On the surface, not that much. If there is an active bloodline of Jesus Christ alive and present to this day, its benefactors have failed to demonstrate anything in the way of his 'Christ Consciousness' with any noteworthy impact on humanity that I am able to observe. However, it does bring many things into question and causes a healthy debate over several issues that wouldn't have surfaced otherwise. It is high time that people, as a course of their spiritual development, began to question traditionally accepted ideas, started to think for themselves, and came to their own conclusions about such matters.

Why such controversy? The commonly accepted view that Jesus was/is God incarnate, being absolutely divine and above reproach, may have been accepted without forethought by followers some 2,000 years ago, doesn't particularly jibe with many of us anymore, somehow feels out of place among modern thought? Now we have a story that Jesus may have fathered a child; actually had Sex and a carnal relationship with a mere mortal of a human being! How outrageous? The concept of the Virgin Birth further emphasizes this mindset that a deity could never have been conceived through this natural human act. I can see a deliberate attempt to mislead in the depiction of the Garden of Eden, where the realized significance of procreation is portrayed as a consequence of 'The Fall of Man'. Not being a follower of Christianity, or any other religion, I have the view that Jesus Christ must have been an incarnate human, just like you or me. That we each have the capability to attain his levels of awareness with the potential to perform those miracles he is said to have performed, and even more? The biblical references to being Born Again and the entry into The Kingdom of Heaven, have many meanings. The Da Vinci Code may be a catalyst where people are coming to terms that such ideas, that now feel more comfortable, rather than simply to accept the authority about anything a religion puts forward, without question?

What is truth, The Truth? You can always find scholars and confidants all giving their treatises of research and elaborate proofs in order to convince yourself. In the end it can boil down to your biases and what you've prepared to accepted as your pet ideas over a lifetime, and are probably unprepared to re-evaluate, closing the mind to anything that may dislodge habitual thought. Unravelling the Truth can become quite a formidable task; much more difficult than what you may have expected. I can look back to times in my life when I have felt completely lost, muddled, totally confused, confronted with a dilemma, and yet was able to find my way. In these situations the pertinent question I found asking myself is: "Have I observed, felt, or experienced what I am being told for myself, in person?" If the answer is 'No' I am prepared to take a stand, and refuse to Believe It! It can take a great deal of courage to stand up in a crowd of people, unsure of yourself; and no matter how convincing they appear to become - talking themselves blue in the face, you remain in your conviction that you are right and everyone else is wrong. You later come to realize, some time after, that miraculously you had really made the correct decision at that time. I can fully empathize with the victims of such events as the Jonestown massacre, Guyana, where in 1978 913 people committed suicide as the followers of the People's Temple. How perplexing that decision to drink the cool-aide mixed with cyanide and join their leader, Reverend Jim Jones, in heaven, would have been. The Truth, like most other things, is in the eye of the beholder. For the most part it is unknown; and yet it is sprinkled anywhere and everywhere, and can readily change. It has to be sought, discovered and earned on an individual basis, and can therefore be uncommon to someone else. The Truth is something I believe I will recognize when I experience it.

PS: The book of Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints) depicts Jesus as continuing his ministry, throughout the Americas, after his crucifixion. Before his final departure he mentions the continuation of his mission in other, alien, worlds.

http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/jones/rel491/handstext%20and%20figures.htm

Did you know you can visit Jesus Christ's grave? Where! In the village of Shingo, Honshu, Japan. According to the teachings of Sukyo Mahikari (a Christian religion founded in Japan) Jesus never died on the cross, but was switched with his brother before the event. He later returned to Japan where he lived out his life to the ripe old age of 106. Japan is also perceived as the true holy land and the Japanese are the lost tribe of Israel.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~skyaxe/tomb.htm

