What if Albert Einstein had a computer in elementary school? What if Ghandi had followers on Twitter throughout the world? What if Mozart had Garage Band on his Mac? What if Confucius had a blog? Imagine Leonardo Da Vinci with Photoshop? Or Socrates with a talk show? These brilliantly influential people had amazing gifts and presence that permanently marked our Collective Consciousness without the use of today's technology. They were obviously extraordinary people.
On the flip side, what if Hitler had control of a television in every German home to push his; fear and blame the Jews campaign? What if the Salem Witch Trials were fueled by information obtained from Facebook or worse... Facebook friends? Evil people and clever liars still mesmerize the population attempting to feed our fears. Unfortunately, technology can serve collective fear as well and that takes us down a notch. Collective fear is like a living monster and the catalyst for much of the ugliness on our planet. Since every human contains a link to both Collective Consciousness and Collective Fear, it's important for us to recognize the difference, especially when technology supports it.
Now, the truly talented and even the flavor of the moment can arise from anywhere on the planet, if connected to networking technology and that can be a beautiful thing. This use of technology is elevating the best of the Collective Consciousness and supporting humanity's natural evolutionary desire to become united. Elevation of consciousness comes when we recognize truth, beauty, comedy, archetypes, inspiring stories, and commonality from connection with one another.
A recent lovely example of technology elevating the Collective was when we all saw Susan Boyle, the rather homely British woman, belt out a surprise breathtakingly beautiful tune from Les Miserables, "I Dreamed A Dream," lifting our hearts and bringing many of us (me) to tears. The statistics of how many millions watched on youtube vs. the tv show "Britain's Got Talent" are staggering and says a lot about the power of the internet, but what caught my attention is why this video struck such a chord with so many people, making it go viral. It was clear to me it was resonating with the Collective Consciousness, which is my main interest these days. And of course, there it was... the story of Cinderella aka Pygmalion and The Ugly Duckling.
Susan Boyle's story holds a common theme that appears in many similar stories told throughout the world and is deeply ingrained in the Collective Consciousness already. My personal hero with a thousand faces, Joseph Campbell, made his life about studying the phenomenon of these recurring myths throughout the world's humanity. The truth is we all love this story. Isn't it a deep desire in all of us to have our own beauty and talent be recognized at the perfect moment, for all to see? This common wish ties us all together and unites us in joy while witnessing Susan Boyle actually live the collective dream. And we could all feel the magic almost immediately thanks to today's technology.
Musical performances are a favorite on youtube and there are plenty of "rags to riches" stories resulting, (another favorite theme of the Collective Consciousness). The recent youtube discovery of singer Arnel Pineda, is a great example. A friend of Arnel's had placed some of his Journey Covers on youtube. In the meantime, Journey is scouring the earth trying to find someone to replace the deeply unique sound of their former lead singer, Steve Perry. They heard Arnel on youtube, and plucked him from his home in the Philippines to tour first class as Journey's new lead singer in 2008, changing his life forever and bringing back the sound of Journey we have in our Collective Memory.
It's a true statement that many things inspire me but probably the most powerful spark of those bright flashes of inspiration come from music, so in 2009 that makes my iPod one of my most cherished possessions. I know I'm not alone as I'm asked by two people just today to list 30 songs from my iPod shuffle list on Facebook. Music paved the way for me to embrace technology instead of fearing it. In fact I learned to use an Apple computer because of my Electronic Music class at De Anza College in the early 90s and that new love of technology opened many doors for me ever since. Music brings us together and resonates in our shared consciousness resulting in something impossible to put entirely into words, but you can really feel "it" at a concert when the artist plays the crowd's favorite songs. Technology has enhanced music and vice versa, making it more accessible to the collective. Everyone wants to participate. What else could explain the sale of so many copies of Guitar Hero, Rock Band and home karaoke machines? Who wouldn't want to be a musical star?
Which brings me to the biggest star of my lifetime, Michael Jackson, who was truly a musical genius. The whole world mourned his death despite some controversial events in his life. Watching his final performance in the documentary "This is it" last night and thinking about writing this post, I made the connection between his musical genius, technology and the Collective Consciousness. His innate understanding of all three was key to his popularity, authenticity and success. He had his hands in every part of his musical productions and had to understand all the technology completely to create each masterpiece. The music was only part of it. Lighting, engineering, pyrotechnics, M.J. choreography and all the technology implied by that, had to come together for him to sign off. After seeing the doc, I understood why it took so long for him to gather his strength to tour again. He was a true artist creating musical art for the entire world and for what would have been the most amazing concert of all time. He had a handle on the technology and knew how to reach directly into the Collective Consciousness and stay there. I hope people see the film if only for his remastered vision of "Earth Song", which deeply touched my heart, elevated my consciousness and will be with me forever now.
It was Michael Jackson that made me want to focus my inaugural post on technology and the Collective Consciousness on music technology, but certainly technology is serving it in many other areas making for truly exciting times.