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Pizzaonia is a real beta-world place that has learned to live without wars and governments. Please keep in mind that any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead in your world is entirely coincidental.

Conjectures of a recovering dilettante – thoughts while walking through the park on a lazy afternoon.......

Consciousness, intention and reality =?

Today, we read and hear ad infinitum about motivation and intention, and how they supposedly define our lives.   It is overwhelming - so much so, everything we hear telling us how we are to live is now a cliché.  This is what happens when a good idea becomes an industry. 

Regardless, it still is our job to sort it all out. 

Is it possible that consciousness drives the whole process?  Can it be that we define our reality with our consciousness?  I am not talking about bending spoons or walking on water, but I am suggesting that much of what we experience as our reality exists because we have willed it to be so. 

If you apply this notion to faith and belief systems, it opens Pandora’s Box.  What if what we define with our consciousness and then accept and believe in faith, become our reality?  Add to this, if consciousness exists outside of our brain and our brain is a receptor and not an originator of that consciousness; a lot of folks are in for a big surprise. 

Imagine if heaven can only exist for those who believe in its existence because their consciousness defined it as real and brings it into existence. 

For an atheist heaven does not exist because their consciousness denies its existence.  This allows both atheist and those who believe in heaven to be right.  Did not someone once say, “We are what we believe.” 

On a mundane level, how about faith healing - is it real? What role does willed consciousness play in making actual healing take place? 

How about optimism and despair – are they willed by the mind? This gets more complicated when we consider that 90 percent of our brain’s consciousness is unconscious to us. 

In addition, what part does the early imprinting of our environment and family upbringing play in the development of the unconscious part of our willed intent?  How does that shape our motivation and intention? How much was created by us? How much was planted there by our environment and upbringing?   Getting a headache?  I am.

This is enough for today.  They say asking the right questions are more important than answers.  If so, maybe some of these thoughts are the right questions.  More later……..

Brother Giovanni, meandering through the park in Pizzaonia 

Recommended reading: "Out of our Heads" Why you are not your brain and other lessons from the biology of consciousness - by Alva Noe)

Conjectures of a recovering dilettante- to be free is one thing - what to do with it is another.

At the heart of every day, here in Pizzaonia, is the belief that you will continue your journey.  Each day brings a new place to explore – some better than others, but each day brings a distinct learning experience that contributes to your life’s journey. 

Faith is always the key – and faith is always your prerogative -to believe or not believe?  This choice determines what is to be.  To realize that nothing is written except what you choose to write is the key to your personal freedom. 

Four walls may enclose your physical body, but nothing can contain your mind if you will it to be free.  The choice is yours.

Sister Veronica, Supreme Pizzaonian

Conjectures of a recovering dilettante – a funny thing happened on the way to Utopia........

 

Random thoughts better kept to yourself. 

The world is a mess.  Happiness is defined by ignoring the mess.  Is this real happiness, of course not, but it is the best that most people can do. 

Why is the world a mess – no one can really explain it, however technology outstripping our moral capacity to deal with it can be a good start at understanding what is happening. 

Another dirty little secret: Our leaders do not have a clue what to do about it.  This explains the surreal feeling our political debates have about them.  People floundering for answers they do not have, act this way.  They do not know any better, but we should. 

So be it.  What do we do about it? 

No much, but at least we know what is going on.  Is this too cynical for most?  Perhaps, but realism is still the way to recovery.  Hard pill to swallow?  You bet, but swallow it you must if you intend to build a real life for yourself.

 

Brother Giovanni – reflections on my day off – reporting from Pizzaonia

Conjectures of a Recovering dilettante – a funny thing happened on the way to Utopia – we stopped needing other people.

 
Since the beginning of human existence, the need for community was essential for survival.  We had to deal with each other personally in order to survive.  It was that simple, and like it or not, we engaged the process. 

Then came the age of technology, and suddenly we can do anything via the machine.  (Note: the word machine, not phone or computer, is appropriate.) We no longer have to be bothered with "face to face: contact. 

Can you imagine what this means to future generations?  If you cannot, you had better start thinking about it.  More later…….

Brother Giovanni, commenting from Pizzaonia

Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante - a funny thing happened on the way to Utopia, we invented scorekeepers.

ON KEEPING SCORE 

It seems we live in a world that demands we keep score.  From kindergarten children to senior citizens, someone is watching and keeping a record.  Nothing is left to spontaneity or chance.

Everything is to be accounted for and you can be sure you will be told by someone the results of the scorecard. 

Since there is very little we seem to be able to do to change this, let’s remember one thing.  If you insist on keeping score make sure you count points for as well as point against.  

There is a growing tendency to use the scoreboard as a weapon, both pro and con.  Enough!  Just remember to be fair.  After all, someone is also scoring how you keep score. 

 

Brother Giovanni, reporting from Pizzaonia

Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante – a funny thing happened on the way to Utopia – political talk shows

As I listen to radio talk shows in the United States now that I am back in Pizzaonia,  I spend more time reflecting on their worth as an information medium.  Granted they are entertaining, but what purpose do they serve? 

No doubt, they make money for the stations that broadcast them.  The people who run the networks are experts on how to feed their respective markets. This is the problem.  Since they understand their markets so well, each talk-show host knows which buttons to push to keep their listeners frothing at the mouth. 

