History is replete with the ideas of Virtual Reality being a part of spiritual growth. We have seen how the followers of Lord Shiva and the Mediterranean God, Dionysius, created hallucinatory experiences for themselves, so that they could learn through expansive 'imagery' about all the mysteries of the Universe. They were, in effect, training their minds to accept that their own powers could increase exponentially, if they so willed it!
Joseph Campbell, in his book, The Day of the Dead puts it succinctly:
"There was a metal bowl associated with the initiation, which has been mathematically reconstructed. The concavity of the bowl was such that a young man looking in expecting to see his own face, would see instead the face of an old man, or the mask of an old man, held up by the candidate. The shock of realization, the death and old age within youth, represents the opening of the mind to a logic dimension of his own existence. Not becoming fixed to this particular moment of life, the initiate is awakened to the whole course of life. Out of that there will be associated restructurings as to the sense of it all. This kind of shock would not be experienced if the young man had been told by a friend who had gone through the mystery. That is why it was regarded as criminal to betray anything of the mysteries. Now, if things like this were also associated with a slight hallucinogenic situation in the mind, you can imagine what kind of illumination would come through."
Aldous full-sense fantasies, which seemed prophetic, and unbelievable at that time, now verge on reality, which can be explored through the Computer interface. All interfaces are now moving towards a virtual reality of personal information systems, which are very closely tuned to the cognitive, perceptual and personal characteristics of the individual user. Thus, each step of virtual reality reflects what the individual wishes it to, thus his quirks and preferences give his reality a little chunk of his own personality!
{{/usCountry}}Aldous full-sense fantasies, which seemed prophetic, and unbelievable at that time, now verge on reality, which can be explored through the Computer interface. All interfaces are now moving towards a virtual reality of personal information systems, which are very closely tuned to the cognitive, perceptual and personal characteristics of the individual user. Thus, each step of virtual reality reflects what the individual wishes it to, thus his quirks and preferences give his reality a little chunk of his own personality!
{{/usCountry}}In fact the builders of these artificial personality interfaces, are converging in thought with entertainment vendors of cyberspace fantasies, (read video games), to reproduce what could loosely be named 'responsive environments'.
Once scientists have mastered this particular objective, then the next obvious step is to become Creators of our own destinies, through projecting into our lives, the kind of reality we feel we deserve to live in!
And as our powers increase in this direction, we become closer and closer to the Adam Kadmon, the first perfect human to inhabit the Earth! The historical connection between fun and drama, and ecstatic exploration of cyberspace, is definitely older than any modern scientist would imagine it to be. The future of cyberspace, as a tool of spiritual evolvement, into the higher dimensions of Creation, is decodable only by those who attempt to understand its history!
Next week we shall delve into the historical perspective of spiritual growth through Virtual Reality techniques!