Welcome to Pizzaonia! Reflections from a different perspective --- Diverti Mento, John Frank Giovanni, Frank John Franco, Vera V. Veronica and all of the Pizza digogo DiVinci family invite you to join us - We discuss and share ideas that are relevant to our new emerging world. http://giovanniandfranco.com A division of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network
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…….
I know we have to take some things seriously. We all know what they are. But, do we have to take them too seriously? Sooner or later, if one is given the privilege of time and experience, the absurdity of it all will show its face.
Consider the presidential primaries we now are suffering through. Could “Saturday Night Live” write or perform better satire than what we see at each supposed debate? I doubt it. However, let me give them their due: The Democrats seem to be getting better at becoming a "real debate" than their Republican counterparts
Nevertheless, most of the time, the only thing missing are the clown suits and baggy shoes. Again, I don't mean this to be partisan. The candidates of both parties share the stage equally.
Take the way we communicate today. We have access to information like no other generation. Has it made us any better or are we simply more aware of how bad things really are? This is true irony, particularly for a generation that believed that access to information would make things right.
The good news: Somehow the "will of the people" continues to keep us on course - regardless of the political circus the twenty four hour news circle allows us to watch.
The tragedy here is we are dealing with life and death issues that have been turned into a circus and entertainment venue. As a result, we have entertainment instead of serious debates.
There was a time when serious, intelligent candidates would have looked at this venue and said, “Are you kidding?” However, what we get instead is pandering, and we sit like sheep and say nothing.
So, if we can do nothing else, at least appreciate how absurd this really is.
Brother Giovanni, commenting for the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network (PNN), Diverti Mento, editor
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……..
For many people in the United States today the world is in total disarray. Our new definition of happiness seems to be defined by ignoring the mess. Is this real happiness? Of course not, but it is the best that most of us can do.
Why is the world in such disorder? No one can really explain it. However, understanding that information technology is outstripping our moral capacity to deal with our new reality can be a good start at understanding what is happening.
Another dirty little secret: Our presidential candidates do not have a clue what to do about it either. This explains the surreal feeling our political debates have about them. Politicians 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?
Not 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. This may be a hard pill to swallow. You bet it is, 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