An essential part of communication with others is a function of the ability to vocalize sounds, write symbols and use body language. If physical conditions altered radically, we would be forced to adopt new techniques to break the isolation. In such a case a broad imagination could create infinite possibilities if we are able to suspend our disbelief of what can change.

Imagine waking up in a completely underwater existence while all our recollections from living on land are conscious, and we fully remember breathing and speaking. There is no memory of how we got here, nor is an explanation given for the transformation, what it means, or how it could have happened. Then, the challenge is being left alone with others in the same conditions to figure out ways to communicate with each other. Where would you begin?

Redemption has always been the subject of great controversy. In Theology, it refers to the ability to recognize and overcome one’s weaknesses by finding a resolution using religious doctrine when faced with a moral dilemma created by personal choice.

Different religions associate a variety of meanings defining the path needed to achieve it. Catholicism for example entails receiving absolution from sin from an ordained hierarchy that maintains a philosophy equating redemption with eternal life, bestowed as a reward often involving personal sacrifice as a component.

In Buddhism, redemption is about surrendering attachments to desires in a larger sense, and in so doing rising above any temptation. Specifics are individual, and relates to the conditions of one’s evolution, and a reflection of the faith one has in the process. Relying on the guidance of those who have traveled a similar path, and who have faced the same struggles best affirms their course by example, having attained a degree of enlightenment. These are the teachers, and their help in the search is invaluable. However learning something from anyone qualifies them as your teacher, even if the lesson was unintentionally observed.  When this is realized, compassion for everyone develops because all have the capacity to teach, according to their experiences.

For redemption to have any meaning, compassion must saturate  awareness, allowing emotional turmoil to be  transformed  into solemnity as thoughts change from anger and retribution to understanding and forgiveness, otherwise anger will overwhelm and influence  any higher goals .

Forgiveness isn’t about letting someone elude judgement for their acts, but a recognition that cosmic justice will play its role in balancing the scales, as much as magnetic energy attracts or repels elements from each other. This is why so many people are against the death penalty.

One does not need to be present to see justice play out, as trust in the higher forces instills the knowledge of its inevitability allowing resentment towards someone for their actions to be released. It is also a lesson for everyone to realize that the same laws apply to all.

Redemption begins by accepting responsibility for thoughts and actions and acknowledging that the process begins by learning to forgive ourselves, then surrendering to redemption becomes part of the course of evolution and the awakening enlightenment of the soul.

When the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences honored Sophia Loren on May 4th, 2011 with a special night devoted to her life and career, it was the third recognition by the Academy of her talent and legend. It has been fifty years since her 1961 Oscar winning performance in Two Women and she continues to be an important figure in the golden age of both Hollywood and Italian Cinema.

As she approaches her seventy seventh birthday on September 20th, this was the perfect time to honor the actress once more, not with another statuette, none are necessary; her stature has gone beyond myth and legend. Sofia’s life has been nothing less then a fairy tale come true and celebrating it is not just about her beauty and talent, its also about the way she explains her views on life that elevates her to a philosopher. Her ideas are simple: live with passion, honesty, humility and a sense of humor.

Her first Oscar in 1961 was for Best Actress for a stunning performance in La Ciociara. The cinematic adaptation was directed by Victorio di Sica and based on the the book written by Alberto Moravia (1907 -1990). His novels explored social alienation, contemporary sexual values and existentialism. The production was filmed in Italian and subtitled in other languages. It centers on a woman in her early fifties who struggles to protect her daughter from the horrors of war. Sofia was twenty five at the time and lacked confidence she could portray a women twice her age, but di Sica  believed she could do it and convinced her to trust him and play Cesira, a middle aged woman with a teenage daughter.

Her experiences in Italy during World War ll and her relationship with di Sica who she described as a great teacher motivated her to try. “He gave me roles that were appropriate to my temperament  and brought things out I never knew I had. He would just look at me and I knew what he wanted.”

Her spellbinding portrayal in Two Women was hailed as one of best performances captured on film and established her as a dramatic actress with great authenticity. The brutality of war was never more clear then when both mother and daughter were raped by Mussolini’s soldiers. Its unfortunate that most copies of La Ciociara are so faded with a warped score, that the Academy would do well to restore the film and preserve it for future generations.

Her second Oscar was an honorary award bestowed to her by the Academy and presented by Gregory Peck in 1991 for being one of the treasures of world cinema. Not only were her Italian films  being honored but  her American pictures as well. Some of them featured many of Hollywood’s  most prominent leading men and directors.

