Social networks and other web-based technologies furnish us with powerful metaphors for understanding the evolution of human consciousness, according to several innovative scientists and philosophers I've spoken with. As they see it, we're advancing as a species toward the point where it will be possible for our minds to join together to create a kind of universal intelligence. Read more
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow is an appealing and evocative one. He believes that what makes life genuinely satisfying are those experiences in which we're fully absorbed in what we're doing. During these "flow" states, he says, our body, mind, and consciousness become ordered and harmoniously directed, feelings of indecision and anxiety disappear, and self-consciousness falls away. Read more
California's Gap Fire took top priority among several hundred wild fires burning across California over the July 4th weekend. The fire, which burned in the mountains to the west of Santa Barbara, scorched some 10,000 acres and cost more than $10 million. These images capture something of the awesome force of the blaze on its third day as powerful "sundowner" winds forced the flames down the mountains and spewed thick smoke and ash into the skies above Santa Barbara. View the photoessay
It's a sad fact that while most of us spend a sizeable part of our lives communicating with others, we seem more separate and disconnected than ever. We speak at each other, or past each other. We speak different conceptual languages, hold different values, embody different ways of seeing the world. In these times of accelerating change and deepening uncertainty we need to get smart about how to talk to one another. We need to be able to overcome differences, find common ground, create meaning and purpose, and set directions together. We need to be able to think together as groups, as teams, as committees, as communities, and as citizens. To do that we need to learn the art of dialogue. Read more
I Madonnari was the name given to street painters in 16th- and 17th-century Italy, itinerant artists who traveled from town to town and city to city rendering images of the Madonna on sidewalks and in public squares. Today, the tradition of street painting lives on in cities across Europe and in a growing number of communities in North America. This year marked the 21st anniversary of the I Madonnari Festival in Santa Barbara, California. When it started in 1987, it was the only event of its kind in the United States. Today, the event typically draws 25,000 visitors and renowned artists from across the country. View photoessay
We carry within us an almost unlimited power to learn, develop, expand and evolve. Yet most of us use only a tiny fraction of our native abilities. Michael Murphy has devoted the better part of five decades charting our human potentialities. He co-founded the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, in the early 1960s and has authored many books, including The Future of the Body — an exhaustive study of what he calls “metanormal capacities,” such as extra-sensory perception, superabundant vitality, extraordinary movement abilities, and universal love, which he believes are accessible to all of us. I asked him about some of the practical ways we can remove the blocks that stand in the way of achieving more, remembering more, and drawing on more of our inner resources. Read the interview
Copyright 2008 by Scott London. All rights reserved