My version of this is a distinction between having a life filled with success or a life filled with significance. Not the same although both can co-exist.
- Jack Kornfield – “The point is to embrace our humanity so as to create something noble.” He shared a quote from someone else about our lives today. ”We are nuclear giants and ethical infants.” Powerful statement. Jack Kornfield talked about an ancient Celtic practice to “sing warriors back to their humanity” after they returned from battles to get them back into their bodies and to release the “war” inside them and return them to their “home” and family. My question is this. Who is signing our warriors (veterans, etc.) back into their bodies, back home? And we wonder why they suffer when they return? We have no practices to bring them home again, body, mind, spirit and heart. Jack: “The outer will need to be wedded to the inner and that is the shift to wisdom.” Wisdom, brings the sacred into our world.
- Lee Rainee of Pew Research shared some stats about the internet this morning. 80% of American adults are online. 50% of Americans are online. 2/3 of those consider themselves creators of content. Information consumption in 1960 amounted to 7.4 hours/day. Now it is 11.8 hours/day. In 2008 we consumed 100,500 words per day and we processed 34 gigabytes of information. Revolution One was Broadband. Revolution 2 was Social Networks. Revolution 3 is the Mobile Revolution. In 2010, we individually spent 5 hours and 46 minutes a day on social networks. In 2011 we spent 7 hours and 46 minutes a day on social networks. 46% of Americans have a smart phone. 50% of Americans use mobile apps.
For more tomorrow follow me on twitter @aliciarod and the hashtag #wisdom2conf . I’ll be tweeting you!
