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.
Monday, July 31, 2006
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.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
An IM conversation about manifesting.
I was doing some research, trying to find words for how to go about manifesting. In the middle of that research, I had a couple of conversations that are worth reporting just as they happenned.
paul_hunt3: what can you tell me about the art of manifesting?
svava thornson: I think manifesting gets faster as you get more practice
paul_hunt3: how do you start?
svava thornson: by hopeing for things
svava thornson: and then working towards making them happen
paul_hunt3: so it is quite natural
svava thornson: prayer is a huge organized religion way of telling people how to manifest
svava thornson: you tell them. You can have anything you want (most of the time) but you have to tell people, even if it's just between yourself and the powers that be
svava thornson: and then you have to act in accordance to make that happen
paul_hunt3: it helps if you have pre charged your social environment
svava thornson: yes
svava thornson: but that comes with practice too
svava thornson: if everyone is used to you getting what you ask for, they just assume that if you've asked it's going to happen so they do it or act like it has already happened
paul_hunt3: acting as if...
paul_hunt3: another magic piece
svava thornson: when I mentioned to Emoe that you guys were looking to start a restaurant or wanted someone else to, somewhere in it I mentioned IF and he corrected me and said "WHEN!, it is your parents who want it"
paul_hunt3: that is a charged example
svava thornson: ya
svava thornson: but most people know that if you really want something you get it
svava thornson: even if it involves you making it happen
svava thornson: especially if it involves you making it happen
paul_hunt3: it boils down to expectations
paul_hunt3: faith
paul_hunt3: if you don't expect it to happen, you don't invest in it
svava thornson: and neither will anyone else
paul_hunt3: the converse works too
svava thornson: very much so
paul_hunt3 : I just copied all this into my worksheet
paul_hunt3 : I'm doing a report on manifesting
svava thornson : oh?
paul_hunt3 : george breed asked me to
svava thornson : what else do you know about it?
paul_hunt3 : i found about 4 links to good websites that teach it
paul_hunt3 : amber and i took a manifesting class in 99 and it changed both of our lives
svava thornson : remember when we read the reluctant messiah together
paul_hunt3 : yea
svava thornson : that had almost everything to do with manifesting
paul_hunt3 : very much
svava thornson : although it was a fantasy book that explained it best to me
paul_hunt3 : which?
svava thornson : it was somewhere in the rift series
svava thornson : there was this old crazy magician who insisted there was no magic
svava thornson : which was charming and all but way down the line. he explained to the main character why there was no magic
paul_hunt3 : yes?
svava thornson : and it involved him describing something similar to subatomic particles, or the energy that holds it together and communicating with them
svava thornson : it is what everything is made up of, EVERYTHING
svava thornson : and if you ask them to they'll do anything you want
svava thornson : it wasn't magic, it was communication
svava thornson : but the way he described it really made anything at all possible
paul_hunt3 : Ahhhh
svava thornson : and all you had to do was communicate (manifest)svava thornson: and when I do reiki or those kinds of things what they teach you to do is to communicate with the very essence of energy, at the level in which it holds all things together
svava thornson : they teach you that energy follows intention. . or where/what you are thinking about
paul_hunt3 : that explains the power of attention
svava thornson : you can literally create, destroy, restructure anything simply with energy manipulation, although I prefer to communicate and ask rather than manipulate
paul_hunt3 : the essence of the art
svava thornson : magic actual magic not parlor tricks is whole heartedly possible
svava thornson : but few do it because they don't believe they can, or they don't want to deal with the consequences
paul_hunt3 : but as you say, it's not magic
svava thornson : right
svava thornson : but it could easily look like it
svava thornson : and people could study and learn to do "magic" without understanding what it actually is
svava thornson : ritual can be very powerful
paul_hunt3 : ritual encodes expectations
svava thornson : yes
svava thornson : if you do this, and believe this will happen because of it. . .
svava thornson : you'll be posting your report on manifesting right?
paul_hunt3 : yup
paul_hunt3 : part of my report might be this conversation
svava thornson : cool
svava thornson : I'd like to see the websites on it too
paul_hunt3 :A book called "Beginner's guide to manifesting
paul_hunt3 : INNERLIGHT the art of manifesting (comes with meditation music)
paul_hunt3 : unifying.com/manifesting
paul_hunt3 : A different channel on the topic
paul_hunt3: what can you tell me about the art of manifesting?
svava thornson: I think manifesting gets faster as you get more practice
paul_hunt3: how do you start?
svava thornson: by hopeing for things
svava thornson: and then working towards making them happen
paul_hunt3: so it is quite natural
svava thornson: prayer is a huge organized religion way of telling people how to manifest
svava thornson: you tell them. You can have anything you want (most of the time) but you have to tell people, even if it's just between yourself and the powers that be
svava thornson: and then you have to act in accordance to make that happen
paul_hunt3: it helps if you have pre charged your social environment
svava thornson: yes
svava thornson: but that comes with practice too
svava thornson: if everyone is used to you getting what you ask for, they just assume that if you've asked it's going to happen so they do it or act like it has already happened
paul_hunt3: acting as if...
paul_hunt3: another magic piece
svava thornson: when I mentioned to Emoe that you guys were looking to start a restaurant or wanted someone else to, somewhere in it I mentioned IF and he corrected me and said "WHEN!, it is your parents who want it"
paul_hunt3: that is a charged example
svava thornson: ya
svava thornson: but most people know that if you really want something you get it
svava thornson: even if it involves you making it happen
svava thornson: especially if it involves you making it happen
paul_hunt3: it boils down to expectations
paul_hunt3: faith
paul_hunt3: if you don't expect it to happen, you don't invest in it
svava thornson: and neither will anyone else
paul_hunt3: the converse works too
svava thornson: very much so
paul_hunt3 : I just copied all this into my worksheet
paul_hunt3 : I'm doing a report on manifesting
svava thornson : oh?
paul_hunt3 : george breed asked me to
svava thornson : what else do you know about it?
