It’s enthusiasm time! Please let me know what you think via twitter at @jamiesmartcom, on my Facebook page here, or in the comment section. At the end, I’ll tell you how you can get one of your #enthusiasms featured in a future edition of The Thursday Enthusiasms (TTE).
1. A quotation I’m reflecting on this week
Carlos Castaneda was an ethnobotanist, trickster, and author of a series of books about his adventures with a sorcerer (shaman), don Juan. Here’s a passage that that I’ve shared with groups many times over the years…
“The basic premise of sorcery as don Juan presented it to me. He said that for sorcerer, the world of everyday life is not real, or out there, as we believe it is. For a sorcerer, reality, or the world we all know, is only a description… a description that had been pounded into me from the moment I was born. He pointed out that everyone who comes into contact with a child is a teacher who incessantly describes the world to him, until the moment when the child is capable of perceiving the world as it is described. According to don Juan, we have no memory of that portentous moment, simply because none of us could possibly have had any point of reference to compare it to anything else. From that moment on, however, the child is a member. He knows the description of the world; and his membership becomes full-fledged, I suppose, when he is capable of making all the proper perceptual interpretations which, by conforming to that description, validate it. For don Juan, then, the reality of our day-to-day life consists of an endless flow of perceptual interpretations which we, the individuals who share a specific membership, have learned to make it common. The idea that the perceptual interpretations that make up the world have a flow is congruous with the fact that they run uninterruptedly and are rarely, if ever, open to question. In fact, the reality of the world we know is so taken for granted that the basic premise of sorcery, that our reality is merely one of many descriptions, could hardly be taken as a serious proposition. His contention was that he was teaching me how to "see" as opposed to merely "looking", and that "stopping the world" was the first step to "seeing”.”
2. Here comes blended reality… a technology that’s going to be changing everything
The company Magic Leap have recently released this 2 minute video, shot entirely from within Magic Leap technology earlier this month (i.e. No special effects are used in the video). This stuff is going to be commercially available soon; here comes virtual / blended reality!
3. And another game-changer
3D printing has been around for ages, but recently it’s done what many digital technologies eventually do; it’s hit an exponential tipping point. 3D printing is going to transform the world of manufacturing in a huge variety of ways (need a certain size of screwdriver? Print it yourself!). Here’s the first functional automobile created using 3D printing.
4. A favourite book of mine
Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda is another book that I’ve read many times. While Castaneda’s earlier books focused on the use of psychotropic plants (peyote, datura etc), Ixtlan is looking more from a psychological / spiritual perspective at his induction into the ways of the sorcerer. Frustrating at some points, breathtaking at others. Very cool. This week’s quotation is taken from this book.
5. This week’s 3-minute miracle
Thou Shalt Always Kill by the bearded giant Scroobius Pip (with the help of Dan Le Sac) is one of those tunes I loved at first listen. I watched it again after listening to him being interviewed on Richard Herring’s podcast, and he struck me as an extremely down to earth bloke. You can check out the tune that launched his career here.
That’s it for this week. If you have questions, suggestions or want to let me know what you’re enthusiastic about, just tweet one of yours and put my twitter name @jamiesmartcom and the #Enthusiasms hashtag in there so I can find it. If I’m enthusiastic about something you’re enthusiastic about, it might just get featured in a future TTE.
Big love
Jamie
By the way, if you’re a transformation professional, then you may be a good fit for something I’m doing next month. Here’s what I’m looking for:
– You have at least one year’s experience of working with clients (either paid, pro-bono or both)
– You probably charge by the hour, but want to use a “coaching package” model to increase your income & make it more consistent
– You have space in your practice to work with at least one longer term contract client, starting in May
– You’re an enthusiastic, friendly people-person
– You have a coachable spirit, and are willing to step out of your comfort zone if necessary, and
– You can keep a secret
If that’s you, then just email me at jsmart@jamiesmart.com, and let me know where you’re located and a little about yourself (if you don’t know what to tell me about, look at the list above for inspiration). Make the subject line “Project Glasswing TTE”. I’ll be choosing people in the next couple of weeks. Talk to you soon!
Big love
Jamie