Month: December 2016 Page 1 of 2

I of the Hurricane

By

On December 30, 2016

In Poeting

The masses rage and howl about
but here I sit without a sound.
I do not rest.
I do not wait.
There’s nothing I anticipate.

With all their darting to and fro,
I sometimes think they do not Know.
I do not fret.
I do not fuss.
There’s nothing I take serious.

They all cry out and writhe with pain,
addicted to their silly games.
I do not fear.
I do not grieve.
There’s nothing I will not believe.

Oh, to wrest them from their shells!
(But no-one seems to want my help…)
I do not rest.
I do not wait.
There’s nothing I anticipate.

Kōan-Heads

By

On December 29, 2016

In Philosphing

“Ufology is just another name for demonology,” concluded John Keel, author of The Mothman Prophecies. His life-long quest to figure out what’s really going on “behind the curtain” eventually left him exasperated and confused. It seemed that every time he thought he was getting close to the “truth”, something totally bizarre would come out of left field to scramble his latest theory. His approach was always scientific. His research admirable considering the limits of a pre-internet world. Yet after years of trying to put two and two together, he never managed to make them equal four. Not only did the truth elude him, it seemed to mock him from every side.

This is something that modern paranormal investigators have dubbed, “The Trickster Effect”. This description implies the presence of some Intelligence behind the scenes. One that seems to delight in misdirection and that will not hesitate to play the inquirer for the fool. This is not a phenomenon exclusive to ufology. Investigators of various types whether they be spiritual, scientific or something in between will also encounter a version of this. Just as you seem to be figuring something out, it morphs into something else.

How often do we read about the person who witnesses a UFO only to have a poltergeist begin tossing things around their house in the weeks to follow? What are we to make of the Skinwalker Ranch events? Was there a type of craziness that did not take place there? What about lights in the sky that begin to respond to a witnesses unspoken thoughts? Why do the camera batteries always fail just as the monster makes an appearance? Why does reality always seem to come unglued when we look at it too closely?

Who are the Strangers that hide out there at the edge of this little clearing in the forest that we call home? Are they Gods? Devils? Aliens? Simulation Programmers?

They seem to laugh at our hapless antics and lead us by the proverbial nose as we desperately try to solve the mystery of our own existence. Those of us who figure it out are immediately struck dumb. Then it’s our turn to laugh. Why? Because the joke is on us! Because at the “center” of “reality”, there is a “hitch” or a “snag” that is the “heart” of “paradox”. (That’s the dumb-struck part showing. The Truth is beyond the level of words. Anything that we say in attempting to describe It becomes immediately wrong. Becomes misdirection. Don’t look at my finger! Look at where I’m pointing.)

What makes a joke funny? The same thing. The unexpected absurdity. The jolt to the system that relieves the pressure created by attempting to comprehend the incomprehensible. The realization that what you took to be true is not. And spectacularly so.

The Long, Dark Night of the Soul gives way to the Golden Dawn and the understanding of what we’re really dealing with here.

You see, it’s you out there on the dark edges of reality. And it’s me. We are both the Dreamer and the Dream. And we are nothing if not playful.

So relax! That person you mistakenly think you are is just a passing whirlpool. Who you actually are is the water.

Fun Fact: Did you know that the Wikipedia entry for “Zen” runs well over 10,000 words?

Children of the Sun

By

On December 23, 2016

In Poeting

In star-swept darkness filled with light,
a thousand suns are burning bright.
Action into form absorbs
and manifests a fiery orb.
Entropy, vibration slows.
Cooler now, it starts to grow.
Something moves upon it’s face,
the elders of the coming race.
Eons pass and forge the links.
One stands up and lo, it thinks!
Action acts upon itself,
the pieces set, the cards are dealt.
Conflict now, a stage of growth,
wisdom listens to them both.
Here and there, an open I,
into It the free shall fly.
Toss aside the cast off shell
and learn to cast a higher spell.

Nourished by the flame on high,
science fails to question why.
Weak of will and whimsy-tossed,
each is part and nothings lost.
Relative, the shades of worth,
lovers now, their child is Mirth.