paul_hunt3 : i found about 4 links to good websites that teach it
paul_hunt3 : amber and i took a manifesting class in 99 and it changed both of our lives
svava thornson : remember when we read the reluctant messiah together
paul_hunt3 : yea
svava thornson : that had almost everything to do with manifesting
paul_hunt3 : very much
svava thornson : although it was a fantasy book that explained it best to me
paul_hunt3 : which?
svava thornson : it was somewhere in the rift series
svava thornson : there was this old crazy magician who insisted there was no magic
svava thornson : which was charming and all but way down the line. he explained to the main character why there was no magic
paul_hunt3 : yes?
svava thornson : and it involved him describing something similar to subatomic particles, or the energy that holds it together and communicating with them
svava thornson : it is what everything is made up of, EVERYTHING
svava thornson : and if you ask them to they'll do anything you want
svava thornson : it wasn't magic, it was communication
svava thornson : but the way he described it really made anything at all possible
paul_hunt3 : Ahhhh
svava thornson : and all you had to do was communicate (manifest)svava thornson: and when I do reiki or those kinds of things what they teach you to do is to communicate with the very essence of energy, at the level in which it holds all things together
svava thornson : they teach you that energy follows intention. . or where/what you are thinking about
paul_hunt3 : that explains the power of attention
svava thornson : you can literally create, destroy, restructure anything simply with energy manipulation, although I prefer to communicate and ask rather than manipulate
paul_hunt3 : the essence of the art
svava thornson : magic actual magic not parlor tricks is whole heartedly possible
svava thornson : but few do it because they don't believe they can, or they don't want to deal with the consequences
paul_hunt3 : but as you say, it's not magic
svava thornson : right
svava thornson : but it could easily look like it
svava thornson : and people could study and learn to do "magic" without understanding what it actually is
svava thornson : ritual can be very powerful
paul_hunt3 : ritual encodes expectations
svava thornson : yes
svava thornson : if you do this, and believe this will happen because of it. . .
svava thornson : you'll be posting your report on manifesting right?
paul_hunt3 : yup
paul_hunt3 : part of my report might be this conversation
svava thornson : cool
svava thornson : I'd like to see the websites on it too
paul_hunt3 :A book called "Beginner's guide to manifesting
paul_hunt3 : INNERLIGHT the art of manifesting (comes with meditation music)
paul_hunt3 : unifying.com/manifesting
paul_hunt3 : A different channel on the topic
Monday, December 26, 2005
Alternate cosmology
Imagine a raindrop in mid air. Now imagine that our entire three dimensional universe is just the surface of a similar raindrop in 4 dimensional space.
For conceptual purposes, we will call the 4D fluid that makes up this big raindrop "water". As we zoom way down into the tiniest details of this surface, we notice little jets of water entering at a right angle to the surface. Each jet punctures the surface tension and drags a little of the surface water into the raindrop center.
From our 3D point of view, each of those jets looks like the tiniest particle of matter. Zoom in close and they look like tiny black holes through which the very fluid of space is being lost. Because fluid is always flowing into these partcles, they are attracted to each other. That gives rise to the behaviour of gravity.
This concept was introduced to me by "the teacher" about 20 years ago (in a most undignified way). At the time I imagined explaining that as I accepted the Nobel prize. At the time I was also saying that science had too many things to change before they could begin accepting such a different explaination of the universe.
I let the subject drop, but every 5 years or so something would tantalize me. Also, a new finding (such as dark energy) would pop up and puzzle the science community because it didn't fit known theories. Reading about the puzzled scientists I would shout to myself "DUH! It's just commen sense in my theory."
Many things have changed, and now theoretical cosmologists are looking for new ideas. I don't have the mathematics horsepower to see if this hypo-theory makes sense yet. I guess I need to be introduced to somebody in physics who has the guts, intuition, and skills to check it out.
For conceptual purposes, we will call the 4D fluid that makes up this big raindrop "water". As we zoom way down into the tiniest details of this surface, we notice little jets of water entering at a right angle to the surface. Each jet punctures the surface tension and drags a little of the surface water into the raindrop center.
From our 3D point of view, each of those jets looks like the tiniest particle of matter. Zoom in close and they look like tiny black holes through which the very fluid of space is being lost. Because fluid is always flowing into these partcles, they are attracted to each other. That gives rise to the behaviour of gravity.
This concept was introduced to me by "the teacher" about 20 years ago (in a most undignified way). At the time I imagined explaining that as I accepted the Nobel prize. At the time I was also saying that science had too many things to change before they could begin accepting such a different explaination of the universe.
I let the subject drop, but every 5 years or so something would tantalize me. Also, a new finding (such as dark energy) would pop up and puzzle the science community because it didn't fit known theories. Reading about the puzzled scientists I would shout to myself "DUH! It's just commen sense in my theory."
Many things have changed, and now theoretical cosmologists are looking for new ideas. I don't have the mathematics horsepower to see if this hypo-theory makes sense yet. I guess I need to be introduced to somebody in physics who has the guts, intuition, and skills to check it out.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Can you catch a virus by internet?
I read Solee's website about her being sick. With just the right amount of incubation time, yesterday the flu hit me like a ton of bricks.
I had just been marveling that this has been a very good season, I hadn't had any illness this fall. So, do you think I got nailed because I thought about it, or because I caught it from Solee?
I had just been marveling that this has been a very good season, I hadn't had any illness this fall. So, do you think I got nailed because I thought about it, or because I caught it from Solee?
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Perfection
I have been struggling with the practical side of perfection. I have seen many times how having stuff that is too nice causes more grief than pleasure.
When we had three little kids, I concluded that it wasn’t worth getting so upset about all the things they broke or defaced. Sure, they had to learn to take care of things, but I didn’t have to go nuts trying to maintain possessions that are too nice for kids. I just sighed and concluded that I wasn’t going to have anything nice for the next 20 years.
