During the years leading up to, and particularly the couple prior to starting Awake, I had much clarity about the nature of the universe and of my own place in it. I had never been religious growing up, but I was able to see there was more to the world than what was visible to the eye or obvious to the mind. Most of the time we are engrossed with material things and sensory experiences and never go past the surface level of what appears to be daily life.
I discovered that there was infinite depth in all things, in all people, and in all situations. And I discovered that there is a greater reality behind all what is experienced and experienceable, and if there is anything that can be called the meaning of life, it is That absolute and constant reality. When I spoke of this insight, people thought I had become "spiritual" and I guess I had, only to the extent that it was in reference to material things.
Matter, or the material dimension, is the objective part of the universe. I discovered that while matter is not self-aware aka it is inert and does not know itself, there is something that cognizes matter and gives it purpose and meaning. If all this sounds very abstract, it's because it is. If material or matter is concrete and specific, spirituality has to do with the abstract and ethereal. Not in a mystical sort of way, but in a very practical, scientific sort of way.
After all, if matter has specific dimensions and exists at specific points in time, then it followed that there had to be something that transcended dimensions of space and time. And if all this made spirituality the dual of materiality, if it became a point of view or a philosophy, what exactly would be the practical meaning of spirituality? What would be the point of it at all?
So far on the Internet, in the guise of social media and other networks, tech platforms have amassed trillions of dollars of value at the expense of regular people. These big tech companies act as gatekeepers to the Internet economy, and despite the decades that have passed since the original World Wide Web was launched to the public, it is still extraordinarily difficult (technologically) and extraordinarily expensive (to drive sales) for most people and small businesses to create a living online, let alone thrive.
Why is it even called social commerce?
More than a technological revolution and much more than exploring outer space, humanity urgently needs a cultural revolution and needs to spend time on exploring inner space. In that space of clarity, one will see that technology will keep getting more and more advanced, but human beings can't change their fundamental nature, and that one has to allow everyone to play if society has to have any meaning. In that same space of clarity, one will see that the world is not a zero sum game, and as we saw earlier: value is everywhere.
The world needs to move from this idea of social commerce to true Spiritual Commerce. We need to recognize that instead of scarcity, it is abundance that is our very nature, and that we need to and we can manifest a better world for each other.
Just like Newton discovered gravity, and Einstein discovered relativity, I realized that the actual social commerce was Spiritual Commerce.
Spiritual Commerce is a very simple formula that allows anyone to leverage the abundance of the universe in order to materialize anything one needs or wants for anyone else. Spiritual Commerce can be simplified into basic arithmetic and into something that may resonate with most people: I can make unlimited amount of money if for every dollar I make for myself, I first make you 22.