Commitment and Discipline

Commitment is a duty, loyalty or obligation to someone or something outside of self.  Examples of this are the rent or mortgage we pay, the marriage vows we make, the laws of the community or group we belong to, the contracts of any kind even though they may be sealed only by a handshake. 

Discipline, however, is an inner process which defines the effort to meet those commitments.  This could be physical or mental.  This could be conditioning like the cycles that establish the Pavlonian response to certain keys or triggers.  But, in any case, the strength of the commitment is only as much as the discipline to honor that commitment.

I knew a woman once who would only relate to guys who were alcoholic in nature.  She married an alcoholic... divorced and then married another alcoholic although she herself was not alcoholic.  It seemed that her relationships were always doomed to fail since alcoholics in a sense are only commited to alchol.  Perhaps, in a way,  she herself was the one who could not commit and entered into relationships that she could withdraw from without any onus on her part.  It makes one think...'who is the real culprit sometimes?'. 

Choices..."To Be or not To Be?"

Merry Christmas to Anyone & Everyone...

When we are born, we are born with two and only two things in common.  We are all born naked and we are born with the ability to choose.  Nakedness is also a choice since the climate, social mores and the like dictate whether we cover ourselves to any extent.  Fashion later on also determines the nature, color and condition of our clothes.  But these again are choices.

From our cellular beginnings, we have a hormone system which determines the choice of fight or flight.  If it looks like it is big enough to eat us, we run.  And if it looks like a tasty morsel much to our liking then we fight, attack and eat it.   Our immune system works much the same way.  When anything alien is encountered, it decides to absorb it into our being or to encapsulate it, destroy it and eject it through the trash disposal system that eliminates our waste.

At least in this universe.. God did not make a one-ended stick.  So when we come to a fork in the road... we have a choice.  We can go right, we can go left or we can stay put... but to stay put is not really a good choice.  Once we decide to go right or left, we can't go back.  We must go forward and examine the results which gives us experience, which molds our attitude and determines the outcome of whatever we were involved in.  In a previous post I pointed out that our Attitude is the sum total of our Opinions and our experiences.(A=O+E) which means that in order to change the outcome we must change our Attitude by changing either our Opinion of the outcome or our Experience of the outcome.

The key here, I'm afraid, is the word experience.  So far as I know, we cannot at least yet time travel.  So going back to the last fork in the road and taking the other leg does not seem possible.  But what we can do is to put the experience in our memory banks against the day that a similar fork is presented to us. 

A lot of this is developed in the story of Alice in Wonderland which is illustrated by Marc E. Jones in his commentary at http://www.sabian.org/.  It makes one wonder that these signposts were left for us by some previous personalities namely Charles Dodgson otherwise known as Lewis Carroll.

But then it is Christmas time which is a magical time of the year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...

Death is Nature's Way of Telling You to Slow Down

The title of this Blog is from an old joke out of the depths of my childhood... it amused my first wife as I remember and of course I got a chuckle out of it too.  But the implications are that there are cycles in life that we should perhaps pay attention to since after all..  we are a part of life.

The one that comes to mind quite readily is the one described by the planet mercury.    Mercury as well as the earth orbits the sun.  Both planets of course travel in different orbits at different speeds.  Mercury has an annual travel of approximately 88 days while earth takes about 365 days to orbit the sun.  This happens approximately three times during the earth year when Mercury appears to be traveling retrograde in its orbit with respect to us here on earth.  This is like the phenomenon some of you might remember when looking out a train window as your train passes another on a parallel track.  Due to the different speeds it appears that the train on the other track is actually going backwards relative to your point of view.  And this is retrograde motion.

On the period that started on Dec. 10 and will last til Dec. 30, I decided to fix the garae door opener.
So I climbed up a step ladder and re-progammed one of the remote door openers.  Fine .. no problem.
The second one  proved to be a problem.  It proved to be defective but it took about a half hour standing on that ladder, in a garage at about 40 degrees, in order for this stubborn old sicilian to give up on it.  As I came off the ladder, I started shivering like it had gone out of style.  I quickly went inside and put on a long-sleeved shirt and a wool sweater and kicked back in the La-z-boy in front of the heat vent.  Both Barb and Luke were out of the house so I went to sleep to get warm.  It didn't work.  When Luke came in he found me shivering up a storm so he woke me up... when Barb came in she took my temperature... whoopee... 101.  And my left calf and ankle wouldn't work.  In the team huddle, I vetoed going to the emergency room at least until morning.  And between the three of us I managed the climb to the second floor, took some Ibuprofen, and crawled into bed.

The next day, the fever broke and the leg didn't look too bad so I decided to wait some more treating it with Ibuprofen for the swelling and staying off the leg with long bouts in the La-z-boy.  By Sunday, I knew that I had made a mistake.  The calf was the size of a small football.  It hurt. It was bright red and quite warm so now I was determined to charge the Doctor's office first thing on monday morning. 
In the meantime Barb says that it was a cellulitus and with my artificial knee.. that was a baaaad thing.
So now this definitely was a loose end that needed tying up.  The Doc said "this is a cellulitus" and I told him that nurse Barb had already worked that out.  He prescribed Keflex and pronto... so now it is Friday and the swelling has gone done, the itching has stopped and the redness is now only a non-threatening pink.  So then I continue the Keflex till the pills are all gone.  There should be no repercussions from my procrastination and all is well with the world.   Except....

Now I am not saying that because Mercury appeared retrograde that I got a very serious cellulitus.  What I am saying is that Mercury retrograde and the cellulitus signaled the need to resolve a huge mound of paper big enough to lose a small dog in, some legal matters which could come back to haunt, some last minute shopping that hasn't been done with the big "C" day coming up fast and oh so many other things that might need tidying up in order to make life simpler.

So what I am suggesting is for the next couple of weeks or so, look around to see what loose ends you might have that got lost in the excitement of the Christmas season and tidy them up so you can ring in the New Year with a fresh clean slate and a spirit of 'Go getem Tiger'.

WikiLeaks and our Personal World

Hi folks... I usually don't get on my soapbox but this issue with Wikileaks vs the World really rankles me down to my ankles.  The internet is there for us all to enjoy in a spirit of connectedness and here we have a small group of "Hackers" who have developed the ability to intrude on our private lives with their techniques of snooping into emails and financial data bases and the like.  Now they have the audacity to blackmail the world and extort from us the freedom of their leader who is spokesman for this concept.   And yet they hide behind ficticieous names and go to all lengths to keep us from knowing who "they" are.   The purpose of government is to protect the property of its citizens.  As each of us know we do not reveal everything about ourselves but only that which we want the outside world to know.  That is our private life, our private consciousness.  We also have a social consciousness where we support government or society if you will for helping us protect our property.  Like us as individuals, our government has a private side which it feels is necessary to go about their business of helping  us protect our property.

Any of us who has had our identity stolen realizes not only the feeling of loss but the vulnerability to forces beyond our control.  If you ever had your computer compromised by a virus or the like then this too is an invasion of your space,  your privacy and from what I hear this can be a serious threat to not only your privacy but also to your property, your money and whatever.

I support the governments  and the institutions of the World in their efforts to squash this threat and make the internet a safe place for our  commerce, our communication with each other and the connectedness that we are heading for as a result of the internet.

As a great American once said, at the beginning of the War with Tripoli, "Millions for defense but not one penney for tribute".

If you agree with me.... write your comments by clicking on the little pencil below and do so even if you don't agree with me.   Thank you all for your time.

Respect For Personality

As I look back over quite a few decades now, I can see my life as occurring in two periods.  The first was approximately 38 years during which I grew older but not wiser and the next in which i grew older and somewhat wiser.   I progressed through the teen years, went to school, got a job, got married and had kids just like about probably 90% of Americans in today's culture.  Then up jumped the devil.  There was good news and bad news.  The bad news was my wife wanted to divorce.  As it turned out she was right.  I had not made progress toward maturity to justify staying together and curiously enough this impeded her progress toward her goals as well.  But let me get to the good news because this launched a whole new direction to my life.  Slowly, unknowingly but continuously to where I am today.