Her philosophy shines not only in many of her roles, but also the interviews she has given over the years. They are incredibly witty and cover a wide range of subjects that reveal the simplicity of an old soul with much to teach.

In 1999 Sofia  was asked about aging. Her response was,  “ What can you do, time goes by for everyone, You are who you are,  and  you have to look the best you can , if you can, and then go on with life “

On love and  her relationship with Cary Grant, she said, “I was twenty two, and to see Cary Grant attracted to me the way he was, I fell a little bit for it, just a little, but it was worth it.”

When asked about her career, she responded, “ My career has been everything I was dreaming of and so much more, and probably much more then I deserved. i have no regrets about things I wished for but didn’t get, it would be a mortal sin, such a small thing, it would not be worth mentioning. My life has been like a fairy tale, really.”

The public has no misconceptions about Sofia because her candidness and  insights ring with clarity.  She has a rare gift  to convey her philosophy of life, reflecting what she has learned on her journey, both good and difficult. This is a legacy worth celebrating and a footnote in the life of one of the most fascinating women of the Twentieth Century.

Sophia Loren Quotes

The future is the summation of all the steps it will take to get there. The destination is the direction pursued to reach a goal that defines some kind of horizon beyond which nothing can be seen. Any further attempt to be more specific about its dimensions would distort the possibilities.

As the journey progresses, the horizon will change and always be just out of reach. Trying to jump ahead too quickly can disrupt the sequence and balance needed for stability as the movement towards the future proceeds.

Seeing a situation coming a few milliseconds before it happens helps when an insight is sought to make sense of what is approaching. Usually, it follows a pattern of behavior that suggests missed opportunities.

When a conscious choice is made to act differently, the only impediment is hesitation when gut instinct expresses itself in an undefinable way and then is ignored. The moment to act passes, and it is too late.

The hope is that practice and experience will speed up one’s reactions and enable quick responses without wasting time by building confidence and trust in the process. This is an important step in creating a sound foundation by identifying the path and communicating it to others.

Solitary thinkers tend to think in terms of scenarios, as if playing them out in one’s mind before they happen will make them more prepared to pick the “right” choice.  No one really knows what the right choice is until the event is over and looked at retrospectively. Only some of the consequences can be perceived when a course is chosen.

As contact with new elements develops, a result of communication with others, a new level of thinking emerges and a more confident direction taken based on the trust developed as experience translates into knowledge and perhaps over time evolves into wisdom.

It is not that communicating with others provides the answer, but it introduces different ideas not previously considered  that may add to what has already been thought and creates a new dimension of introspective thought that will lead to an insight. Then, more opportunities  will  appear as thinking evolves spirally instead of in a circle. Habits are hard to change when fear of treading on unfamiliar territory is prominent. Then, relying on cyclical behavior becomes a trap.

When a missed opportunity is realized, bemoaning the shortcomings created by hesitation is only constructive if it leads to breaking the train of thought that obstructs the view and distracts from one’s instincts. Even though impulsive acts may lead to mistakes and regret, the lessons learned are invaluable.

Hopefully, the result will be the recognition that trying to deal with the next step is more important than where it all leads since perceptions and challenges will change as the path proceeds. If one is confident about the choices being made on each step along the way, the future will take care of itself.

What we hear when we are conscious effects what we recall hearing when we are asleep. Scientists, philosophers, artists and poets have speculated about what transpires within the subconscious mind. Once there, thoughts coagulate, many are permeated with sounds that are rarely in the same sequence then when they were heard in a conscious state; some are fragments connected with visual images, scents, smells or touch, perhaps with colors woven into a dream that follows its own logic that seems quite reasonable when there, but makes little sense when awake.

This happens once extraneous thoughts are let go while drifting along the edge of day’s journey and the horizon is reached, falling into the embrace of sleep as attachments are shed for an instant, passing through the doorway into the library of infinite scenarios.

Everything experienced during this state is prioritized in a vast storage facility, a repository of all the impressions that we collectively consider the unconscious, an environment with endless tiers extending across various level of awareness not previously realized that resonate when something is remembered.

It is here, where dreams become the seamless bridge between what is real and what things seem to be; evoking the visceral sensation that remains as the inner nature of who we are begins to reveal itself to our waking consciousness, hopefully long enough to retain the memory and discover its meaning.