It has been more than 20 years. I can have nearly any possession I want. During that time I learned that there is very little additional value to having really fine stuff. The real value in life is enjoying people and having a mission.
This philosophy affects my tastes in housing. While some folks obsess about imperfections in their finely finished woodwork, my house will be a little more rustic and perhaps a little less finished. As a place to interact with life, my house will always be a work in progress, so forgive the imperfections.
I will save obsessing and pursuit of perfection for my mission.
When we had three little kids, I concluded that it wasn’t worth getting so upset about all the things they broke or defaced. Sure, they had to learn to take care of things, but I didn’t have to go nuts trying to maintain possessions that are too nice for kids. I just sighed and concluded that I wasn’t going to have anything nice for the next 20 years.
It has been more than 20 years. I can have nearly any possession I want. During that time I learned that there is very little additional value to having really fine stuff. The real value in life is enjoying people and having a mission.
This philosophy affects my tastes in housing. While some folks obsess about imperfections in their finely finished woodwork, my house will be a little more rustic and perhaps a little less finished. As a place to interact with life, my house will always be a work in progress, so forgive the imperfections.
I will save obsessing and pursuit of perfection for my mission.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Manifesting keeps happening faster.
(Of course it helps if you hustle too.)
Remember a few blogs ago I mentioned Fair Conversion?
Last night, the fair board voted unanimously to include a focus on renewable energy and sustainable living.
Now the fun part and the hard work begins. There are a million ideas that this opens up. I will list some of those ideas at the HUG web site.
It is kind of cool that the fair will be renewed and sustained by choosing to focus on Renewable and Sustainable living.
Remember a few blogs ago I mentioned Fair Conversion?
Last night, the fair board voted unanimously to include a focus on renewable energy and sustainable living.
Now the fun part and the hard work begins. There are a million ideas that this opens up. I will list some of those ideas at the HUG web site.
It is kind of cool that the fair will be renewed and sustained by choosing to focus on Renewable and Sustainable living.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
A better fit
Around here we often talk about forming an idyllic community. We have it well established in our minds that the current economic system is all about pumping money uphill. It also tends to entrap people to keep on feeding that pump by making them totally dependent on the big system for food, fuel and housing.
The emerging answers center on shortening the economic loops; such as: we and our neighbors might raise much of our own food and fuel, and live in houses that heat themselves. Then we aren’t dependent on everything in the big system working perfectly. It is economically more efficient, healthier, and more stable. Then we deal with the big economy more for our wants, not our needs.
While chatting with Raya about how we would make a better economy and lifestyle, she asked "Can it work to live like a Hobbit and still be connected to the world?"
I answered “Yes, but we want to meet the larger economy hand in hand, not with its hand on our throat.”
The emerging answers center on shortening the economic loops; such as: we and our neighbors might raise much of our own food and fuel, and live in houses that heat themselves. Then we aren’t dependent on everything in the big system working perfectly. It is economically more efficient, healthier, and more stable. Then we deal with the big economy more for our wants, not our needs.
While chatting with Raya about how we would make a better economy and lifestyle, she asked "Can it work to live like a Hobbit and still be connected to the world?"
I answered “Yes, but we want to meet the larger economy hand in hand, not with its hand on our throat.”
Manifesting and fun facts
I have marveled many times lately at how fast the universe presents me with something I asked for or the answer to a question. All I have to do is pay attention.
Just today I was wondering how the name for the Star Wars character R2D2 came about. Tonight I bumped into a fun facts web site. There it was…
When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2, Dialog 2 by saying "R2D2". George liked the way that sounded so much he integrated that into another project he was working on.
A few other fun facts that caught my attention:
Comments about our major institutions...
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike each year than all the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
At General Motors, the cost of health care for employees now exceeds the cost of steel.
The United States has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five percent of the world's prison population.
Comments about our nutrition...
In 1991, the average bra size in the United States was 34B. Today it's 36C.
In 1985, the most popular waist size for men's pants was 32. In 2003, it's 36.
In 2004, one in six girls in the United States enter puberty at age 8. A hundred years ago, only one in a hundred entered puberty that early.
The average North Korean 7-year-old is almost three inches shorter than the average South Korean 7-year-old.
Who is the dominant species?
For every person on earth, there are an estimated 200 million insects.
Time to outlaw those wild teddys...
Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears
Ever have that feeling?
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton Look-Alike contest.
Just today I was wondering how the name for the Star Wars character R2D2 came about. Tonight I bumped into a fun facts web site. There it was…
When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2, Dialog 2 by saying "R2D2". George liked the way that sounded so much he integrated that into another project he was working on.
A few other fun facts that caught my attention:
Comments about our major institutions...
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike each year than all the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
At General Motors, the cost of health care for employees now exceeds the cost of steel.
The United States has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five percent of the world's prison population.
Comments about our nutrition...
In 1991, the average bra size in the United States was 34B. Today it's 36C.
In 1985, the most popular waist size for men's pants was 32. In 2003, it's 36.
In 2004, one in six girls in the United States enter puberty at age 8. A hundred years ago, only one in a hundred entered puberty that early.
The average North Korean 7-year-old is almost three inches shorter than the average South Korean 7-year-old.
Who is the dominant species?
For every person on earth, there are an estimated 200 million insects.
Time to outlaw those wild teddys...
Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears
Ever have that feeling?
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton Look-Alike contest.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Practice
For several years now I have had a little voice whispering in my brain, telling me to eat foods that are more alive. I am slowly learning to change eating habits as we learn more about food and nutrition.
Lynn and I spent the evening putting hundreds of pounds of various sproutable organic seeds into zip-lock baggies and 5 gallon buckets. Our goal is to learn to actually practice eating sprouted everything. This is not to say that we will go nuts and eat nothing but sprouts. This is just another gentle nudge to eat healthier and more nutritious foods.
I have to marvel at how difficult it is to actually change living habits. We can talk about it. We can all agree to it. Sometimes we even go so far as to start it. But do we stick to it?