At that time I became interested in Astrology.  I could erect the horoscope because that was a matter of mathematics and I was skilled at that. That was B.C. (Before Computers that is) But then I didn't know what to do with them... what did they mean? ...how could they be useful?  So my wife told me of a lecture at the local YWCA where there would be a section on astrology and maybe I could get some useful information from that.  And that was the beginning of the good news.  There I met Sara Julian and she told me about the Sabian Assembly (http://www.sabian.org/ and http://www.sabianassembly.org/).  Golly they had books, they had lessons, they had astrologers and they had Marc Edmund Jones.  He was known as the the Dean of  American Astrologers.  I  joined  theSabianAssembly immediately.  That was in 1969 and I have never looked back. It was in the Sabian Assembly that I learned respect for personality...my own as well as others.

The idea of respect for personality is based on everyone's right to determine his own self-justification.
The implication here is that when we are born, we are all born(1) naked and (2) with freedom of choice.  And that is what makes us all equal.  So we are free to develop our own game plan for better or worse.  Or for that matter to operate without a game plan at all.  We have no right to stick our nose into other people's business or help them without being asked and  be put off when it is refused. 

Now I realize that living with this concept was what was missing in the first half of my life.  I made the decisions for my family whether they liked it or not.  And Karma demanded that I lost that family.  Don't get me wrong.   The signals were there.  My wife tried to teach me about choice but I didn't listen.  But in the second period of my life I came slowly to understand the need to accept  this concept.  I raised my children by telling them..."don't help me until I ask".  The result was that now they know what kind of help I need and they are more willing to give it and this makes us partners instead of father and sons.  

 Perhaps all is not lost as I go into my third period in this life.

Please post your comments here rather than on Facebook because Facebook and I are not friendly.  But of course.... you are free to post them anywhere you choose...  hahaha

Thanksgiving and What I am Thankful For

/While I was lying in bed, during that space between darktime and daylight, I reflected on those things that I was thankful for.  Of course I was thankful for good health.  After all I survived 79 winters mostly with only one eye.  Even though I am a tad overweight(Luke says I am obese and should do his power 90) and I have had both my knees replaced and a couple of by-passes, I do  enjoy good health.  Thanks to the Federal Government and the DuPont company I have enough money to make it through this lifetime.  But what I am most thankful for are the women in my life.

My first wife I met when I was still in highschool.  After I finished college we got married and that lasted through graduate school and two children for about 16 years.  I was not ready for the challenges that being a husband and a parent  presented.  So when it was all over I was thankful then that it was amicable as divorces go. 

My second wife and I met in the environs of South Phillie.  We married and that lasted for over 34 years.  Again there were two children and the challenges of being a husband and parent were still huge.  But somehow, this time I was learning to feel comfortable with myself and we had a happy and peaceful life(I can remember only one argument) over those years til she passed on to another existance.

So I can reflect and say to myself that the women in my life, starting with my mother and sister along with an assortment of aunts and cousins, as well as my wives, have made the journey through this world both happy and tolerable.  But the culmination of it all is the woman of my life right now.  It is almost like the heavens have opened up and sent to me a person who fits in every way.  The marriage rituals went from a formal church wedding and celebration to a marriage by the Justice of Peace to now a simple conversation and commitment between two consenting adults.  So now I can say...

     Barbara.. you have made me want to Lie and Steal and Cheat as it was said  at an old Irish wedding...

     I want to Lie by your side til death do us part

     I want to  steal your heart everytime I can

    and I want to cheat death so I can be with you forever....

   
and that is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving....

What's the matter with Anti-matter?

Well they finally did it.   The large hadron collider in Switzerland has produce significant quantities of anti-matter.  By significant it is meant 32 particles that were kept "alive" for fractions of a second.  But that is a long time in particle physics.  What this anti-matter particle is ... think of a hydrogen atom with a plus charge as regular matter called a proton.  Then a hydrogen atom with a negative charge is called an anti-proton or in other words a positron.  So you can see.. that when a proton and an anti-proton get together they cancel each other out or annihilate with a resulting large release of energy.  The implications of this experiment are huge.

If we are capable of making even more anti-matter than was made in this experiment then we would have unbelievably large amounts of energy at our disposal.  Michio Kaku, who is the developer of String Theory and the host on the Discovery Science channel, has proposed two uses for ainti-matter in his book "Physics of the Impossible".  One is to use the virtually 100% energy release from this process of annihilating matter and anti-matter to produce rocket power to take us to the stars at considerably higher speeds than we can attain with conventional fuels.  And the use of anti-matter to keep wormholes open as a passage to parallel worlds.  After all, we wouldn't want to be going thru a wormhole and have it collapse on us.  Also the ideal passage to a parallet world would include the ability to return to this one if we should choose to do so.

This would also have implications to time travel.  According to Kaku time travel can be accomplished in a number of ways.  (1.) by traveling at speeds close to that of light and by (2.) traveling to other dimensions, other worlds and the like by tunneling thru a wormhole.  As an example if you were able to travel backward in time and like the fly on the wall see how you handled a certain situation.  Then observe other ways to change your attitude back in the future.  You could then operate more successfully in your current reality.  I have talked about how to change your attitude in a previous blog post.

The Web of Time

Time stretches out like a web in all directions.  We can see this from all the expressions about time.  "I didn't have enough time", "too much time on my hands", "time waits for no one", and on and on.

I have found that, lately at least, I have been caught up in the sticky web of time.  There appear to be more things to do than the time to do them.  Does that fit you?  When you are involved in something and seem to be at a crossroad, another "something" comes along that demands your attention and as a result your time.  If you give in then you can find yourself completely enmeshed in the sticky web of time with your eyes rolling looking for that dark spider to crawl out and bite you.

My mentor, Marc Jones, solved that for me one time when I announced that I had so many things to do that I couldn't do anything.  He said...  "...then do nothing".  That puzzled me for awhile until I realized that his statement came right out of "Alice in Wonderland".  And what that meant was that when the situation got tangled in the web of time and space then... step back, reflect.. prioritize perhaps and start back on each one at a time.  This may also be the solution to escaping the minotaur's maze.

Either way enjoy your day and stop to smell the roses.

The Number of the Beast

A while ago I gave a presentation on the relationship between attitude and outcome.  To make a long story short, this relationship is like a pendulum.  If attitude is like the pivot point of a pendulum then outcome is the point at which the bob hangs directly below.  I mean after all they have not repealed the Law of Gravity.  Right?  When we raise the bob away from its rest point we give it potential energy.  And when we release the bob it loses potential energy as it travels back toward its rest point.  This rest point in our little diagram is the zero point and it represents the outcome of our basic attitude.  The bob then proceeds to move upward as it gains kinetic energy until it reaches a height equal to the height at which it was originally released.  So you see, attitude can be both positive and negative.  But that is not the real genius of the discussion,  The most important thing here is that your attitude determines the outcome of whatever you are doing.

Soooooooo if you don't like the outcome of what you have set in motion then change your attitude and try it again but perhaps from a different set of circumstances and most likely with a different outcome.  How do you change your attitude?  We have discussed this many times over the weeks of these blogs.  Visualization.  Visualize a positive outcome.  How would it look like when you achieve the thing you wished for.  How would you feel.   Create your own reality.  Constant reminders to stimulate the senses.  All of them that apply.  After all it is the brain that receives these inputs and processes them and gives meaning and value to your reality.

As a by-product of the thoughts that went into this post, let me share something I was puzzled about in the biblical literature for years.  In "Revelations" the number of the beast is given as 666.
Ancient mathematics was stuck at the point of only being used for accounting purposes.  This was because there was no concept of zero and no philosophical meaning for positive and negative. The number adds up to 6+6+6 = 18 and  18 reduces to 9... and the nine reduces to zero by the technique of casting out of nines.  The literature says...

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.


and that sounds to me like someone who knew his math, knew his philosophy and knew what he was doing. 

The Proof is in the Pudding

And now back to my Blog.  With all the traveling I have been doing, to meetings and such, it has been difficult to get back to even a weekly rhythm on the blog.  So I decided to kick back and catch up on some reading.   My favorite, of course, is Michio Kaku and his book on "Parallel Worlds".  He is capable of making physics clear without the horrible mathematics that goes along with it usually.  His basic approach is through 'string theory' but he discusses all the classical approaches as well.


 Shifra Henndie in her blurb today quoted Einstein who said "the significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them".  And the point is that Michio takes us to a level of thought higher than the questions we posed in the first place.  Of course, Scientists are funny in that they steadfastly deny the existance of God but yet cannot tell  us how the big bang came about.  And for that matter, what was there before the big bang.  But they are working on it.


