It is fun to look up the definition of words. Usually I learn something about a word's evolution that surprises me and sheds light where I didn't expect it.
One example is the word "sentience". Normal usage often refers to intelligent consciousness. Wikipedia points out that it refers to the ability to sense. For me, that made a bunch of things fall into place.
The closer one looks at the makeup of matter, the more one realizes that everything is made out of communications. Photons, gluons, gravitons and the like are the communications between particles. They are the glue that holds matter together. They are the forces that hold matter apart. Every piece of matter is sensing its neighbors.
Everything is sentient.
I suspect that if we look closer, we will find that it is plenty intelligent too.
We don't need to search the universe for sentient life.
Life pervades us at every level.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
The need to creed
It is starting to make sense.
An anthropologist type guy pointed out to me that religion is very important to our survival. The main thing that sets us apart from other species is our ability to build large complex societies. That is what drives our success and our population boom in the last ten thousand years.
To pull a group of people together into a functioning group requires a set of common beliefs. Common beliefs are the glue that holds the social body together. A strong passionate set of beliefs will create a strong passionate group.
It is little wonder that we have genes that make us yearn for cosmic truth. We are hungry for a sense of some truth bigger than we are; a truth that will inspire others who will then adopt it with passion.
We are genetically programmed so that each time someone accepts one of our truths, we get a little reward in our brains. That creates bonds between us in the same way that the hormone oxytocin creates bonds when we share physical pleasures.
Our need to creed creates strong and vibrant social bodies.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Fun time, fun camera
I have to marvel at how well the little pocket camera works with a combination of front light and back light. We were at Pine River's winter festival last night and got lots of shots like these...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Tiny view
Compared to the silent knowledge of meditation, I find that any attempt to pull God into religion, no matter how well it is done, is somewhat impoverishing. Similar to the fact that words are inadequate to describe the trancendent, pulling God into any form or organization is inherently limiting.
It is also the only way we can know anything. We pick a point of view; create words as handles to manipulate our concept; and think of that little piece of the all as something real.
It is also the only way we can know anything. We pick a point of view; create words as handles to manipulate our concept; and think of that little piece of the all as something real.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
I'm the pupil
Prayer is talking.
Meditation is LISTENING.
Which one helps us learn more?
Lucid meditation, like lucid dreams, lets you ask questions to change the course of the teaching.
It is a two way conversation; master and pupil.
Meditation is LISTENING.
Which one helps us learn more?
Lucid meditation, like lucid dreams, lets you ask questions to change the course of the teaching.
It is a two way conversation; master and pupil.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Pass it around
After seeing this quote on George's blog, I decided it really is time to recirculate this wisdom to everyone in our nation.
"A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts."
--Tao Te Ching
"A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts."
--Tao Te Ching
Monday, October 30, 2006
The power to predict
Perhaps the most practical description of intelligence is “the power to predict”. So far, I can’t think of any example of intelligence that does not fit that definition. Prediction seems to be the whole reason for it to exist.
You and I seem to live in the bizarre situation where we are constantly traveling in a direction we cannot see. We have to steer, but we can only see where we have already been. In order to travel well, we have to make intelligent guesses about how to steer, based on what we just passed; lines on the road, the nature of obstacles we almost hit, what our neighbors are hitting. This must be a fun game because judging from the crowds it is very popular. One strategy to do well in this game is to develop intelligence.
Now consider a being that lives outside of time. This being can view time as just another dimension in space. She could “see” history at a glance. Past and future have no meaning. Different times are simply different locations on a landscape.
This being has no need for intelligence; there is nothing to predict. She would seem to us to be super intelligent and wise and knowledgeable. To us she would appear to be omniscient and omnipresent
You and I seem to live in the bizarre situation where we are constantly traveling in a direction we cannot see. We have to steer, but we can only see where we have already been. In order to travel well, we have to make intelligent guesses about how to steer, based on what we just passed; lines on the road, the nature of obstacles we almost hit, what our neighbors are hitting. This must be a fun game because judging from the crowds it is very popular. One strategy to do well in this game is to develop intelligence.
Now consider a being that lives outside of time. This being can view time as just another dimension in space. She could “see” history at a glance. Past and future have no meaning. Different times are simply different locations on a landscape.
This being has no need for intelligence; there is nothing to predict. She would seem to us to be super intelligent and wise and knowledgeable. To us she would appear to be omniscient and omnipresent
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Not consumers; Participators
Society is the brain. Individual people are the neurons.
As a student of neural networks, I was fascinated when the internet first got popular. This meant that the giant brain that we live in suddenly became much more connected. In neural nets, that usually means much smarter and able to learn much faster. I was wondering how that might manifest in society.
There is a pwerful new movement afoot. The awesome power of its timeliness struck me when I began to hear it explained this way...
People are so tired of being "consumers".
They want to be producers.
The author of an upcoming book "We-Think" phrases it this way
Google paying close on £900m for Youtube, a profitless business little more than a year old. Wikipedia continues to draw more traffic than much more established media brands, employing hundreds more people. Open source programmes such as Linux insistently chip away at corporate providers of proprietary software. Immersive multi user computer games, such as Second Life, which depend on high levels of user participation and creativity are booming. Craigslist a self help approach to searching for jobs and other useful stuff is eating into the ad revenues of newspapers. Youth magazines such as Smash Hits have been overwhelmed by the rise of social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo. What is going on?
We-Think: the power of mass creativity is about what the rise of the likes of Wikipedia and Youtube, Linux and Craigslist means for the way we organise ourselves, not just in digital businesses but in schools and hospitals, cities and mainstream corporations. My argument is that these new forms of mass, creative collaboration announce the arrival of a society in which participation will be the key organising idea rather than consumption and work. People want to be players not just spectators, part of the action, not on the sidelines.
Check out his pre release book and help him edit it.
As a student of neural networks, I was fascinated when the internet first got popular. This meant that the giant brain that we live in suddenly became much more connected. In neural nets, that usually means much smarter and able to learn much faster. I was wondering how that might manifest in society.
There is a pwerful new movement afoot. The awesome power of its timeliness struck me when I began to hear it explained this way...
People are so tired of being "consumers".
They want to be producers.
The author of an upcoming book "We-Think" phrases it this way
Google paying close on £900m for Youtube, a profitless business little more than a year old. Wikipedia continues to draw more traffic than much more established media brands, employing hundreds more people. Open source programmes such as Linux insistently chip away at corporate providers of proprietary software. Immersive multi user computer games, such as Second Life, which depend on high levels of user participation and creativity are booming. Craigslist a self help approach to searching for jobs and other useful stuff is eating into the ad revenues of newspapers. Youth magazines such as Smash Hits have been overwhelmed by the rise of social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo. What is going on?
We-Think: the power of mass creativity is about what the rise of the likes of Wikipedia and Youtube, Linux and Craigslist means for the way we organise ourselves, not just in digital businesses but in schools and hospitals, cities and mainstream corporations. My argument is that these new forms of mass, creative collaboration announce the arrival of a society in which participation will be the key organising idea rather than consumption and work. People want to be players not just spectators, part of the action, not on the sidelines.
Check out his pre release book and help him edit it.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Observations about anger
When you have anger welling up inside you, It reduces the clear headed thinking it takes to deal with people around you.
It is good to discuss what bugs you and get into the daylight. Keeping anger under-communicated is very similar to nutrients being held in anaerobic conditions. It festers and stinks and is toxic to our kind of life. Way better to expose it to just enough fresh air to let friendly critters break it down into healthy soil.
Eventually it will nourish you.
It is good to discuss what bugs you and get into the daylight. Keeping anger under-communicated is very similar to nutrients being held in anaerobic conditions. It festers and stinks and is toxic to our kind of life. Way better to expose it to just enough fresh air to let friendly critters break it down into healthy soil.
Eventually it will nourish you.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Tell your story
Have you ever wondered why fame and fortune are usually in the same context? It is no accident that the two are linked. When you ask “What is she famous for?” you are asking “What is her theme?”
You don’t have to be a superstar to make good use of the principles behind fame and fortune. It is very basic and applies well to your job, your business, and your personal life.
People love to help. If they think you have a theme, every time they run across something that reminds them of that theme, they will think of you. They will buy you gifts or send you information associated with that theme. It makes them feel good about you, and therefore talk well about you.
Some experts say, the most important part of running your business (perhaps your life too) is telling your story. It is a valuable skill to be able to explain what you do and why, fast enough and clearly enough to get the message through before your listener runs out of attention span.
One important version is your elevator story. That is the short one that can get the point across in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
Practice counts. Nearly everyone you talk to is another opportunity to fine tune your story. You want your story to hit the target (the listener’s psyche), so you sharpen and hone it to a fine edge, able to cut through the mental noise and piles of debris left by all the other stories.
Repetition counts. It is just as important for YOU to hear your story over and over as it is for anyone else. It helps create theme and focus in your life. It helps you define (and thus fine tune) your sense of purpose.
Your story helps create a point of view and a platform to act from. It also becomes a moral force in your life. Each time you tell your story, you are listening. You decide if you like what you hear. You feel the reactions from your listener. You fine tune it to better serve you and your listener.
The quality of your story defines the quality of your life.
Are you making yours better?
You don’t have to be a superstar to make good use of the principles behind fame and fortune. It is very basic and applies well to your job, your business, and your personal life.
People love to help. If they think you have a theme, every time they run across something that reminds them of that theme, they will think of you. They will buy you gifts or send you information associated with that theme. It makes them feel good about you, and therefore talk well about you.
Some experts say, the most important part of running your business (perhaps your life too) is telling your story. It is a valuable skill to be able to explain what you do and why, fast enough and clearly enough to get the message through before your listener runs out of attention span.
One important version is your elevator story. That is the short one that can get the point across in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
Practice counts. Nearly everyone you talk to is another opportunity to fine tune your story. You want your story to hit the target (the listener’s psyche), so you sharpen and hone it to a fine edge, able to cut through the mental noise and piles of debris left by all the other stories.
Repetition counts. It is just as important for YOU to hear your story over and over as it is for anyone else. It helps create theme and focus in your life. It helps you define (and thus fine tune) your sense of purpose.
Your story helps create a point of view and a platform to act from. It also becomes a moral force in your life. Each time you tell your story, you are listening. You decide if you like what you hear. You feel the reactions from your listener. You fine tune it to better serve you and your listener.
The quality of your story defines the quality of your life.
Are you making yours better?
Saturday, September 30, 2006
The mandate to create
It is usually a compliment to tell someone that they are creative. At least in our society, (and I suspect in our soul) we have a drive to create. Usually if we have an innate drive, there is a deep reason that helps us survive.
So why do we seem to have a mandate to create?
So why do we seem to have a mandate to create?
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Synchronicity
It is vaguely similar to déjà vu, but happens much more often. The last day or two has almost been weird how many things appeared just minutes after I wondered about them. It goes beyond mere coincidence. Carl Jung called it synchronicity; a manifestation of the collective unconscious.
Two typical examples:
: An advisor was shopping for a tractor for me. He said he would keep in touch, but I hadn’t heard a word from him. I also hadn’t even thought about him for a week and a half, until this afternoon when I suddenly thought about him strongly. Where is he? Should I look him up? A half hour later he showed up in person with the answer we had been hoping for.
: I had been wondering this afternoon how much a certain employee was making and if we should consider a raise in salary. I was just about to ask Lynn to look it up as I clicked on my next email. There in the email was the specific information I was just about to ask for.
Other incidents in the last 24 hours involved magazine covers boldly announcing the weird topic I just mentioned. Video programs focused on a topic I just brought up, etc.
One of Jung's favorite quotes on Synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, where the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards".
Two typical examples:
: An advisor was shopping for a tractor for me. He said he would keep in touch, but I hadn’t heard a word from him. I also hadn’t even thought about him for a week and a half, until this afternoon when I suddenly thought about him strongly. Where is he? Should I look him up? A half hour later he showed up in person with the answer we had been hoping for.
: I had been wondering this afternoon how much a certain employee was making and if we should consider a raise in salary. I was just about to ask Lynn to look it up as I clicked on my next email. There in the email was the specific information I was just about to ask for.
