The Fermi paradox is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations.

…

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_hypothesis

The zoo hypothesis is one of a number of suggestions that have been advanced in response to the Fermi paradox, regarding the apparent absence of evidence in support of the existence of advanced extraterrestrial life. According to this hypothesis, aliens would generally avoid making their presence known to humanity, or avoid exerting an influence on human development, somewhat akin to zookeepers observing animals in a zoo, or experimental scientists observing a study that closer examination would ruin.

Adherents of the hypothesis consider that Earth and humans are being secretly surveyed using equipment located on Earth or elsewhere in the Solar System which relays information back to the observers. It is also suggested that overt contact will eventually be made with humanity once humans reach a certain level of development.

Do you know what Gaia (Guy-ya) means?

Gaia is the name of the Earth. It is believed that the Earth is a living organism in space and the human race acts as the central nervous system of the planet.

Are you the only intelligent thing of your body?

The answer is no. You are an entire universe within yourself! Let’s take a closer look. In your body you have red and white blood cells. White cells will recognize an enemy of the body (virus or any other foreign body) assess the strength of this enemy, then call on other white cells to gather, so that enough will engage in an attack to make it successful. Is this not a form of intelligence, even if only on a small level? Not to mention the intelligence of the virus: is this not an intelligent living organism, also? Are you aware that there are millions of arachnid spiders living on the surface of your skin, choosing their mates, raising children, and battling for territory? Is this not a form of intelligence? In the saline of your eyes there are thousands of living creatures (protozoan organisms). These organisms are living, thinking creatures! Perhaps not as intelligent as you or I, but nonetheless they are intelligent! In each eyelash you have worm-type creatures that eat, spawn children, live and die with others of its kind in this space.

You are a living universe within yourself: you are not a singular being, but a complete multi-universe within yourself!

…

Read the rest at A Fun Look at a Complete Multi-Universe within You

More ancient cultures had spiritual people akin to shamans or medicine men.  Shamans people became aware of the collective consciousness.  In that collective, different cultures pool into different “areas” of the Gaia mind (think different areas in the library also known as the Akashic records.)  So they labeled these different areas, with their own unique “personalities” as individuals and gave them names (a very human way of interpreting this psychic information.)  And since they were “greater” than man, they were labeled “gods.”

Then later in human history, greater masters come along… masters with a greater connection to the Force like Buddha, Jesus and Milarepa.  The masters become aware of the greater and greater grids of conscoiusness… the solar grid… the galactic grid… and eventually the universal grid.  One collective of consciousness… one universe/one God… hence monotheism.

A modern example might be if we were escorted on board a UFO or a spaceship from 1,000 years in the future.  What would it do to our minds?  How much could we see?  How much could we understand?

The same may be said of Google wave (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave or http://wave.google.com).  People who don’t seek out new technology or train their minds to see the possibilities may have missed the significance.  I like technology because only technology has the power to change our future for the better.  Segueway to SuperFreakonomics…

I have two other recent favorites of mind for thinking about things in different ways and expanding one’s mind to the possibilities.  The first is “SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bomber’s Should Buy Life Insurance” by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.  (see http://www.amazon.com/SuperFreakonomics-Cooling-Patriotic-Prostitutes-Insurance/dp/0060889578 )  I like the application of economic principals to areas outside of money.  This application is often called micro-economics.  The results can be unexpected and cause us to expand our thoughts beyond the traditional.  {Hint: see the chapter on global warming/cooling in SuperFreakonomics.}

The blogosphere has been so in an uproar over their conclusions that Levitt had to defend them in the NY Times: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/the-superfreakonomics-global-warming-fact-quiz/

The second new favorite of mind for expanding thought is latest offering from Malcolm Gladwell “What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures” (see http://www.amazon.com/What-Dog-Saw-Other-Adventures/dp/0316075841 )

This is a sampling of previously published material that is also available online (see http://kottke.org/09/09/new-gladwell-book-what-the-dog-saw ).  Here a few of my favorites:

Blowing Up – How Nassim Taleb turned the inevitability of disaster into an investment strategy. (Apr 22, 2002)

…

John Rock’s Error – What the inventor of the birth control pill didn’t know about women’s health. (Mar 13, 2000)

What the Dog Saw – Cesar Millan and the movements of mastery. (May 22, 2006)

…

 Humans are the (current) result of billions of years of evolution.  The first organisms only had single cells.  Then evolution added multi-celled organism.  Cells inside a multi-celled organism began to specialize.  Evolution caused organs to develop.  Different species emerged.

The human brain is made of 3-layers.  The base is the reptilian brain.  Then a mammalian brain evolved to cover the reptilian brain and increase the complexity of the species.  And next a neo-cortex evolved to cover both.  More complexity.

Now technology is effectively increasing communication between humans.  Writing evolved to store and transmit ideas, the same way our brains evolved to store and transmit data.  The printing press then allowed greater and faster dissemination of information.  In just over a century and a half we have added the telegraph, telephone, cell phone and internet.  Greater leaps in the evolution of thought are now possible because technology now allows greater spread of information.

Some people think humans are a virus on the planet and they are destroying the planet.  They want to reduce the population of the planet and return to a farming society.  They seek stagnation for the human race.  I say stagnation is a form of death.  The force that opposes God seeks stagnation and death.  Those of us that seek to serve the desire of the One need to seek evolution and growth.

Population pressure will lead humanity to move off the Earth into space and to create cities under the sea.  These are good things.  Life seeks to seed the solar system and beyond, to create something new, to create a third.  Mars + humans yield a third.

Of course humanity needs to overcome problems like pollution of the environment.  But it is the pollution and backlash against it that causes the impetus for change. 

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

-Mohandas Gandhi

As a final note, I want to say that spiritual people that seek to change the world can’t use spiritual tools developed thousands of years ago.  The consciousness of man has evolved and the tools we use to create higher consciousness need to evolve too.  Find and use the latest and greatest tools.  A well trained meditator with the latest tools can learn to meditate in the largest city in the world… or a war zone.  Can you?

Inducing Consciousness means to make yourself more conscious or aware.

Want to try it? It takes about 2 minutes to experience.

Inducing Consciousness by Mental Transition

1. Have a seat somewhere and sit upright.

2. Relax your shoulders and wherever else there is tension. Take in a deep breath.

3. Now this part is important. For 1 minute, focus on only how your body feels. For example, how your clothes feel on your skin.

4. Notice that as long as you are paying attention to how you feel, your mind stays quiet. ….interesting!

5. Listen to the sounds from your environment. Were you aware of those before?

6. This is what Inducing Consciousness feels like. You are now more Conscious! You also have limited mind chatter – Great!

7. You learned a great skill! If you ever get too wrapped up in your thoughts, remember to focus on how the body feels and you can always go back to this aware place.

Here’s another quick way to Induce Consciousness

Inducing Consciousness by Breathing

1. Sit upright and relax.

2. Take in a deep breath.

3. Making a small opening with your lips, push the breath out slowly and completely, using a little force.

4. Do this 3 times.

5. Yeah! That new energy you feel is due to an increase of oxygen. Your mind feels sharper.

“Consciousness is the living awareness or spirit inside, whereas thinking is what the brain does to function.”

More on Inducing Consciousness

These examples are really only the tip of the iceberg. GREATER LEVELS of consciousness are achieved by:

*Steady practice of inducing consciousness, through Meditation or Mindfulness.

*You must be aware of the part of you that ‘Reaches Out’ and Feels. Practice this.

*Visualize energy accumulate inside you as you literally build your conscious spirit.

Inducing Consciousness on a regular basis in meditation is, I think, the best way to achieve these greater levels of consciousness.

But when we talk about Inducing Consciousness, what are we really talking about? It’s Awareness! It’s being AWARE of more – which means being more ALIVE!