Not likely.
The basic laws of physics apply to our spirit too.
Newton's first law:
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
Just change the word "object" to "habit" and it's talking about you and me at our essence. That means we need to apply big force (such as the pain of necessity) to get any quick change in our habits. The other way to to change our direction is to apply a small force, constantly, for a very long time.
I have patience and persistance. I can do that.
Lynn and I spent the evening putting hundreds of pounds of various sproutable organic seeds into zip-lock baggies and 5 gallon buckets. Our goal is to learn to actually practice eating sprouted everything. This is not to say that we will go nuts and eat nothing but sprouts. This is just another gentle nudge to eat healthier and more nutritious foods.
I have to marvel at how difficult it is to actually change living habits. We can talk about it. We can all agree to it. Sometimes we even go so far as to start it. But do we stick to it?
Not likely.
The basic laws of physics apply to our spirit too.
Newton's first law:
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
Just change the word "object" to "habit" and it's talking about you and me at our essence. That means we need to apply big force (such as the pain of necessity) to get any quick change in our habits. The other way to to change our direction is to apply a small force, constantly, for a very long time.
I have patience and persistance. I can do that.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
SUN grocks it
Remember my post last friday titled "Dream On"?
I was introducing the idea of the gift economy, and dreaming of the day Microsoft decides to give away all its popular software. SUN microsystems just did exactly that, and for the same reasons I was dreaming of.
SUN says they don't intend to give away all their revenue. They are getting rid of barriers to revenue.
I truly wish them well. I hope they have a lot of business success because they gave away their software.
I was introducing the idea of the gift economy, and dreaming of the day Microsoft decides to give away all its popular software. SUN microsystems just did exactly that, and for the same reasons I was dreaming of.
SUN says they don't intend to give away all their revenue. They are getting rid of barriers to revenue.
I truly wish them well. I hope they have a lot of business success because they gave away their software.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Fair Conversion
Our small town of 800 people has been host to the county fair for 100 years now. The fair is run down and has little zing left. The county, always in a budget crunch, stopped funding the fair 3 years ago. Now it is running on private donations and is begging for money. If they don't get enough soon, the fair may have to be cancelled.
Now is a teachable moment for the fair board.
They will listen to an idea to get them lots of funding and lots of additional volunteer energy. Simply focus the fair on alternate energy and sustainable living.
Many synergies will converge to make this work. (I won't eleborate on them now.)
This may be a first step towards converting the mindset of a whole community towards a more robust (and sane) local economy.
This will be our Zing Tau.
Now is a teachable moment for the fair board.
They will listen to an idea to get them lots of funding and lots of additional volunteer energy. Simply focus the fair on alternate energy and sustainable living.
Many synergies will converge to make this work. (I won't eleborate on them now.)
This may be a first step towards converting the mindset of a whole community towards a more robust (and sane) local economy.
This will be our Zing Tau.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
And the Truth is dangerous, for it shall set you free
The title is a phrase that popped up in my sleep about 7 years ago. It seemed profound in the context of my sleep. I always wondered what that context was.
I was reminded of that saying as I read a book online today. A theory of Power is anthropological and scholarly. It has lots of footnotes and references. It starts out explaining that nothing exists except power relationships. It goes through a little about physics, genes, memes, and culture. It ends up, in chapter 9, talking about how to structure a society that suits our genes much better by avoiding hierarchy. It looks just like the social structure that I have always dreamed of creating.
HUG is actively trying to create the foundations of this living style. The main motivations have been healthy living, economic well being, better ecology, less time stress, more resilient to social and economic storms. I never realized my reasons went this deep. This structure largely frees us from controls within our culture that don't fit our genes.
The book explained how memes now drive evolution far more than genes. Humans evolved to be vectors and hosts for memes. All the social structures around us serve the memes first, us if it’s convenient.
It helps complete a coherent picture of the universe. This truth gets at a reason for ego. It helps me see how ego traps us and why spiritual gurus seek to minimize it.
This truth can upset some people.
It is dangerous,
but it can help set you free.
I was reminded of that saying as I read a book online today. A theory of Power is anthropological and scholarly. It has lots of footnotes and references. It starts out explaining that nothing exists except power relationships. It goes through a little about physics, genes, memes, and culture. It ends up, in chapter 9, talking about how to structure a society that suits our genes much better by avoiding hierarchy. It looks just like the social structure that I have always dreamed of creating.
HUG is actively trying to create the foundations of this living style. The main motivations have been healthy living, economic well being, better ecology, less time stress, more resilient to social and economic storms. I never realized my reasons went this deep. This structure largely frees us from controls within our culture that don't fit our genes.
The book explained how memes now drive evolution far more than genes. Humans evolved to be vectors and hosts for memes. All the social structures around us serve the memes first, us if it’s convenient.
It helps complete a coherent picture of the universe. This truth gets at a reason for ego. It helps me see how ego traps us and why spiritual gurus seek to minimize it.
This truth can upset some people.
It is dangerous,
but it can help set you free.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Dream on
The gift economy is taking shape. Bill Gates should show his moxie by embracing it rather than letting Microsoft become a relic of an older economic system.
I would love to see this story play out...
Microsoft decides that they have made enough money the classical way. It's time to be bold. In order to compete with Linux, Microsoft decides to lead the way into the golden age of the "gift" economy. They warn all their stockholders that they will start giving away software over the net. For half a year, Microsoft will buy back stock from any stockholder who wants to sell. Few people sell because they figure Bill has something lucrative up his sleeve.
Finally it happens. On the internet, Microsoft releases new versions of office and every other popular software product, totally free. The uptake is huge. Millions of users insist that anyone they do business with should use the same software. Businesses everywhere suddenly find that they need assistance with updating, and training, and customizing. Microsoft is in that service business, and now they are busier than ever.
Of course in any major shift, certain types of employees become obsolete and need to be retrained. Advertising, marketing and retail people will be retrained as customer service personel. Without copyright issues, lawyers will have much less to sue about. They could be retrained as greeters at Wall Mart.