Other incidents in the last 24 hours involved magazine covers boldly announcing the weird topic I just mentioned. Video programs focused on a topic I just brought up, etc.
One of Jung's favorite quotes on Synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, where the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards".
Thursday, September 21, 2006
A little epiphany this morning…
One man’s order is another man’s entropy.
Entropy is a tendency toward disorder. Life tends to reverse entropy (at least locally). It tends to create order.
Nature had spent millions of years developing intricate communities of interactive plants, animals, minerals and fluids. She built up diversity so the bio-communities can be robust. Her complexity is actually a high level of order.
Historically, our western civilization has viewed nature as chaos and entropy. It needed to be civilized and ordered. We proceeded to eliminate pests and clear fields, reducing the complexity and diversity that had been built up.
Nature’s order seemed like entropy to us.
Our sense of order is entropy to nature.
Entropy is a tendency toward disorder. Life tends to reverse entropy (at least locally). It tends to create order.
Nature had spent millions of years developing intricate communities of interactive plants, animals, minerals and fluids. She built up diversity so the bio-communities can be robust. Her complexity is actually a high level of order.
Historically, our western civilization has viewed nature as chaos and entropy. It needed to be civilized and ordered. We proceeded to eliminate pests and clear fields, reducing the complexity and diversity that had been built up.
Nature’s order seemed like entropy to us.
Our sense of order is entropy to nature.
The basis of toughness
It is hard to appreciate how much my mindset has changed, until I take the time to look at its evolution in the last 8 years or so. This morning I was contemplating lessons I and those near me have been learning the last few years.
My personal relationship with the earth had been minimal until we started HUG. From then on, the projects we worked on pulled me closer to understanding the minerals and how they interact with each other. Then we had expert after expert show up in our lives to teach us about plants and the soil food web.
One outstanding lesson from all this is DIVERSITY.
Laser focus can get certain things done with incredible efficiency, but typically such focus is fragile and can only exist with the support of successful community. Diversity makes communities tough and resilient, and more productive.
Don't forget, communities come in all sizes. They exist in molecules, soil, plants, people.
My personal relationship with the earth had been minimal until we started HUG. From then on, the projects we worked on pulled me closer to understanding the minerals and how they interact with each other. Then we had expert after expert show up in our lives to teach us about plants and the soil food web.
One outstanding lesson from all this is DIVERSITY.
Laser focus can get certain things done with incredible efficiency, but typically such focus is fragile and can only exist with the support of successful community. Diversity makes communities tough and resilient, and more productive.
Don't forget, communities come in all sizes. They exist in molecules, soil, plants, people.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Passion!
Kate sent me this little inspirational / motivational video.
She said it was kind of cheesey, but it made her think of me.
Thanks Kate. I feel like high quality parmesan. (which is really good at our local co-op)
Even though it is mostly just music and printed words, after watching it several times, I still get goosebumps from it. I have always been a sucker for good self motivational stuff.
I also put it on the LINKS sidebar.
She said it was kind of cheesey, but it made her think of me.
Thanks Kate. I feel like high quality parmesan. (which is really good at our local co-op)
Even though it is mostly just music and printed words, after watching it several times, I still get goosebumps from it. I have always been a sucker for good self motivational stuff.
I also put it on the LINKS sidebar.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
War on Terra
Tonight, after reading some international news on the web, Lynn and I spent 20 minutes sampling news channels on TV. We marvelled at how shallow and easily manipulated american news really is. Very little interest in saving the planet; tons of talk about Iraq and the war on terror.
We thought we coined a new term when we asked "What about the War on Terra?"
The term sounded good enough to try to blog something clever about it. Just before starting to write, I googled the term.
"War on Terra" has 11 million hits, including a wikipedia entry.
We thought we coined a new term when we asked "What about the War on Terra?"
The term sounded good enough to try to blog something clever about it. Just before starting to write, I googled the term.
"War on Terra" has 11 million hits, including a wikipedia entry.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Assignment
For the past week or so, as I wake up I find that in my sleep I have been designing houses of cob (a mixture of clay, sand and straw). It even happens during a short nap.
Perhaps the teacher is trying to tell me something.
Perhaps the teacher is trying to tell me something.
I propose a scalable law of quantum physics:
For a given organization, the amount of structure required is proportional to the amount of conscious scrutiny it receives.
The IRS has a lot of scrutiny. It has a lot of rules, policies and procedures.
Sandlot ball games have little structure. Professional games have a lot.
Amateurs can do things pretty much any way they please.
Professionals have to do it by the rules.
Structure is created and enforced by consciousness.
The IRS has a lot of scrutiny. It has a lot of rules, policies and procedures.
Sandlot ball games have little structure. Professional games have a lot.
Amateurs can do things pretty much any way they please.
Professionals have to do it by the rules.
Structure is created and enforced by consciousness.
Structures and behavior repeat themselves
One of my favorite ways to observe life and the universe is by finding analogies in different scales. You can discern important rules by finding principles that work the same on the microscopic scales, people size scales, country size, even astronomical size.
It is useful in every day life because it lets us use what we know about one scale to shine light on another scale. For instance; how your body functions and how an entire country functions have a lot of analogies.
This learning technique has helped me understand electronics and physics and business and social issues. Now it may shed light on a new topic.
Quantum
Experts in quantum mechanics tell us that any given thing is undefined until a conscious entity observes it. Then what had been ambiguity suddenly resolves into a clear reality. I am beginning to realize that forming a new organization of people works the same way.
A new organization such as a business or church starts out with a few ideas and very few rules. When there are very few people in it, there is little need for policies and procedures. You just do what seems right. As more people join, they don’t have the same background and understandings as the founders. They often have to ask what the policy or procedure is for a given situation. Then a policy is created and what had been ambiguity resolves into a clear structure.
Perhaps quantum physics isn’t so bizarre after all.
It is useful in every day life because it lets us use what we know about one scale to shine light on another scale. For instance; how your body functions and how an entire country functions have a lot of analogies.
This learning technique has helped me understand electronics and physics and business and social issues. Now it may shed light on a new topic.
Quantum
Experts in quantum mechanics tell us that any given thing is undefined until a conscious entity observes it. Then what had been ambiguity suddenly resolves into a clear reality. I am beginning to realize that forming a new organization of people works the same way.
A new organization such as a business or church starts out with a few ideas and very few rules. When there are very few people in it, there is little need for policies and procedures. You just do what seems right. As more people join, they don’t have the same background and understandings as the founders. They often have to ask what the policy or procedure is for a given situation. Then a policy is created and what had been ambiguity resolves into a clear structure.
Perhaps quantum physics isn’t so bizarre after all.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Dream Time
Quantum particles are the dreams that stuff is made of
-- David Moser
One of the themes that seemed to pop up a lot recently has been the quantum universe. As we look into our theoretical microscopes at ever smaller particles , I am getting more and more convinced that the most basic particle in our universe is consciousness. It ultimately makes up time, space and inertia, which in turn makes up quantum physics, which ultimately creates the more familiar Newtonian physics, and everything that we see here in time-space.
Perhaps dreams really are the basis of our reality.
-- David Moser
One of the themes that seemed to pop up a lot recently has been the quantum universe. As we look into our theoretical microscopes at ever smaller particles , I am getting more and more convinced that the most basic particle in our universe is consciousness. It ultimately makes up time, space and inertia, which in turn makes up quantum physics, which ultimately creates the more familiar Newtonian physics, and everything that we see here in time-space.
Perhaps dreams really are the basis of our reality.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Big Stories work best
The lesson of the week seems to be that our species has an incredible ability to ignore the obvious when a different story is more convenient. Professional magicians (also known as illusionists) trade on that. Apparently many other professionals or their institutions also do.
Religions, military, history books, politicians, news organizations, our entire culture survives by creating stories that don’t hold water. We believe them because it is easier than believing the truth.
Our brain is designed to believe what we experience. If it is repeated enough times, it is true. Once we decide what is true, it takes enormous energy to change our minds, so it is much more convenient to just believe the original story.
I have seen tons of apparently well documented evidence about the biggest stories in modern history being faked, or being mere distractions from the real objectives; World War 1, Pearl Harbor, JFK assassination, even 9/11. The story is so big and replayed so many times, and we saw it live. We know how and why it happened. Don't try telling us otherwise.
The bigger the story, the more completely we accept it. Evidence to the contrary can freely circulate with little chance of penetrating our collective consciousness. Our most powerful leaders and marketers know this well. They often get away with preposterous things because their story is bold and the truth is inconvenient.
Religions, military, history books, politicians, news organizations, our entire culture survives by creating stories that don’t hold water. We believe them because it is easier than believing the truth.
Our brain is designed to believe what we experience. If it is repeated enough times, it is true. Once we decide what is true, it takes enormous energy to change our minds, so it is much more convenient to just believe the original story.
I have seen tons of apparently well documented evidence about the biggest stories in modern history being faked, or being mere distractions from the real objectives; World War 1, Pearl Harbor, JFK assassination, even 9/11. The story is so big and replayed so many times, and we saw it live. We know how and why it happened. Don't try telling us otherwise.
The bigger the story, the more completely we accept it. Evidence to the contrary can freely circulate with little chance of penetrating our collective consciousness. Our most powerful leaders and marketers know this well. They often get away with preposterous things because their story is bold and the truth is inconvenient.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Global Warming
Tonight Lynn and I watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.
Afterwards I looked up a few videos on the web. These two really stood out.
A short and fun message from the Blue man group.
After scanning many of them, only one video in google was rated full 5 stars. It made me curious. If you have 45 minutes I totally recommend watching Robert Newman's History of oil.
He is a comedian doing a great job of using comic relief to make powerful learning palatable. It is smart and fun.
WARNING: It takes mental energy to pull all the lessons out of this performance. Even the second time I watched it I had to set aside all distractions to fully follow the meaning within his acting.
Have fun
Afterwards I looked up a few videos on the web. These two really stood out.
A short and fun message from the Blue man group.
After scanning many of them, only one video in google was rated full 5 stars. It made me curious. If you have 45 minutes I totally recommend watching Robert Newman's History of oil.
He is a comedian doing a great job of using comic relief to make powerful learning palatable. It is smart and fun.
WARNING: It takes mental energy to pull all the lessons out of this performance. Even the second time I watched it I had to set aside all distractions to fully follow the meaning within his acting.
Have fun
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Steep
Quote from Ryan regarding the challenging enterprises we are working on:
"If your learning curve doesn't require ropes and rock climbing equipment, you are in the wrong job."
"If your learning curve doesn't require ropes and rock climbing equipment, you are in the wrong job."
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Good conditions don't breed addicts
Lab rats have been used for a long time to teach us about addiction. We should be learning from these ones.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Emily
Tonight we met our new house guest / temporary daughter. She is 17, the ninth of 13 children, intelligent, creative, likes to write, was home schooled.
Church social services were looking for a place where she can get a break from her home while she works through some teen turbulance.
We are spending the evening getting to know each other.
Church social services were looking for a place where she can get a break from her home while she works through some teen turbulance.
We are spending the evening getting to know each other.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
TED
I have really been enjoying the high quality presentations at TED conferences.
Each year they gather 1000 interesting people to share ideas. Lately they have been making the videos available; neat little 15 minute presentations, usually very powerful.
Each year they gather 1000 interesting people to share ideas. Lately they have been making the videos available; neat little 15 minute presentations, usually very powerful.
Monday, July 31, 2006
The fair is over
Last weekend we successfully survived our first ever EcoSquared fair. It was partly to educate people about ecology and partly to help bring new life to the fading county fair. The weather was very hot and the crowds were somewhat sparse, but for a first try it went rather well. Most of the vendors want to do it again.
The Brainerd newspaper wrote a very nice front page story with lots of pictures.
Now that it is over, some of us may actually get our lives back, at least until we realize how many zillions of chores we kept putting off until after the fair.
The Brainerd newspaper wrote a very nice front page story with lots of pictures.