That brought my mind around to belief.  Belief requires proof to become knowledge.  So we can now add another one of those instances where a concept can be expressed as a mathematical equation. Or, if you will, Knowledge = Belief + Proof.  So then Belief = Knowledge - Proof.  Wow.. this is similar to one that I discussed earlier in the year.  That is... Attitude = Opinion + Experience.  And I think you can see the similarities between these two equations so that an understanding of the terms is easy..  So Experience is like Proof, Opinion is like Belief and Attitude is like Knowledge.   And that with a $1.29
will get you a cup of coffee and a donut of your choice.... I believe.  I hope(golly is this another one?) that next week I can show you how this plays out diagrammatically and how it fits in with our old favorite..."The Secret".

Time Waits For No One

Seventy nine years ago, on this day, a new entity appeared that was named Richard Charles DeGeiso.  And I am amazed at how many people sent emails, birthday cards, comments on FaceBook and the like to wish me a happy birthday as I prepare to enter the eighth decade.  I suppose that qualifies me as a wise person(or is it wise guy?).  But on the other hand I very rarely get feedback on the comments I make about the things that intrigued me as I passed along the way for most of the twentieth century and now at least some of the twenty first.

Dialogue is quite important to our existence as sentient humans probably because it lets us know that there is at least one other that shares the planet with us.  It is the sharing that is important.  The sharing of resources and possessions represents concepts that are entirely beyond those of certain animals. We can share many things with the animal kingdom, but the ability to conceptualize, the ability to visualize and create abstractions seems to be beyond that of animals.

So with this new-found realization that I, as a member of the human race, could visualize abstractions and whatever, I decided to sign up for the insights of the Kabbalah.  The Kabbalah for those who didn't know has its roots in Jewish mysticism and is said to hold the secrets of the plan that God had for the creation of our world, our universe.  Now that is something that every 79 year old guy should really do to keep him off the streets.  Soooo every Tuesday afternoon I will get my Kabbalah instruction in time for comment on the usual Thursday, Friday when I get around to writing my Blog.  The Walrus could have something to say about the wisdom of the Kabbalah from here on in.  With true passion if it works out or with tongue in cheek if it doesn't.

A Meeting of Minds

I read an article in Science News about the technique of combining the computing power of computers around the world which were idle or asleep.  The way this works, for those of you that don't know, you can "donate" the computing power of your personal computer or laptop for that matter to be combined with gazillions of other computers to process data from a specific source.  In this case the data was from the radio telescope at Arecibo which searches the sky in the very long wavelength region for things like supernovas, quasars and the like.  They were able to find a  pulsar which had not been known before.  This body spins around at the amazing rate of once every 41 seconds.

But this is not what intrigued me.  I wondered about the pooling of so many different computers(sustitute intelligences) and the fantastic results that occurred.  And I got to supposing that perhaps there might come a day when all of  us humans could vibrate at a frequency which would allow us to set aside our individual differences and pool our talents and experiences in such a way.  Would this be the true "Golden Age"?  Perhaps this is what this program is showing us.  The project for this is called Einstein@home .   For the original article check out http://www.sciencenews.org/  september 11, 2010

The time has come the walrussez to speak of strings and things

Last night I watched a program on the Discovery channel about the little Big man, Stephan Hawking,  and of course this centered around the Big Bang, Black Holes and the Theory of Everything.  It seems that the next level in scientific thought beyond Relativity, beyond Quantum Physics is String Theory.  And it seems that the latest thinking is that String Theory will lead to an equation.. one equation.. which will describe everything.  That will allow us to predict anything and everything  and according to Hawking we have no need for the concept of God.    Whoa fellows, haven't we come full circle here?  Up until Relativity and Quantum Mechanics wasn't it God who predetermined everything?  Wasn't it the will of God that made things happen or not?  Now you are telling us that a single mathematical equation will do the same thing.  From that I get that the future is still predictable and predetermined.

I can relate more to the Quantum people who insist on the uncertainty of things.  Because here when and if they do find that magic equation there may still be the slightest probability of something beyond our understanding that allows for our greatest salvation and that is HOPE and the faith that we can beat the odds for a better outcome than PREDICTED. 

One thing in that tv program that was interesting was the example of the infinitesimal small size of the strings.  In describing the size of a string, the example was used that a string would be about as small to us as we are to the universe at large.  I like that annalogy because of its suggestiveness that we are Strings in the overall scheme of things and we all vibrate to our own individual frequency.  When the vibration from one string is the same as that of some other then that creates resonance and energy can flow betwen the two...  Wow what would happen if all the strings vibrated at the same frequency in unison.  That would create an inmeasurable amount of energy and perhaps another Big Bang and we start all over again.  But that is science fiction not science.....  or is it?

The Mind is the Window to Reality

Before I left for an outstanding work/vacation to Maine, I told you about Basic Attitude.  The vacation part was absolutely outstanding.  After a short visit with Barbara's folks we proceded to the Wells/Kennebunk part of Maine.  This was right on the rock-bound shore.  Our accomodations were an old hotel that was converted into condominiums.  We were fortunate enough to have a second-story apartment overlooking the road which stretched along the ocean.  The apartment itself was outstanding consisting of two bedrooms and a bath leading to a very large living room which opened out on the porch two stories above the street surface.

We were able to roam the streets of Wells and Kennebunk and pursue the shops and restaurants at will.  And of course we got presents for the kids and took care of ourselves as well by consuming gobs and gobs of lobster and other denizens of the deep.  But alas we also had to work.

Evenso, work was not work as I made a presentation, complete with slide projections on the wall, based on my 40 years experience in Astrolgy.  There were nine people in attendance with three or four experienced in Astrology.  I had been given six people, unidentified, mixed both male and female and only the appropriate details of birth.  I described the potential of these six people and received the approval of the audience and was delighted by the response of those more experienced in the Astrological techniques.  It is one of those techniques that I will describe for you today.

One of the areas that the Sabian approach to astrology explores is Mental Chemistry.  This is how one Conceives things on the one hand and how he Perceives things on the other.  I described this process in relationship to Consciousness back on March 25. 2010 in the post titled "Will The Real World Please Stand Up".  Sensory inputs from the external world are taken in through the sense organs and routed to the proper centers in the brain.  Here the brain does two things.  One is the determination whether this is pleasure or pain and sends that signal out through the motor neurons for proper action(fight or flight). But it also compares it to its data base, if you will,  for meaning and value.  And it is this area of the brain, that we perhaps know as mind, that we make or conceive of relationships of  things to all other things.

In Astrology, this leads to counseling in two areas.  When the mental chemistry shows a quick and rapid perception and a sharp conceptive ability then the person can be impatient and impulsive and need constant mental stimulation with new and interesting things.  When the mental chemistry shows a more deliberate perception with a slow constructive conceptive ability then the mind works with the pattern of things.  This is reminiscent of the way a computer works.  Once the pattern is recognized and established(program), the mind can reproduce that pattern tirelessly(output).  This is the Gestalt(form) type of mental chemistry.  It requires an induction period but then is quite effective in operation.

Let us hear from you.  Commentary is always stimulating and educational.

Your Attitude determines your Altitude... or come fly with me

After all what is attitude?  Way back somewhere I described in one of these musings how we take in stimuli through the senses and somewhere the brain processes it and gives it meaning.  I won't go into that now, but these meanings form the basis of your attitude, your stance on things.  Somewhere back in the 60's I attended a seminar where an Industrial Psycologist defined attitude as the sum of your opinions and your experiences.  To me that was fascinating because for the first time I saw a mental or psychological process in the form or a mathematical equation...   i.e.  A = O + E where of course A is attitude, O is opinion and E is experience.  So if one were to change his attitude then he could change his opinion or experience as the case may be.  But more importantly if he could change either his opinion or his experience then his attitude would change.  And it is this change in attitude which determines the outcome of events that the devotees of the Secret propose.

Well that should give folks something to think about.  I am going on vacation next week and will be back sometime around Sept. 23 for the next post and perhaps those of you who have recognized the process in their own lives might be willing to share with us by leaving a comment or two.

