As our species evolves into higher forms of consciousness are there ways technology can enhance and even evolve this process? Some social media scientists have gone as far to say “ambient awareness” is evolving us into beings constantly connected with one another in social cultures and tribes through Facebook and Twitter. This is a macrocosmic study, looking at larger societal factors, but what about the individual in the microcosmic universe? The self. Often in our qigong, tai chi, kung fu, or yoga practices we find ourselves in a community of practitioners and feel the connection with one another- the ambient awareness becomes direct. But what about the individual, the self, the microcosmic universe? At its most elemental form this is the solitary qigong practice or the private meditation.

Binaural Beats – Technology integration with individual meditation

Binaural Beats, sometimes called binaural tones, need stereo headphones with different frequencies coming in each ear. The effect is a “beat” created by the brain reacting to the different frequencies. This was first discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilheim Dove and through the course of the 20th century seekers discovered these binaural beats can induce relaxation and even altered states of consciousness. More can be learned from thewikipedia entry and at the binaural beat page at  Auditory Neuroscience.

Our course for Opening The Third Eye uses binaural beats to aid in relaxation and even astral projection.

There are also apps from places like I-doser where you can download various binaural beats, not to mention the wealth of CDs and podcasts out there. Whatever you do, make sure you are in a safe and calm environment, not driving or using heavy machinery. The quality of the headphones you use also make a huge difference. I was using $15 Skullcandy headphones, the kind that go inside your ear and then upgraded to the AKG Acoustics K-240 Semi Open Studio Headphones. What a huge difference. The headphones opened up a whole new layer of textures and dimensions in the music. It was like hearing in 3D. With Binaural beats the experience is so much richer and for lack of a better word…. trippier.

Finally, the inspiration and motivation for this post to share with DevelopYourEnergy.net readers. Spotify. If you’ve never heard about it, now you have, and if you’ve heard but not signed up, go there. Spotify is a European based music social network (notice the ambient awareness again) like Pandora or Last.fm. However, they’ve figured out the balance between advertising and the choice of music listening. Unlike Pandora or Last.fm you can select entire albums or individual songs, create playlists, and then listen to them over and over in the cloud. Once I figured out what was going on I thought, why would I buy music ever again on a cd or even an mp3?

The Binaural Beat & Guided Meditation Spotify Tip

Once I got past all the artists and genres I listen to and set up playlists on Spotify I experimented with a search “binaural beats”.  Whoa. There is a huge list of choices for binaural beats. All free. The paid versions of Spotify will drop all commercials but as some of these tracks are over 50 minutes and commercials are sprinkled in gracefully, I haven’t found them obnoxious. I’ve found some great binaural beats this way, particularly J.S. Epperson. A whole universe opened up to me.

And that concludes with the final tip. Search for “guided meditation” on Spotify. See where it takes you. Happy travels.

Technology does seem to be taking a role in all this doesn’t it?

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High Resolution Media – Podcast 19 – Jason Huvaere – Part 3

Scholars and activists, personally through Detroit City of Hope, have made me aware that what is transpiring right now in the world is more than a recession or something contrived like globalization. It is a transition and an evolution. As a species we are asking ourselves the simple question what it means to be human. Think about your 7th grade socials studies class when you learned about hunting and gathering, agriculture, and then industrialization. Right now we are in the transition into something new, something unknown. Right now we may call it “post” industrialization but intuition manifests that it may be something else. Detroit is a focal point of this “something else”. Detroit is offering alternatives.

The Zeitgeist Movement leads us up to this point. Right now it is two documentary movies. Some alternatives are offered for humanity’s future, especially The Venus Project, but the crux of the Zeitgeist Movement is to exmaine how the powers that be (whether subconsciously or intentionally) have controlled and corrupted our human evolution. Quite literally on the surface it looks to be money and power but it goes deeper than that…it is the control of how people relate to the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Make a point to look up at the sky.

With that said, if you are new to the twitterverse, be wary of anything that has this bird logo or any variation of its kind. People are trying to manipulate and package your thoughts and simple words into something else, even if it be only finding more followers. In some regards this is so lame, the mad dash for noise and static. Dial in and fine tune who you communicate with. Get intimate. And the number one rule-

Don’t do automatic replies- talk as a human and not with the mask of technology.

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I digress- the point of this post is deepindub.org. This is another netlabel which describes this movement in music right now.
According to Wikipedia a netlabel is-

A netlabel(also online label, web label or MP3 label)is a record label that distributes its music primarily through digital audio formats (mainly MP3 or Ogg Vorbis) over the Internet. While similar to traditional record labels in many respects, netlabels typically emphasize free distribution online, often under licenses that encourage works to be shared (e.g., Creative Commons licenses), and artists usually retain copyright. Most employ guerrilla marketingto promote their work; few netlabels earn money for participants.

Deepindub.org is my world right now. My ipod is maxed out. I have hours and hours of music to listen to. This is Basic Channel type stuff. Dubby future. Night time snow driving desolation to let go to. Big up to this crew from Italy. The world comes together in this transition.

I also love the lo fi computer animations. so random. so pure. so raw. so corny. so sexy. so punk.

One of the sites I use ZapReader for is Stratfor- Geopolitical Intelligence. According to their website:

Stratfor provides published intelligence and customized intelligence service for private individuals, global corporations, and divisions of the US and foreign governments around the world. Stratfor intelligence professionals routinely appear at conferences and as subject-matter experts in mainstream media.

They offer a free email of a sampling of their report which I signed up for. What is striking to me is the indepthness of the report. It shows how we are so misinformed, perhaps not even intentionally, as we absorb so much on websites, tv, and radio. There is so much information out there and we’ve been trained to go to one soundbite to the next.

In the first email that was sent to me it described the current conflict in Gaza:

The reaction from the Arab world has been mixed. On the one hand, a look at the so-called Arab street will reveal an angry scene of chanting protesters, burning flags and embassy attacks in protest of Israel’s actions. The principal Arab regimes, however, have either kept quiet or publicly condemned Hamas for the crisis — while privately often expressing their support for Israel’s bid to weaken the radical Palestinian group.

This lengthy article talks about the undercurrents of what is going on this conflict from a global perspective. It goes beyond Israel and Hamas, it is tied in with Egypt, Syria, and Saudia Arabia.  They connect the dots. Read up.

This past week I was speaking with a colleague in the accounting field. We both commented how there is so much information and news out there especially to us who have ditched the nostalgia of printed newspapers. Times are tough. Knowledge is power. Some resort to prescription pills to make them more clairvoyant, stay up longer and retain more. We’re junkies.

Here’s a speed reading drug for you. Absorb it all in. ZapReader. Hit on the reader, copy and paste  text in and select your desired words per minute from 100 all the way upto 500. The words flash one by one, one after the other. For lengthy articles I want to read I’ve started using this. I notice I take the information in differently, it’s almost like I’m using a different part of my brain for comprehension. Its more subliminal and seems to go deeper into my subconscious. I imagine news sites will be offering content in this format. How sweet would it be if sites heavy on text content had a little widget where this just popped up and you could read it as such. Or reading this way on your mobile device. It’s coming.

We’re junkies.

From the wordpress twitter feed comes oobject.com, a sample of wordpress being used as a content management system.

After looking at it I see it as a great digg-like resource for all things design. These folks have taste and are astute enought to appease our list and classifcation fetishes on the web.