Now that it is over, some of us may actually get our lives back, at least until we realize how many zillions of chores we kept putting off until after the fair.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Relationship with a meme
Memes can be treated like every other living creature.
Someplace inherent within our human makeup we often find the tendency to do something that is not prudent. Those behaviors might have been more useful in a different environment, or they may be mere side effects of more useful traits that helped us survive.
In any case, when I find an internal push to behave badly, such as to pre-judge, or put someone down, I am beginning to learn that I don’t have to succumb. I also don’t have to fight it forever.
I can release it.
I acknowledge that you have a purpose, but not here and now.
Thank you for being available, but the times call for a new level of behavior.
You are free.
So am I.
Someplace inherent within our human makeup we often find the tendency to do something that is not prudent. Those behaviors might have been more useful in a different environment, or they may be mere side effects of more useful traits that helped us survive.
In any case, when I find an internal push to behave badly, such as to pre-judge, or put someone down, I am beginning to learn that I don’t have to succumb. I also don’t have to fight it forever.
I can release it.
I acknowledge that you have a purpose, but not here and now.
Thank you for being available, but the times call for a new level of behavior.
You are free.
So am I.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
How Happy Dancing Turtle got its name
by Paul Hunt
Happy Dancing Turtle is sort of a thank you gift to the universe for guiding our path.
In the summer of 1994, Lynn and I were looking for a new house. It had to be special. After going broke a few times we had learned the hard way that it is important for us to live where we work. We had been working our tiny little electronic design business for almost ten years. Take home pay had finally crept above minimum wage and we were starting to grow.
After designing over 300 products (each one a learning experience), job number 333 was the world’s slowest modem, designed to automatically read electric meters. It was slow, steady, trustworthy, and it fit under the shell of the meters, so we named it the Turtle.
The Turtle had serious market potential. We had a lot of work to do and we needed space to work in. Every time we tried to buy a piece of real estate it didn’t work. Generally the bank would turn us down or our home business didn’t fit zoning regulations. One day a realtor was showing us a home and shop combo that didn’t feel right. After we said “no”, he said he knew of a place that was WAY too big for us, but it was in the neighborhood. We might as well look at it.
It was a big cabinet shop with a big house next door. Instantly we felt that this was the right place. Just one problem; the price tag was ten times higher than our current house, and at least three times higher than we could possibly afford.
I didn’t sleep well that night. The overpowering feeling that this was the right place was battling in my gut with the hard lessons we had learned about being fiscally conservative. I tossed and turned all night, trying to see someway to make it work financially, trying to decide if we should take this quantum leap. Finally, I got so weary that I said “God, just show me a sign so I can decide and get some sleep.”
I opened my eyes, and there, in silhouette against the dark pink of the pre dawn sky, was a happy dancing turtle.
I woke Lynn up and asked “Do you see what I see?”
She did.
It was our window fan. The blade was angled and lit in just the perfect way that we both clearly saw the same Happy Dancing Turtle. We both decided that if we ask for a sign regarding growing the turtle business, and instantly see something as clear as that, we had better not ignore it. The next day we signed the papers.
The financing sailed through without any problems. The first winter, there were only six of us huddled in a little corner of this monstrous building. The business grew fast. A year later we were adding on, and adding on again, and then building more buildings. Many times I was thankful that we had a beautiful location we could grow in.
When we started making money, Lynn and I decided that we should put a large percentage of our assets into a non profit organization to help the earth. It was easy to name it in honor of our guiding spirit, the Happy Dancing Turtle.
Happy Dancing Turtle is sort of a thank you gift to the universe for guiding our path.
In the summer of 1994, Lynn and I were looking for a new house. It had to be special. After going broke a few times we had learned the hard way that it is important for us to live where we work. We had been working our tiny little electronic design business for almost ten years. Take home pay had finally crept above minimum wage and we were starting to grow.
After designing over 300 products (each one a learning experience), job number 333 was the world’s slowest modem, designed to automatically read electric meters. It was slow, steady, trustworthy, and it fit under the shell of the meters, so we named it the Turtle.
The Turtle had serious market potential. We had a lot of work to do and we needed space to work in. Every time we tried to buy a piece of real estate it didn’t work. Generally the bank would turn us down or our home business didn’t fit zoning regulations. One day a realtor was showing us a home and shop combo that didn’t feel right. After we said “no”, he said he knew of a place that was WAY too big for us, but it was in the neighborhood. We might as well look at it.
It was a big cabinet shop with a big house next door. Instantly we felt that this was the right place. Just one problem; the price tag was ten times higher than our current house, and at least three times higher than we could possibly afford.
I didn’t sleep well that night. The overpowering feeling that this was the right place was battling in my gut with the hard lessons we had learned about being fiscally conservative. I tossed and turned all night, trying to see someway to make it work financially, trying to decide if we should take this quantum leap. Finally, I got so weary that I said “God, just show me a sign so I can decide and get some sleep.”
I opened my eyes, and there, in silhouette against the dark pink of the pre dawn sky, was a happy dancing turtle.
I woke Lynn up and asked “Do you see what I see?”
She did.
It was our window fan. The blade was angled and lit in just the perfect way that we both clearly saw the same Happy Dancing Turtle. We both decided that if we ask for a sign regarding growing the turtle business, and instantly see something as clear as that, we had better not ignore it. The next day we signed the papers.
The financing sailed through without any problems. The first winter, there were only six of us huddled in a little corner of this monstrous building. The business grew fast. A year later we were adding on, and adding on again, and then building more buildings. Many times I was thankful that we had a beautiful location we could grow in.
When we started making money, Lynn and I decided that we should put a large percentage of our assets into a non profit organization to help the earth. It was easy to name it in honor of our guiding spirit, the Happy Dancing Turtle.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water
I was contemplating the concepts involved in the lebab project (a way to reverse the language confounding effect in the story about the tower of Babel) . I was realizing that the brain wave that travels around the world is in the same band as a huge amount of noise caused by lighting and the resonance of the earth. What effect might this noise cause?
Other smooth noise sources for us include staring at bodies of water, or a camp fire, or listening to wind or a fan. The effect of each one is to draw us into a contemplative mood. Our brain waves resonate at the same frequency as the earth when we are in such a mood.
It is interesting that the major things that help us contemplate seem to be Earth, Wind, Water and Fire.
Other smooth noise sources for us include staring at bodies of water, or a camp fire, or listening to wind or a fan. The effect of each one is to draw us into a contemplative mood. Our brain waves resonate at the same frequency as the earth when we are in such a mood.
It is interesting that the major things that help us contemplate seem to be Earth, Wind, Water and Fire.
Randomness, Focus on nothing
When you stare into a fire, you tend to meditate.
When you stare at a body of water, you tend to meditate.
It is so much easier to sleep and relax when the wind or a fan is making smooth random noise in the background.
In each case above, it is the randomness that relaxes you. It draws your consciousness into it, masking familiar patterns so your brain can relax. It doesn’t have to continually be making sense of incoming stimuli.
That randomness is essentially nothing.
You are concentrating on nothing.
Through the meditation it brings, It helps you connect to everything.
When you stare at a body of water, you tend to meditate.
It is so much easier to sleep and relax when the wind or a fan is making smooth random noise in the background.
In each case above, it is the randomness that relaxes you. It draws your consciousness into it, masking familiar patterns so your brain can relax. It doesn’t have to continually be making sense of incoming stimuli.
That randomness is essentially nothing.
You are concentrating on nothing.
Through the meditation it brings, It helps you connect to everything.
Cultural DreamSpeak
Step back a bit and observe the nature of the popular movies of our time. Movies are very much the dreams of our culture. Their topics and images are encoded in dreamspeak. If we decode them the same way you would analyze a dream, you find out what our culture’s brain is thinking and processing.
For example…
We have always needed a hero. But have you noticed that ever since 9/11 we have had a plethora of movies about SUPER heroes?
Perhaps we feel we are dealing with super villains and need super heroes to solve the problem(s).
We have often had movies about disasters with man made systems like ships or airplanes. It is natural; we are dealing with making our own systems better.
Lately there has been a ton of movies and television specials about natural disasters. Every kind of earthquake, volcano, hurricane, ice age, meteor and flood has graced our screens.
Perhaps we feel that nature has gotten angry with us and wants to fight back.
Have you noticed any other patterns in our cultural dreams?
For example…
We have always needed a hero. But have you noticed that ever since 9/11 we have had a plethora of movies about SUPER heroes?
Perhaps we feel we are dealing with super villains and need super heroes to solve the problem(s).
We have often had movies about disasters with man made systems like ships or airplanes. It is natural; we are dealing with making our own systems better.
Lately there has been a ton of movies and television specials about natural disasters. Every kind of earthquake, volcano, hurricane, ice age, meteor and flood has graced our screens.
Perhaps we feel that nature has gotten angry with us and wants to fight back.
Have you noticed any other patterns in our cultural dreams?
Friday, July 07, 2006
Surface bonds, more than skin deep
Inside our bodies, at a microscopic level, if you want to connect with another cell, one common way is to make part of your surface match part of the target cell’s surface. The better the match, the tighter the bond. Once you are bonded by your surfaces that match, you can celebrate your differences.
Those differences include a new surface topology to make new bonds.
A strong bond might also bring you access to the more intimate workings within your partner, bringing you new strengths and capabilities.
Some entities are like antibodies, created simply for the purpose of tagging you so the system can manipulate you better. They match your surface, creating a strong connection. Then they connect you to something you would not normally connect with. It might just be used as a label. It might be medicine. It might be white blood cell soldiers, intent on destroying you.
This pattern of matching surfaces to make better connections seems to transcend scale.
It happens in molecules, and biology.
It happens at social and business and political scales.
It happens in spiritual and psychic dimensions.
We morph. We often fine tune the shape of our surfaces (attitudes, makeup, clothing, etc.) just for the purpose of a better match; to catch something in the first place, or to strengthen an existing bond.
So, Do ya wanna match some complementary surfaces?
Those differences include a new surface topology to make new bonds.
A strong bond might also bring you access to the more intimate workings within your partner, bringing you new strengths and capabilities.
Some entities are like antibodies, created simply for the purpose of tagging you so the system can manipulate you better. They match your surface, creating a strong connection. Then they connect you to something you would not normally connect with. It might just be used as a label. It might be medicine. It might be white blood cell soldiers, intent on destroying you.
This pattern of matching surfaces to make better connections seems to transcend scale.
It happens in molecules, and biology.
It happens at social and business and political scales.
It happens in spiritual and psychic dimensions.
We morph. We often fine tune the shape of our surfaces (attitudes, makeup, clothing, etc.) just for the purpose of a better match; to catch something in the first place, or to strengthen an existing bond.
So, Do ya wanna match some complementary surfaces?
Friday, June 30, 2006
Life on the edge
The most productive and dynamic life is always on the edge.
If you are too far from the safety of established “civilization” you are a pioneer and in dangerous territory. The farther out you go, the slimmer your chances of survival.
If you are well entrenched in the “safety” of your civilization, never pushing an edge, you become just part of the machinery of civilization; the pavement that supports those who are on the edge.
If you are too far from the safety of established “civilization” you are a pioneer and in dangerous territory. The farther out you go, the slimmer your chances of survival.
If you are well entrenched in the “safety” of your civilization, never pushing an edge, you become just part of the machinery of civilization; the pavement that supports those who are on the edge.
Surface Dwellers
Here is a Random Thought
As I was waking this morning, I found myself contemplating a variation of the membrane theory of our universe.
We all know that life exists on the edge.
What if our entire 3 dimensional universe is just a boundary layer between two mediums, like the surface of the ocean.
We are surface dwellers.
We have no clue that there is a deep ocean beneath us, or a whole atmosphere above us.
We are only aware of the surface.
The surface of an ocean has waves.
We are not aware of those waves because we only sense the surface.
Those waves carry information.
How can we learn to use those waves like radios?
As I was waking this morning, I found myself contemplating a variation of the membrane theory of our universe.
We all know that life exists on the edge.
What if our entire 3 dimensional universe is just a boundary layer between two mediums, like the surface of the ocean.
We are surface dwellers.