Nothing promotes ignorance faster than restricting your listening to those shows that reaffirm your established bias.  Moreover, since these shows are editorial in nature, they use the “truth” very selectively to reinforce their particular editorial slant.  Since this is only entertainment, you might ask what is the big deal?  

If the surveys we read have merit, we are asked to believe that most folks get their information from the various radio and television talk shows they listen to and watch.  Wow, how is that for a democratically informed electorate? 

We live in a transformational time.  The world is changing all around us. During times of transformational change, fear is always a by-product.   Fear can be alleviated by accurate and intelligently presented points of view that help us shape our opinions. Alternatively, this fear can be used to create larger audiences by using demagoguery to feed the flames.  

Profit trumps truth again. This fear mongering creates larger constituencies, and this creates larger audiences and bigger profits.  It also makes winning elections easier. 

Pablum rules the day.  Chicken or the egg?  Do we get what we deserve or is what we are getting the best we have? 

America needs a reality check if it is to have a meaningful presidential election that can reestablish the American democracy as the model for the world.  The American people will decide if they have the necessary will and courage to demand leadership instead of patronization.  Or, have they already decided, only time will tell. 

Brother Giovanni, observations from Pizzaonia 

"...what really counts is not the immediate act of courage or of valor, but those who bear the struggle day in and day out - not the sunshine patriots but those who are willing to stand for a long period of time."  John F. Kennedy

Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante -- Living in the “NOW” is important, however ….

Random thoughts while moving west.....

With age comes some sentimentality – kept in control this can be good.  Remembering the past and holding it dear can help define the future.  The trick is to steer in the direction of the future while still enjoying the present. 

You read so much about the importance of “now.”  This sounds good, but to not understand the “now” has its grounding in the past and the hope of a future, is to fail to grasp the emotional and philosophical base that each of us uses to live in the "now.” 

The past has molded us and defines how we view our lives.  For the person born to introspection, the past can be a great comfort.  It helps us to understand and relate to our experience.  This helps shape how we react in the present.  Understanding this is good and offers us some reassurance. 

What about our bad experiences of the past?  We have all had some, others more than their share.  Nonetheless, if we have managed to view our lives as meaningful, these bad experiences helped to make us who we are.  It is the grain of sand in the oyster that makes the pearl. 

By all means, live in the present.  However, never forget how important the past and future are in defining how we view the present.

Brother Giovanni, commenting from Pizzaonia

American presidential primaries as seen from Pizzaonia – conjectures of a recovering dilettante

New Year --  photo by josette lodato

There are days when writing is a chore – simply the way it is.  Nevertheless, one still writes.  It is a Pizzaonian tradition, and a vow that all Pizzaonian monks take- to write each day as if it were the only day.  As you can imagine this makes for a lot of dull writing. 

Thank God for American presidential campaigns, cannot imagine a day without them.  The way it is going, we will not have to worry about presidential campaigns not being around since they have gained a perpetual energy that only nonsensical things are capable of achieving.

 

To be a candidate a few things are required.  First, you must have some egomaniacal belief that you have something to offer that no one else has.  This should, by its self, disqualify you. 

Second, you must have a capacity to endure imbeciles and actually be able to pretend you are taking them seriously.  The danger here is that you might become an imbecile in the process.  This would explain many things. 

The problem is obvious.  If one is going to endure the nonsense of the political process, the seriousness of what we are really dealing with fades into the background.  How does one placate the absurd desires of “off the wall” constituencies and remain serious about the process?

 

Can you imagine the feeling a newly elected president must have when alone in the Oval office, they suddenly realize what they have begotten upon themselves. 

This could explain why we are in the mess we seem to find ourselves in.  If we want a president to lead us through these difficult times, we the electorate have to be serious about the process.  Well, so much for that idea.

 Brother Giovanni, reporting from Pizzaonia

Staring into the morning light.............

Thoughts come and stir

The mind to be free

Free to find me

In the morning light

 

The stirring comes and

Goes, giving a glimpse

Of what is there, but

Only for a moment

 

And then the stillness

Returns, empty or fill

The answer waits in

Eternity

Pizzaonius - founder of Pizzaonia

I was asked recently what is a recovering dilettante. My answer .........

Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante -- The nature of being a recovering dilettante

 

I was asked recently what is a recovering dilettante.  My answer was we are all recovering dilettantes and as such; we need to recognize the condition. 

Simply, in our digital age of transformation, information is now so ubiquitous and comprehensive it is no longer possible to be an expert in most areas.  Certainly, in some fields of law, medicine, science and philosophy there will be the few extraordinary individuals who are experts, but they are the few, not the many. 

For the rest of us, we are journeymen and women in our fields and unfortunately, we are all on the treadmill of obsolescence.  The digital machine can do most of what we do.  

I know this is extreme and controversial, but that does not make it any less true.  The sooner we all come to grips with this, the faster we can move on to the new life that awaits us – and that life may not be as bad as some think. 

My recent move back to Pizzaonia was partially motivated by the realization of the innovative life that is emerging for recovering dilettantes.  I believe this emerging future is waiting for us to embrace it and when we do wondrous things will happen. 

I will continue to explore this in future writings and invite your comments and participation.  Thank you.

 

Brother Giovanni