What tools are you actually using to be aware? I believe the Sixth Sense plays an important role; that part of you that reaches out and FEELS your surroundings, yes that is the Sixth Sense. After all, you’re not using your basic 5 senses to do it, right?

There’s a ton of Free Material on Inducing Consciousness on the “Free Audio” page on this site: http://www.hbidynamics.com

If you’re curious about what levels of consciousness are actually possible, practice often and be patient; this isn’t fast-food. Building true consciousness is a process of steadily accumulating energy.

Higher Balance Institute is the world leader in advanced programs for spiritual growth and development of the psychic sense. It is the most comprehensive and unique program of its kind. Designed to produce direct, real personal paranormal experiences to learn from. Our mission is simple – to awaken the world one mind at a time. For more information and free eBooks visit us at http://www.higherbalance.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Daves

Whether it’s a monetary or spiritual pursuit, there is little doubt the art of Manifesting through intention works. But is it intention alone? Have you wondered why some people just have far better results than others? Read further to discover the reason why that’s true.

Chances are you are familiar with many approaches to manifestation or the laws of attracting what you want into your life. Let’s face it, many of these methods teach much of the same thing, through different angles.

…

            There is a driving need for us to connect and discover spiritual knowledge that goes way beyond just and interest or curiosity.  This need is our Navigator struggling to find a way to help us awaken to our higher consciousness.  It is the survival instinct of our higher consciousness.

            This process is difficult because we cannot understand the meaning of the message from our higher consciousness with normal human thinking.  The way the brain thinks is too structured and the knowledge of our higher consciousness is without constructs!

            At this stage, we receive bits of information and the Navigator helps us find tools and knowledge that we add to our brain to help it develop and interpret the message of our higher consciousness, which will really lead to awakening.  This is the purpose of the Navigator and what it is really trying to do.  It is trying to find the knowledge, the tools, the equipment or the wiring for what we are building!  We are building a receiver to download our higher consciousness into our current consciousness.

 - page 29.  “The Handbook of the Navigator“, Eric J. Pepin

A brilliant succinct way to describe our spritual searching.  But is is only when you can find what you are looking for and build enough wiring into your brain, that you realize how perfectly true the above state is.

Did I mention that you provide your email address to the above web page and recieve a link to download the entire Hanbook, all ten chapters (in PDF format) for free.

From “The Handbook of the Navigator“, page 21.

This is the problem with your intellect, it allows you to understand but it causes you to question.  It causes you to doubt the very instinct inside of you.  Many times you cannot even tell if the strange … [experience] is real or just a figment of your imagination…

- Eric J. Pepin

People who live too much in their heads can have a very difficult beginning to their spiritual journeys.  But with perseverance and a willingness to change, intelligence can become a powerful advantage instead of a disadvantage.

On Faith

Faith is not required to embark on a spiritual journey.  Only an open mind and a will to put forth effort.

“Effort is the universal currency.”

- Eric J. Pepin

Spiritual people of all types work on things like meditation, consciousness, and energy. But no other spiritual schools are telling their students to hunt ghosts. I don’t know why that is but I do know we should hunt ghosts. The answer is relatively straight forward and simple. If you want to change how you think about death, seeing (and maybe interacting) with someone after they die would probably convince you that there is life after death. It is a very freeing thing to realize that you are not your body. You are an energy being wearing a physical body like clothes in this dimension.

Another positive factor about ghost hunting is that you need to do it in the dark and usually in places that could be described as “creepy.” This can lead to a certain amount the fear. The advantage to having a controllable amount of fear is that it amplifies your sixth sense. A hardwired response that probably was installed in primitive man to help with the survival of the species. Amplifying your sixth sense can help you find anomalies and determine what they actually are.

And finally ghost hunting takes some determination (just like meditation). You may have to visit a hundred so-called haunted sites to find one actual ghost. So good luck and happy hunting! I know this will boost your spirituality.