We have no clue that there is a deep ocean beneath us, or a whole atmosphere above us.
We are only aware of the surface.
The surface of an ocean has waves.
We are not aware of those waves because we only sense the surface.
Those waves carry information.
How can we learn to use those waves like radios?
Monday, June 26, 2006
The lebab project
There is a magic place, a spiritually powerful place, half way between sleep and awake. It is a place of creativity and inspiration and is often mentioned by poets, writers and inventors. It was around 1990 when my son Ryan and I first realized that while you are in that state, the brain naturally resonates at the same frequency as the earth.
The power of the above realization takes a while to absorb.
The brain uses electrical energy and behaves as a tiny radio transmitter. Ryan and I played with the dynamics of how a million little micro power transmitters would behave if they were located on a resonant globe. We realized that overall they would tend to cancel each other, EXCEPT if they were synchronized just right. Then they would sustain a living circular wave that goes around the world like a ring, in one direction only. At some level, this wave would co-ordinate everyone’s spirit.
Eventually, Ryan and Lynn and I came up with a playful, but powerful theory about the tower of Babel. Like the great flood, it turns out that many cultures have a similar story. The Christian bible tells a story about how all the people on earth used to speak the same language. They became arrogant and decided to build a tower to reach heaven. God got angry and confounded everyone’s language so people could no longer understand each other.
What if all sentient life on earth evolved in the presence of this “round the world wave”? All brains were slightly better in tune with each other. People tended to understand each other better. At some point, man decided to build a powerful radio transmitter at the same frequency. (There are ways to do that without modern technology.) The effect of such a transmitter is that the brains lock onto that one signal, and the living circular wave dies within hours. There is no way to get it started again. After the wave dies, people no longer understand each other. They are no longer as in tune with the earth and other brains on it. They disperse into small and less powerful groups.
How much have we lost?
How much could we gain if we had that connection back again?
The next logical question is; “How could we get that wave restarted?”
Ideas flowed. Soon we had a list of requirements to pull it off. A plan to reverse the effects of the tower of Babel was named “The Lebab project”.
Soon we realized that the circular wave would radiate a unique signal into space. This would be our signature that says we have reached a new threshold in our cultural evolution. Somewhere in deep space the signal will be received by highly intelligent beings who will look at each other and say “They are ready!”
So, the Lebab project got a subtitle; “Operation God call”.
The power of the above realization takes a while to absorb.
The brain uses electrical energy and behaves as a tiny radio transmitter. Ryan and I played with the dynamics of how a million little micro power transmitters would behave if they were located on a resonant globe. We realized that overall they would tend to cancel each other, EXCEPT if they were synchronized just right. Then they would sustain a living circular wave that goes around the world like a ring, in one direction only. At some level, this wave would co-ordinate everyone’s spirit.
Eventually, Ryan and Lynn and I came up with a playful, but powerful theory about the tower of Babel. Like the great flood, it turns out that many cultures have a similar story. The Christian bible tells a story about how all the people on earth used to speak the same language. They became arrogant and decided to build a tower to reach heaven. God got angry and confounded everyone’s language so people could no longer understand each other.
What if all sentient life on earth evolved in the presence of this “round the world wave”? All brains were slightly better in tune with each other. People tended to understand each other better. At some point, man decided to build a powerful radio transmitter at the same frequency. (There are ways to do that without modern technology.) The effect of such a transmitter is that the brains lock onto that one signal, and the living circular wave dies within hours. There is no way to get it started again. After the wave dies, people no longer understand each other. They are no longer as in tune with the earth and other brains on it. They disperse into small and less powerful groups.
How much have we lost?
How much could we gain if we had that connection back again?
The next logical question is; “How could we get that wave restarted?”
Ideas flowed. Soon we had a list of requirements to pull it off. A plan to reverse the effects of the tower of Babel was named “The Lebab project”.
Soon we realized that the circular wave would radiate a unique signal into space. This would be our signature that says we have reached a new threshold in our cultural evolution. Somewhere in deep space the signal will be received by highly intelligent beings who will look at each other and say “They are ready!”
So, the Lebab project got a subtitle; “Operation God call”.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Adapt to survive and prosper
While listening to the book Speaker for the Dead I was thinking...
We humans just spent a billion years evolving in the competitive mode. We co-operate in groups while competeing between groups.
Recently, our capabilities have created a new environment. For the first time we are in a stage where we are capable of destroying life on earth with our competition. We need to subjugate and harness the compete game, operating it only at lower levels.
At the world level we must focus on the co-op game. Not only co-operating between groups of people, but with all life on earth. This is the best way to adapt to our new environment.
We humans just spent a billion years evolving in the competitive mode. We co-operate in groups while competeing between groups.
Recently, our capabilities have created a new environment. For the first time we are in a stage where we are capable of destroying life on earth with our competition. We need to subjugate and harness the compete game, operating it only at lower levels.
At the world level we must focus on the co-op game. Not only co-operating between groups of people, but with all life on earth. This is the best way to adapt to our new environment.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Love
This morning I was hugging and cuddling my wifey. I was observing that I keep on falling in love with her. It must be deep.
She decided that it must be time for a new metaphor.
"We aren’t falling. We are soaring in love."
Soaring is as easy as falling because we always maintain and exercise our wings.
She decided that it must be time for a new metaphor.
"We aren’t falling. We are soaring in love."
Soaring is as easy as falling because we always maintain and exercise our wings.
The active observer
When I get a new lesson of the week (or month, or year) I focus intently on the topic, exploring it in depth. What I am really doing is creating new lenses. Then it is exhilarating to look at life through these new lenses.
Have you tried on any new lenses lately?
Have you tried on any new lenses lately?
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Roots and Wings
Roots are our relationship with our source.
Roots ground us. They bring nourishment and energy. They provide the wind beneath our wings.
Wings are our external relationships (feathers), supported by our internal relationships (underlying structure).
So, to fly requires us to maintain a triad of high quality relationships.
Source
Internal
External
Nature is the source; the mother. In Christian terms; the Father.
Internal is flesh and associated psyche. In Christian terms; the Son.
External relationships build social Spirit.
Roots ground us. They bring nourishment and energy. They provide the wind beneath our wings.
Wings are our external relationships (feathers), supported by our internal relationships (underlying structure).
So, to fly requires us to maintain a triad of high quality relationships.
Source
Internal
External
Nature is the source; the mother. In Christian terms; the Father.
Internal is flesh and associated psyche. In Christian terms; the Son.
External relationships build social Spirit.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Prerequisite
A friend reminded me recently about another important element of successful flight.
Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
Winged flight
During a dreamspeak session I received this message…
“Your bonds are your feathers.
They will help you fly.”
It sounded profound at the time. The next morning I started questioning the logic of it.
“Wait a minute;” I asked. “ Bonds are structure. The structure of a wing is muscles and bones. Feathers are not structure. How do bonds relate to feathers?”
It wasn’t until I was writing a letter to my sister that it started falling into place.
Social relationships are our external bonds.
Good social relationships are our feathers that help us fly.
Feathers interface to the fluid air around us. They give us lift and thrust and the subtle control that makes flight possible.
Feathers are also our external appearance.
They can be fancy plumage just for show, or they can be mostly about function.
In any case, they must be well maintained.
Feathers don’t help much without good sound wings under them.
The relationships within ourselves form the structure under the feathers.
They need to be strong and flexible
and well maintained.
“Your bonds are your feathers.
They will help you fly.”
It sounded profound at the time. The next morning I started questioning the logic of it.
“Wait a minute;” I asked. “ Bonds are structure. The structure of a wing is muscles and bones. Feathers are not structure. How do bonds relate to feathers?”
It wasn’t until I was writing a letter to my sister that it started falling into place.
Social relationships are our external bonds.
Good social relationships are our feathers that help us fly.
Feathers interface to the fluid air around us. They give us lift and thrust and the subtle control that makes flight possible.
Feathers are also our external appearance.
They can be fancy plumage just for show, or they can be mostly about function.
In any case, they must be well maintained.
Feathers don’t help much without good sound wings under them.
The relationships within ourselves form the structure under the feathers.
They need to be strong and flexible
and well maintained.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
My focus is about bonds.
Bonds are connections.
Connections are relationships.
Relationships bind you.
Relationships are sets of rules.
Rules bind you.
Rules provide infrastructure, the platforms which help us operate at a higher level.
Rules create freedom at ever higher levels.
Freedom requires responsibility.
Responsibility binds you.
Bondage is not all negative.
Nothing can operate, indeed nothing can exist without bonds.
Every structure is mostly a set of connections.
What is your body? It isn’t really the atoms and molecules within it. They come and go. It is actually the structure, the relationships of those atoms and molecules.
What is a church, or school, or business, or country? It isn’t the people or the buildings, or the equipment that currently keep it operating. It is the structure, the relationships.
Everything that exists is an organization; a set of connections, rules, relationships and structures. All are (nearly) synonymous with bonds.
OK, we have established that bonds are extremely basic. What new insights might that shed light on next?
Connections are relationships.
Relationships bind you.
Relationships are sets of rules.
Rules bind you.
Rules provide infrastructure, the platforms which help us operate at a higher level.
Rules create freedom at ever higher levels.
Freedom requires responsibility.
Responsibility binds you.
Bondage is not all negative.
Nothing can operate, indeed nothing can exist without bonds.
Every structure is mostly a set of connections.
What is your body? It isn’t really the atoms and molecules within it. They come and go. It is actually the structure, the relationships of those atoms and molecules.
What is a church, or school, or business, or country? It isn’t the people or the buildings, or the equipment that currently keep it operating. It is the structure, the relationships.
Everything that exists is an organization; a set of connections, rules, relationships and structures. All are (nearly) synonymous with bonds.
OK, we have established that bonds are extremely basic. What new insights might that shed light on next?
Monday, June 05, 2006
Dreamspeak sessions
For me, recent massage sessions are evolving to work more with energy than muscles. During that time we follow the energies and usually end up with visions and other messages.
They seem to bring up messages more in the language of dreams than logic.
I am coming to call these dreamspeak sessions.
Saturday was a terrific dreamspeak session that brought lots of progress. Sunday morning I woke up and stared at the ceiling which is covered with a random sprayed on texture. Like clouds, its randomness lets me see whatever pictures are in my message.
This morning I saw plain and clear...
A heart chakra
The heart grew
then made many connections
then blossommed into a flower (tulip or lotus)
They seem to bring up messages more in the language of dreams than logic.
I am coming to call these dreamspeak sessions.
Saturday was a terrific dreamspeak session that brought lots of progress. Sunday morning I woke up and stared at the ceiling which is covered with a random sprayed on texture. Like clouds, its randomness lets me see whatever pictures are in my message.
This morning I saw plain and clear...
A heart chakra
The heart grew
then made many connections
then blossommed into a flower (tulip or lotus)
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Ultra narrow focus
This morning I woke up with a message in my head… “It is time that you focus on some teeny narrow topic. The focus will open up new worlds of knowledge. It will show you analogies that will shed light on some of the most important aspects of the universe. DO IT! “
I have often had what I called the lesson of the week or the lesson of the month. It was a topic of fascination and philosophical conversations for a while. After it yielded many fascinating insights into god and the universe, I would be given a new topic.
One silly little physics phenomenon fascinated me for almost 20 years before the time was right to start studying it in great detail. It was Ultra Narrow Bandwidth. By focusing on this impossibly slow and narrow topic, I grew faster than ever before in my life. It resulted in fascinating insights into life, relationships, business and the nature of the universe. (It also earned a decent living for me and hundreds of others.)
There is another topic that has fascinated me for most of my life. I have not told anyone about this fascination until recently because it was not acceptable in the main stream of my culture. A month or two ago, I started realizing that perhaps it ran deeper than only this lifetime. My mind was opened to the vast amounts of psychic energies that could be wrapped up in this silence, this fear about acknowledging a basic and recurring need within me.
Since that time, I have been telling a few trusted people that all my life I have been fascinated by being tied up.
(You can now take one of two stands…
“ Is that all? After such a buildup? Man are you repressed or what?”
or “Ohh, one of those weirdos huh?”)
