WHO’S DRIVING WHOM?

“Thoughts, ideas, beliefs are not real. “What Is” requires Being, not thinking.”

Unhappiness cannot occur in the Now. We can start there, Now every Moment.

Start your engines! Google driverless cars are so next decade.

The feds were characteristically slow to respond to drone innovation and their proliferation among the hobbyists as well as entrepreneurs. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, is contemplating the regulation of computer connected vehicles on the road in the not too distant future, so as not to repeat an insufficient response from Washington. Carving out enough bandwidth to feed these vehicles sufficiently is a challenge given us, because we are so ’tech’ with all our accouterments. Also, not to mention the necessary laws and administrative codes to address pilotless car and the liabilities and conformance issues of meeting a single Federal standard, have challenged Anthony Foxx from emptying the driver’s seat too soon.

Are we really that close to our highways becoming more algorithmic? Yes. “Look Ma, no hands” may be coming next year with GM rolling out cars with Artificial Intelligence.

But wait. What about those Google Lexus’ that had accidents? Google googled that ‘those’ reported accidents had no injuries, light damage, and had not faulted responsibility to the dronish chauffeur. More responsible for the accidents was the irrational behaviors of humans who are making things less predictable and causing algorithms to crash (but not the vehicles). The glaringly obvious is that human behavior is often off the charts and commonly irrational.

Good news, with AI vehicles, we can now text like madmen. That is, until we see an ‘old school’ driver. The most common accident at this point is getting rear-ended by a licensed human driver.

Currently, autonomous drivers are scoring 10,000 miles weekly in California in the vicinity of the Google garage in Mountain View. Will Uber have driverless cars pick us up? Who would we tip?

Trust and more information appear to be big factors in releasing our guard and driver’s seatbelt. It may be the next generation’s ‘like’ that will mainstream this nascent trend. Now, many Millennials are eschewing car ownership. Maybe when their student debt is paid up they will buy one of these new-fangled person-less vehicles.

In the mean time, who is driving us and how is the quality of the driving?

The driving of the ego is fast and hard. It is the driver of most of us most of the time. And, funny enough, when we are actually driving a motor vehicle, what comes out? Our latenencies, and our not so hidden selves that get teased out by situational driving. The road course is ego-dominated from start to finish line for some of us, more so, than if we were not in the driver’s seat. And, there is no debate, when driving, the mind is absolutely necessary. It is not advisable to let go of the mind when steering and accelerating a vehicle.

Driving a vehicle can exacerbate separateness. We now not only have a separate body, but also a “Body By Fisher” (if it is a GM vehicle). With a car we distinguish ourselves further because we can be more aggressive, faster, cooler, and employ the mind and it’s rules, structures, and righteousness. Driving is a real spiritual test due to traveling in the fast lane of the mind and it’s minefield of painful ess curves. A vehicle in our hands exaggerates our movements and intentions. We easily overstate ourselves with this potentially dangerous instrument. For the above reasons, a little more mindfulness and ethical dharmic practices can go a long way in seeing a road with more ‘flow’. Driving is a good self-diagnostic tool for checking ourselves for blindspots.

Of course the bigger question is, who is driving us in terms of the type of energy we are sourcing on a moment-by-moment basis?

Of course it has got to be me!? But is it the little self or the big Self? Who has the keys? The Self is no one no where. And the self that we think is there? If the self is there, then where is the self now? We can’t find it because it is never really there. That self is an illusion and a construct. So who is driving? Looks like ’nobody’. Are we driverless?

The ineffable cannot be seen or heard. It has the product of enabling the eyes to see and it’s Presence to be heard in the Silence. Expression of Self through the utility of the mind is intentional but not a transfer of Consciousness to a lesser vehicle.

The hi-jacking of Consciousness occurs when our eternal connection with the Universe is deluded and diluted by the parade of vehicles that glitz our attachment to the temporary rather than the substance of the sublime. This may be inured by countless hours of worshipping the idolatry of the transient.

The higher Consciousness in all of us, is by It’s nature, moving towards Self-recognition in the highway to Being. This Is the stream that just Is and who we Are without trying. At the the level of the mind, it becomes a choice, only because it is at the level of the mind. When we are going back and forth between the lanes of who we think we are and who we really are, we make a choice. Making a choice is choosing when there is no need to choose. We just Are. The appearance of the other lane is really an illusion, a transient illusion.

In the run-up to Being, we ‘think’ we need to make a choice and then we make the choice. It is a skillful and adept choice. And it is a superfluous choice at the same time. “What Is” is always quietly in the background, allowing even the right to choose even when that ‘right’ is not necessary. But it is this movement that will allow more efficient travel on the superhighway of life.

Choosing a driver is far more advanced than staying in the traffic jam of life.
When we see we have a choice, it is the beginning of the end of traveling with the wrong crowd. GPS-type guidance that is flawless, is now available to make our journey easier with less driver fatigue because the driver is virtual and tireless.

“Who is driving us”, is a question that needs asking and answering every moment until the shift occurs where there is only one stream or lane we know we can Be. Until we see that driverless vehicles in the construction zone of life are a firm Reality, the limited utility of the mind and it’s pretenses will push us into the slower lane of travel.

“What Is”, is sufficient. When we believe we are insufficient we choose the insufficient model or vehicle. And it is a model, a construct, an aberration we put in as content. It is false content in that it blocks Being flowing effortlessly and timelessly. Even belief systems are constructs that impede seeing the signature space of the Universe. The autobahn demands only safe driving with no speed limits. The limits to travel are always imposed upon us by us. With no need for control, the drive is naturally effortless and pleasurable.

Have a safe trip.

This Iz Daddy’O