Category: Journeys into Weirdness….

Have these trends not bothered anyone else?
Reliance on Artificial Intelligence? The fact that Siri, Alexa, computers, and cell phones control our lives? (We think they are doing us a favor! Hah! Are they grooming us for a takeover? Think “2001: A Space Oddysey” and HAL.)
The fact that grocery stores and restaurants (even McDs) have, for awhile now — PRE-virus — been marketing curbside pickup and phone-ahead grocery shopping? Why would this suddenly become a “thing”? And, gosh!! Now we seem to need it!!
Genetically modified seed (GMO), seed that (for the ostensible purpose of food safe from varmints, thus more productive) cannot reproduce itself like seed in nature is programmed to do? So, if the GMO seed is used up, how does new food grow? (I may need to do more research on this, but….)
Encouragement for people to work from home? This one has been in the works for a couple of decades now. But, lo and behold, we have been largely set up to be able to do that. “The cloud” lets us work from anywhere.
Home schooling? Also in the works for quite awhile. (Started off with “distance learning”.) Handy now, eh?
Attempts to get people to rely on mass transportation? Energy issues, crowding issues, etc. But now the people who rely on mass transportation — guess what?! — cannot use it for fear of contagion.
Jobs being divided up by countries? The far east gets to manufacture; the U.S. has the “service” jobs. Hmmmm…..
Discouragement of organized religion? Why? Why not allow people to share their faith in groups?
Reliance on computers for records? What happens if the computers go down? Or if someone takes total control of them?
Reliance on artificial “currency”? Again, if you cannot hold it in your hand, how can you prove you actually have it?
The agenda to remove good people’s ways to protect/defend themselves? Who does that benefit?
Availability of and reliance on pharmaceuticals? Again, who does this benefit?
Things to fear outside the home? Crime, riots, disasters, illnesses…..
Why? Who? To what end?

A number of years ago, I attended a meeting of a local metaphysical society in which the presenter of the month talked about extraterrestrial life and preparation for the future.

The speaker prefaced the talk with a quote from Arthur C. Clarke: “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” What an immense thing to ponder. The expanse which is our universe…what might exist beyond our universe…the magnitude of that realization!

In the current trying times, that presentation has returned to mind in a frightening way. Elements that were discussed included the entertainment media and preparation for events to come. The speaker alluded to films that featured space travel, UFOs, and the like. Essentially, the message was that events of the future were somehow foreshadowed by books and films to get us ready for the changes. Recent trends in movies (superheroes, galaxies, horror films, apocalypse films), if the speaker’s premise were true, signify a bleak outlook. Such movies tends to bother me tremendously, so I avoid most of them. And so I am not ready. Not ready for a dismal future. Not prepared for the nightmare of today.

The age-old question — does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? And even bigger questions — how did we get here, why are we here, and what is happening? Are we being taken over? If so, by whom or by what? We tend to humanize our visions of other beings. But there are a myriad life forms, and we can’t fathom them all. Per Wikipedia, “stromatolites or stromatoliths (from Greek στρῶμα strōma “layer, stratum” (GEN στρώματος strōmatos), and λίθος lithos “rock”) are layered mounds, columns, and sheet-like sedimentary rocks that were originally formed by the growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria, a single-celled photosynthesizing microbe”. A recent television program cited stromatolite found in reefs off Australia as the first form of life on our planet. Stromatolite is now basically sedimentary rock.

We are limited to the knowledge that is available to us. But we are learning and discovering additional information every day. Even as we begin to know the unknown, there is still the greater unknown.

I might not want to know…  Or I might want to hold my faith that, yes, there is something bigger; and, yes, it is a good something.  If movies can script our future, so can we ourselves.  So gather strength and faith and charge forward with positive thoughts, noble intent, love, kindness, and courage.  We need to shape a better world.   (And in the meantime, I may want to make friends with the chunk of stromatolite on my nightstand.)