What if we forgot everything?

What if you forgot everything?

Yes, you woke up this morning and it was all gone. I mean everything was forgotten. How would you feel and what would you think? You would not have anything to remember, no past and no future. In fact, you would not even have a sense of time.

If we forgot everything, how would we know anything had happened or was about to happen? So, we would have no sense of waiting for something to happen. Not even the awareness of how long it has been since we had the awareness to time. It is all gone.




What about your family, friends and love ones? What about your enemies and foes? They would all appear the same. With no memory, how would you know who was your friend or foe? In fact, when you looked in the mirror you might see a stranger? Perhaps you might think everyone was you.


What would it really be like to forget it all? If only for a moment, just for one moment and then returned to all the memories that define you.

Perhaps it would just be like it is now. We cannot remember what we have forgotten! All would appear normal and correct. We have forgotten everything and no longer remember who we were.

Steve Oliver
June 2011

What if everything was the same?

What if everything was the same?

You know like everything! What if every snow flake was identical to every other snow flake? What if each moment was the same as the last? Could that be possible? What would our world look and feel like if each moment was identical to the last and every future moment?

Is it possible that each snow flake is made of the exact same thing? Could each drop of water in the universe be made of the exact same stuff? No matter where or when we are in the universe, water would be made of the exact same stuff. Here is another one, what if every cell in our body was identical. There would only be one type of cell. So, the cells in our eyes are the same as the cells in our blood. Yikes how could that be?

Each cell would have to contain the exact same information as every other cell. Perhaps this could be true. But that would mean that any particular cell could be anything and for some reason that cell took on a specific responsibility in our body.

Ok, let's look at water again. What about water?  Well, is every drop of water really made of the same stuff everywhere and every time? Then the stuff that water is made of has to be the same thing as well!

So we could think of every drop of water in the universe being made of the same type of atoms. Then that would mean that each atom of water is made of the same stuff. I guess this line of thought could just keep going on and on.

I guess when the great thinkers and scientist say – “Everything is made of the same thing!” They really meant everything!  Then why do things look so different?

Dialling up Success and Happiness

Dialling up Success and Happiness

Is there a specific frequency or internal combination that determines our level of success and happiness? Why do some people seem to be happy and successful most of the time? Do they know the number or combination for personal happiness and success?

Can you recall the times when you were truly happy?  During those times of happiness did success come easy?  Did success make you happy? At other times, did failure make you feel sad?  Perhaps your un-happiness helped to determine your eventual failures...?  Yes, it does sound like the chicken or the egg dilemma. Which came first; your happiness or your success..?  Perhaps happiness and success are not really related.

So, could there be a specific combination of internal things that creates our happiness?  Is there a special “happiness” combination, a frequency or a feeling?  Do those happy people have a specific “feeling” that defines how to create happiness?  Could they be just “feeling” their way to success and happiness?

If we understood that “successful feeling” then we could just dial up that feeling whenever we wanted success and happiness.  Successful people are quoted as saying “They can create success!”.  Many self development books state that success comes from within.  Athletes often state that they can generate a winning “feeling”.

OK, so how can we get this winning feeling?  Are there specific rules and guidelines?  Or do we each have to discover our personal success combination?  If we do not have this ability to create success and happiness then how can we learn?  What would be the first step to achieving this ability?

So let’s start with becoming more aware of our selves. This sounds like a great place to begin the journey.  But there must be more...

Perhaps a quote from The Buddha teaching the Four Noble Truths, Sanskrit manuscript. Nālandā, Bihar, India.

Here are the first three translated for our North American ways :

1. Some times we get what we do not want and suffer
2. Some times we do not get what we want and suffer
3. Some times we get what we want then it goes away and we suffer

Steve Oliver

January 2011

Where is God?

Where is God?

Yes, I’m walking into dangerous territory. I am about step into the cosmic dodo. What the heck, let’s just go for the ride and enjoy this discussion. For a few minutes, let’s set aside our current point of view and look at the universe in a few different ways. Why do this? OK, it is just healthy and can be fun.

