1) Libido's Casino: Searching For Love, Cosmic Order and Synchronicity In A Chaotic Random Universe

All futures are possible,
Some are just more probable.
There are no pathways limiting how
We choose to create our physical existence.
Our ability to become fully conscious is directly
Related to the unfolding and actualization of
Our fullest human potential.
Mark A. Schroll, 2004

Does chaos toss us about in a cosmic game of chance? Is randomness influencing the choices we make and the habits we acquire? Are we only tumbling like dice through space and time living by our wits, tools and techniques in an effort to create meaning and order in our lives? Possibly, or at least most of the time this is indeed the way in which events are put into play that determine how our lives unfold. Nevertheless, in the infinite mystery of our universe there are other things that sometimes show up quite unexpectedly in our lives, giving us pause to wonder. Turning us inward to the childing daydreams, hopes and visions of our hearts desire, that move us to ask what is my hearts desire?

Pay attention; stop daydreaming; get a grip on reality; make something of yourself; be practical; establish a baseline and structural understanding of how these tumbling dice operate. These are the prevailing views held by those of us that associate ourselves with EuroAmerican science. Instead of giving us pause to wonder about our hearts desire, this paradigmatic orientation chooses to focus on questions like, can we or can I influence the laws of chance in our/my favor? Our initial response to this question is it reflects a practical orientation toward obtaining a proficient ability to affect the outcome of random events in accordance with what we perceive is our best interest. Indeed this appears to reflect my view that "all futures are possible, some are just more probable. There are no pathways limiting how we choose to create our physical existence" (Schroll, 2004). But, as we will learn in a series of new blogs I am now writing, there are consequences and responsibilities that we inherit by obtaining this increased proficiency to influence the laws of chance.

Among the most extreme consequences is our tendency toward human arrogance, as this search to discover methods that are capable of affecting the outcome of future events can be understood historically as the quest of sorcery. Many aspects of sorcery or the shadow-side of alchemy became part of Western science, characterized by its search for methods to predict, manipulate and control the physical universe. Some (usually those of us that are practicing empiricists) might also argue that "it's not sorcery for one to attempt more control over ones destiny. If it is, perhaps sorcery is what this world needs. The problem would be if we believed and represented in our worldview that such control is absolute or immune to the laws of probability. We will further examine the downside of this view in a future blog.

It is not, therefore, that I am opposed to technology, obviously because I am using a computer to write these thoughts and am storing them in the virtual reality of the electro- matnetic webstream. Various kinds of technology make our lives easier, nevertheless the technologist agenda is self-serving and only in retrospect comes to terms with the consequences or unforeseen side-affects of technology. It is this self-centered or geo driven motivation to influence the laws of chance in our favor that manifests itself in the psychopathology known as "narcissism." My concern about the misuse of the methods to predict, manipulate and control the physical universe are illustrated in stories such as Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" and Goethe's tale of Dr. Johann Faust. Indeed Faust could very easily have uttered the statement that :perhaps sorcery is what this world needs." I can imagine Victor Frankenstein musing in a similar way as he sought to bring to life his creature from the limbs, organs, and other body parts dug from graves or stolen from the gallows. Whereas the creature exceeded Victor's understanding of shared humanity and suffering whose character orientation we can understand as a shaman archetype, likewise we might imagine Mephistopheles counseling Faust on the consequences of his lust for the "control over ones destiny." This need to be aware of the great responsibility that accompanies our ability to affect the outcome of the physical universe will be taken up in a future blog.

An alternative way of approaching our understanding of chance would be to ask this question: Do states of consciousness exist that give us the ability to align our awareness with the generative quantum energies that transform potential states int manifest reality? I would answer "yes" to this question. This is the idea of the "strange attractor" that I will talk more about in future blogs. If this thesis can be pr oven, it begs the further question: How do we create these states? Part of the problem associated with this question is how do we avoid the tendency toward sorcery and narcissism? One of the ways we avoid narcissism has been variously referred to as "living in the Tao," or "the flow of universal harmony and flux. This begs the additional question, what is going on in the lives of people when they experience so-called meaningful coincidences? This personality orientation sums up my previous aphorism that "our ability to become fully consciousness its directly related to the unfolding and actualization of our fullest human potential" (Schroll, 2004. We will take up a more thorough examination of his personality orientation in later blogs.

Reference

Schroll, Mark A. (February 15, 2004). "Dream Telepathy and the Shadow Consequences of a Science of Consciousness." Presented at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, William James Center for Research, as part of a conference sponsored by the Association for Transpersonal Psychology February 14-15, 2004, in Palo Alto, CA. A CD of this talk is available from http://www.conferencerecording.com.