This is not an unusual fascination. There are many web sites devoted to the topic. What I think is special is a new realization that this is not really about sex. It involves deep energies that may transcend multiple lifetimes and even our contract with god about being in this reality.
These are strange words to come from me. I have always been the rational scientific type. My point of view is widening to include more psychic and spiritual phenomena and how they may relate to the physical life we know.
Anyway, I have been and will be focusing on the feelings and energies associated with being bound. So far it has been yielding some fascinating analogies and insights about the nature of relationships.
I have often had what I called the lesson of the week or the lesson of the month. It was a topic of fascination and philosophical conversations for a while. After it yielded many fascinating insights into god and the universe, I would be given a new topic.
One silly little physics phenomenon fascinated me for almost 20 years before the time was right to start studying it in great detail. It was Ultra Narrow Bandwidth. By focusing on this impossibly slow and narrow topic, I grew faster than ever before in my life. It resulted in fascinating insights into life, relationships, business and the nature of the universe. (It also earned a decent living for me and hundreds of others.)
There is another topic that has fascinated me for most of my life. I have not told anyone about this fascination until recently because it was not acceptable in the main stream of my culture. A month or two ago, I started realizing that perhaps it ran deeper than only this lifetime. My mind was opened to the vast amounts of psychic energies that could be wrapped up in this silence, this fear about acknowledging a basic and recurring need within me.
Since that time, I have been telling a few trusted people that all my life I have been fascinated by being tied up.
(You can now take one of two stands…
“ Is that all? After such a buildup? Man are you repressed or what?”
or “Ohh, one of those weirdos huh?”)
This is not an unusual fascination. There are many web sites devoted to the topic. What I think is special is a new realization that this is not really about sex. It involves deep energies that may transcend multiple lifetimes and even our contract with god about being in this reality.
These are strange words to come from me. I have always been the rational scientific type. My point of view is widening to include more psychic and spiritual phenomena and how they may relate to the physical life we know.
Anyway, I have been and will be focusing on the feelings and energies associated with being bound. So far it has been yielding some fascinating analogies and insights about the nature of relationships.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
These things resonated tonight.
Trust your heart.
The mind, by contrast, will forever tie us in knots.
Rob left this comment on another blog site.
Tonight I think he is a genius.
jim said...
There is a Joy that is beyond 'enlightenment' as is normally known, this Joy is the 'sense-experience' with the final stage of the 'unfolding', once felt, 'more' becomes the goal of life. To get it to begin with is what the Guru's claim to have packaged. They haven't. They fall short of the real thing.
Instead of more acceptance of reality, the result is less acceptance of our reality in this world, and the impulse and drive to seek solutions, not escape.
The mind, by contrast, will forever tie us in knots.
Rob left this comment on another blog site.
Tonight I think he is a genius.
jim said...
There is a Joy that is beyond 'enlightenment' as is normally known, this Joy is the 'sense-experience' with the final stage of the 'unfolding', once felt, 'more' becomes the goal of life. To get it to begin with is what the Guru's claim to have packaged. They haven't. They fall short of the real thing.
Instead of more acceptance of reality, the result is less acceptance of our reality in this world, and the impulse and drive to seek solutions, not escape.
A better path
The pressure of being habitually busy had been building for some time.
A couple weeks ago I talked my old buddy Ray into going with me on an errand that involved driving all day. We used to spend hours almost every day talking philosophy and discovering new things about god and the universe. It sustained us spiritually. It educated us. It helped propel us into a very successful adventure.
These days we are both so busy following our new and very worthwhile dream that we haven’t had time to just chat. I didn’t realize how important that was and how much we both missed it until this errand. We were alone together for eight hours of talking philosophy and discovering new things about god and the universe. It was so absorbing that we didn’t even remember driving through most of the towns on our path. It helped me realize that we have been just too busy.
When I got home after only eight hours, my email had 34 messages that needed some level of attention (not counting spam). My reaction was to shut of my computer and not turn it on again for several days. I also didn’t turn on a TV or read a newspaper for a few days. I promised myself that, at least for now, I would stop multitasking and focus more completely on one thing at a time.
Lynn and I also promoted an employee to C.O.O. and let him take the bulk of the daily busy-ness. That leaves me more free to invent and pursue spiritual aspects of life. After two weeks I feel much better; more whole; more ready to embrace a powerful new future.
A couple weeks ago I talked my old buddy Ray into going with me on an errand that involved driving all day. We used to spend hours almost every day talking philosophy and discovering new things about god and the universe. It sustained us spiritually. It educated us. It helped propel us into a very successful adventure.
These days we are both so busy following our new and very worthwhile dream that we haven’t had time to just chat. I didn’t realize how important that was and how much we both missed it until this errand. We were alone together for eight hours of talking philosophy and discovering new things about god and the universe. It was so absorbing that we didn’t even remember driving through most of the towns on our path. It helped me realize that we have been just too busy.
When I got home after only eight hours, my email had 34 messages that needed some level of attention (not counting spam). My reaction was to shut of my computer and not turn it on again for several days. I also didn’t turn on a TV or read a newspaper for a few days. I promised myself that, at least for now, I would stop multitasking and focus more completely on one thing at a time.
Lynn and I also promoted an employee to C.O.O. and let him take the bulk of the daily busy-ness. That leaves me more free to invent and pursue spiritual aspects of life. After two weeks I feel much better; more whole; more ready to embrace a powerful new future.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Inertia, Thy name is Rochester
Many times I have waxed poetic about how incredibly basic inertia is.
I love to always look one layer lower and see what underlying components make something tick. Then I look under those components, etcetera. In physics, I keep finding that no matter how many layers down I look, we have to keep assuming that inertia works. When we get down to the most fundamental phenomena in the universe and all other familiar things are gone, inertia may still be working.
So maybe my grandson, Rochester is a fundamental force to reckon with. He achieves new heights in the enormous energy it takes to get him to stop whatever he is doing and start something new. I would give examples, but it includes almost everything.
Maybe we should get a research grant to study him and what creates his enormous inertia. We could gain new insights into the very heart of reality.
I love to always look one layer lower and see what underlying components make something tick. Then I look under those components, etcetera. In physics, I keep finding that no matter how many layers down I look, we have to keep assuming that inertia works. When we get down to the most fundamental phenomena in the universe and all other familiar things are gone, inertia may still be working.
So maybe my grandson, Rochester is a fundamental force to reckon with. He achieves new heights in the enormous energy it takes to get him to stop whatever he is doing and start something new. I would give examples, but it includes almost everything.
Maybe we should get a research grant to study him and what creates his enormous inertia. We could gain new insights into the very heart of reality.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Play in the stream
Everything flows.
Wind and water are always in motion in little streams and eddies and in large ocean size currents. Electrons and photons are flowing everywhere. So is heat. Anything that orbits or resonates is constantly converting energy, making it flow from one form to another and back again.
Life flows. Ideas, emotions, stories, plot lines, money, wealth, attention and chi all flow through our society.
Whether it is mechanical or spiritual, when we manage to divert some of these flows to our own purposes, we call it energy.
Once we realize the huge abundance of natural flow, perhaps we will begin to understand that it is often more life affirming to align ourselves with those flows than it is to dam them, block them and channel them to selfish purposes.
Play in the stream.
Wind and water are always in motion in little streams and eddies and in large ocean size currents. Electrons and photons are flowing everywhere. So is heat. Anything that orbits or resonates is constantly converting energy, making it flow from one form to another and back again.
Life flows. Ideas, emotions, stories, plot lines, money, wealth, attention and chi all flow through our society.
Whether it is mechanical or spiritual, when we manage to divert some of these flows to our own purposes, we call it energy.
Once we realize the huge abundance of natural flow, perhaps we will begin to understand that it is often more life affirming to align ourselves with those flows than it is to dam them, block them and channel them to selfish purposes.
Play in the stream.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
The past isn't what it used to be
Lately I have been getting little messages in my head; little feelings that the past is fluid. We can change the past as easy as we change the future.
This week in NewScientist magazine was an article explaining Stephen Hawking's theory about how the universe behaves like quantum particles. As I understand it, our universe has every possible history. Everything that could ever be in a zillion parallel universes all exist superimposed on each other. Like Schrodenger’s dead and alive cat, any set of conflicting details resolve into one reality only when it is observed.
Our history is only what we observe. Every other history is just as possible, and just as real.
I bet this is telling us something about manifesting.
This week in NewScientist magazine was an article explaining Stephen Hawking's theory about how the universe behaves like quantum particles. As I understand it, our universe has every possible history. Everything that could ever be in a zillion parallel universes all exist superimposed on each other. Like Schrodenger’s dead and alive cat, any set of conflicting details resolve into one reality only when it is observed.
Our history is only what we observe. Every other history is just as possible, and just as real.
I bet this is telling us something about manifesting.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Permaculture economy
My family and co-workers have been attending classes to learn permaculture. We are being taught how to group plants to help each other; about the importance of observation; about diversity and robustness of life on the edge of two environments; about plant connections; about redundancy; about leverage points to get maximum effect from minimal change.
After a week of contemplation, we started realizing that these are all basic economic lessons too. What can we learn by analogies between economics, entrepreneurship, and permaculture?
After a week of contemplation, we started realizing that these are all basic economic lessons too. What can we learn by analogies between economics, entrepreneurship, and permaculture?
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Silver Dental Checkup
This was the day my curious experimental side has been waiting for. I was actually looking forward to this checkup. Afterwards, I realized that it turned out very much like many other manifesting projects lately. It went exactly like I imagined the best outcome would be.
The dental hygenist who cleaned my teeth was marveling that she hadn't seen a mouth this clean in some time. My gums had never looked so good. Poking and proding revealed no bleeding. The perodontal pockets actually shrunk in size to a very healthy range. The roots were cleaner and smoother than they had ever been. She was afraid if everyone came in like this, she would be out of a job. She told me that whatever I was doing, I should keep it up.
Then I told her about my silver ion injector, and that I tried it on my teeth and gums when a tooth seemed to be rotting. The tooth stopped smelling bad and the pain went away when I rubbed it with the silver ion injector. So we x-rayed the tooth and there was no sign of any problem with it. The dentist figured that the pain and smell might have been caused by food trapped between my teeth, (but I floss that particular trouble spot after almost every meal).
With the very healthy gums and the healthy tooth, the dental hygenist was impressed. The dentist seemed too busy to hear the whole story, but I bet it will bounce around his office for a while.
The dental hygenist who cleaned my teeth was marveling that she hadn't seen a mouth this clean in some time. My gums had never looked so good. Poking and proding revealed no bleeding. The perodontal pockets actually shrunk in size to a very healthy range. The roots were cleaner and smoother than they had ever been. She was afraid if everyone came in like this, she would be out of a job. She told me that whatever I was doing, I should keep it up.
Then I told her about my silver ion injector, and that I tried it on my teeth and gums when a tooth seemed to be rotting. The tooth stopped smelling bad and the pain went away when I rubbed it with the silver ion injector. So we x-rayed the tooth and there was no sign of any problem with it. The dentist figured that the pain and smell might have been caused by food trapped between my teeth, (but I floss that particular trouble spot after almost every meal).
With the very healthy gums and the healthy tooth, the dental hygenist was impressed. The dentist seemed too busy to hear the whole story, but I bet it will bounce around his office for a while.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Catching up
Last week must have been more draining to us than we realized. Friday night Lynn and I cancelled our plans and slept. Sunday we did the same thing, we cancelled plans and slept the first two thirds of the day. In my sleep, I continue to process what we learned last week.
Now we are feeling relatively good, and ready to tackle the week.
Now we are feeling relatively good, and ready to tackle the week.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
A very merry re-birth day
The last x number of years have been very tough on Cat’s self image. The last 30 days at Hazelden has brought to the forefront just how poor and how important that self image is. The good part is that every expert we talked to just loves Cat. They even want her to come back and work there, after the required 2 year wait.
Tomorrow evening we take Cat to her next home in Rochester. The plan is for her to stay there in continuing care for a month or three. When a spot opens up at the halfway house in Fargo, she will move there. Then she can have her baby with her. Both places will help her get jobs and save some money.