Attitude is everything

Hello again folks.  I am a little late this week due to the need to catch up on my new duties as Treasurer of the Sabian Publishing Society.  Imagine me... with all that money?  OMG it makes me nervous.  Anyway, the people that have developed String Theory have postulated an infinite number of dimensions beside the four in which we have our reality.  The next stop on our mathematical journey would be the eleventh dimension, consisting of ten dimensions of space and one of time.  But even there the measurements are so small that it is hard to conceive of our human mass fitting in any way.  So we would have to become creatures of light, so to speak, if we were to go there.  In other words, the journey would be one on a quantum scale or quantum level as the case may be.  And the only thing that comes to mind is the mental processes that occur during thought, dreams....hypnosis perhaps..etc.  And what does this have to do with time travel?

The support for the arrow of time comes mostly from a paradox in which a time-travelor goes back in time and kills his grandfather before his grandfather can sire his father.  Then the the time-traveler cannot exist to go back in time and kill his grandfather.  Oh my!  There are people now who claim to have found loopholes in the grandfather paradox and as a result show that time travel is possible.  After all who would want to kill his own grandfather,  but I suppose even that is possible in this day and age.

So now back to time travel as a mental process.  There are many advocates of this process such as Burt Goldman, the American Monk who describes travel between here and parallel worlds where his doppleganger has already worked out  what are current problems in this existence. And can suggest solutions to those problems.  The folks who advocate The Secret are attempting to manipulate their current reality to bring in more favorable future outcomes.  Neuro-linguistic programmingm, self-hypnosis and the like are all processes of mind that use prior experience to effect future outcomes.  But if I could travel back in time with the purpose of making adjustments in my current or present condition, the one thing I would change above, all else. would be my attitude.  And tune in next week when I tell you about attitude and why and how it is important. 

Oh by the way, I sure would appreciate your comments and discussion.  If you cannot comment by clicking on the little pencil then please e-mail me directly at richard.charles.degeiso@gmail.com 

Time waits for no one

Back in February of this year I started this blog by inviting you all on a trip through the looking glass.  And we have traveled many places through the channels of my mind.  Last week we did a mental U-turn and came back out ot the looking glass.  This reminds me of the discussions, theories and dreams of time travel.

In the world of macro physics the arrow of time points inexoribly from past to future.  That is you cannot unscramble an egg, nor can you put toothpaste back in the tube, at least in the way it came out.  So then even if we could make a time machine then we could only travel from now to the future.  BUT we would not be able to come back.  Now in the world of the quantum this may not be so.

The results of the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) in the next year or so could very well provide evidence that the arrow of time could be reversed and allow travel not only back from the future but perhaps sideways as well as in the idea of parallel universes. 

What if we could travel through time?  Would you travel to the future to see what your present status has produced?  For instance, see what the next big company is doing and buy in when it just starts up.  Or if you are young and foolish or otherwise, would you later on be surrounded by a bunch of kids and your life be entirely home-bound?   Of course you might like that and it would be just as you planned, but then again maybe it wouldn't.

We travel through time in those moments when we remember or even when we reminisce.  We travel through time when we make future plans.  But these are not actual physical actions..  our bodies don't come along on those trips.  And next time I will tell you why.

Back Through The Looking Glass

The first post in this blog was written on Feb. 3, 2010 entitled "Follow me thru the Looking Glass".  And in that one I invited folks to share with me the products of my mind.  We have come a long way since then even.  We shared my interests in astrophysics and cosmology, my interests in science of the mind, some of my experiences as I was learning my discussion leadership skills and so on (und so veiter as the Germans say).

Some have followed from early on such as Barbara and Peg and Priscilla.  Some have tagged along later such as my strongest supporter Luke,  Mary and Marge  And some have just chosen to peek in from time to time to see what my mind is up to.

And I welcome at this time Eric M as our latest "Follower".  This brings the number of Followers to seven which I hope still continues to be a lucky number and we can continue on  at least to complete a 12-month year in Feb. of 2011.

My energies right now are focused on my really pet project.. The Sabian Assembly (http://www.sabian.org/).  And like the rest of the world we are going through a restless period where leadership is being questioned, impatience is the motive force for people taking things in their own hands and driving in different directions.  But I hope not to clutter this blog up with those distractions and by next week get back to the subjects that delight and excite me,  

As always, I appreciate your comments and relish your questions as a focal point for discussion. 

Follow Your Bliss

Well. last week I gave you the steps needed to follow your own bliss.  A journey of a thousand miles requires a first step and that first step is a clear concise mental picture of where you want to go.  The rest is a matter of following the yellow brick road.

Once you learn how to set goals, define purpose and the like, you have established a blueprint to use as a standard to compare all relationships to you.
Your acquaintances, your partners, your job, your career are all relationships that effect the quality of your daily life.  So by knowing what the corporate goals and objectives are you can tell if the company that you work for is one that will allow you room to proceed toward your own career goals for example.  Will the goals of a potential life-partner allow a partnership for you to grow as an individual while at the same time  give room and leeway for the partnership goals.

This is something that most of us do at least sub-consciously.  But perhaps if we do it consciously and deliberately maybe we can add more richness and joy to our lives as we are more in control and less buffetted by fate alone.

Let me have your comments or questions as we can all learn together.  My example last week is an actual case.  Luke continues to lose more weight(32 pounds in two months), has not smoked since Dec. '09 and his on-line business is growing at a steady rate.

This is a true story

So where do I go from here?  Now that you have successfully shaped a plan for one goal you can use the same process for any goal.  Develop a mission statement, design a  plan based on what, where, when , how and why then WRITE all this down....  the mission statement, the plan and any other notes.

Now you really should have a metric.  What I mean here is some way of measuring progress or lack thereof.  In the case of our example of last week that would obviously be weight.  So the bathroom scale measures progress as we shed those pounds on our way to losing 10 by October.  If we are not making progress in a satisfactory way, then we can go to plan B or a contingency plan.

This could simply be a matter of eating less calories or increasing the intensity or pace of our exercise.  Perhaps it could involve treatment by a physician as the case may be.

Let us go to an actual case...last week Luke left a comment on my Blog for which I am thankful... but he represents a great example of what I described above. 

Luke moved in with Barbara and I because he didn;t have anywhere to go.  He worked for me in a business that failed due to the recession.  And due to the recession he had no prospects of getting back into his original profession which was computers.  Now Luke was a heavy smoker and Barbara had a sensitive respiratory tract and never the twain shall meet.  So Barbara suggested he check out these e-cigarettes that she saw advertised on line.
She would pay for the equipment and supplies for the trial run.  She did and he did and Luke has not smoked a cigarette since December 2009.

After awhile Luke noticed that he was breathing more clearly.  And his nose and throat were clearing up as well.  But the most important development was that he began to think that if he could do it so could others.  That started his idea to open up his own internet business providing e-cigarettes to those that wanted an alternate to smoking tobacco.  http://www.vaporgalaxy.com/ He had developed purpose.. he had found a goal.  And that was to  supply e-gigarettes at a reasonable price to those who wanted a more healthy alternative to tobacco products.  But that is not the end of the story.

At this point Luke noticed that he was looking a little pudgy.  So after thirty some years on this planet, he decided to take stock.  He had his smoking habit under control and now it was time to do something about his weight.  Applying the same steps as he took to give up smoking tobacco and developing a business that provided a self-sustaining income he started a weight loss program, Power 90, based on rigorous exercise and nutrition.   So after only 60 days, 2 months that is, he has lost 30 pounds and should comfortable meet his goal by the time the 90 days are up.

If he could do all that in the space of 8 or 9 months you could do it too.  And believe it or not he has set his sights on his next goal which is to become a life coach and help others learn how to set and achieve goals in their lives. 

Am I proud of him?  You bet I am... he is my son.

A Man With A Plan..

Well folks I am a little late with this post as I spent a loooong  weekend in Lancaster, PA attending a conference of the Sabian Assembly.  We had a nice time and the meeting was very productive, but it did show what confusion and entanglements can occur when you don't have a plan.  Or for that matter when you don't pay attention to the plan you have.

In developing a plan, whether it is for a large organization or for yourself, you must consider the issues as newsreporters do.  They want to get the facts,  just the facts m'am, that identify everything about the issue that they are dealing with.  This is easily done by answering the questions what, when, where, how and in the case of your plan especially, why.  These questions lead you to a mission statement which serves to guide you and keep you focused on your goal or purpose.  The details of the answers to those questions gives the description of your plan.

For instance...    "I want to lose weight in a way that will slim me down so that I can wear my new fall outfit and look slimmer and trimmer."