What is Gold? It is a rare precious metal that occurs as a stable element on our planet. Astrophysicists inform us that the process of nuclear fusion in the core of a deceased star(s) created it (along with every other element found on Earth) many billions of years ago. Gold has special electrical properties that make it the medium of choice in many electronic components. Its malleability makes it suitable to for use in dentistry and jewellery construction. It has always been collected and made into ornaments and charms, and adorned by its owner who often felt more regal and imposing than others. It is shinny and looks nice. Being rare, ownership represents wealth and power. It is an object of possession and there have been many ordeals and battles fought to acquire and appropriate it from others. For example, the plight of the Native Americans under the conquest of the Spanish conquistadors. The Aztec Indians mistakenly mistook the conquistador Cortez as the returning white God, Quetzalcoatl. Cortez ruthlessly took the upper hand and captured their king, Montezuma, and demanded a room filled with gold as ransom for his return. The room was eventually filled with all the gold demanded but Cortez executed the Montezuma anyway, leading to the demise of the Aztecs. Unable to appreciate the aesthetic value of the gold collected, Cortez simply smelted it all down into ingots for easy transport to be shipped away to finance further projects of conquest. The domes of some state capital buildings have millions of dollars of gold leaf etched over their surface proclaiming the wealth and prosperity of the region. There is the fable of King Midas who was granted his ultimate wish of turning everything he touched into gold. He found out pretty smartly that gold could not be eaten (among other things) and that his unlimited gift was indeed a curse, and would do anything to have his wish vanquished. The bulk of the world's gold is stockpiled as bullion in secure vaults, like Fort Knox, never to be touched. It is used, by the powers that be, to gain increasing profits as investment, maintain economic dominance against competing nations, manipulate inflation and to hoodwink the masses. Exercises in absurdity I only have a vague impression of. Then there is the legend of the Philosophers Stone. The alchemist's symbolic search for a substance that will transform base metals into gold. It is actually an inner quest of self transmutation with the promise of eternal youth, which I interpret as the endowment of higher consciousness. In the mining for gold news logs I read that members are being called for as investors to finance a venture to mine gold on a claim in Nevada. That these earnings will be engaged to establish a NCN community, with greater profits being awarded to founding investors. Already I have a sense of a community that will simply mirror our current societal system with a hierarchy of privilege based on personal wealth. I don't feel that NCN and its membership needs to be actively mining for gold. To continue the mindset of gratifying everything gold stands for and perpetuates. All we need is people's time, energy and effort, which anyone can contribute. And to be open and ready for possibilities as they present themselves.

That leads to my question: What should NCN and its members be pursuing in this area, doing in preparation for the future, at this point time? I don't know, and can't answer. I can only comment on what I feel I should be doing, convey my impressions, and present my vision of the future and what it can become.

There are currently many forces at work that will undoubtedly have significant repercussions impacting on our future. The Earth as a whole can be viewed as an organism in itself. It is under attack by human race, which can now be regarded as a virus wreaking havoc over its surface. As with most organisms, antibodies of some form will be produced to counter an infection and work to regulate a status quo. This is a natural course of movement to maintain balance through processes of homeostasis and survival. Just like the weather: cold air moves to displace hot, high air pressure moves to increase low, moisture rises to descend downward again. We have created economies and social systems that can only exist by continuously consuming an ever increasing amount of our natural resources that can only devastate the Earth. This now poses a threat to everything living on our planet. More production, more commodities, bigger this, instant that, the 'who has the highest standard of living' competition, in a never ending desire to escape our emptiness. Unabated consumption that is consistently being promulgated as success and happiness. It is creating an ever-greater pile of extravagance, nonsense and garbage as a total insult to our intelligence. It is obvious to me that this cannot be sustained, will not last, must certainly end, eventually grind to a standstill ending in chaos. It is also apparent that nothing of any consequence is being done, or is going to be done. We all just shrug our shoulders in implicit agreement, turn around, and carry on as usual with our daily toil. Earning a living, consuming, procuring, nothing changing, unwilling to think or act, as if zombies caught in a trance. Slaves ruled by the spectre of our wants and debts? Sure, there is some awareness. You have the EPA statutes, Kyoto protocols, World summits where dignitaries talk about it and have a nice party. Tokens of lip service of tacit condolence appeasing the symptoms of our actions, completely ignoring the root causes, pretending to alleviate our inevitable demise. At best, these actions will only prolong our agony. The whole core fabric of our social systems, the entire way we live, requires a deep rethink and complete overhaul if we are to survive as generations into the future. It is self evident that is never going happen by our own volition. There are dynasties and regimes that have too much vested into maintaining things as they are, in keeping their interests of power and control over all. There will inevitably be a course of trials and tribulations to come.

There have been many social upheavals in the past, and assuredly there will be more to come in the future. Revolutions where the grass roots of society finally had had enough and took a stand to usurp those in control and redeem their autonomy. Revolution needs to be imposed but imposed with a notable difference. Not a revolution of violence, external conflict, of 'us' and 'them', and a struggle to get the upper hand. But an inner revolution that will involve every individual. A revolution of each discovering who they really are and what they can become. Resting on our modern technological advancements as having made so much applaudable 'progress', I find myself asking such questions as: Why do we have hospitals with so many beds predominantly filled with people having disorders which are psychosomatic in nature? Why do we have police, and prisons, and are permeated with people of unconscionable antisocial character? Why are so many of us becoming afflicted with the psychological malaise of obesity, and yet there are more people than ever before go to sleep at night still hungry? What is war really all about, and why do we have such overwhelming resources dedicated to our defence and destruction, which could otherwise be gainfully employed towards resolving our predicament? My invariable response is: Because people do not know who they truly are. And, the majority do not even know that they do not know who they are. If we each had an interest in, an inkling about, who we really are, I'm convinced we would act, as a species, quite differently. Little by little, step by step, you will find your habits and attitudes being acted out of concern for others and your surroundings. Inner space, like outer space, is a never-ending journey of discovery. I feel it is my role to point out people's present state of self-unawareness and to offer suggestions towards self-revelation. So that when the 'proverbial' hits the fan in the times ahead, people may remember, know where to look, be able work out what they should do in order for us to continue as a life form on the planet.