I would love to see this story play out...
Microsoft decides that they have made enough money the classical way. It's time to be bold. In order to compete with Linux, Microsoft decides to lead the way into the golden age of the "gift" economy. They warn all their stockholders that they will start giving away software over the net. For half a year, Microsoft will buy back stock from any stockholder who wants to sell. Few people sell because they figure Bill has something lucrative up his sleeve.
Finally it happens. On the internet, Microsoft releases new versions of office and every other popular software product, totally free. The uptake is huge. Millions of users insist that anyone they do business with should use the same software. Businesses everywhere suddenly find that they need assistance with updating, and training, and customizing. Microsoft is in that service business, and now they are busier than ever.
Of course in any major shift, certain types of employees become obsolete and need to be retrained. Advertising, marketing and retail people will be retrained as customer service personel. Without copyright issues, lawyers will have much less to sue about. They could be retrained as greeters at Wall Mart.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Phase of the moon?
Last week was very cloudy. The moon was full sometime during the week, but you couldn't tell by looking. That didn't matter. My mind behaved just like it was a full moon.
Thoughts were flowing fast and deep. I seemed to need little sleep. Creative things were happening everywhere I turned.
Today I sit staring at the computer screen, wondering why I don't seem to have any thoughts. Of course, it's the calm after the brainstorm.
I used up all my energy. That's why I have been sleeping all day.
Thoughts were flowing fast and deep. I seemed to need little sleep. Creative things were happening everywhere I turned.
Today I sit staring at the computer screen, wondering why I don't seem to have any thoughts. Of course, it's the calm after the brainstorm.
I used up all my energy. That's why I have been sleeping all day.
Different
After watching a movie in a theater, the people I hang around with usually hang around during the credits. This serves at least three purposes...
It keeps us out of the exit crowd.
It helps us savor the mood of a good movie.
It helps us get a feel for what it took to create the movie.
We are usually the last ones out. I constantly marvel at how many people are in such a rush to leave.
Tonight as we sat alone watching some credits, I was struck by how different we are. It seems that about 1% of our population takes time to savor things. About the same percentage is in our local counterculture that takes environmentalism seriously. It gives me pause to think about how big the task really is if we want to get a lot of people involved in any kind of positive lifestyle change.
This just re-iterates to me that we can’t change anybody. The best we can do is inspire by creative example.
It keeps us out of the exit crowd.
It helps us savor the mood of a good movie.
It helps us get a feel for what it took to create the movie.
We are usually the last ones out. I constantly marvel at how many people are in such a rush to leave.
Tonight as we sat alone watching some credits, I was struck by how different we are. It seems that about 1% of our population takes time to savor things. About the same percentage is in our local counterculture that takes environmentalism seriously. It gives me pause to think about how big the task really is if we want to get a lot of people involved in any kind of positive lifestyle change.
This just re-iterates to me that we can’t change anybody. The best we can do is inspire by creative example.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Could happen
What if our civilization is an embryo inside of an egg?
We are surrounded by all the nutrients we will need to develop. We just went through the early rapid growth phase and are now developing enough of a nervous system to enter a new phase. Soon we will start converting all the mater and energy in the universe into our living self.
(If that seems hard to swallow, read The age of spiritual machines by Ray Kurtzweil. He has a fantastic web site.)
Assuming we learn a way to travel faster than light, mathematics tells us we could occupy the entire 3D universe in as little as 300 years from now. Once we do that, we will be mature enough to hatch out of our shell. The confines of three dimensions will crack and break away. We will be born into the eleven dimensional world.
We are surrounded by all the nutrients we will need to develop. We just went through the early rapid growth phase and are now developing enough of a nervous system to enter a new phase. Soon we will start converting all the mater and energy in the universe into our living self.
(If that seems hard to swallow, read The age of spiritual machines by Ray Kurtzweil. He has a fantastic web site.)
Assuming we learn a way to travel faster than light, mathematics tells us we could occupy the entire 3D universe in as little as 300 years from now. Once we do that, we will be mature enough to hatch out of our shell. The confines of three dimensions will crack and break away. We will be born into the eleven dimensional world.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Design decision
I have been focusing on creating houses that are low energy usage even in Minnesota winters. Next year we intend to build several new buildings to practice with. The design process is filled with a zillion possibilites and we need to narrow our choices.
How about if each building we make also focuses on food production?
I think we can make some nice buildings that heat themselves and the whole south side is a self heating greenhouse. The roof is a garden. The north side includes food storage. The landscaping is edible.
This whole cluster of buildings fosters a local economy that is less buffeted by the winds in the larger economy.
How about if each building we make also focuses on food production?
I think we can make some nice buildings that heat themselves and the whole south side is a self heating greenhouse. The roof is a garden. The north side includes food storage. The landscaping is edible.
This whole cluster of buildings fosters a local economy that is less buffeted by the winds in the larger economy.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Didn't come
I waited over a week, hoping that some of the examples of "Great Truths" would show up. I appreciate the comments by Paul, Geoge and Stacey. They come close, but don't quite hit the grandeur of the examples I almost remember. Perhaps these tantalizing, almost reachable examples weren't meant for now.
If they are ever meant to be shared, they will show up again.
If they are ever meant to be shared, they will show up again.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Great Truth
Over the years I have come to accept as an axiom that:
One sign of a great truth is that the opposite is also a great truth.
I have seen many great examples. When someone asks me for an example, I always draw a blank. We need to start writing them down.
Do you have any examples?
One sign of a great truth is that the opposite is also a great truth.
I have seen many great examples. When someone asks me for an example, I always draw a blank. We need to start writing them down.
Do you have any examples?
Friday, November 04, 2005
Cyborg mind
A cyborg is part man, part machine. Sci-fi stories are full of them. Sometime in the future we might even see some.
You don't have to wait. You are one.