What?   To lose a definite 10 pounds

When?   By my birthday in October of this year

Where?  At the kitchen table and in the gym/pool

How?     By a measured diet and a regular exercise schedule
               (specify the diet and list the days in gym/pool)

Why?     So I can feel energetic and look slimmer and younger (LOL)

If it works for you...please let us know.  You can comment below.

Watch out for that first Step

Last week we talked about creating your own new world.  And if you did that, what would it look like?  To create one you must have a plan, a blueprint or a vision.  Little girls dream of being that beautiful movie actress with all those lovely new clothes.  Little boys dream of zooming through the air as a fighter pilot destroying enemy planes or pehaps as firemen saving people from burning buildings.  It's not too late.  What do you want to do with the rest of your life?  In order to answer that question you must have something in mind.

 If you are reading this then you must have access to a computerer.  Perhaps you own one outright, perhaps you use the ones available at the library or other places.  In either case you have access to the wonderful world of the internet.  Here is where everything is... if you can ask a question then the answer is in there somewhere like a pool of consciousness which contains everything that is now and ever was and leads to everything that ever will be.

So then construct a vision and write it down.  The act of actually writing it down helps you to not only develop your vision but to record it and serve as a reminder of it everytime you re-visit it.  To see it in your mind's eye and remember what it smells like, what it feels like and what it sounds like will also firmly establish your goal in your consciousness.  The material in "The Secret" suggested making a collage as reminder of your goals.

When I teach Astrology or counsel one-on-one the main question is "what is my purpose in life?",  "why am I here?"  Those things such as goals, purpose, identity and the like all go together and are absolutely necessary for your life plan and sharing it with any other.

Next week I will describe how to go about shaping a plan to get you to that place in life that you want to be.

To Create A Brave New World

If I were a god,  a creator, how would I create my world?  Would I fashion it with blue skies, green pastures... oceans with gently rippling waves?  Would I put in storms with lightning and earthquakes and tsunamis, famine and plague?  I mean after all there was a snake even in the Garden of Eden.

God, our Creator, a higher power, or whatever so many people identify with, created our world as a bi-polar reality.  We have both black and white, good and evil and any other number of dualities.  God did not create a one-ended stick.  So in my world, my first inclination would be to make it bi-polar as well. In America today as well as Europe, Asia, India and the like, we have bounteous resources and enjoy a fairly high quality standard of living. In the third world, the standard is not so high and people have a greater challenge in every-day existence.

So since I was made in the image and likeness of my Creator,  then I would have to create a world that is not a one-ended stick also.  There would have to be opportunities for smooth and easy momentums as well as challenges to bring out the strengths and capabilities of my inhabitants.

Nowhere is this seen more than in the case  of relationships between the male and female inhabitants as they go forth and multiply.  They are attracted to each other through the senses which act as receivers for the vibrations that each send into the fabric of space and time.  When the frequency of these vibrations is the same then a resonance occurs, energy flows and the attraction is mutual.

But it is not only a mutual attraction through the senses that cements a solid and long-lasting relationship.  Individuals, whether male or female, have their own version of reality.  As in the creation of our world, the reality of all of us must have a purpose.  You, me everyone has a purpose, a goal, for their continued existence.  So then the individuals in the relationship each have their own pupose and must check to see if the partnership will support that purpose.
Next comes the construction of individual goals, if not already in existence and the desire and ability to communicate those goals.  Now the individuals can examine the partnership goals and purpose to see if they are large enough and flexible enough to encompass the goals of the individuals.

Next time I will talk more on how do we do that.

If Wishes Were Horses etc..

 My sainted grandmother used to ask me... "wish with one hand and s*** in the other and see which one fills up first".   And there is a lot of good philosophy in that old Italian homily.  Reality is here in this three dimensional world and if we want to change it then we have to deal with time and space itself.  E. Amidi describes a process where the goal or dream starts in the rational process or consciousness and proceeds to the sub-conscious which in turn connects to a super-conscous that has access to all there ever was and ever will be.

The key player here is the sub-consciuous.  The sub-conscious is a willy-nilly fellow and only does what the conscious tells it to do.  So the message has to be concise and precise.  There can be no conflicts in the instructions sent to the sub-conscious.  There can be no conditions sent to the sub-conscious.  After all, there is no bargaining with God, is there?  The highway between the consciousness and the sub-conscious is through the senses.  These sensory cues are what keeps the sub-conscious on the job in its connection with the super-consciousness.  It is like looking at things out of the corner of your eye, or as the occultists say.."through the veil".  It is like a tune that you can't keep out of your mind that reminds you of by-gone days or a future promise...it is like the smell of a fresh-baked apple pie that reminds you of the comfort and security of home.  So put up your collages.. construct your mantra.. chose a tune or song that symbolizes your goal or quest .. your preferred reality.

You can't put your dreams in a sock drawer and expect them to come true as in a Disney movie.  It is more like neuro-linguistic programming that keeps telling you that this is your reality.  And above all DO NOT LET ANYONE STEP ON YOUR DREAMS.

So folks.. let us have your comments.. your ideas.. your feelings because as we share we all grow together.   For those of you who prefer to comment in private then contact me at rcdegeiso@aol.com

The Search goes on...

The last two posts were from incidents in my own life and it wasn't for many years later in the first case and a few years later in the second that I realized what had happened and began to formalize my picture of the implication of these two events.

In going over these incidents, along with some minor ones of a similar nature, I asked my Counselor for an opinion.  Was I losing it?  Did my grief constitute a self-pity?  And in our discussion it was noted that both of the major changes came about after a strong and deep emotional loss.  Well I can't expect and don't want deep emotional losses just to see another manifestation.  What can be done perhaps rationally rather than emotionally?

At that point I remembered my training in the financial field where we were introduced to Napoleon Hill and his "Think and Grow Rich".  After that by a space of some years came Oprah and her introduction of "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne.  Others included James Anthony Ray with his emphasis on intentions, Michael J. Losier with Neural Linquistic programming and Dr. Erich Amidi  in "The Secret Behind The Secret" with the most elegant and simple description of the process itself.  These were all rational approaches and no doubt had lead to success for many people including the proponents themselves.
 But there were enough disappointments to throw up a caution flag.

The next time we meet I will tell you about my observations on the current attempts to create an alternate world of success in most things.  In the meantime I encourage you to share your experiences and thoughts so that we all might learn how to create a brave and happy new world.

Second Coming

Last week I told you about the first time I experienced a manifestation and today I am going to tell you about the second manifestation that I had and the events leading up to it.  The first I described in detail on  2/18/2010 entitled "The Purpose Behind The Journey".

That manifestation was consumated in 1971 and lasted until 2005 with the passing of Suzanne. 

The time after that was spent in private reflection on the impact that a sudden and unexpected event of that magnitude can have on a life.  Nighttime was the worst.  Many nights were spent fighting the demons of "what could I have done" and "How could I have done it better" and many other creepy crawlies that  made it difficult to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.  But when I felt the tickling, coursing sensation of cortisol running through my veins, I knew that I had come to a fork in the road.  Either I continued on this way until I too passed into another dimension or I got some help to set me onto another journey in this world.   So I contacted a  Counselor who was recommended to me by my Doctor and we talked about grief and the reconciling of the issues of so wrenching a change.  But I needed social support as well.

About that time I got an e-mail.  This was an inquiry to a profile I had posted on a social site that I had completely forgotten about.  It started out by saying "Hi Hotstuff".  While that was flattering, I didn't see much prospect for a relationship with someone from so far away as Syracuse New York.  But the words on the screen took on a warm, kind and considerate flavor with a keen sense of humor.  This lead us to explore more personal interests and likes and dislikes.  So we met for the first time late in 2006.  After that, mutual visits showed that we could have our individual goals and interests within the environment of a partnership with shared goals and interests. In the spring of 2007 we became partners and established a common base in Pennsylvania.

When I mentioned this to my Counselor, the suggestion was made that both situations appeared to be precipitated after a very deep and emotional loss.  And I did agree with that and I could see the trigger being something through the emotions.  But what draws my curiousity is how to manifest knowingly, rationally and deliberately.

Perhaps some of you out there have had similar experiences and would be willing to share so that we could all learn how to improve our lives by controlling our reality.  Let us have your comments please.

My own personal Manifestations

Well folks, I hope that I am back on schedule now and posting my thoughts on either Thursday or Friday.  I got two comments on my last post and the one from
Role Models and Other Fine Things stimulates the subject for today. She wanted to know how this has worked for me.

