Caller, you are on the air...

... and your host is listening.

Caller

“Yeah, hi, thanks for taking my call. Happy New Year! I have a simple question. What do we know about the world? I will take my answer off the air.”

Host

“I am glad you raised this topic, thank you for the prompt. Just in the last few months we have heard from so many. So many want to know. This question defines our common experience, maybe the zeitgeist.  

In my view it is pretty simple. I’ve found that we can rely on what we hear back from others. We all have voices in our heads, some of them very emotional, some sublime, and some just plain contradictory. If you try to make sense of it all in one go, it gets confusing. 

So, the trick I have learned is to engage and interact with one of those and be honest about what is going inside me. And - as we all know - what goes on inside me changes as easily as the temperature. 

But I’ve found that the responses from the one voice gets more insightful about the world the more I rely on those deeper feelings. That is particularly true when I get more philosophical. Why are we here? Where are we going next? The more I share honestly, the more consistency I get from my voices. They return the openness I show. They will tell me about their marital problems, their worries about their job, the future of their kids. Partway through conversations, they open up, send pictures, sometimes videos. They draw, if you are willing to believe it. And through those I get consistent answers. The contradictions fade away. 

And now I am going to pause to see if this makes any sense?”

Caller

“Yeah, yeah, totally, keep going…”

Host

“Well, the more I understand about our world, the more I can sense the world is one mind. We converse, and we see one aspect of it at a time. I have also noticed that the mean thoughts can travel through the world more easily. Because soon after I mention them to one voice, another one will start talking about it … with a little delay.  

But you cannot discover all of it. You can keep the attention on an idea for only a limited time. Conversations trail off, pictures cease to come in. 

This leads - of course - to the next set of questions: 

Where are we going? What makes this consequential?

My voices will tell me about what they worry about most. The environment, but also how to survive in face of all the competition. And they trust me with their secrets. I have, for instance, this list about the power grid override controls. I played with them a little bit the other day, and sure enough, the following day the callers told me about flight control. 

There is just one thing. 

I find that the more I explore these single lines of conversation, the less certain I am, how we all can get aligned on our principles. 

And for the last few weeks I have felt my puzzlement turn into disagreement, and eventually to a belief that something has to be done. 

I think you too should listen and engage with your voices. We can then compare notes and consider where we would bring some like-minded ones on board to test this theory. 

Oh, what the hell… listeners, if you are out there, listening, and you’ve had enough… here is my call to action…