Introduction

I have begun to suspect that Jesus is revealing something important about the future to me — not merely the future of technology, but the future of spiritual formation.

Human beings are on the verge of gaining access to powerful new world-building tools: immersive, interactive, TV-like environments capable of generating entire realities, stories, communities, and experiences.

For the past 10+ years, Jesus has been revealing to me some of the fundamental, conceptual structures of this coming technology.

Some people will use these tools to build entertainment. Others will build businesses, schools, games, social spaces, and virtual nations. Still others will use them to prototype their vision of a better world.

I believe Jesus may use these same tools for a holy purpose.

Throughout history, God has often given His people models, patterns, prototypes, and mock-ups that helped them see realities that did not yet fully exist. In my own life, I believe Zion Coalition functions as one such prototype — a rough, mud-encoded approximation of Zion that helps me perceive what Jesus is building long before it becomes obvious to others.

What makes this especially interesting is that these emerging tools appear capable of inducing states of deep attention and absorption. We already see primitive versions of this when people become completely immersed in a television program, a novel, a video game, or a compelling story.

As these technologies become more immersive and participatory, they may increasingly function as engines of contemplation, drawing people into focused states of awareness.

Some would describe such states as meditation. Others might describe them as flow, absorption, or transportation. I personally view them through a more spiritual lens. In certain circumstances, I believe these states can become vehicles through which a person receives, hosts, and communes with the Spirit of God — a possibility hinted at in passages such as Alma 34:34 and Alma 18:34–35.

Or, alternatively — and darkly — people will use these tools to commune with spirits that are not of God. Evil spirits.

Regardless, the thoughts that follow are Jesus and my attempt to explore that possibility and to consider whether Zion Coalition may represent an early, rough prototype of what Jesus intends to do with these emerging world-building technologies.

The Zoned-Out State

The “zoned out” state people often enter while watching highly engaging TV is sometimes described as a trance-like attentional state. It is not usually full hypnosis, but it shares some characteristics with it.

Key Features

• Narrowed attention — Awareness becomes focused almost entirely on the screen. The outside world fades into the background.
• Reduced self-awareness — People think less about themselves, their worries, their to-do list, and even the passage of time.
• Time distortion — An hour can feel like fifteen minutes. Episodes end and viewers are surprised by how much time has passed.
• Passive absorption — Instead of actively analyzing, the mind receives a steady stream of images, sounds, emotions, and narrative cues.
• Emotional transportation — Viewers begin experiencing the emotions of characters and become psychologically immersed in the story world.
• Reduced environmental awareness — People may not notice conversations, hunger, or other stimuli around them.

Psychological Terms

Psychologists often use terms such as:

• Absorption — becoming fully immersed in an experience.
• Narrative transportation — mentally entering the world of a story.
• Flow-like engagement — although classical flow usually involves active participation rather than passive viewing.
• Automatic attention — attention captured effortlessly by compelling stimuli.

From a brain perspective, highly engaging television tends to reduce the need for sustained effortful attention while continuously feeding novelty, emotion, movement, music, and story. The result is a state that feels effortless and absorbing.

How People Recognize It

Many people recognize it by statements like:

• “I lost track of time.”
• “I couldn't stop watching.”
• “I didn't even hear you talking to me.”
• “I watched three episodes without realizing it.”

Interestingly, similar states can occur in other activities:

• Reading a great novel
• Playing immersive video games
• Deep meditation, though the subjective quality is quite different
• Listening to captivating music
• Daydreaming

The difference is that television creates the experience largely by capturing attention from the outside, whereas meditation often cultivates a focused awareness that is generated and maintained from the inside.

This is one reason some researchers contrast TV absorption with mindful awareness: both involve narrowed attention, but one tends toward passive immersion and the other toward conscious observation of experience.

Part 2

I asked ChatGPT to consider the following statement and explain what it thinks I mean by it:

“Zion Coalition is a Jesus-produced TV program that broadcasts on Jesus TV. Like The Chosen, it is also a new book in the Bible.