Hurtling children of a star,
bloody circus that we are.
Behold the fierce and mighty sun,
the splendor of the only One.

Keeping It Real

By

On December 18, 2016

In Philosphing

What’s real?

Seems like a simple enough question. Years ago, I thought I knew the answer. I was real. The physical world was real. Even the parts I could not sense (as long as science devised a way to measure them).

Dreams were not real. Ghosts were not real. Bigfoot was not real. Santa Claus was not real. Neither were fairies, witches or aliens. God was not real.

Like so many other people in this world, I was completely insane.

Some part of me was unsatisfied with the situation however. In some small, secret way, I wanted the unreal things to be real. I wanted to believe. I seemed to be faced with a thoroughly unpalatable choice; the logical but ultimately meaningless world that was real and true or the more comforting imaginary world inhabited by the believers. The make-believers.

So I studied the situation and eventually figured out that the assumption of a binary model was incorrect. “Realness” is a position within a gradient. A point on a scale that is only meaningful relative to other points on that same scale.

Later in life, after I was free, I was able to fold my mind around this concept and see that my previous dilemma was simply the product of an insufficiently prepared mind. Once I could see that everything is completely real as well as completely imaginary, I gave myself permission to take control and shape reality to reflect my every desire.

And that’s when I realized that I already had.

As have you.

Still Cool

By

On December 18, 2016

In Scraps

In 1937, scientists Pyotr Kapitsa and John Allen first observed and described the strange super-fluid state of  helium at near-absolute zero temperatures. They found that when they cooled the liquid helium down below the lambda point (2.17 Kelvin) the boiling liquid suddenly fell still and took on amazing new properties. The individual helium atoms blurred into one another and became a single super-atom known as a Bose-Einstein Condensate.

This was a demonstration of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, which states that the more precisely the momentum of a particle is determined, the less precisely its position can be known. Particles below the lambda point have almost no movement so their momentums are almost entirely “known”. Therefore their positions become so inexact that they begin to overlap each other. In this situation atoms stop acting like discrete things and become nebulous smears of quantum probabilities.

If you physically scoop up a portion of the super-atom, the elevated part acquires more gravitational potential energy than the rest. Since this is not a sustainable equilibrium for the super-fluid, it will flow up and out of its container to pull itself all back into one place. It will also flow with zero friction since it has no energy to lose.

Naturally Unnatural

By

On December 17, 2016

In Philosphing

  • “Is this product all-natural?”
  • “It’s a shame that humans keep spoiling all the natural beauty.”
  • “I only like the natural kind. Not the man-made stuff.”
  • “If we could only learn to live more naturally.”

We are all familiar with phrases similar to these. They are everywhere we turn. In news articles and Hollywood movies; at the mall and on the hiking trail. Likening the human race to a tragic disease inflicted upon a poor, innocent planet. A plague of locusts stripping away and consuming every resource to their own future detriment. The seething, unwashed masses who are mindlessly ruining it for the rest of us!

And that can’t be natural!

Can it?

Art. Artifact. Artifice. Artificial.

Made by the hand of man as opposed to springing from the bosom of nature.

Is a forest “natural”? How about a mountain or an ocean? Is a beach on the shore of that ocean “natural”? What about a sea-shell washed up on that beach by the (presumably) natural waves?

We need to think about that last item. Hmm…

That shell is a construct. It was made by something else. Is it in fact… an artifact?

We would really have to say “no”. Although it was created by an animal to serve as it’s home, the shell is every bit as natural as it’s (former) occupant.

Let’s move farther up the brain chain, shall we? How about an eagle? Birds are certainly natural. What about the eagle’s nest? Oh oh. A sea-shell is one thing. It came into being as a part of a living creature. But a bird’s nest? Assembled using gathered materials. On purpose.

Nope. I’m afraid bird’s nests aren’t natural. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Birds good. Bird’s nests bad.

Bees good. Beehives bad.

(Pre-Paleolithic) Man good. Buildings bad. (Just plain unnatural.)

Am I missing something here?

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