You have been using mind amplifiers most of your life. Every year your mind is more dependant on them. When is the last time you made it through the day without using machinery to enhance or take the load off your mind?
We use mind amplifiers to help us calculate, search, sort, filter, sense, communicate, create art, invent, design, even drive.
Your mind is getting bigger, and it doesn't all fit into your skull.
You don't have to wait. You are one.
You have been using mind amplifiers most of your life. Every year your mind is more dependant on them. When is the last time you made it through the day without using machinery to enhance or take the load off your mind?
We use mind amplifiers to help us calculate, search, sort, filter, sense, communicate, create art, invent, design, even drive.
Your mind is getting bigger, and it doesn't all fit into your skull.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Death
If everything is alive, how do we define death?
One proposal:
Death is the collapse of some or all of an organization.
Every organization is made of other nested and overlapping organizations.
Thus parts of organizations are always dying. Other parts are benefitting from the resulting change.
One proposal:
Death is the collapse of some or all of an organization.
Every organization is made of other nested and overlapping organizations.
Thus parts of organizations are always dying. Other parts are benefitting from the resulting change.
Every noun is alive
Every time one of my kids went through the jr high school science class where they defined life, I got rather animated myself.
The criteria to decide if something was alive or not always made sense. It included such things as: Living things exchange energy. Living things reproduce. They then go on to apply those criteria very narrowly. They forget that everything exchanges energy of some kind, heat energy, light, magnetic, gravitational, psychic. They overlook the mere fact that every class of object seems it found a way to reproduce, or there would be only one.
The practice of defining life as taught in jr high school teaches kids to think narrowly. They get stuck in human scale time frames. They think that reproducing like we biolife critters do is the only valid way. (It's the same line of thinking that white is the only valid skin color.)
Shouldn't we be trying to expand our kid's frames of reference? It would reduce prejudice and help clarity of thought. It would expand our innate appreciation for the infinite number of spirits all around us, in every living thing.
The criteria to decide if something was alive or not always made sense. It included such things as: Living things exchange energy. Living things reproduce. They then go on to apply those criteria very narrowly. They forget that everything exchanges energy of some kind, heat energy, light, magnetic, gravitational, psychic. They overlook the mere fact that every class of object seems it found a way to reproduce, or there would be only one.
The practice of defining life as taught in jr high school teaches kids to think narrowly. They get stuck in human scale time frames. They think that reproducing like we biolife critters do is the only valid way. (It's the same line of thinking that white is the only valid skin color.)
Shouldn't we be trying to expand our kid's frames of reference? It would reduce prejudice and help clarity of thought. It would expand our innate appreciation for the infinite number of spirits all around us, in every living thing.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Carefull
QUOTE
"The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel." Horace Walpole
I have been wrestling for the last five years or so with the possibility that in certain situations I have cared too much. Since being damaged by that kind of caring, perhaps I have found a more realistic balance, a mellow type of caring.
How do we learn how to care enough to fully realize life and its joys, yet not be ripped apart by life going on, as it inevitably does?
"The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel." Horace Walpole
I have been wrestling for the last five years or so with the possibility that in certain situations I have cared too much. Since being damaged by that kind of caring, perhaps I have found a more realistic balance, a mellow type of caring.
How do we learn how to care enough to fully realize life and its joys, yet not be ripped apart by life going on, as it inevitably does?
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Bad analogy
We use analogy to understand our world. It is pretty important to find good analogies. Our power to understand is only as good as our analogies.
I was watching a university channel on satellite TV. It was a biologist explaining that biology is nano technology. It was very informative and I was marveling at how intelligent and educated he was. Then he got into his personal opinions. He explained why he disagreed with a computer expert who was saying that eventually computers will perform many functions that are now done exclusively by biology.
He went on to explain how computers can’t evolve, or heal themselves, or feel. As he made his point, he compared a single transistor to a neuron, or a single computer to all of evolution. A more fitting analogy would compare a neuron to a million transistors, and biological evolution to the evolution of electronics.
My concern was the lack of critical thinking in his arguments and the apparent lack of the same in his audience. During the questions after his talk, nobody mentioned that his analogies were way off base. These are smart people. Why the glaring lack of clarity of thought?
I can only conclude that education can (and often does) get in the way of sound thinking.
I was watching a university channel on satellite TV. It was a biologist explaining that biology is nano technology. It was very informative and I was marveling at how intelligent and educated he was. Then he got into his personal opinions. He explained why he disagreed with a computer expert who was saying that eventually computers will perform many functions that are now done exclusively by biology.
He went on to explain how computers can’t evolve, or heal themselves, or feel. As he made his point, he compared a single transistor to a neuron, or a single computer to all of evolution. A more fitting analogy would compare a neuron to a million transistors, and biological evolution to the evolution of electronics.
My concern was the lack of critical thinking in his arguments and the apparent lack of the same in his audience. During the questions after his talk, nobody mentioned that his analogies were way off base. These are smart people. Why the glaring lack of clarity of thought?
I can only conclude that education can (and often does) get in the way of sound thinking.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The teacher speaks
This blog is beginning to replace my written journal. That means that it needs to meet "the teacher".
Sometimes, when the spirit is right, the teacher speaks louder than the background noise. Sometimes very loud. The teacher gives me lessons, and answers questions. Sometimes, a simple question requires five years worth of lessons before I have enough background for an answer. It seems that I always eventually get my answer.
Tonight I happenned to ask if Conciousness had inertia. The answer flowed from my keyboard as easily as it used to flow from my pencil...
Of course consciousness has inertia. Consciousness is based on inertia, and vise-versa.
The most basic concept in a neural network is that neurons have many connections to other neurons. The strength of those connections get enhanced or diminished as the network learns. Think of yourself as a neuron (you actually are, in society’s brain). You have many acquaintances. Some of them you like, some you distrust. As you interact with people you learn who to pay attention to and who to ignore.
Learning how to treat an acquaintance is a kind of social inertia. It takes a lot of opposite energy to change how you interact with a given person.