The first time I was conscious of something of a manifestation was when I was in the process of divorce.  I couldn't believe that this could happen to me.  I was married to my high school sweetheart for 16 years and we had two very fine children, a girl and a boy.   We had money, position in society, and really what some people could say was a good life.  But something was not right.  The only solution that seemed to make sense was separation and later on divorce. 

This was the emotional environment that I was in at my middle to late thirties as I was confronted with living alone for the first time since my college days.  While our separation was amicable and my ex-wife helped me move in and get started there was this imensely oppressive feeling of loneliness and 'where do we go from here' feeling.  Then I had a mystical experience. 

A stray cat come around my ground-floor apartment.  A friendly little animal and of course I fed it and looked forward to it being there when I came home from work.  One night as I was playing with the cat. Shadow by name, I had this strange thought that it would be nice if it would change into a real-life female to fill the gap in my world.  Pop! I felt the world shift when that very night I met a single parent just about my age.  We became friendly and she later introduced me to her room-mate and the three of us formed a fairly stable group.  But there still was something missing and a just-before-the-storm feelng.

At about the same time I formed my association with the Sabian Assembly, which has lasted until this day.  My activities with the Assembly introduced me to a young women.  She was single, attractive and quite intelligent.  Our intellectual activities lead to more social leanings and eventually we got married.
The marriage lasted over 34 years and we had two very fine sons as a result.

This I can say was the first time I recognized a manifestation of a burning desire.

Next week I will tell of the second time this happened to me and the circumstances surrounding it.

The Pool of Consciousness

Well folks, I must appologize for the time I have been away from my desk.  I have been working on a task for the Sabian Assembly which kept me occuppied for the better part of a week.  But now I can get back to my train of thought where I was describing the process behind the Law of Attraction (LOA).   There are no co-incidences in our world.  We draw things to us and create a reality out of the recesses of our minds as we work both consciously and sub-consciously toward a destiny of our own choosing.  And the process I was describing was a deliberate attempt to make something happen  to our definite advantage and liking.

To pick up where I left off, the desired outcome is formed in the consciousness.  There must be a strong desire for this to happen or your desire becomes just a wish, a whim, and nothing of consequence can happen as it remains in the realm of 'might have been'.  The consciousness has the power to shape this dream, this vision, through the senses at its command to create the pattern for the sub-conscious to relay, in turn, the desired object to the pool of consciousness or super-conscious for want of a better term.  And it is from this state that the conditions are organized to make the dream or vision manifest.

So it all starts with a strong desire for a favorable outcome of some sort.  This is followed by a visualization of what this outcome should be.   And at this point I must add a word of caution.  In scoping your vision be as precise as possible so that when it manifests it does so in a way that you want and not in some chimera that can only bring more misery.  The old adage... be careful what you wish for..etc. etc. etc..  This vision or dream must be repeated many times to continually keep it posted in your sub-conscious mind.   And when it comes to fruition, reverence it because it is your own personal creation.

Let me say one thing in closing.  The strong desire is the most important because this is where the journey begins.  Some of us have this thrust upon us as we encounter many challenges in life.  Others lead a quiet and un-eventful life but with a sense of making a greater contribution of some sort.  And it is with these people in mind that I tell the following story on how to recognize a strong and burning desire.
      The Buddha and his disciple were walking beside a stream, when the desciple said "Master how can I know when I have a burning desire and not just a simple whim?"  The Buddha said "come with me" as he lead his disciple to the river.  They both walked into the river and the Buddha immediately pushed the head of the disciple under water and held it there.  The disciple, with absolute faith that his Master knew what he was doing allowed this to happen.  But after awhile the Master would not let up and the disciple was feeling the effects of not breathing.  Finally with a desparate burst of strength the disciple threw off his Guru's hands and struggled to get his head above the water.   "Master" he said "why did you do  that to me?  I almost drowned".  The Buddha answered.  "When your head was held under the water, what was your most burning desire?"  The disciple said " it was to get my head above water and avoid drowning to death".  The Buddha said "when you have a desire as strong as that then you will know that it is not just a whim or a wish."

Perhaps you too have a burning desire ... let us hear from you

The first step... Make up your mind

Last week I promised to show you how to manifest things and make the Law of Attraction (LOA) work for you.

A couple of years ago, perople were excited about a book and movie called "The Secret".  This was featured on Oprah Winfrey's tv program and had inputs from a number of the personalities who helped make the book happen.  However there have been a number of poeple who have been disappointed in the process.

When I was with Primerica, the Saffords, namely Bob Sr. introduced us to the work of Napoleon Hill.  This was written up in the book "Think and Grow Rich".  The starting point and perhaps the key was to first establish a strong and burning desire.  You really had to want it bad.  Then next you had to articulate it.   Carefully and precisely describe it.  Write it down.  To have something physical to refer to is most important to what I am going to describe to you.

Now that it is written down... post it somewhere in a prominent place or places.  i.e. your bathroom mirror, the visor of your car etc..  Collect pictures and other reminders of what it is you want... you need to keep your vision alive.  Athletes do this all the time...visualization.  Create a mantrum.  This is the subliminal power of advertising jingles.  It remains in your sub-consciousness and this is the goal for the LOA.  Create the reality as you see it in your sub-consciousness. Did you ever get a tune in your head that kept coming back time after time?

The sub-consciousness will continue to work 24/7 as it connects with the super-consciousness and about that we will talk further next week...  Let me have your coments... let me have your questions.

I Think Therefore It Happens

Last week, Peg left the following comment  on some things I said about our senses etc..

"Regarding last week's post about our senses, what interests me is covered in The Secret and what some call The Law of Attraction: that thoughts have a frequency and Like Attracts Like. The Concieve-Believe-Achieve theory, The Power of your Subconscious Mind. I think we are able to do a lot more than we realize we can do, if we make use of all our facilities."

There is no question that we are able to do a lot more than we think we can do.  We limit ourselves by negative thoughts and visions of impossibility.    Now some things are impossible under the circumstances such as neither I nor Peg will dunk a basketball unless the baskets come down from their present height of ten feet or we get a ladder or something.  But when it comes to manifesting things that we want in life then that is a different story.

In the early 1900's Napoleon Hill interviewed Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie took him on as friend and confidante.  In 1939 Hill published a book based on the success stories of Carnegie as well as other wealthy men of that era.  That book was Think and Grow Rich. And the time was right in America for men and perhaps women as well to develop an idea and accumulate wealth as a result.  This had its parallel in Genesis when God took unformed substance and gave it activity to form the earth and the stars as well.  Hill discusses in his book the secrets and practices of these wealthy men which allowed them to think and dream and visualize how to manifest those into material wealth and abundance.

Eric Amidi, also known as "Dr. E", gave the best description of the process in his book titled The Secret Behind the Secret.   He described the process as from the consciousness to the sub-consciousness to what may be called a super-consciousness.  This super-consciousness is sometimes described as a pool of consciousness or other repository where everything is stored that ever has been, is now and ever will be.  So the thought goes from the consciousness to the sub-consciousness to the super-consciousness from where it is manifested into material things.  So thoughts go from the consciousness to the sub-consciousness to super-consciousness for manifestation.  And this is reminiscent of some of the ideas coming out of quantum physics today.

Next week I will discuss how this is made to happen.  In the meantime let us have your comments since they do stimulate ideas and discussion.

A change of pace...

I decided to take a week off from thinking about the cosmos, black holes, alternate universes and whatever.  So my thoughts dwelt on Mother's Day.  Even though it takes a father to make a mother, to the temporary tenant it is the Mother who has cradled it for nine months about and then introduced it to the fantastic reality that is this world.  Nothing can replace that experience.

I loved my mother and if she were alive she would be 95 today.  And we would be celebrating both her birthday and tomorrow Mother's day as well.

So to all those mothers who ever were, who are now and who will be in the future..  i say to you  Happy Mother's Day.

Where do we go from here?

On Apr. 25, 2010 Margery wrote a comment to the post of Mar. 25, 2010 entitled "Will the real world please stand up"

"I have often thought there are more than five senses. One simple one is sense of time. For example I can plan to nap for 15 minutes, and will wake after exactly 15 minutes with no clock within sight, and pleasant dreams that do not involve counting. We understand time is easily denoted by past, present, and future but I believe there is more than that basic concept. Perhaps some quantum universes exist in a variation of time, rather than space, and perhaps time is what absorbs the energy from our dead bodies. ??"

