Life does not stay the same and changes in an expential way. What we had to deal with growing up was 10 times greater than our parents and our kids are facing things that are changing a hundred times faster. It is the nature of existence to change. If we do not change with it we become irrelevant. I can bury my head in the sand and refuse to admit the change or try and keep up.
When I was in college I took a Basic computer programing class. It was the first time North Texas University had even offered such a course. It was a beginning class and the language was called Basic. A Basic program that would add two and two required a dozen punch cards. These cards would be typed by hand on a punch card machine and delivered to the computer center. It was the time before personal computers and there was only one computer on campus. During the day the computer was used by the math and science departments; they would run the student programs at night. The next day I would get the results. Unless it was perfect the first time, I would get a printed page of error messages. I would then have to correct the errors by punching new cards, submitting them again and waiting 24 hours. My program to add two plus two took me a week using this arcane procedure. That method exists only in the dark ages of technology today.
However, there is one thing I learned that is still part of computer programing even today. It involves how the computer makes a decision. It is called the "If then else loop". Simply put, when the computer encounters a fork in the programing road it relies on the "if then else loop".
If a programer wants the computer to find a specific sequence out of a group of data the programer instructs the computer to look at the information presented. "IF" it is the information wanted "THEN" that information is used in a specific way. If it is not the information wanted, "THEN" it proceeds to "ELSE" which is another direction to repeat looking or perform some other function. It becomes complex when "if then else loops" are imbedded within other "if then else loops". Like a sail boat sailing into the wind, the imbedded "if then else loops" keep changing the direction of the function in a zig zag path to the final result. There is an interesting lesson to this type of decision making that humans can learn from.
When a human brain wants to make a decision the path is usually not so clear. Instead of the "If Then Else" loop, humans tend to go with a "What if" loop. At the juncture of a decision the human brain tends to analyze what "Might" happen "IF" the path is taken. What if it doesn't work out? What if I don't have all the information? What if I take the wrong path? What if... What if. There is a never ending list of "what if" possibilities standing in the way of most human decisions. As the human imagination comes into play the "what if" list can stop the decision cold because there are too many options to consider.
The process gets complex when the human brain embeds "What If" loops within "what if loops". For example, "What if this job goes well and they want me to move. What if this new place is somewhere that I don't want to live." "What if I lose my job before this loan is paid back, what if I go broke and have to live in the street." The truth is 99.9% of the "what if" possibilities a human might consider will never, ever happen.
The advantage a computer has over a human brain is the ability to deal with a single decision only when it is presented and use only the data it is given. The computer doesn't make a decision based upon all the things that might happen. The computer only looks at the information presented at the moment a decision is needed. When looking for a data sequence the computer doesn't think... What if the data is not even in this stack? What if I don't have the programing to use that information when I find it? Instead, the computer simply knows, If this is the condition "Then" proceed until instructed to perform some other function.
The truth is we are not individual finite brains trying to make our way through an infinite sea of possibilities. We are infinite Mind with an individual course through a sea of infinite expression. If we keep to that truth there are no wrong decisions. Like a computer, when we get to the fork in the road, the infinite programer will provide us the path. What if it is a zig zag course and we seem to be going the wrong way for a moment? The next decision will correct the course. Because we are programed by infinite Mind. We should never have to worry with "What If" thinking. In the realm of the one infinite Mind it is always "If then Else."
Computing power has come a long way since the days of IBM punch cards. The average smart phone has one hundred thousand times more power than they used to send Americans to the moon. The Cray Super Computer at NASA in 1969 filled two rooms and had only 80 megabytes of storage. Today the Facebook app on an iPhone requires 219 megabytes of storage. We rely on this instantaneous simulated intelligence almost every second of the day to make trillions of decisions on our behalf. Unfortunately we have not come very far in the use our spiritual infinite Mind intelligence which created this computing power to begin with.
Relying on the One Infinite Mind should be no more difficult than trusting our vacation to the GPS in our car. Step by step the GPS is processing a continuing set of "IF THEN ELSE" loops eventually getting us to the place we want to go. "IF" we make a wrong turn "THEN" the programing will tell us what to do next.
Infinite Mind can be relied upon as surely as electrons racing around a silicon chip. Mind also never crashes nor needs to be recharged and the upgrades are seamless and ever evolving. And like the computer we don't have to fully understand how it works to receive the guidance and benefits of infinite Mind. All we need to do is rely on the fact that it IS and let IT show us the path.
At the next moment of decision in your life don't waste time on imagining "what if". Rely on the GPS of infinite Mind. Know that you are programed by infinite intelligence and listen to that voice from the heart. Then...proceed knowing that it is the right moment to act. There is never a dead end to this guidance only the next path which will lead to the next when it is time. WHAT IF it was that easy? IF... THEN we should use that incredible resource at every moment of our lives.
As you were,
Jay
You've given us something to think about today, Jay. Wow. For us, the problem may be that the creative mind is a mind of "what if," with so many options.
ReplyDeleteI'll likely be back to reread that.
If then else. Hmmmm.