Is human nature innate? If it is innate, can it change, be transformed? I dare say 'Yes, it can.' We are limited only by our imagination and creativity. Each one of us is an expression of God trying to discover himself. We are more than human beings having a material existence. We are spiritual beings undertaking a human experience.

If we look through the annals of our world history it is inundated with wars, conflict and violence. I have heard it said that the longest recorded period of peace in the world is only 25 years, during the rule of the emperor Nero in the Roman Empire (He made up for that by introducing more decadent entertainments with sacrificial Christians at the Coliseum, however.). The underlying justification for all this never ending violence has invariably been sanctioned in the name of religion. The paradox of religion where the teachings of those enlightened mystics, who basically espoused kindness and understanding among all peoples, is employed as the vehicle to create destruction, misery and suffering in the world. Intrinsically intertwined with religion is culture. What is culture? Culture can be described as: ideas, ideals, beliefs, formalities, traditions, ceremonies, idiosyncrasies, anecdotes, myths, superstitions and misconceptions that have been adopted by a specific group over a period time. A selected collective of thoughts, contaminated with illusions, allusions and delusions, as a predisposition of what reality is? "You" are none of those "things". Anthropologists inform us, in their scientific analysis, that the human race has a common ancestor that originates in Africa. Since those beginnings, untold groups have migrated and subdivided from the savannahs of Africa to all corners of the globe. Over time, hundreds of thousands if not millions of years, such groups travelled settled in all regions, and “evolved” their own cultures in isolation from one another. The physical barriers of distance, mountains, oceans, deserts etc. ensured that every group would create an individually unique culture of its own, in varying degrees. In this modern era, in which we now live, these geographical barriers have been removed, allowing us to observe and experience many different cultures from our own, which can be initially viewed as strange and unfamiliar. Do you think we have now arrived at the stage where we can rise above amplifying our differences and resorting to violence to solve problems?

I find it quite easy to poke holes in other cultures because they are easy to contradict and do not encompass my own beliefs. However, if I am able to detach myself from my culture, everything that is familiar and what I believe in, both consciously and unconsciously (as I become more aware of what I was unconscious of before). I know I could just as easily poke holes in my own cultural heritage and see its imperfections and shortcomings for what they are. I think one solution in overcoming these traditional conflicts that have plagued us throughout our history, can be applied by a shift of ones awareness and understanding ones self in terms of ones culture and its history. That each of us needs to realize what culture is, how it has evolved, and what it can become; what you Are as an individual. I also feel our need to work towards the creation of a global culture that could become acceptable to everyone. To discover the best parts from all the different cultures with the aspiration of generating something amazing and dynamic that all will be able to believe in as Earthlings. I can understand that most people probably need their culture, intact, as it exists, and would totally loose their identity, be derelict, without it. That growth in this direction will inevitably be a gradual process that can only begin by us, as individuals, wanting to expand ones awareness of Who one Is.

http://www.wilderdom.com/games/PsychologicalExercises.html

What can we do? How do we begin? I feel we are part of a revolution. Not a revolution in the traditional sense: confrontation, conflict and force. But an inner revolution; a revolution for the discovery of the 'Self'. Jung's analogy of the collective unconscious comes to mind. The Hawaii Islands that are distinctly separate on the surface of the ocean are commonly connected on the sea floor. So too are we connected to one another collectively, unconsciously. As one's awareness of self develops this becomes more and more realized and separateness dissipates. We can empathize with each other and understand; stop hating, stop feeling superior or inferior, stop wanting to control. We all affect and influence others. So if one or more 'start', this will gradually effect more and more (like the principle of the 100th monkey). Until eventually the majority will have changed, have adopted new ways of approaching these situations of difference.

P.S. If you have exposure to a Christian background (and even if you don't) and are looking, I can suggest something to read where you may find some clues: Mathew, chapters 5-7 :-
http://www.kingjamesbible.com/B40C005.htm

http://www.esc.auckland.ac.nz/people/staff/rmel005/prime_of_life.html

http://www.esc.auckland.ac.nz/people/staff/rmel005/unawareness.html