Today she had a parent pass to go out with us for 4 hours. Lynn chose to take her to a spa. Cat got her hair trimmed and highlighted, manicure, pedicure, and “natural” makeup. She was getting so many treatments that one of the ladies there asked if it was her birthday.
We replied; “Sort of. It is her RE-BIRTHDAY.”
And that is what it feels like.
We have had some amazingly candid and truthful talk (facilitated by new attitudes, knowledge and skills recently learned by all of us). This is the birth of a new person and a new relationship. I really hope this new person continues to live and grow. I hope we can keep that level of truth in our future dialog.
Cat has a long hard road ahead of her, and she is willing to tackle it, even the parts she doesn’t like. It is important that she understands that we, her family, still love and care. We won’t always spoil her or help her out of jams, but we are very happy to have this new, honest and struggling person in our clan.
We love you Cat!
Tomorrow evening we take Cat to her next home in Rochester. The plan is for her to stay there in continuing care for a month or three. When a spot opens up at the halfway house in Fargo, she will move there. Then she can have her baby with her. Both places will help her get jobs and save some money.
Today she had a parent pass to go out with us for 4 hours. Lynn chose to take her to a spa. Cat got her hair trimmed and highlighted, manicure, pedicure, and “natural” makeup. She was getting so many treatments that one of the ladies there asked if it was her birthday.
We replied; “Sort of. It is her RE-BIRTHDAY.”
And that is what it feels like.
We have had some amazingly candid and truthful talk (facilitated by new attitudes, knowledge and skills recently learned by all of us). This is the birth of a new person and a new relationship. I really hope this new person continues to live and grow. I hope we can keep that level of truth in our future dialog.
Cat has a long hard road ahead of her, and she is willing to tackle it, even the parts she doesn’t like. It is important that she understands that we, her family, still love and care. We won’t always spoil her or help her out of jams, but we are very happy to have this new, honest and struggling person in our clan.
We love you Cat!
Monday, April 03, 2006
School days
Today we just finished day 2 of a four day training session for parents at Hazelden. We are learning all about the different classes of drugs and how they interact with the brain. We are also learning how the disease of addiction sucks every family member into it. The family needs to heal as much as the addict.
We are learning that most of the behavior patterns that parents fall into don’t help the addict. They usually just make the parents obsessive and wear the parents out. The big lesson for parents turns out to be… Non attachment to the outcome.
It seems that non attachment to the outcome has to be one of the most important principles that every spiritual guru teaches. I thought that Hazelden explained it rather well. They called it “Letting Go”. They had a whole page of insights about what letting go is and is not.
At the very end, they summed it up with…
Letting go is to fear less and to love more.
We are learning that most of the behavior patterns that parents fall into don’t help the addict. They usually just make the parents obsessive and wear the parents out. The big lesson for parents turns out to be… Non attachment to the outcome.
It seems that non attachment to the outcome has to be one of the most important principles that every spiritual guru teaches. I thought that Hazelden explained it rather well. They called it “Letting Go”. They had a whole page of insights about what letting go is and is not.
At the very end, they summed it up with…
Letting go is to fear less and to love more.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Chicken flu?
Springtime is a great time for viruses. There is a particularly catchy one going around here. It makes most people only mildly sick, so they keep going to work and school and passing it around.
As I was nursing a sore throat, I couldn't help wondering how much extra I would worry about it if we had chickens. The media likes to have us worry. It sells.
As I was nursing a sore throat, I couldn't help wondering how much extra I would worry about it if we had chickens. The media likes to have us worry. It sells.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Abundance
On another blog I noted this line...
Random Quotes: Life shrinks or expands according to one's courage. ~ Anais Nin
I read it out loud and Lynn added; "And selfishness."
"How so?" I asked.
She replied; "When you are selfish, life shrinks. When you are generous, life expands and is abundant."
I guess selfishness and courage are related. It takes courage to share.
Random Quotes: Life shrinks or expands according to one's courage. ~ Anais Nin
I read it out loud and Lynn added; "And selfishness."
"How so?" I asked.
She replied; "When you are selfish, life shrinks. When you are generous, life expands and is abundant."
I guess selfishness and courage are related. It takes courage to share.
Silver Ion Tooth
It is an interesting experiment. Last week one of my upper molars was starting to rot. It was sensitive to touch, and even smelled rotten. As the weekend progressed, the tooth got worse. Sunday I decided to try something new. I built an oral version of a silver ion injector.
A little history…
Silver kills bacteria. Silver colloid (nano sized silver particles in water) is commonly sold in health food stores. If applied topically, it generally doesn’t penetrate the skin. A few years ago I learned that if you have a tiny current flowing from a silver wire into your skin, it carries atoms of silver into the tissue, where it stays long enough to kill local bacteria.
I started doing web research and running experiments. Soon I knew how to not make it too strong or too weak. I learned that it works wonderfully on bacterial infections, but not on fungi. I marveled that all the little pimples and other long time skin infections just disappeared. Chronic pimples stayed away for over six months. Some other infections never came back.
The following Christmas I made a dozen silver ion injectors from miniature flashlights and gave them to friends. Over time I learned that most of them get lost because they cure all the problems and get put in a drawer. It is a year before another infection pops up and they can no longer find the silver ion injector.
So, Sunday I whipped one up with a special shaped silver wire to fit between teeth. I started injecting those ions. I had never tried this in my mouth before. Two days later the tooth doesn’t smell and doesn’t hurt. It will be a few weeks before the dentist can see me. I’m hoping that my tooth is healthy and cleaned up by that time, with super fit gums as a bonus.
If that happens, this gadget will have a permanent place of honor in my medicine cabinet.
A little history…
Silver kills bacteria. Silver colloid (nano sized silver particles in water) is commonly sold in health food stores. If applied topically, it generally doesn’t penetrate the skin. A few years ago I learned that if you have a tiny current flowing from a silver wire into your skin, it carries atoms of silver into the tissue, where it stays long enough to kill local bacteria.
I started doing web research and running experiments. Soon I knew how to not make it too strong or too weak. I learned that it works wonderfully on bacterial infections, but not on fungi. I marveled that all the little pimples and other long time skin infections just disappeared. Chronic pimples stayed away for over six months. Some other infections never came back.
The following Christmas I made a dozen silver ion injectors from miniature flashlights and gave them to friends. Over time I learned that most of them get lost because they cure all the problems and get put in a drawer. It is a year before another infection pops up and they can no longer find the silver ion injector.
So, Sunday I whipped one up with a special shaped silver wire to fit between teeth. I started injecting those ions. I had never tried this in my mouth before. Two days later the tooth doesn’t smell and doesn’t hurt. It will be a few weeks before the dentist can see me. I’m hoping that my tooth is healthy and cleaned up by that time, with super fit gums as a bonus.
If that happens, this gadget will have a permanent place of honor in my medicine cabinet.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
May I have your attention please!
We are entering a fascinating new era where people are finally paying attention to attention.
If you google “attention economy” you literally get over 100 million hits. One of them sums it up quite well. “Attention is a new level in the massively multiplayer game known as Western culture.”
Michael Goldhaber
There is a lot of talk about what it is, where it is going and when it started. Some say it is starting now and some say it started in the 1980s. That is where I beg to differ. While it is true that the attention economy is a new level in our cultural game, it is also the most basic level in the game of life. It is so basic that every baby knows how to use it; and every pet dog.
(I even have some hints that attention is the basis of time, space and physics. But that is for a different blog.)
In this basic economy, you and I are given roughly the same amount of capital to invest, or waste. Like our muscles, our attention can be exercised and made strong, but within limits. This means that our attention is a critically limited resource, and it happens to be the most important one we have. We literally become what we attend to.
We need other people’s attention. So, just like corporations spend money trying to get more money, much of our attention is spent trying to get other people’s attention. That is investment. A balanced portfolio would include investing in ourselves so that our attention is interesting to others.
True wealth is having enough to be comfortable, but not be owned by it.
This is true with attention or dollars.
If you google “attention economy” you literally get over 100 million hits. One of them sums it up quite well. “Attention is a new level in the massively multiplayer game known as Western culture.”
Michael Goldhaber
There is a lot of talk about what it is, where it is going and when it started. Some say it is starting now and some say it started in the 1980s. That is where I beg to differ. While it is true that the attention economy is a new level in our cultural game, it is also the most basic level in the game of life. It is so basic that every baby knows how to use it; and every pet dog.
(I even have some hints that attention is the basis of time, space and physics. But that is for a different blog.)
In this basic economy, you and I are given roughly the same amount of capital to invest, or waste. Like our muscles, our attention can be exercised and made strong, but within limits. This means that our attention is a critically limited resource, and it happens to be the most important one we have. We literally become what we attend to.
We need other people’s attention. So, just like corporations spend money trying to get more money, much of our attention is spent trying to get other people’s attention. That is investment. A balanced portfolio would include investing in ourselves so that our attention is interesting to others.
True wealth is having enough to be comfortable, but not be owned by it.
This is true with attention or dollars.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Dream Speak
This morning I was sound asleep when the phone rang, interrupting an ongoing dream. It was like walking into a room where suddenly the conversation stops because you weren’t supposed to hear it. It was obvious that this dream was just background processing and was never intended to be remembered or analyzed by consciousness.
The central plot involved a (fictional) lackluster farewell party from a recent employer. It was set in the neighborhood I was raised in as a kid. It included several former bosses and partners from wildly different times in my life, and employees, and even neighborhood kids where I grew up. It included bedrooms and certain hills and furniture and foods. When this dream was suddenly exposed to the light of day, it was loaded with so many anachronisms that it made no sense.
However, there was something compelling about the power of every little component of this dream. Suddenly I realized that the food, the location, every person, every little background element were all big things that I identified with. They made up my identity over the years. It was a little like having my life flash before my eyes, but completely in the language of dream speak.
A person’s identity is always changing. You can’t stay in the same role as little kid, or high school student, or parent, or worker. The zillions of individual components that make up your brain and mind all buy into your identity to some degree, so it makes sense that they need to do some processing to adjust to those constant changes.
I feel like I just got an unexpectedly intimate look inside myself.
The central plot involved a (fictional) lackluster farewell party from a recent employer. It was set in the neighborhood I was raised in as a kid. It included several former bosses and partners from wildly different times in my life, and employees, and even neighborhood kids where I grew up. It included bedrooms and certain hills and furniture and foods. When this dream was suddenly exposed to the light of day, it was loaded with so many anachronisms that it made no sense.
However, there was something compelling about the power of every little component of this dream. Suddenly I realized that the food, the location, every person, every little background element were all big things that I identified with. They made up my identity over the years. It was a little like having my life flash before my eyes, but completely in the language of dream speak.
A person’s identity is always changing. You can’t stay in the same role as little kid, or high school student, or parent, or worker. The zillions of individual components that make up your brain and mind all buy into your identity to some degree, so it makes sense that they need to do some processing to adjust to those constant changes.
I feel like I just got an unexpectedly intimate look inside myself.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Wish for good stuff
Be careful what you ask for. When manifesting is in high gear it could happen faster than you expect.
This past week has been busier than a beehive in a fresh field of clover. Last week, our old (as in not controlled by us anymore) business, Hunt Technologies inc. was sold to the most ideal buyer under what seems to be the most ideal conditions. It was exactly as we had been defining it for the past year.
A few hours after the big announcement, Lynn and I were unwinding our slightly overexcited nerves. (I was surprised at how much that affected us.) Anyway, Lynn was thinking “Now there is only one more big thing in our lives that I would really like to clean up. I would like to help Cat.”
Cat is our niece. She lived with us for eight years while her parents were dealing with their messed up lives. Deep unresolved anger consumed her life. At 15, she ran away from us, staying with each of her parents in turn. She ended up on drugs, homeless, and refusing any real help.
One hour after Lynn’s defining thought, Cat called us, begging for help for the first time in years. She stayed with us over the weekend and agreed to enter treatment on Monday. I hope she can find a good path.
