Emerging from two separate illnesses in the last several weeks has reminded me of an important axiom of any healing crisis. The events that threaten our physical existence can offer us spiritual awakening. If we allow it they may awaken us out of the sleep of everyday consciousness. When we return from the Stygian depths of illness, perhaps with renewed vigor and focus, an opportunity is presented. To continue in the old way, along the same path. Or, to stop and drop within, listening to deeper parts of ourselves. The healing crisis says: hold on there, take a pause, wake up a little more as to why you are here. Not much physical time is left, your soul whispers to you. It is true you will return to a new life after death but the soul’s eternal challenge is always to regain what it once had before any leap to a new level. For most of us physical incarnation and spiritual development comprise of one step forward, two steps back. Everything counts, today, even though there will be more sunsets ahead.

The view out of my window is beautiful tonight, as a glorious sun once again sinks into the South China Sea. Tomorrow will be a brand new day. My prayer for all of us is that when the sun rises again we will awaken a little, just a fraction more, than yesterday. May we move ever forward, and less back.

I’ve been miserably sick with an ear infection for a week, along with feeling saddened by the recent events in nearby India. “Write about something that cheers you up.” Yui suggested, as I began to function well enough to fire up my brand-new Mac Book Pro. OK, then. How about: the arrival of the cruise ship “Diamond Princess” in Kota Kinabalu. . As I looked out of my condo window this morning, in she sailed. An ocean-going Star Trek-looking vessel, complete with an impressive bridge and engine pods. Basically a floating luxury hotel, big enough to hold 2,600 guests, four swimming pools, internet cafe, casino, and all the luxury extras. Only four years old and built in Japan, she weighs 113,000 tons and is 290 meters long. That’s a big four-year-old.

I’m not usually a cruise-lovin’ person, except for a small longing to sail up the Nile one springtime with my Asian wife, and see me some pyramids. But as the Princess sidled sexily up to the docks below my apartment complex I found myself pining for exotic lands far away.  And, later this evening when Yui and I returned home from dinner we drove past the Princess, lit up like a Christmas tree. Yui made fun of me checking out Little Miss Nautical Hottie with my binoculars before she sailed away into the night. Clearly, I was feeling better.

I wonder how much a cruise up the Nile would cost us?

It’s a fascinating idea. That human beings are inherently sensitive to future trends, and drop hints about what is coming our way through their everyday internet activity. What if you were smart enough to send out internet software spiders programed to harvest emergent memes, and then attempted to interpret the results from a global perspective? Would it be a techo crystal ball and allow you to look into the future? That’s the question being explored by Cliff High over at www.halfpasthuman.com, a brilliant experiment in tracking future trends through human casual conversation.

Cliff wryly notes that his intention in developing this software technology was originally to look for a way to predict stock market trends and make a little money. But he says he soon became entranced in the potential of how vast amounts of data could be organized into various meaningful domains or “entities”: areas of common interest which he labeled “Markets”, “Populace/USofA”, “GlobalPop”, “TPTB” (The Powers That Be) and even a mysterious segment of UFO/ET or space-based influences named the delightful “SpaceGoatFarts”. Awesome.

If you are curious about predictive linguistics you can find Cliff giving interviews on several internet radio shows this year, such as  Coast to Coast AM, and the latest Journeys with Rebecca (Nov 15, 2008). You can also subscribe to the ALTA reports on Cliff’s web site. What to take away from all of this? Probably it is time to really pay attention to what is barreling down on the US of A this Winter: a huge financial meltdown that will prove immune to President Obama’s charismatic smile.

Since my last blog entry the world has continued to change rapidly, leaving me feeling like a passenger on a small boat, tossed around by the waves of fate. I’m finally back in Borneo, after a long teaching trip to Japan. Concluding the fourth in the series of my Tokyo public seminars, Yui and I then made our way to Kyushu, the third-largest island, in the south of Japan. We enjoyed a hot spring spa writing retreat after which we headed to our final destination: Kyushu University, where as a visiting professor I taught a one-day course on relational therapy to undergraduates.

Returning to the world of news I was happy to see the oil price had dropped and was staying low, but less than happy to see gold slump into unexpected (and manipulated) lows. At least Iran has not yet been attacked, an outcome that may have been shifted into the next few months. I caught up on my reading about the so-called US financial bail-out (looks more like a bank heist, to my eyes) forced upon an unwilling American populace, an event then followed in rapid succession by the election of now President-Elect Obama. I am a little concerned at my own cynicism with Mr Obama, though. I guess after witnessing many of these political “changing of the guard” events in the past I’m less impressed by the rhetoric of change, more impressed by radical departure from the status quo. Thus far, Mr. Obama looks like political business as usual, albeit marketed to us with a likable and charismatic smile. Choosing Rahm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff sends quite a Zionist signal to the world. Anyhow, like most of us I’m just delighted that the Bush Administration is almost a part of history. They can’t do any more damage at this point, can they? Well, just don’t bet the farm on it.

But the main reason for a low incidence of recent blog entries, my traveling notwithstanding, has been the relocation of this web site to an Australian server, in anticipation of possible problems with the US internet backbone. Time will tell whether this is a prescient business move or just a waste of time, but at least my Australian and Asian readers will enjoy faster download times compared with my previous US-based server.  I’m grateful to Bradley Spencer, my WordPress consultant and SEO professional, for all his work in making the server transition go smoothly. So, now I’m back on board the Internet again plans are afoot for more web site articles, as well as a series of education audio programs teaching how to use energy healing for self transformation and relationship health.