Some people do have a sense of time duration and probably do not need an alarm clock  or rooster to signal an event.   And there are many indications of extra-sensory perception.  But time itself along with the three dimensions of space make up the basic reality of our present conscious existence.  The physicists recognize an infinite number of dimemsions of which our fourth dimension along with the elevnth and the twenty sixth appear to be the ones of particular interest to them.   The others appear to be rolled up into very small dimensions that make it hard to visualize.  The relative sizes of these dimensions make it difficult to see how matter itself can make the journey and therefore the body must stay behind in this dimension.  Of course the soul or consciousness or whatever  being of the nature of energy can travel literally to whatever destination and thereby make the trip to other dimensions, other worlds ... other universes.

These are just my thoughts and do not represent the conclusions of any other.  I list them here for the opportunity to generate discussion from others on where they think that the process of death leads to.....  Let us hear from you.

Some more connectedness

As it happens so many times, while writing on connectedness in last weeks' post, my attention came to an old books-on-tape edition of "Stranger in a strange land" by Robert Heinlein.  In this book the hero is a young lad who was conceived during a space travel between earth and mars.  The crew were selected couples so the opportunity for something like that was very large.  The space ship lost contact and was never heard from again.  Years later another mission was launched to mars and it found a young man, an earthling, who was raised by the martians.

The young man, Michael Valentine Smith, was brought back to earth and literally fought over by the politicians, scientists and the like.  Meanwhile he is brought under the protection of a small group of people who help him assimilate into the earth culture.  At the same time the influence of the martian culture began to rub off Smith onto the earthlings who formed that protective group.

This allowed Heinlein to present terms such as 'grok' or grokking', water-sharing, and a totally 'new' concept of love perhaps in a universal sense.

To grok was to know with a perfect understanding of all aspects of the concept or object in question.. with people it was a mutually merging rapport.  The water sharing was a ritual which symbolized the bond between humans.  And since martians did not recognize the difference between sexes it was a universal sharing that made all being 'water brothers' both men and women.  Love is the unconditional love that is talked about between some animals and humans and only rarely between humans themselves.   This is an emotional bond so complete that it transcends all the petty needs of personal ego. 

I could go on and write a complete book repoort but then that might spoil it for those who are interested and ready to think about those terms.  There are flashes of science fiction about the story but the underlying philosophy is appealing to those who can see beyond the everyday greed and jockeying for position in our culture today.  And it is this connectedness that is perhaps the salvation of our human race as we careen toward the future.




 

Connectedness

What is this thing called Connectedness?  Is it a sympathy that strikes a cord when we see others in difficulty?  Not really.  Perhaps because to walk a mile in another person's shoes is not to experience the bad times, the sad times but to experience the happy times, the exalting times as well.

Look at the little people.  Look at the children.  They seem to sense the moods and emotions of other children and adults as well.  When they are in nurseries or other groups, perhaps even when only two or more are together, they not only sense but respond to the moods and emotions of those around them.  This is not sympathy but perhaps is better described as empathy.  It is as if one gives off vibrations of a frequency that the other  can resonate to.  And the response is instantaneous and complete.

A great teacher once said, "only as ye be as children can you enter the kingdom of Heaven".  Are the children showing us what we have lost in our sophistication as adults?  Do we have to re-capture the empathy, the connectedness in order to travel to other dimensions?  Can we find a way such as time travel or is energy the key as in some Star Trek transporter?

Spirituality - the synthesis of Science and Religion

We live in a Religious world. A world depending on ritual and things taken on faith or hearsay. Regardless of Monotheism or Paganism there is always a hierarchy of entities or a "we-they" approach to everything. Things and events are pre-determined in some universal script or plot.

We live in a Scientific world where things are determined with great precision. A world where everything is related to everything else. A world where technology has given us the privilege of practically instantaneous communication. And a curiousity to poke our nose into anything that we have a mind to. But are we truly "our brother's keeper"?

That comes in the synthesis of Science and Religion. That comes with Spirituality. Spirituality is Religion without the need for blind faith and public ritual. Spirituality is Science without the need for predictability or a cause for every effect. Is it necessary to bring everything into the laboratory to accept it's existence? Perhaps as the world grows more spiritually and we become more conscious of the connectedness of all things then the synthesis will become complete and we can benefit from all three parts of the trichotomy.

What is this connectedness that is a result of our acceptance of Spirituality? This I shall describe in next week's post as I tell you the story of little people helping little people.

Are near-death experiences a glimpse of parallel worlds?

There have been many stories of 'near death experiences' where the individual has an out-of-body sensation. A white light appears at the end of a tunnel and perhaps the entity meets with relatives who have passed over before. But for some reason, the entity was not ready for that existence and was returned to this world.. this conscious existence.

The process of death when looked at from this perspective is very reminiscent of the description that some give for travel between parallel universes. Could it be that conscious existence needs the oxygen and other nutrients to retain it's grip on this world and when it is deprived of those nutrients it then passes through some as yet unknown portal into a parallel universe to continue it's existence on what some call another plane? Curious that this is being written on the day before Good Friday when Jesus was crucified and rose again on the third day and then again disappeared for good. Is this an example of travel between parallel worlds? Is this a near death experience followed by a permanent passing to another existence? Or is this an example of where Science and Religion are synthesized into Spirituality?

Will the real World please stand up??

Have you ever considered how we know about the real world that we live in? Let me share how I worked it out for me.

We take in input through the senses.. all 5 of them.
The input from any one of these senses connects to the brain and triggers a reaction which involves electrochemical and neurological responses. And the first one is.. do I fight or flee? Do I like it and embrace it or do I reject it because it might be harmful to me..and I run like blazes. This experience goes to the brain where a special part of the brain perhaps we call mind gives meaning and value to this experience and stores it for future consideration.

This whole process involves consciousness. As far as I know this does not go on during an unconscious state. Although there may be some states of consciousness, altered states, where this process or something like this does go on.

So we are conscious of this world and those things in it. What is consciousness then? Is it awareness?
But that doesn't seem to be an inclusive enough idea. So my definition above of the sense receptors and the interaction with the brain/mind seem to be a good enough starting point.

Then we have emotions.. these are the responses to those sense stimuli. When we are delighted with the result we smile.. when we get a distasteful result we frown or cry or some other way show our disapproval. So we always see the result of consciousness, emotion and the like but it is difficult if not impossible to measure in the way that other variables are measured like weight and height and so forth. Could it be that is because these things are energy and do not have mass or weight. Has anyone measured the speed of a thought or the weight of a smile?

It is accepted in physics that energy can never be created nor destroyed but must always be conserved.
What happens to that energy associated with the living processes when we die.. when consciousness leaves for good?

Well now readers.. let me have your thoughts on this as we forge ahead with that focus next week. Click on the comment tab and let me hear from you..

Reality is what Reality does...

The latest development of interest to the phyicists, at least the quantum phyicists, is the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider.  This experiment is expected to show the existence of some very exotic sub-atomic particles as well as black holes and perhaps the existence of multiple universes.

Michio Kaku in his book "Parallel Worlds" says ,,,"either there is a cosmic consciousness which watches over us all or else there are an infinite number of quantum universes."

For the sake of this discussion, let us focus on the infinite number of quantum universes.  Should this be proven to be something that is part of our reality then this opens up a lot of exciting questions.  How do we get from one to another?  Can we come back to our own(present) universe?  What effects can occur  with two copies of the same "me" in that one universe? But before I get off on that subject let me ask for your comments. What do you think of this possibility? What might you do with such an opportunity? or is it???

Spirituality... the third element

While driving to a doctor's appointment, my mother-in-law made an observation that stimulated my thinking.  She commented that "people don't  send their children to church anymore."  At that, my thoughts wandered around to the international scene where there was out-right battle between the Muslims and the Jews.  The Muslims had their own Jihad against the Christian world and the other religions were stirring to be heard.  With the growing financial crisis and the polarization between the rich and the poor, the middle class was disappearing.  And there went a large segment of support for a religious background for the young boys and girls as they were maturing physically and mentally.  There were many other factors impacting this struggle between Science and Religion, but the fact remains that as technology was producing more and more gadgets and conveniences, the Church as such was thinning out. 