Even if what is seen, viewed from one’s location in space, is clearly visible; only the surface that distance allows makes it identifiable. It is what one thinks it is: a shiny dot that glows. Approaching it will not alter perspective much unless one is traveling faster then the speed of light, allowing other characteristics of what there is to see to be closer and observable.

From space, a dot is also an accurate way to describe a location and a destination. Movement towards it will not effect its shape because the distance will still be too great to see it as anything but a dot. But, if one could reach it, then a conclusion could be drawn: whatever the dot contains within its boundaries is everything that defines it.

All that is necessary to understand what is being seen, assuming that vision is within normal limits, is the ability to think. It is not necessary to have an extensive knowledge of Philosophy, Mathematics, Science or Theology to complicate what is seen. Descartes said it best when he wrote, “Je pense, donc je suis – I think, therefore I am.” He reasoned that if someone was there to think about whether they exist or not, it’s proof, not only that they do exist but they also have the capacity to think about and understand whatever there is to see.

Sometimes in the quiet, close to sleep, when letting go is approached, it’s possible to remember; distilling the fear and anxiety, and restore a child’s curiosity. How simple it is to think simply, without judgements or conclusions; just questions, a way to look at and absorb things from a purer perspective.

Thinking about what happens when everything stops is a personal experience. Some claim that everything doesn’t just stop, instead, memory is lost. It doesn’t suggest anything about a Supreme Being or does it give any details about what the other side might feel like. It just draws attention about possibilities.

If one is going to think about these things, restoring the eye of a child in one’s self as the lens can be helpful. It’s the time when fairy tales and quests occupy thought, and everything that is seen simply is also simply seen. Innocence amplifies possibilities and purity of spirit nurtures an open heart. Perhaps this is another way to rediscover one’s self confidence which is recognizing that it’s less a goal than a transformation of the soul.

When thinking about The Singularity, the image of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Black Holes and Einstein comes to mind, yet another notion defines it as a point on the path of technological acceleration, where convergence of everything is at its fastest, and creating an emergent technology with its own version of sentience to challenge our own appears credible.

Perhaps in a parallel universe synthetic life will be created by humans to serve us as workers or soldiers, an effort supported by the business sector looking to reduce labor costs and maximize profits, or governments with designed warriors at their disposal; empowered with the ability to expand its capabilities by surpassing the intelligence of its creators.

It could also be argued that this has already happened in another reality where imagining this is  leant credence by physics, defining the Cosmos as multi-universes separated only by unique  signatures in the form of vibrations, allowing for all possibilities that can happen do happen in an alternate quantum reality and where an infinite number of potential outcomes are determined not only by our actions, but our thoughts as well.

Science Fiction has been a perfect medium for presenting scientific theories with contemporary social overtones in a format that is more acceptable by society; culturally relevant and easily digestable and yet distant enough to be non-threatening. A form of literature frequently misunderstood, Science Fiction has often had as its basis a future where advancements often begin with developments in medical technology that expand the boundaries of life in unpredictable ways.

Battlestar Gallactia was about the creation of artificial life, a milestone that has already begun in our reality. But, in theirs, the Cylons choose to exterminate their creators and almost succeeds. In yet another popular series, Star Trek – The Next Generation, a seventh season episode Parallels explores the theory of traveling from one reality to another. The events begin when  Lt. Worf, in a shuttle craft, inadvertently causes a spacial rift between quantum alternate universes, tearing the fabric of space, shifting from one reality to the next, experiencing some of the infinite outcomes that were determined by his choices.

The acclaimed series took a metaphysical approach when it explored the legal status of artificial life and the criteria for self awareness in the thought provoking trial of Data in Measure Of A Man, a second season episode that points out that although self awareness has been demonstrated, no one has been able to find a way measure consciousness, let alone judge it.

It has always been easy to dismiss Science Fiction as a fantasy, but it has been hard to ignore the numerous inventions that were first thought by writers that have now become science fact and changed our culture. Who would have thought that in this alternate reality, a computer named Watson would compete and win on Jeopardy as a contestant against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, two human challengers and all time champions of the show.

Perhaps this is our first step towards realizing The Singularity – a future time when the confluence of  scientific, societal and economic conditions move so fast making it impossible to reflect or even predict what will happen from our current perspective, leaving all possibilities open until someone perceives them from whatever place the source of all possibilities exists and puts them within grasp.