There are many religions, cultures, sects, ideologies and individuals that have opposing beliefs about where, if, who and how God exists. Let’s look at the famous Allen Watts description of the three most commonly held world views of God.

1. God as a maker of artefacts (the universe). A God who created the universe with “his” hands. Much like you would make a clay pot. This God is outside of the universe and manages everything from a location outside of our experience. “He” is out there or up there, “he” does not live in our universe.

2. God as the dreamer. This version of God creates the universe in “his” dream. There is no distinction or separation between anything. Everything is part of God’s Dream. This view might remind you of the movie The Matrix.

3. God as a living organism. In this view of the universe, everything just exists much like a single cell organism just exists. This Universe exists because it does. It is because it is. There is no understandable meaning that can define the “who or what” of this God. You cannot comprehend what you are immersed in. A fish may experience water the same way we experience the air we breathe. Normally we do not notice the air we breathe because we are immersed in air.



Yes it is a lot to digest. Could you see your version of God in these three generalized views? These three descriptions are not meant to replace a true study or research of religion. These generalizations are being presented here to provide a high level point of reference. Look at these three descriptions as models of how the universe works. We can then experiment with any specific observation in terms of these models. We could test out some observations of human behaviour in these models see if we can predict the result. A good model can simulate a process and suggest a result. For example scientists use models to predict the weather.

So, let’s test a few behaviours against these models and see what happens.

How would people, who believe in God as a Dreamer, view the birth and death cycle? Perhaps if you ascribe to God as the Dreamer, then reincarnation could be a real possibility in your world.

On the other hand, if you believed in God as an Organism, then perhaps a holistic life style would be highly valued. In your universe as a living organism, everything you do has a impact on everything else around you.

What if your God is a creator of Artefacts? How might this person behave or view the world if everything is “made” by God?

Can we predict how two people with different views of God would react to having same experience? Say, look at worldwide war and how two people discussing the impact of World War II might react to each other. The “God as a Dreamer” might tell the “God as a maker of Artefacts” person that in the “big picture” the impact of World War II has no meaning because it is just a dream.

So, where the heck is God? Well perhaps our personal definition of God is more useful knowledge then understanding where God is located.

That’s what I think, how about you?

Steve Oliver
June 2010

Do Our Feelings Lie?

Do our Feelings Lie?

Our day to day experiences can seem to generate fear, anxiety and other negative emotions.  We may even make some very important decisions based on how we emotionally “feel”.

Hold on now! Our emotional state of mind should be the direct result of what we are thinking.  The things in our lives and our actions do not by themselves have feelings.  So if we have positive thoughts about a thing or action we create a positive emotional state of mind.  That makes sense to me.

However, we do the opposite.  We believe that a strong negative emotion means that we are about to do something wrong, or that something “bad” is about to happen.  In this way, our emotions can miss lead us. The problem is that our emotions do not have any content.  Emotions are a state on mind and are not real.  In reality our emotions come and go based on how we are thinking.

Strong positive or negative emotions mean only one thing....
We are having positive or negative thoughts about the past, present or the future.  That’s all.

Making decisions based on how we emotionally “feel” may result in poor quality decisions.  Why?  Because how we think about the past, present and future is subjective.  Each person sees the world differently.  And our beliefs change over time.  What we believed to be bad yesterday could be perceived to be good today.  We can change the way we think about the world and this will change our emotional state of mind.

Our moment to moment emotion state are very important.  Our emotional state of mind gives us valuable feedback about our world.  Strong negative or positive emotions can help us understand what we are focused on or thinking about.  What we want or what we don’t want.

So, do emotions lie?  Well, perhaps they don’t lie because they can't.  However when we assign a meaning to our emotions we put the cart before the horse.  Perhaps our emotions do not have any actual meaning.   Perhaps our emotions are just a reaction to what we are thinking.

What do you think?
More later ...

Steve Oliver
May 2010