At HUG, we had been interviewing several people for the job of Machine Shop Wizard. I was beginning to see a pattern. It resulted in my fervent wish that I would find somebody who really spoke our language; somebody who loved doing something to make our world a green and sustainable place; someone who could understand enough engineering to take a concept and run with it.
One hour after that fervent wish was formed, we received an email. A man, wife and kid, all fit our culture and our needs to a T. Forty eight hours later (after talking for over 15 of those hours) they were virtually hired.
These three stories are each a big deal in our lives, and they all happened in the same week. We have to be careful about allowing for time and energy when we make a wish.
This past week has been busier than a beehive in a fresh field of clover. Last week, our old (as in not controlled by us anymore) business, Hunt Technologies inc. was sold to the most ideal buyer under what seems to be the most ideal conditions. It was exactly as we had been defining it for the past year.
A few hours after the big announcement, Lynn and I were unwinding our slightly overexcited nerves. (I was surprised at how much that affected us.) Anyway, Lynn was thinking “Now there is only one more big thing in our lives that I would really like to clean up. I would like to help Cat.”
Cat is our niece. She lived with us for eight years while her parents were dealing with their messed up lives. Deep unresolved anger consumed her life. At 15, she ran away from us, staying with each of her parents in turn. She ended up on drugs, homeless, and refusing any real help.
One hour after Lynn’s defining thought, Cat called us, begging for help for the first time in years. She stayed with us over the weekend and agreed to enter treatment on Monday. I hope she can find a good path.
At HUG, we had been interviewing several people for the job of Machine Shop Wizard. I was beginning to see a pattern. It resulted in my fervent wish that I would find somebody who really spoke our language; somebody who loved doing something to make our world a green and sustainable place; someone who could understand enough engineering to take a concept and run with it.
One hour after that fervent wish was formed, we received an email. A man, wife and kid, all fit our culture and our needs to a T. Forty eight hours later (after talking for over 15 of those hours) they were virtually hired.
These three stories are each a big deal in our lives, and they all happened in the same week. We have to be careful about allowing for time and energy when we make a wish.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Attention; the currency of life
To work with money, it helps to see it for what it really is.
Today I met Doug. He is very cool to talk to. For a while the topic turned to learning how to invest. He pointed out that a good investment is better if you invest in something that you really want anyway.
Later we got to talking about how money is just a substitute for the real currency… attention. We give somebody our attention and they give us a token (money). We give our token to someone else for their attention, or a product of their attention.
Money takes our basic currency (attention) and abstracts it, allowing us to save and trade conveniently.
Money is also convenient for governments and corporations to snatch a piece off the top.
: It is easy to tax (income tax, sales tax, inheritance tax, etc)
: It is easy to add fees (markups, interest, service fees, handling, etc.)
Money makes precise accounting possible; allowing us to obsess about just exactly how much is controlled by whom. That obsessing has us spending a great deal of our resources on accounting and legal services to help keep things straight.
Easy credit is another thing that turns the convenience of money into a tool for predators to enslave people. Like good predators, they study the habits of their prey (you), set out bait that you really want, and make it easy for you to enter their trap.
Every time you handle a piece of money, I estimate that you lose at least 60% for the reasons listed above. You focus on money because money is convenient and it is easy to quantify what you “own”.
Now, consider the advantages of shortening the loop. Don’t deal primarily in the tokens. Invest in the primary currency; attention. Build wealth by investing your time and talents in your neighbors (however you define neighbors). It is fun and satisfying, giving you immediate dividends. You can afford to NOT account for your investment because you can afford lots of losses and still be better off than dealing in just money. This frees up your soul and makes you more productive (and more fun).
Invest in everybody around you (some are better investments than others). Your wealth will not be easily measured, or taxed, or stolen or depleted. This kind of wealth is not portable or convenient to spend, but it is efficient and satisfying, and very real.
Today I met Doug. He is very cool to talk to. For a while the topic turned to learning how to invest. He pointed out that a good investment is better if you invest in something that you really want anyway.
Later we got to talking about how money is just a substitute for the real currency… attention. We give somebody our attention and they give us a token (money). We give our token to someone else for their attention, or a product of their attention.
Money takes our basic currency (attention) and abstracts it, allowing us to save and trade conveniently.
Money is also convenient for governments and corporations to snatch a piece off the top.
: It is easy to tax (income tax, sales tax, inheritance tax, etc)
: It is easy to add fees (markups, interest, service fees, handling, etc.)
Money makes precise accounting possible; allowing us to obsess about just exactly how much is controlled by whom. That obsessing has us spending a great deal of our resources on accounting and legal services to help keep things straight.
Easy credit is another thing that turns the convenience of money into a tool for predators to enslave people. Like good predators, they study the habits of their prey (you), set out bait that you really want, and make it easy for you to enter their trap.
Every time you handle a piece of money, I estimate that you lose at least 60% for the reasons listed above. You focus on money because money is convenient and it is easy to quantify what you “own”.
Now, consider the advantages of shortening the loop. Don’t deal primarily in the tokens. Invest in the primary currency; attention. Build wealth by investing your time and talents in your neighbors (however you define neighbors). It is fun and satisfying, giving you immediate dividends. You can afford to NOT account for your investment because you can afford lots of losses and still be better off than dealing in just money. This frees up your soul and makes you more productive (and more fun).
Invest in everybody around you (some are better investments than others). Your wealth will not be easily measured, or taxed, or stolen or depleted. This kind of wealth is not portable or convenient to spend, but it is efficient and satisfying, and very real.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Freedom to fail
In his blog "How to save the world" Dave points out 10 reasons why young people are afraid to start their own business. If you have any inclination to be your own boss, it is inspiring.
I was most impressed by reason 6: Couldn't Handle the Failure
Quoting his entry: "If I tried and failed as an entrepreneur, I think I'd be crushed. I'd feel like a failure in life, it would probably affect my marriage and my friendships and my reputation, and if I came to hate my day job I wouldn't even be able to daydream about running my own business, because I'd have already tried that and failed." A survey a few years ago by Inc. Magazine found that only one factor correlated strongly with entrepreneurial success: A previous entrepreneurial failure. This is how you learn. If you avoid over-committing and learn how to "fail fast and early", you can have the resilience to be a 'serial entrepreneur', and be comfortable with the fact that no entrepreneur succeeds in every undertaking.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Edison Failed to invent the light bulb many thousands of times. That fact kept me optomistic through the hundreds of projects I worked on. Most of them didn't work out as I hoped. Every one was a learning experience. We went broke several times, but the sum total of the whole entrepreneur thing worked out very well.
I was most impressed by reason 6: Couldn't Handle the Failure
Quoting his entry: "If I tried and failed as an entrepreneur, I think I'd be crushed. I'd feel like a failure in life, it would probably affect my marriage and my friendships and my reputation, and if I came to hate my day job I wouldn't even be able to daydream about running my own business, because I'd have already tried that and failed." A survey a few years ago by Inc. Magazine found that only one factor correlated strongly with entrepreneurial success: A previous entrepreneurial failure. This is how you learn. If you avoid over-committing and learn how to "fail fast and early", you can have the resilience to be a 'serial entrepreneur', and be comfortable with the fact that no entrepreneur succeeds in every undertaking.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Edison Failed to invent the light bulb many thousands of times. That fact kept me optomistic through the hundreds of projects I worked on. Most of them didn't work out as I hoped. Every one was a learning experience. We went broke several times, but the sum total of the whole entrepreneur thing worked out very well.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Just for fun
The human brain and nervous system is an amazing thing. The olympics pointed that out. With enough practice, a gifted person can do totally amazing things.
If you have a few minutes, you should watch this juggler. He is juggling just three simple balls, but the way he times it to the music is amazing.
If you have a few minutes, you should watch this juggler. He is juggling just three simple balls, but the way he times it to the music is amazing.
Friday, February 24, 2006
You are the author of your life.
In my wildest fantasies, I pretend that I am in a situation in which I have no control. I cannot be blamed for the situation and thus I can enjoy a forbidden behaviour.
It has been slowly dawning on me for the last few decades that it is dishonest to blame anyone else for situations in which I find myself. At some level I helped set it up.
That slowly dawning sun continues to rise.
I was reading about manifesting and this line stood out to me...
If you find yourself defending, attacking, blaming or justifying, you have not found the wisdom of your own authority.
It has been slowly dawning on me for the last few decades that it is dishonest to blame anyone else for situations in which I find myself. At some level I helped set it up.
That slowly dawning sun continues to rise.
I was reading about manifesting and this line stood out to me...
If you find yourself defending, attacking, blaming or justifying, you have not found the wisdom of your own authority.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Make your own kind of music
Make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
even if nobody else sings along...
These lyrics have been repeating themselves in my head for 2 weeks now. Every time something sticks to me like that, I eventually start to wonder if I should pay attention to what the words mean.
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
even if nobody else sings along...
These lyrics have been repeating themselves in my head for 2 weeks now. Every time something sticks to me like that, I eventually start to wonder if I should pay attention to what the words mean.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Vacation is tough on the schedule.
It is almost like when I had a real job. Like many Americans, I learned to avoid vacations because they were too stressful before and after.
Before the vacation, you had to try to arrange all the appointments and get things ready so the whole department wouldn't fall apart while you were gone.
After the vacation, the work is piled up to the ceiling and things are crazy busy for a week or two.
This week was a little too much like that. I figured that in our situation, February would be an ideal time for taking off. It is the quietest time of the year.
Not this year. I'm only beginning to catch up even now.
Everything we are doing is really all good stuff, so I don't know if I'm bragging or complaining. I'll let you know when I catch up.
Before the vacation, you had to try to arrange all the appointments and get things ready so the whole department wouldn't fall apart while you were gone.
After the vacation, the work is piled up to the ceiling and things are crazy busy for a week or two.
This week was a little too much like that. I figured that in our situation, February would be an ideal time for taking off. It is the quietest time of the year.
Not this year. I'm only beginning to catch up even now.
Everything we are doing is really all good stuff, so I don't know if I'm bragging or complaining. I'll let you know when I catch up.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
In San Diego
This week Lynn and I are goofing off. As I write, I am in a hotel just North of san diego. This could mean that great thoughts will have time to well up in a relaxed mind, or that I will be way too busy. We will be playing that by ear.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Knowledge is really predictive power.
Mathematics, history, gossip, no matter what the field, knowledge helps us control and navigate our lives as we journey into the future.
The only reason we want to “know” something is if it helps guide us in the future. It is therefore only reasonable that a being that stands outside of time as we know it and can “see” all time at once would be considered by us to be all knowledge.
Our silly, serial, three dimensional selves stand in awe of such a concept.
Our integrated selves ARE such a concept.
The only reason we want to “know” something is if it helps guide us in the future. It is therefore only reasonable that a being that stands outside of time as we know it and can “see” all time at once would be considered by us to be all knowledge.
Our silly, serial, three dimensional selves stand in awe of such a concept.
Our integrated selves ARE such a concept.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Is there a pattern here?
Another interesting item of Global warming news
Why am I seeing more than the usual amount of info about this topic lately?
Do you suppose God is trying to give us a message?
Why am I seeing more than the usual amount of info about this topic lately?
Do you suppose God is trying to give us a message?
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Friday, January 27, 2006
Getting at the root?
In reference to an earlier post
I_Wonder said...
"Structure tends to suppress creativity...
With no structure, you can do nothing."
There's some tension between these statements. I accept both as 'true' but they tend to repel one another like matching poles of a magnet.
I think I can assert "structure spurs creativity" and accept it as 'true' also.
I agree with the full post and with your paraphrase, but I still have a nagging feeling that there's more in these two (or three) statements.
Paul said...
With no structure, you can do nothing. With a little structure you can get creative.
With a lot of structure, you can get creative at higher levels. But for the higher level to function well, it must be on a stable platform. That demands predictability and conformity in the supporting structure.
People want to create. To make their supporting platform (nature) more predictable, they dam rivers, flatten terrain, clear trees, kill or domesticate animals, and eliminate germs and bugs.
Corporations and governments want to create. To make their supporting platform (people) more predictable, they will...
(fill in the blank)
(ouch)
I_Wonder said...
