Alan Cohen Newsletter April 2008

Your

Passion Meter

The South Korean cell phone company KTF has announced a new voice-analysis program for its customers to enable them to evaluate their sincerity when calling a lover. As reported by Reuters, the caller can point the phone's camera at himself and see a meter on the screen measuring his own passion, then receive a text message afterward noting voice expressions by the person receiving the call (surprise, honesty, etc.)

While the passion meter is an innovative technology, I have an even more radical suggestion: you already own one. At every moment your inner being is sending you signals informing you whether or not your words and actions are aligned with your passion.

Here is how your innate-passion meter works: if, after you have thought a thought, spoken a word, or done an action, you feel more alive, energized, happy, and whole, you know that what you have just said is lined up with your passion and well-being. If you feel deadened, bored, bugged, or empty, your line of thinking or action is off course with your true path. Even better than KTF's model, there is no charge for your inner meter and you have unlimited anytime minutes.

You can also point your passion meter in the direction of anyone with whom you are in conversation. I was having lunch with a fellow who informed me that he had a hobby of restoring military aircraft. I invisibly rolled my eyes as I envisioned a diatribe on a boring subject in which I had no - make that adverse - interest.

Yet as my friend described to me his latest project, the club to which he belonged, and his fascination with old planes, his passion was so real and strong that I began to catch it. While the subject meant nothing to me, his energy did. The more he spoke, the more uplifted I felt. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, and when it was done I felt that my time was well spent indeed. Ten years later I am writing to you about it. Moments teeming with aliveness bear gifts long down the road.

Words are the least significant element of communication. Listen not to your words or those of others, but run your energy and theirs past your passion meter. If it lights up, you have struck gold. If it goes dark, move on. As Emerson note, "What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary."

Your passion meter also serves as a brilliant lie detector. When someone is lying to you, or trying to snow you in any way, something inside you knows it. If you acknowledge your knowing and call for the truth, you will get it. If you override your passion meter's feedback, you will just have to come back at a later time and speak or ask for the truth. Ongoing lies continue by agreement. When you break the agreement, the truth stands shining.

I probably won't buy KTF's machine, but I think they are headed in the right direction. In a world were many people have lost touch with joy, five bars on the passion meter might be just what we need to get us back on track.

Alan

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