Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Metaphysics of the Social Network #1: Manifestation

This is the first in a series about Metaphysics and how they relate to the new Social Network Paradigm- the Internet and real-world networks beginning to come together. This article is focusing in particular upon the ability of the Social Network to enhance the power of manifestation.

Many people are becoming more and more familiar with the potential of the Social Network to share news and ideas, connect business with customers, share artwork - from music to visual arts- and foster links between people worldwide. However, an overlooked principle is the ability to utilize these networks for the benefit of metaphysical manifestation.

For those new to the topic, 'Manifestation' refers to the ability to create or call into your life the people, resources and circumstances you desire through the processes of forming a thought, followed by injecting energetic intention, followed by acting upon the opportunities created.

The idea of leveraging large groups of people for the purposes of manifestation is not a new one. Church establishments, in particular, are very good at getting multiple congregations to pray for the same thing- literally vocalized intentions, in this case being filtered through a specific deity figure, that serve to increase the amount of conscious intention applied to the object of the prayer.

My first experience with the phenomenon, in fact, came while I was attending Keats Camp- a summer camp that is, like most of the camps in BC, funded by Christian organizations and geared towards converting impressionable youth. One of the staff was a survivor of a rare birth complication- so bad the doctors didn't give him much chance of survival, and if he did survive there would likely be serious brain damage. In response the Pastor of his parents church coordinated a nationwide cycle of prayer in order to help him, and it was these prayers that not only saved his life but let him be a functional member of society. This man would tell the story with such veracity that, though I will never call myself a Christian nor pray to the god of Abraham, I am certain of the inherent truth behind his words. The harnessed intention of humanity is a powerful thing!

Thanks to the wonder of the Social Network, however, one no longer needs the support of a large religious organization to utilize this power of collective manifestation.

The individual manifestation potential of the Social Network became apparent to me when I began my Japanese Language project. While I had some idea of what I wanted to explore about Japan and an idea of where to start, thanks to Khatzumoto at AJATT and Tofugu.com's 100 Best Japanese Learning Resources, there were a few obstacles in my way. With a limited budget I had no idea how I was going to find Japanese in print (the Internet is a great resource, but there's something about turning pages- and I just can't whip out my laptop on the bus!). What sort of Japanese culture could I find in Victoria? I also had to meet some Real Japanese People and didn't quite know where to begin.

Undaunted, I began where I could and started engaging with my project. Along with writing in this blog and posting links on Facebook and Twitter, I would discuss the project in my status updates, with friends, at parties, workshops and the like.

Suddenly, I was finding Japanese in the most unlikely of places.

A friend unearthed a box of classic Japanese manga (circa 1994) in his garage and donated it to the cause. A lovely goddess gifted me with two books on Shinto, Shinto Norito: A Boook of Prayers in the original Japanese with English translations- and a companion book The Meaning of Shinto, which helped fuel my interest in Japans indigenous spiritual culture in addition to giving me a unique way to practice the language! A member of the Brojo loaned me several DVDs featuring Bujinkan Soke Masaaki Hatsumi instructing martial arts techniques in Japanese. To top it all off, a TESL colleague of mine introduced me to a language resource center for Japanese students here in Victoria- all within a week of me starting the project.

All of these returns were completely unsolicited and based entirely on putting the idea into the greater consciousness. The more the Project was shared across the various groups I am engaged with, the more 'feedback' I received. Status updates, progress reports and the like ensured that the project remained alive in the collective consciousness.

Ultimately, my use of the Social Network helped to maximize the number of people aware of the Project, increasing the amount of conscious intention applied and, therefore, enhanced my ability to manifest the tools and situations I've needed to succeed.

Another person who I've observed using this potential to great effect is Dolan Gadoury from Quantum Transformation who has been successfully using Facebook and other social media as part of the manifestation strategy for his Human Potential project, among other things.

The potential for the Social Network to spread and amplify your intentions is endless, so put your dreams and desires out into the conscious space- be it cyberspace or realspace- and harness the Social Network as your Manifestation Station!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hibernation, amongst Other Things

Foxes may not hibernate, but I really envy brother Bear these days! The sun starts going to bed early and, apparently, so do I... and while this has contributed to an extremely fallow period for this blog, not even shorter days can stop the inevitable flow of determined progress. Like an ice stream, really.

Thats not to say things been moving at a glacial pace- I spent November gettin' me some learnin' so's that I can be a half ways competent ESL teacher, as well as discovering that I really like teaching (go figure!).

I also had a wonderful time putting together the JET Programme's monster of an application which was slipped in just under the deadline, cuz I'm super like that. Now I face the most grueling portion of the JET process: the period of interminable waiting.

At least I have lots to keep my pretty little paws busy with!

The Japanese project is coming along swimmingly- I've discovered smart.fm, a wonderful learning tool that has Japanese vocabulary packages (among other things) on easy to use flashcards. The site provides the 6000 most common words in Japanese in 200 word blocks, placing each vocab word in a sentence as well as having a built in SRS to keep track of when to study! It takes 10-15 minutes to do a module of 10 new vocab, with times decreasing as I get more familiar with the words on the list.

The system also provides a nice mix of new words to review- 2/10 are new, until you've run out of words to review. This keeps it fresh, and the learning moving. I have had to run several blocks at a time, however, in order to give myself a continuum of new material.

I have also been introduced, through the vast and benevolent powers of the interwebs, to Tae Kim's guide to Japanese Grammar an eldritch tome of Nihongoodness that I should have read months ago. While glory of this guide generally defies description, aside from a comparison to a certain guide for hitch-hikers, it will suffice to say that every time I read through a bit of it I understand Japanese a whole lot more.

The next step, of course, is to put all this into practice in a real conversation- easier said than done! Fortunately, I have been able to establish some good connections within the ESL community in Victoria and have had no problem finding Japanese people to... well, mostly help them with their English to this point! I'm still shy when trying to speak in Japanese- so conversations this weekend will be a real test!

I've also got a number of other irons in the fire for the coming year, including some slightly cooler ones to report from the most recent Solstice, so stay tuned! Kitsune-kun has lots of tricks up his sleeves!

TTFN!
狐くん