{"id":2804,"date":"2019-12-19T23:21:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T22:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/?p=2804"},"modified":"2020-11-08T20:04:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T19:04:34","slug":"chapter-five-oh-my-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/?p=2804","title":{"rendered":"Chapter five: Oh my God!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here follows an excerpt from a coming novel with the working title \u201cCommon man\u201d, which is a novel about a journalist who sets out to come up with an alternative form of world governance. The novel is a product of imagestreaming, a technique of invention and creativity developed in the 80s by Dr. Win Wenger. For more information about imagestreaming, and about other imagestreamed novels and stories, visit this link<\/a>. If you\u2019d like to be kept up to date as new chapters get published, sign up using the form in the right-hand column. More chapters are here<\/a><\/em> in reverse order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will have understood by now that I normally start an imagestream by formulating the quest and then closing my eyes and dictating what I \u201csee\u201d into the tape recorder. I have had the habit earlier of imagining a lift that will take me to my destination. Recently, however, the technique evolved of its own where before I get to a lift I get met by someone. It is often, but not always, the facilitator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes there are clues already in the terminus or\nstation that leave an impression on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having wrestled with the Dunbar number and done loads\nof looking up what \u201cFederative\u201d means I was looking forward to making one small\nstep towards greater clarity. I needed it because whilst I had read a lot and\ndownloaded a few academic papers I could not equate how they meant \u201cFederative\u201d\nin my imagestream with the information I found on the internet. Because of this\nI cannot really put anything down in writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I put the tape recorder on. I found myself back at the\nterminus, looking up at the glass roof and started thinking if it was constructed\non the principles of Bucky balls when I heard a voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou think too much.\u201d It was the facilitator. Not\ndressed in a suit but a red lumber shirt with braces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, I am taking it all in,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to analyse it too, you know,\u201d he replied,\nhis hands in his braces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sense he is in some kind of mood and I tell him as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNooooo, not really,\u201d he says unconvincingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He turns and walks away, I follow after. The terminus is the most crowded I have ever seen it. I see him through the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stops and looks back at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is someone I\u2019d like you to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nintroduces me to a figure with long white hair and a long white beard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The person\nsmiles at me puts out his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHi, I\u2019m\nGod!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find it\nfunny on many levels. And fun. I am beaming back him. Speechless, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facilitator\nis smiling and chuckling. God is looking on with amusement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou really\nneed to lighten up,\u201d the facilitator says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God nods in\nagreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you \u2013 that\u2019s good advice!\u201d I manage to say.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God looks at me and starts to explain that the whole commons approach I have been learning about is very much spiritual. It has a spiritual vein to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nreligions in their beginning had a relationship to the Earth which has been\nlost over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God explained\nthat he was happy that I was reviving the spiritual side of the relationship\nwith the Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started to sink in. The life force is within us, and that force is in all living things. That makes humans part of everything else. We have for so long seen ourselves as apart from nature. As we reach limits of what we can extract and emit we come to realise that we have always been a part of the universe and it a part of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not\nan idea – it is a feeling. It can\u2019t be understood in our head but felt in our\nheart. The Earth is a gift, this life is a gift and we can appreciate that. From\nthat appreciation we can construct a governance system and way of stewarding\nthe planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A heavy\ntiredness came over me, so I stopped the tape recorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that it was God and at the same time it\nwasn\u2019t God who spoke to me. It was more symbolic, and very amusing to see it\ndressed up in the long white hair and beard. I\u2019m not mad. On the edge of madness\nmaybe, but not mad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here follows an excerpt from a coming novel with the working title \u201cCommon man\u201d, which is a novel about a journalist who sets out to come up with an alternative form of world governance. The novel is a product of imagestreaming, a technique of invention and creativity developed in the 80s by Dr. Win Wenger. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Common Man novel, Chapter five: Oh my God! The author meets someone who calls himself God and explains the spiritual side of the commons\n","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[76,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-common-man-book","category-envisioning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2804"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2809,"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2804\/revisions\/2809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avbp.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}