Nature cannot tolerate an imbalance such as was developing between Science and Religion so that the time is ripe for the prominence of the third element. And the third element is Spirituality.

Spirituality is religion without the ritual.  We have made great strides when we went from a pantheon of gods to a monotheistic approach.  But we still have separate understanding and even names for that one god.  This has left us open to strife and struggle and even wars in the name of religion.  Whereas the Spiritual approach is to recognize the connnectedness of all things and our worship is the relationship of man, animal, environment and everything else that makes up our reality.

Spirituality is science without the arrogance to think that we "may know the mind of God".  Because without a belief in a higher power then there is no hope.  It is hope that urges mankind on to overcome difficulties and reach out to a better life.  And it is hope and a belief in a higher power that allows us to visualize a reality that drives us further and further toward our potential.

So in our trichotomy we need the facts of science, the belief of religion and the hope of spirituality to create a reality anchored in this existence.

Next week I will speak to this reality.

Trichotomy... a new kid on the block

Today I'm going to tell you about a trichotomy.  In most cases we can think of things in terms of opposites...'what is it? and what is it not?'  And that approach to philosophical thought has worked for millennia and still does work even to this day.  For instance, take black and white ... these are opposite concepts.  But they can't describe everything,  especially in this modern,
 high-tech, fast-paced world we live in today.  The third element would be a synthesis of the two concepts and it results in gray.

The opposites I'm going to touch on now are the concepts of Science and Religion.  Both of these begin with a thought or an idea.  In Science, the thought  or idea must be developed by an experiment or a reduction to some practical demonstration and preferably it must be measureable.  The demonstration must be reproducible anywhere at any time and it must produce the same results.  This is the so-called scientific method.  In Religion, all of reality was created by a Supreme Being and the understanding of that creation was provided by the spokesmen of the various churches around the world.  The authenticity of the particular doctrine most always was by divine revelation and ritualization was the means by which the revelation was encouraged.

So then Science required provable demonstration and Religion accepted events and outcomes on the basis of faith.  For example, the doctrine that the earth was the center of the universe was a carryover from the millennia when astrology was the only scientific procedure.  And it wasn't until Gallileo and Newton and others showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Sun was the center of our solar system and there was even more beyond that.  This left us with a cosmology that started with a Big Bang but Science could not say what there was before the Big Bang and Religion could only say that the Big Bang was the work of God.

The time was ripe for the introduction of the Trichotomy.  The Trichotomy represents a synthesis of both Science and Religion.  And this is what I will speak about in next Thursday's Blog.

Science and Religion

Ever since the dark of time, Science and Religion have been engaged in a tug of war.  Science was the realm of the philosophers and astrologers while Religion was in the hands of the Priesthood.  And this lead to a dualistic perception of reality.  There was good and evil... there was God and Satan as these forces opposed each other in a seemingty endless battle. 

It was the Greeks.  Somewhere between 400 and 600 B.C. the Greek philosophers realized that a third element was needed in order to explain reality.   Things could no longer be either black or white there had to be something in between.  Perhaps a shade of gray.  And the gap between philosophical thought and observation began to narrow.  Heaven and Hell had to have a purgatory.  The opposition between substance and form was mediated by activity.  And so it was for perhaps the next 2500 years.

Newton was the last giant to comment on the deterministic aspect of reality.  The measurement of the relationship between mass and distance as the reason for the attraction between two bodies and the ability to make rather precise measurements of the effect of gravity lead the world to a new understanding.
But it was Einstein who introduced the third element with his statement of the relativity of all things.

Thanks to Albert Einstein we are now traveling at light speed and there was no holding back on the development of human thought and an understanding of the universe we live in.  But it was Neils Bohr and the other physicists who developed the theories of quantum physics who brought us to where we are today and the opportunity to bring into play the third factor between Science and Religion and that is... Spirituality.

Next week I will tell you about the developments in quantum physics and how I think that this approach could answer a lot of questions about Science, Religion and Spirituality and what are the possibilities beyond that.  So keep tuned and don't be hesitant about asking questions or makinig comments.  This is easily done by posting a comment and I promise to answer every one.

The Purpose Behind the Journey

Well folks.. it's Thursday again and that is the day on which I chose to write something in my Blog.  Today I am going to tell you about why I realized a relationship between Science, Religion and Spirituality.

It all started the day my wife of over 34 years died.  Suzanne was a very quiet person with a very persceptive personality, honed by many years as an operating room nurse.  She loved being a Nurse and kept up with all the latest developments in the healthcare field from medicine to new procedures to heal us, patch us up and otherwise keep us healthy.  So you see, I and our boys had access to the best health advice that anyone could get.

But, that did not help Suzanne.  Sometime in the early 80's she contracted what was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis.  We were living in a semi-rural community in western Michigan.  The Docs there did what they knew best and that was to load her  up with huge doses of aspirin.  But that wasn't the answer.  When she turned as yellow as a lemon and had virtually no strength I literally carried her to the car and took her to the nearest large city where they were able to stabilize her with gold compounds.  And from there the beat goes on.

In 1986 we were transferred back to Delaware.   Here we had access to more knowledgeable doctors... more sophisticated drugs.  But even that didn't help. She gradually deterioated as treatment proceded.  Being a member of the medical community, she was given every consideration.  New drugs were tried.  But some almost killed her on the spot and others were about as effective as a mosquito bite on an elephant.  And she became a chemical dump.

Then just before Thanksgiving, 2005, she announced that she had to go into the hospital as an outpatient for some gall bladder treatment.  And she didn't think that it was necessary for anyone to take her there because..."she would be back home the same day".  It never happened.  Somehow her gall bladder was nicked or whatever and she aspirated fluid into her lungs and contracted a chemical pneumonia.  They moved her to ICU that weekend and of course we visited her to give support and cheering up. 

That Monday, a cold and dreary Monday, I received a call from the hospital that Suzanne, my wife of over 34 years, was dead due to complications of the gall bladder surgery.

It was then that I became personally introduced to death as a reality.   My parents had both died.  But, it was at a time when I was out of town and not exposed to the intimate delails of their death.  My sister also died in another state, out of time, out of mind.  Now the cold realization of the short time we have on this earth came hurtling down on me like a bolt from the blue.


It was quite a few months later that I realized that the calm and control that I had during the days and weeks after the funeral was only  gossamer-thin.  I had to understand about life and death and where do we go after that.  So I went into grief-counseling for perspective and I sat down for some reasoning beyond that of heaven, hell and purgatory as the ultimate destination.  And that part of the journey I will describe for you next week.

Conversations with myself

Hello World... I decided that after all my years on this planet that I should put down my thoughts to see how insane I really was. Everyone is insane of course, because to be not insane is to be normal and average and really uninteresting... I am goiing to share my thoughts with those who care to join me and comment and throw in their own two cents.




My thoughts started out probably when I was ten years old and they didn't make much sense. I was raised as catholic with sunday school and bible studies as my resources and well aware of the Jewish and Muslim alternative. But as you yourself may have been caught up, there were more questions than answers.



Then I went off to school to study science, Chemistry exactly and after reaching the PhD level I enjoyed a thirty four year career with a large Chemical company. In the meantime there were many fascinating discoveries and developments in the science field especially in cosmology and physics. So

archeology, paleontology and the like were able to put a new spin on those things addressed and related to in the Bible, the Koran and other ancient writings such as the dead sea scrolls.



The third element to come into play is Spirituality. The advent of the internet, cable television and much more connectedness around the world has awakened people to questions about themselves and the reality around them in a totally new way that is different than the formal religions that we depended on in our childhood.



My own observations are that Science, Religion and Spirituality are coming together to give us a totally new world view. It is from this point of view that I intend to express myself through the blog. The title I have chosen is "Conversations with myself" to address the little dialogs that each of us have when we self-talk and have absolutely no limitations on time and space and let imagination, visualization and creativity completely have a free rein..



Next week I will tell you about how I came to this point of sharing my conversations and so begins the journey. draft 12:41:00 PM by Thewalrussez Delete

Follow me thru the Looking Glass

The time has come the Walrus said... I have always thought of writing my thoughts down, but I always figured that no one would be interested in reading them... I did what so many before me did.. I wrote a Blog. At this point I have no idea how many people would be intersted in what I say or even comment on my presentations. But, it is like something that has to come out. I don't plan on sticking to any one particular subject. As I get comments or suggestions then that will guide me on subject and frequency.