LETTER to: Robert Breedlove and Knut Svanholm
TOPIC: Everything Divided by 21 Million (WiM211) episode 211 of the What Is Money Show
Hello Rob and Knut
I listened to Episode 211 of What’s Is Money and enjoyed your philosophical discussion regarding Bitcoin and God. I felt a strong urge to join you in that discussion but, alas, this was not possible.
A few years ago, I listened to The Consciousness Podcast with host Stuart Preston. After the suicide of his son, Stuart felt compelled to investigate what might compel someone to end life. An Engineer by training, Stuart methodically explored the knowledge and experience of 42 scientists, philosophers, academics, and medical specialists. They all share in common a mission to unravel of one of life’s most intractable mysteries - the source and nature of consciousness.
My own interest and investigation into consciousness began over 30 years ago during a period of a persistent medical crisis (Panic Disorder and Clinical Depression) which took me 10 years to overcome. During those years (my personal “Dark Night Of The Soul” period), I explored various religious paths, metaphysical practices and books in search for a door out of my personal Hell. One key to opening that door was the ideas presented in ACIM. I read it, led a study group and practiced its daily meditations in the late 1990s.
What remains of those years of investigation and my subsequent on-again, off-again delving into this topic, is reflected below. In a nutshell, the following ideas represent my own metaphysical understanding of “reality” and it’s manner of presentation to all beings of consciousness.
I suspect you may see some relevance to your discussion of God and Bitcoin (at least, I hope so 😊).
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PREMISE.
Consciousness exists beyond time, space and materiality.
All thoughts and feelings exist in consciousness and are presented to ‘beings of consciousness’ as ‘artifacts of consciousness’.
The only reality is consciousness itself. Everything that ‘beings of consciousness’ experience and choose to act upon are ‘artifacts of consciousness’.
All ‘artifacts of consciousness’ exist in an eternal “now”. Changes in their perception are responsible for the illusions of “time” and “space”.
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
“You” (aka your ‘mind’, ‘state of consciousness’) are in a ‘river’. It’s pitch dark. You can’t detect its surface, bottom or shores but you can discern your beingness as separate from but somehow part of the ‘river’. You have concluded that it is a ‘river’ in which you find your ‘self’ because you sense that you are buoyant and that a ‘current” exists in your presence. You are also unable to discern if you are stationary or if you are moving with the ‘current’ to some unknown destination.
You suddenly experience an instant of enlightenment, a profound change in perception. You realize that the ‘river’ is not comprised of H2O atoms as you had imagined. Instead, you are immersed in, and one with, ‘artifacts of consciousness’ as numerous as the number of photons in an endless stream of light. Your ‘river’ is “God”, that reservoir of every ‘artifact of consciousness’ ever to exist. It also occurs to you that you are a ‘co-creator of reality’ with every thought, feeling and choice you make. You share this ability with every other sentient being in the eternal process of Creation.
[Note 1: read about the Akashic Records here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records.
This idea inspired my concept of ‘artifacts of consciousness’ and that they comprise all reality and account for all Creation.]
[Note 2: I consider the Bible, and all books, as ‘artifacts of consciousness’. In fact, I consider all ‘inventions of consciousness’ right down to the individual letters of the alphabet as “articons” (short for ‘artifacts of consciousness’). Nothing in our perceived ‘reality’ escapes its true nature - a co-creation of consciousness]
WHY CREATION?
To take this idea further, WHAT IF we are all just players in God’s Video Game?
[NOTE. 3 : I am using the term God not in the religious or biblical sense but as a proxy for “Universal Consciousness” and “The Universal Mind”. I generally dislike the term ‘God’ because it is too amorphous and carries too much religious baggage. However, it also the most widely used and accepted term and is therefore useful for my purpose.]
The video game analogy was inspired by my daughter, Paris, who is a highly accomplished online gamer, has organized and run her own supergroup and who’s gaming passion inspired her choice to study pharmacy. Paris is currently a staff Pharmacist at a children’s hospital in Ohio. She considers antibiotics to be part of her arsenal of special weapons that she employs to conquer disease challenges.
I wrote the following for Paris several years ago.
God’s Video Game Of Life
God is consciousness.
Consciousness is God.
Nothing exists but God.
Everything exists in consciousness like a dream.
There is no space because space cannot exist in a dream.
There is no time if there is no space.
There is just Now, the dream and us — players in the game of Life.
We — the players— are God’s co-creators in Life.
God provides the landscape, stage and circumstances for all Life events and circumstances.
God creates and manifests each one of us as unique players of Life.
From “birth” into Life, we learn and evolve.
We grow to become increasingly distinct players.
Free Will is our special power to make choices in Life.
As each player lives Life,
We create ‘artifacts of consciousness’ to navigate the game.
Sometimes we overcome a Life challenge. Sometimes we don’t.
Inevitably we die but not before contributing to God’s purpose.
In Life, new players appear to replace old.
God introduces each new player with unique attributes and
A fresh Will to face Life challenges.
The only players of Video Game of Life are God and us.
And each one of “us” exists solely the Mind of God.
All ‘artifacts of consciousness’ are retained in the Mind of God.
Wisdom is the sum total of all lessons learned from Life,
Creativity is the impulse to acquire more Wisdom.
Opportunities to create more Wisdom
Is the reason why players exist.
COMMENTARY
Human game creators and players exhibit God-like and human-like powers. These creators provide the landscape, stage and circumstances for the game. Each player freely chooses from a compendium of available “powers” and “characteristics” to create a unique game avatar. That avatar becomes each player’s proxy to play the game. This scenario is not unlike the way human avatars play God’s Video Game of Life.
The gaming industry offers interesting simulations for playing the real game of Life and overcoming its challenges. Online games have evolved continually since their inception as human creators acquired more “wisdom”. Their creativity is apparently inspired by an need to puzzle together new ways to keep players motivated and challenged. In an existential sense, these game creators too seek to create a platform with which to engage players who enjoy a challenging journey. The goal? Wisdom and fulfillment - the reason that they play at all.
My ‘TAKE HOME’ Message.
Feelings and thoughts are unmeasurable. The source of creativity is likewise unfathomable. Humans act these out in their dreams which sometimes feel as real as our awake state. To ignore these truths is to condemn the majority of mankind and, in particular, the “men of Science & Philosophy”, to study only the illusions of “reality”. Rather than focus only on the - apparent physical and temporal manifestations of “existence”, why not also consider it in terms of the metaphysical nature of consciousness too?
I wonder what turns your discussion of God and Bitcoin may have taken if the above paradigm had been introduced. Food for thought.
PS If you have not yet watched this short video, watch The Egg -
It offers an intriguing metaphorical rendition of the ideas expressed above.
Enjoy