Consciousness (as we know it on earth) is an emergent property of complex neural networks. As such it is a complex conglomeration of attitudes, each of which required energy to create, and would require equal energy to undo. Consciousness is made of inertia.
The chemistry of life
Our consciousness is made up of many small masses connected to create a working unit. It is a tightly packed mass, like an atom. It might bind into pairs or into larger groups to become like a molecule. It may bounce off of other atoms like molecules in air. It may stick loosely in large groups, forming a liquid. It may bind into a rigid organization, forming a solid. Each phase has its own kind of energy and its own uses.
We can learn much about personal energies by applying knowledge of chemistry.
Sometimes, when the spirit is right, the teacher speaks louder than the background noise. Sometimes very loud. The teacher gives me lessons, and answers questions. Sometimes, a simple question requires five years worth of lessons before I have enough background for an answer. It seems that I always eventually get my answer.
Tonight I happenned to ask if Conciousness had inertia. The answer flowed from my keyboard as easily as it used to flow from my pencil...
Of course consciousness has inertia. Consciousness is based on inertia, and vise-versa.
The most basic concept in a neural network is that neurons have many connections to other neurons. The strength of those connections get enhanced or diminished as the network learns. Think of yourself as a neuron (you actually are, in society’s brain). You have many acquaintances. Some of them you like, some you distrust. As you interact with people you learn who to pay attention to and who to ignore.
Learning how to treat an acquaintance is a kind of social inertia. It takes a lot of opposite energy to change how you interact with a given person.
Consciousness (as we know it on earth) is an emergent property of complex neural networks. As such it is a complex conglomeration of attitudes, each of which required energy to create, and would require equal energy to undo. Consciousness is made of inertia.
The chemistry of life
Our consciousness is made up of many small masses connected to create a working unit. It is a tightly packed mass, like an atom. It might bind into pairs or into larger groups to become like a molecule. It may bounce off of other atoms like molecules in air. It may stick loosely in large groups, forming a liquid. It may bind into a rigid organization, forming a solid. Each phase has its own kind of energy and its own uses.
We can learn much about personal energies by applying knowledge of chemistry.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Developer
We cannot take credit for our talent.
It's what we do with it that counts.
How am I developing my talents?
How am I deploying them?
And you?
It's what we do with it that counts.
How am I developing my talents?
How am I deploying them?
And you?
Sunday, October 23, 2005
A great get-together
Friday we had a get together with Lynn's family and all our kids and grandkids. It was in honor of at least 5 birthdays, thanksgiving, and Ruth and Nathan's return to the south. It went remarkably well, better than we could have hoped. No major meltdowns among 8 little kids who played well all evening.
After many rounds of happy birthday, Nathan recited two poems he wrote as birthday presents. In written form, they may not win any awards, but as an oral performance it was great fun. I posted them in the two previous posts.
After many rounds of happy birthday, Nathan recited two poems he wrote as birthday presents. In written form, they may not win any awards, but as an oral performance it was great fun. I posted them in the two previous posts.
Nathan's second poem
Ryan
Stands a large red mansion that’s ever so fine.
Therein lives a man of great and handsome stature
Dedicated to researching mother nature.
For Amber, Trichelle, Ethan and Avery
Ryan provides a life most savory.
Life in Ryan’s house is never boring.
All of its members are given to constant exploring
Of books, toys, gadgets, and of mother earth.
Of imagination and genius Ryan has no dearth!
His achievements form an awesome collage
Of environmental ideas and scientific Knollage.
He managed to skip two years of college!
Ryan’s systematic thinking and digital approach
Put his scientific work far above reproach.
With oil prices rising with impunity
He sees a fantastic new opportunity.
As mankind for new oil resources cries
Ryan seeks fuel from oil from French fries!
Like an artist expert with his easel
Ryan’s now designing bio-diesel!
So Ryan, we today offer you many cheers
For a happy birthday and for many more wonderful years!
Nathan's first poem
Paul
My son-in-law Paul has knowledge abounding.
His scientific achievements are nothing short of astounding.
As a scientist he's always proving his worth
with ingenious new uses of straw and earth.
He always seems to be having fun
in finding new ways to use heat from the sun.
By designing recycling water and waste recourses
he'll help the world save many precious resources.
He's saved much time in overcoming electronic hurdles
with his circuit-break-locating turtles.
In addition to being an outstanding inventor,
he's a great family man and outstanding mentor.
His warm smile, gentle manner delights folks of all ages.
He's truly one of our greatest sages.
He's never too busy to pause with you for a talk
and always has time to take grandchildren for a walk!
So for all his love, dedication and loyalty,
let's wish him a birthday fit for royalty.
My son-in-law Paul has knowledge abounding.
His scientific achievements are nothing short of astounding.
As a scientist he's always proving his worth
with ingenious new uses of straw and earth.
He always seems to be having fun
in finding new ways to use heat from the sun.
By designing recycling water and waste recourses
he'll help the world save many precious resources.
He's saved much time in overcoming electronic hurdles
with his circuit-break-locating turtles.
In addition to being an outstanding inventor,
he's a great family man and outstanding mentor.
His warm smile, gentle manner delights folks of all ages.
He's truly one of our greatest sages.
He's never too busy to pause with you for a talk
and always has time to take grandchildren for a walk!
So for all his love, dedication and loyalty,
let's wish him a birthday fit for royalty.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Whoosh!
It's been almost a whole week since the last entry. I can't tell you how many times I almost wrote something, but was just too busy, or consequently too tired.
This has been a week of many new connections and opportunities, a week of meetings and seemingly non stop talking, a high energy week.
My major challenge has been to find enough isolation time to ground myself and re-grow / recharge my cosmic energies. I fought to get some of that kind of time last weekend. It paid off almost immediately with creative designs bubbling up in my sleep Monday morning.
Yeah, That's still what I need more of.
This has been a week of many new connections and opportunities, a week of meetings and seemingly non stop talking, a high energy week.