"Structure tends to suppress creativity...
With no structure, you can do nothing."
There's some tension between these statements. I accept both as 'true' but they tend to repel one another like matching poles of a magnet.
I think I can assert "structure spurs creativity" and accept it as 'true' also.
I agree with the full post and with your paraphrase, but I still have a nagging feeling that there's more in these two (or three) statements.
Paul said...
With no structure, you can do nothing. With a little structure you can get creative.
With a lot of structure, you can get creative at higher levels. But for the higher level to function well, it must be on a stable platform. That demands predictability and conformity in the supporting structure.
People want to create. To make their supporting platform (nature) more predictable, they dam rivers, flatten terrain, clear trees, kill or domesticate animals, and eliminate germs and bugs.
Corporations and governments want to create. To make their supporting platform (people) more predictable, they will...
(fill in the blank)
(ouch)
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Fast Times
January has been moving at a breakneck speed around here. Everything we are doing seems to be good stuff, and it is fun. No moss is gathering on us this year.
Lots of new learning, new friends, new employees, new organizations, new responsibilities, new buildings planned, even all new knotty pine paneling and shelves in my living room.
Whew! No wonder it feels fast.
We asked for these opportunities.
We are getting them.
May we have fun with them, and do the world a lot of good.
Lots of new learning, new friends, new employees, new organizations, new responsibilities, new buildings planned, even all new knotty pine paneling and shelves in my living room.
Whew! No wonder it feels fast.
We asked for these opportunities.
We are getting them.
May we have fun with them, and do the world a lot of good.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Where we are
Evolution needs the edge.
Life happens on the edge.
Structure tends to suppress creativity...
With no structure, you can do nothing.
With some structure the sky is the limit.
With much structure, you can do big things;
crush the competition,
force things to be just like you.
Evolution requires competition and noise, progeny and death.
When you are evolving, you are life.
When you no longer evolve you become soil; support for active life forms.
Life happens on the edge.
Structure tends to suppress creativity...
With no structure, you can do nothing.
With some structure the sky is the limit.
With much structure, you can do big things;
crush the competition,
force things to be just like you.
Evolution requires competition and noise, progeny and death.
When you are evolving, you are life.
When you no longer evolve you become soil; support for active life forms.
Personal energy, same as chemistry
Deploying energy is usually about making and breaking bonds.
Energy seems to be all about expectations. Energy is stored in motion or in bonds. Motion includes thermal kinetic and probably radiation. Bonds include any fields, electric, magnetic, gravitational, and chemical. Sometimes it takes energy to create a bond. Sometimes energy is released. In any case we are trading bonding and motion.
We already know that motion is possible because of inertia. Inertia is expectation. And bond is a continued expectation of advantages.
Every bond is for better and worse. It comes with advantages and costs. Making and breaking bonds usually involves substantial energy. That is why lawyers and undertakers make a lot of money. They support you just as a huge amount of energy is in flux. Doctors and realtors also benefit from changes in expectations making huge energy available.
Energy seems to be all about expectations. Energy is stored in motion or in bonds. Motion includes thermal kinetic and probably radiation. Bonds include any fields, electric, magnetic, gravitational, and chemical. Sometimes it takes energy to create a bond. Sometimes energy is released. In any case we are trading bonding and motion.
We already know that motion is possible because of inertia. Inertia is expectation. And bond is a continued expectation of advantages.
Every bond is for better and worse. It comes with advantages and costs. Making and breaking bonds usually involves substantial energy. That is why lawyers and undertakers make a lot of money. They support you just as a huge amount of energy is in flux. Doctors and realtors also benefit from changes in expectations making huge energy available.
Maybe we should start a church
Lots of interesting and weird things happen here and we often find ourselves exclaiming “Huddha thunk it!” We decided that these exclamations are proof that, subconsciously, we inherently understand how such things happen.
Huddha is a mischievous minor demigoddess, very good at creating reality by thinking. She is often credited with obscure realities within our world.
HUDDHA; the goddess of creation, creativity, discovery, and thinking.
Of course, to run a successful church, we need a leader; so I imagine we will have to run a "help wanted" ad in the paper. Something like this…
Charismatic leader needed: for a young cult, aspiring to promote minor demigod who specializes in manifesting obscure realities. No weirdoes please.
Huddha is a mischievous minor demigoddess, very good at creating reality by thinking. She is often credited with obscure realities within our world.
HUDDHA; the goddess of creation, creativity, discovery, and thinking.
Of course, to run a successful church, we need a leader; so I imagine we will have to run a "help wanted" ad in the paper. Something like this…
Charismatic leader needed: for a young cult, aspiring to promote minor demigod who specializes in manifesting obscure realities. No weirdoes please.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Be prepared for it
I found this on a manifesting site...
4-step success formula
1: You need to know what you want. You need to have your goals.
2: You need to have a burning desire to achieve the goal.
3: You need to program your goals into your subconscious mind.
4: You need to take massive action to accumulate the necessary experience and knowledge so that you are competent enough for your goals.
Number 4 is what got my attention:
You need to take MASSIVE action.
Not to make it happen, but to be prepared to handle it well. You could wish for a million watts of power, but if you got it without knowing how to deal with it, POOF!
It is true of a million dollars too.
In my mind, there is also a subtle interplay between being prepared and being worthy.
4-step success formula
1: You need to know what you want. You need to have your goals.
2: You need to have a burning desire to achieve the goal.
3: You need to program your goals into your subconscious mind.
4: You need to take massive action to accumulate the necessary experience and knowledge so that you are competent enough for your goals.
Number 4 is what got my attention:
You need to take MASSIVE action.
Not to make it happen, but to be prepared to handle it well. You could wish for a million watts of power, but if you got it without knowing how to deal with it, POOF!
It is true of a million dollars too.
In my mind, there is also a subtle interplay between being prepared and being worthy.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Infinite patience brings immediate rewards
This saying tickled me the first time I heard it. It is both ironic and a mind stretcher. If you are infinitely patient, you don’t need immediate reward… but you get it.
Eventually the teacher explained that it also is a great manifesting tool. It creates a series of outcomes that are on every manifesting checklist.
Your infinite patience first collapses time in your mind,
Then it collapses time in “reality”.
I asked for more clarity. (I said “Huh?”)
It works like this…
If you define what you want,
and then you are infinitely patient about it,
you relax.
You are not attached to the outcome.
In infinite time, it has to happen eventually,
so, you can have perfect faith,
so you act as if it is inevitable.
Then it is.
Eventually the teacher explained that it also is a great manifesting tool. It creates a series of outcomes that are on every manifesting checklist.
Your infinite patience first collapses time in your mind,
Then it collapses time in “reality”.
I asked for more clarity. (I said “Huh?”)
It works like this…
If you define what you want,
and then you are infinitely patient about it,
you relax.
You are not attached to the outcome.
In infinite time, it has to happen eventually,
so, you can have perfect faith,
so you act as if it is inevitable.
Then it is.
Are we there yet?
Society seems to be getting more empathetic, more caring, more connected. Of course we still have a long way to go, lots of inequities, but look back 50 years.
We had raging race inequities that were accepted by law and society. No one even dared mention homosexuality. Women had many fewer options. Communists were to be feared and hated. Anyone who ever watched tv shows knew that the only good indian was a dead indian.
Today we are so much more one global civilization. We are on the path toward understanding our connectedness. All we have to do is survive the journey.
We had raging race inequities that were accepted by law and society. No one even dared mention homosexuality. Women had many fewer options. Communists were to be feared and hated. Anyone who ever watched tv shows knew that the only good indian was a dead indian.
Today we are so much more one global civilization. We are on the path toward understanding our connectedness. All we have to do is survive the journey.
Dealing with abundance
The population of any living thing tends to expand quickly until some critical item becomes scarce. Then the population stops expanding and starts competing. That creates evolutionary pressure. The individuals that deal most effectively with the scarcity survive and reproduce.
We are the result of a lot of evolution. Scarcity and competition is very deeply ingrained into our genes, perhaps into the very essence of our universe. It is how we get “better”.
What would happen if we didn’t have any scarcity? What if any and all of us could create whatever we want?
Maybe we would “wake up” from the game we have been playing.
Perhaps Douglas Adams was right. In his Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books he speculates that… if anybody ever figures out the universe, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. Some people think this has already happened.
We are the result of a lot of evolution. Scarcity and competition is very deeply ingrained into our genes, perhaps into the very essence of our universe. It is how we get “better”.
What would happen if we didn’t have any scarcity? What if any and all of us could create whatever we want?
Maybe we would “wake up” from the game we have been playing.
Perhaps Douglas Adams was right. In his Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books he speculates that… if anybody ever figures out the universe, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. Some people think this has already happened.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
No attachment to the outcome
No attachment to the outcome?
What?!
That was one of the concepts that I found hard to swallow. How does one decide what they want, and fully expect it, without being attached to the outcome?
It's my goal. I'm striving for it. Of course I'm attached.
It took a while to absorb the underpinnings…
YOU don’t create the outcome. You don’t strive for it.
You allow the universe to create the outcome. It is a gift. As such, you don’t really own it, and you have nothing to lose. You are so busy following the interesting and abundant path of life that you are surprised, thrilled, appreciative, when the gift does show up.
Similar to walking in the woods and finding blueberries.
What?!
That was one of the concepts that I found hard to swallow. How does one decide what they want, and fully expect it, without being attached to the outcome?
It's my goal. I'm striving for it. Of course I'm attached.
It took a while to absorb the underpinnings…
YOU don’t create the outcome. You don’t strive for it.
You allow the universe to create the outcome. It is a gift. As such, you don’t really own it, and you have nothing to lose. You are so busy following the interesting and abundant path of life that you are surprised, thrilled, appreciative, when the gift does show up.
Similar to walking in the woods and finding blueberries.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Words are so limiting!
Words are a one dimensional substitute; merely pointers to one facet of the multidimensional, powerful and spiritual real thing. But a pointer is a valuable tool.
When I was contemplating how to post about manifesting, I realized that I didn’t have words for what it was or how to do it. After a little internet research, the words came flooding out. After finding words, I began to realize that those were the tools used to teach me this topic. It was after the principles turned into everyday practice that the words faded away, replaced by the grandeur of the real thing.
There are dozens of potential posts I could do about manifesting lessons. Does anyone want to see a long series of them?
When I was contemplating how to post about manifesting, I realized that I didn’t have words for what it was or how to do it. After a little internet research, the words came flooding out. After finding words, I began to realize that those were the tools used to teach me this topic. It was after the principles turned into everyday practice that the words faded away, replaced by the grandeur of the real thing.
There are dozens of potential posts I could do about manifesting lessons. Does anyone want to see a long series of them?
Happy Dancing Pink Elephant
Try hard NOT to think about a Pink Elephant with Red Toes, wearing a Tutu, Happily Dancing a ballet.
Read it again. Focus on it.
Were you successful NOT thinking about it?
I’m betting that your mind created the picture rather vividly.
The universe is a big mind that works pretty much the same way. It creates what you focus on. So DON’T tell it what you don’t want.
Some teachers explain that the universe doesn’t understand negatives. If you state what you don’t want, you will create what you don’t want.
Tell the universe vivid descriptions of what you do want. Always in positive terms.
Read it again. Focus on it.
Were you successful NOT thinking about it?
I’m betting that your mind created the picture rather vividly.
The universe is a big mind that works pretty much the same way. It creates what you focus on. So DON’T tell it what you don’t want.
Some teachers explain that the universe doesn’t understand negatives. If you state what you don’t want, you will create what you don’t want.
Tell the universe vivid descriptions of what you do want. Always in positive terms.
What is manifesting?
Manifesting is allowing the universe to provide whatever you ask for.
Everyone is naturally good at manifesting.
Learning how to use manifesting to do good in your life is a lifelong spiritual undertaking. However, you don't have to be a master at it. Any step you take in that direction creates a better life.
Everyone is naturally good at manifesting.
Learning how to use manifesting to do good in your life is a lifelong spiritual undertaking. However, you don't have to be a master at it. Any step you take in that direction creates a better life.
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