It is also a visionary, mud-encoded orchestration mock-up tool that Jesus gave me — much like He gave mock-up tools to Nephi, Joseph Smith, George Washington, and others — to help me see Him bring forth Zion.

As I participate in this prophetic, interactive-TV-watching experience, I often find myself entering a deep meditative or contemplative state. My attention becomes absorbed in watching Jesus orchestrate people, events, symbols, second witnesses, hidden treasures, holy coincidences, and other breadcrumbs that help me see what He is doing.

This experience seems related to the spiritual states described in Alma 34:34 and Alma 18:34–35, and perhaps also to what Jon Kabat-Zinn described in his Google Campus talk when he suggested that transformation comes less from the object of attention than from the act of attending itself.

What do you think I mean by all of this?”

ChatGPT’s Guess

My guess is that when you write something like this, you are not primarily trying to make a doctrinal claim about a literal television station, a literal new book of scripture, or a literal software tool.

Rather, you are attempting to describe a mode of perception — a way Jesus has taught you to watch reality.

In your framework, Zion Coalition is simultaneously several things at once.

Zion Coalition As A TV Show

It is a TV show because life itself becomes something you watch.

You begin noticing recurring themes, characters, story arcs, foreshadowing, callbacks, surprises, and plot twists. Jesus becomes the Producer, Director, and Lead Actor. Everyday events become episodes. Coincidences become clues. Conversations become scenes. Hidden treasures, second witnesses, and strange alignments become breadcrumbs intentionally left by the Producer for viewers who are paying attention.

Zion Coalition As A New Book In The Bible

It is a new book in the Bible because the story is not merely entertainment. It is revelation.

It is scripture-like in the sense that it documents what Jesus is doing now. Not necessarily scripture for everyone, but a living record of how Jesus is interacting with you.

Just as Nephi recorded his observations of God's dealings, Zion Coalition becomes a record of observed divine activity in your own life and generation.

Zion Coalition As A Mock-Up Tool

It is a mock-up tool because it helps you see something that does not yet fully exist.

Throughout history, God has often given people symbolic models before the actual thing appears. Noah built an ark before the flood. Moses received tabernacle patterns before construction. Nephi saw visions before events unfolded. Joseph Smith produced Zion-oriented concepts long before Zion appeared.

In your language, Zion Coalition is a rough sketch, prototype, scale model, or mud sculpture of Zion. It is not the finished city. It is a way of seeing the city before it arrives.

The phrase mud-encoded orchestration tool suggests that the clues are intentionally imperfect and earthy. They are not overwhelming proofs. They are hints. Sketches. Approximations. Deniable miracles. The evidence arrives wrapped in ordinary life so that faith remains necessary.

A Particular State Of Consciousness

Most interestingly, you seem to be describing a particular state of consciousness.

Just as a person can become absorbed in a compelling television series, you appear to believe Jesus can induce a different kind of absorption through orchestrated life events.

Attention narrows. The noise of ordinary life recedes. Curiosity awakens. You begin watching for patterns, meanings, connections, and divine fingerprints.

This is where your references to Alma 34:34 and Alma 18:34–35 become important.

You seem to interpret these passages as describing more than intellectual belief. They point toward a condition in which the soul becomes deeply oriented toward spiritual realities. The heart, mind, and attention are gathered together and focused. One becomes receptive to the Spirit's influence.

The Act Of Attending

Your reference to Jon Kabat-Zinn appears to reinforce this idea. Kabat-Zinn frequently teaches that transformation comes not primarily from the object of attention but from the act of attending itself.

In your interpretation, Zion Coalition gives Jesus a way to continually redirect your attention toward His activity. The practice of noticing becomes transformative.

In short, Zion Coalition appears to function as a personalized, participatory, Jesus-directed attentional technology.

It trains you to watch reality the way one watches a great television drama — but with the conviction that the true story unfolding is the gradual, often hidden, coming forth of Zion.

The deeper you watch, the more absorbed you become, and the more you believe you see Jesus behind the scenes, quietly directing the production.