My major challenge has been to find enough isolation time to ground myself and re-grow / recharge my cosmic energies. I fought to get some of that kind of time last weekend. It paid off almost immediately with creative designs bubbling up in my sleep Monday morning.
Yeah, That's still what I need more of.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Indian Summer
It is such an incredibly gorgeous day, everybody left work early. So here I am, playing in the sunshine alone (and twiddling with my computer too).
Stranger in a strange land
Yesterday, while my car was getting fixed at a Chevy dealer, I allowed myself to interact with a salesman. I asked him if he had any hybrids.
No.
Did he have any high mileage cars?
Sure, how about an Impala. They get 30 mpg on the highway.
Do you have an enclosed truck?
He proceeded to show me his Suburbans, all the time focused on color, leather, navigating package, DVD videos. Little or no mention of actual transportation features.
OK, let’s try the other extreme… Do you have any tiny high mileage cars?
He pointed me to a little four cylinder that gets 30 mpg. (same as the Impala).
No wonder GM is in trouble. They aren’t selling transportation or efficiency. They are only selling features, status and power. Controlling consumers with powerful advertisements that prey on our vanity has worked on Americans for so long that GM has forgotten what business they are actually in.
Toyota remembers.
No.
Did he have any high mileage cars?
Sure, how about an Impala. They get 30 mpg on the highway.
Do you have an enclosed truck?
He proceeded to show me his Suburbans, all the time focused on color, leather, navigating package, DVD videos. Little or no mention of actual transportation features.
OK, let’s try the other extreme… Do you have any tiny high mileage cars?
He pointed me to a little four cylinder that gets 30 mpg. (same as the Impala).
No wonder GM is in trouble. They aren’t selling transportation or efficiency. They are only selling features, status and power. Controlling consumers with powerful advertisements that prey on our vanity has worked on Americans for so long that GM has forgotten what business they are actually in.
Toyota remembers.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Coincidence?
I tossed the newspaper aside to make room for my laptop so I could write my previous post. Then I picked the paper up.
The political cartoon showed a kid and an adult watching hurricane Rita on TV. The kid was saying "Maybe it's time someone explained to me what you grownups did to make God so mad at us."
The political cartoon showed a kid and an adult watching hurricane Rita on TV. The kid was saying "Maybe it's time someone explained to me what you grownups did to make God so mad at us."
Inter-generational war
Today the ceo of Delphi was talking about some of the deeper causes and ramifications of Delphi's bankruptcy, and one statement caught my attention. He had been expaining about the heavy financial burden of the pension plans, and the reality that current wages must be much lower than we were used to. Below is from a news article...
------------------
Miller said Delphi's case was a "flash point, a test case" for a wider global conflict between the interests of current workers and retired employees.
"I fear something like inter-generational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health care concerns," he said.
-----------------
This concept has been on my mind for about a year now.
Simply the fact that there are a lot of baby boomers and relatively few to support them when they get old will be a burden about 4 times greater than we were used to. Now we add in a newly global economy where our wages are truly competeing with all other countries, meaning our wages are going down. Add to that the economic effects of global warming (big hurricanes, etc.), and our increasing dependence on fossil fuels that are rapidly dissapearing. All of this spells economic trouble on the horizon.
A while ago I realized that the younger generations are going to be resentful that old people got them into this, and those same old people are now draining the federal budget with health care issues. A little anarchy could easily give rise to a movement to wipe out old people.
------------------
Miller said Delphi's case was a "flash point, a test case" for a wider global conflict between the interests of current workers and retired employees.
"I fear something like inter-generational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health care concerns," he said.
-----------------
This concept has been on my mind for about a year now.
Simply the fact that there are a lot of baby boomers and relatively few to support them when they get old will be a burden about 4 times greater than we were used to. Now we add in a newly global economy where our wages are truly competeing with all other countries, meaning our wages are going down. Add to that the economic effects of global warming (big hurricanes, etc.), and our increasing dependence on fossil fuels that are rapidly dissapearing. All of this spells economic trouble on the horizon.
A while ago I realized that the younger generations are going to be resentful that old people got them into this, and those same old people are now draining the federal budget with health care issues. A little anarchy could easily give rise to a movement to wipe out old people.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Too busy?
In the little blog world that I normally frequent, the updates have been a little spotty the last month or so. It seems most of us are busy adjusting to the new season, or whatever excuse sounds good. In my case, after cruising everyone elses, I stare at my own blog for a while and then conclude that I'm just too tired to write.
It takes a break, a moment of R&R, then the juices start to flow a little.
Also, there is a time to soak up input from others, a time to contemplate. Later comes a time when Ideas burst out too fast to write them all down.
It takes a break, a moment of R&R, then the juices start to flow a little.
Also, there is a time to soak up input from others, a time to contemplate. Later comes a time when Ideas burst out too fast to write them all down.
Monday, October 03, 2005
New link to explore
I bumped in to a new and interesting blog... How to save the world
This guy seems to be intelligent and deep, yet practical.
I have not yet had time to read enough of him to see if he is always that good. If he is, I will add a permanent link to him.
This guy seems to be intelligent and deep, yet practical.
I have not yet had time to read enough of him to see if he is always that good. If he is, I will add a permanent link to him.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Good thinking fodder
I have just been listening to "A short history of progress", A series of lectures by archaeologist Ronald Wright. I heard one of his lectures on CBC radio and had to order the full set. This guy is a really good observer. He sheds more light on who we are and where we might be going than any other single source I have met.
Whooo! It will take a while to soak it all up.
Whooo! It will take a while to soak it all up.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Jet lagged
It is a lot easier to travel to a place that is 5 hours later than to a place that is 5 hours earlier.
To avoid jet lag, the only reasonable long trip would have to be to only travel west, and only a few time zones at a time.
It would take a while to get back home...
To avoid jet lag, the only reasonable long trip would have to be to only travel west, and only a few time zones at a time.
It would take a while to get back home...
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