Freedom From Anxiety - sign me up?

A recent worldwide WHO poll found that, as a species, we are suffering from uniquely high and chronic states of anxiety and depression. Tech has speeded up the pace of our lives drastically, and fixated our attention almost non-stop on tiny screens held in front of our eyes. Future shock has got us all in its grip. The cost of our chronic stress and anxiety is vast in terms of health, productivity, clear thinking and satisfying living - but thusfar the pharmas have come up with no successful drug treatment for the symptoms, let alone a cure. Even our blood pressure pills don't really serve us consciousness-wise - studies show they make people feel less alert, responsive, compassionate and 'here', not more.

We're so far into future shock that we think it's normal to go around tense and fried and mostly out of touch with the basic human feelings of curiosity, compassion, pleasure, vitality and contentment. The growing acceptance of marijuana for self-medication from stress and worry shows that at least something works - cannabis intake does reduce anxiety and depression without hardly any downsides except for an increase in belly-laugh frivolity and erogenous pleasure.

But for governments and religions and corporations that don't want citizens thinking and acting out of the box, cannabis also carries the supposed societal danger of setting people free to think and feel whatever they want - so don't be surprised if somebody like Apple or Google suddenly reveals a patented non-drug bioresonance treatment that gently zaps your amygdala and makes you feel just dandy ... but in the process seriously compromises any sense of independent cognition or spiritual evolution.

All four of my new novels deal with various aspects of this scenario. My hope is that this type of visionary communication will provoke media discussion of these themes. At this point it's not too late to just say no to the whole idea of becoming bio-robots in the name of emotional placidity. The beautiful thing about tech is that it's continually surprising us with neat new things that make us feel like our lives are getting better and better. The frightening thing about tech innovation is that we usually can't predict its overall impact on society and the human spirit until it's already had that impact.

We all seek relief from emotional and existential pain and suffering - but we also seek freedom and independent thinking and emotional responsiveness - after all, that's what true love and wisdom are all about.

Ever since I was a little kid in Ojai listening to Krishnamurti under the oak grove talking about free-flowing consciousness and responsible thinking, I've been a student of the mysterious universal human phenomenon of awareness. Really ... where do our thoughts come from - who's in charge here - and are there higher dimensions beyond physical reality (as most physicists now claim) that serve as a matrix for determining what we think and feel inside our personal awareness bubble?

What will happen to our species if we learn how to use tech to mess with consciousness itself? I remember in college observing the experiment where rats would literally push themselves to death in order to get more and more direct pleasure stimulation. At of course quite highly sophisticated levels, would we do the same?

I don't know the answers, but I'm definitely shouting out for deep engaged media and community discussion of the questions ... hopefully before we're overwhelmed with bioresonance technologies that offer us freedom from emotional suffering - at an unspecified cost. I'm not saying, "Don't do it!" But I am saying, "Heads up!" And also - "Total transparency is required, guys!"

Enough for now - I hope you'll read the books (almost free on Kindle) and get engaged with the emerging discussions.

Hambagash'le, John

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