Week 7 - Consciousness out of Chaos

This one has me truly stumped. I don't think that Physicists or any Western Scientist or Doctor has any capability, through measurement to tell anyone else about consciousness. How can some one who has spent so little time aware of their own mental state know anything about the mental state of those around them. Buddhist monks have know for thousands of years that we are all connected on a higher level of consciousness. These are humans that devote their lives to the calm and peace of that consciousness, sometimes to the detriment of their country and home. Jesus also tried to bring the message that we are all one within a collective conscious, if we can only pause to quiet the mind and feel it.

I have always felt my own understanding of a higher consciousness or higher power. I don't think that this is something that can ever be documented or measured. In fact, the more scientists hook up electrodes to read peoples brain waves the further they get from understanding this collective consciousness. It is something that can only be understood from within ones own self, ones own mind. The little voice inside their head trying to get the answers is exactly the voice that needs to be quieted. It has become so in control of who these people are that it believes it knows who other people are too.

Week 7 - Fractals

It would be interesting to live in a society that took this idea more seriously. What if we were all highly trained in meditation and felt the responsibility to choose our thoughts carefully, knowing that these thoughts would eventually bring about great change in the universe?

I often think of Dr. Masaru Emoto's Messages from Water. His studies support the theory that our thoughts can affect physical events and that the affect can be somewhat predicted as either positive or negative or destructive or constructive. Dr. Emoto's work has come under much criticism from Western Scientist and that, to me, seems counter productive. If fractal patterns and choas theory show that there are unpredictable patterned connections between all things then why would they think Dr. Emoto to be totally wacky? Supposedly there has been never a duplicate snowflake created in the world. How do they know this? Have they looked at every single snowflake to ever fall? No, so why do we believe in this and not Dr. Emoto? Perhaps the theory about snowflakes came about because scientist couldn't explain why no two snowflakes looked the same and so to "order this chaos" it was declared that no two snowflakes are alike. Perhaps, we are looking too closely at the finer details. What is the pattern that the snow is making on a larger scale?

Week 7 - Ordered Chaos and Fractals

Yes, perhaps it's our way of trying to force some understanding of the universe. I think Physicists have enough proof that we can not predict behaviors or patterns in the universe. I think they are probably comfortable with this notion but most people search for meaning in the universe and if nothing is predictable then for some reason we often think this concludes that we don't have a purpose. Perhaps our purpose is simply to be part of the chaos and the sooner we embrace it the sooner we will have peace.

To quote from The Web That has No Weaver

"This perception that emphasizes the of perception of patterns is basic to Chinese thinking. It results in part from Taoism, which altogether lacks the idea of a creator, and whose concern is insite into the web of that phenomena, not the weaver. For the Chinese, that web has no weaver, no creator; in the final concern is always the creator or cause and the phenomenon is merely it's reflection. The western mind seeks to discover what is beyond, behind, or the cause of the phenomena. In the Chinese view, the truth of things is imminent; in the West, truth is transcendent. Knowledge, within the Chinese framework, consists of the accurate perception of the inner movement of the web of phenomena. The desire for knowledge is the desire to understand the interrelationships or patterns within that web, and to become attuned to the unfolding dynamic."

"Things behave in particular ways not necessarily because of prior actions or impulses of other things, but because their position in the ever moving cyclical universe was such that they were endowed with intrisic natures which made that behavior inevitable for them." ~ Joseph Needham, taken from The Web That Has No Weaver

And the Tao Te Ching:

"Tao produced the one
The one produced the two
The two produced the three
And the three produced the ten thousand things
The ten thousand things carry the Yin
embrace the Yang and through the blending
of Qi they achieve harmony."

Week 6 - Energy & Qi

Energy is a type of Qi. Qi can be energy as it helps our blood move through our veins, helps us breathe, heal, move, grow and reproduce. Similar to Qi, energy can not be created or destroyed, only transferred. I don't necessarily think that they are equal and opposing forces because Qi is everything and everything has energy. Everything also has Qi, but it's Qi as a form working with Qi as a motive force. Qi is itself it's own yin & yang. 

Understanding energy is an excellent way to help Westerner's understand Qi. Most of us understand there is a unseen force that connects all things. We can call this energy, Spirit, God, Jesus, Allah, Awareness and Qi. I find it exciting that we are starting to make connections between these similar beliefs. Hopefully understanding our collective relationship to a greater force, will help create a more peaceful world.

Week 6 - Vibrations and Resonance

Vibrations can be good or not good. A tuning fork, a key on a piano for example are god vibrations. The sound of police sirens, a smoke detector these are not good vibrations. We could, for arguments sake, say that the later two are good vibrations because they are doing what they were designed to do, but that aren't good because of the damage they can cause to the ear and pain they create in our head.

This also makes me think of resonance. Our opinion of good vibrations verse not good vibrations is also led by our relative resonance with different sounds. My husband is a musician and he resonates with deep bass sounds. I often find these heavy and tiring to listen to, where he feels intense energy from the sound. On the other hand, I often listen to a Krishna Das cd when I drive because it calms my mind and helps me relax.

I also wonder about resonance with mothers and their children. When my nephew cries in his crib, my sister becomes consumed with a need to go pick him up. I recognize his cry but do not have the same resonance with his cry. 

Throughout the ages, tuning was something organic and relative, now that we have computers to tune instruments, I wonder if some of the healing power is lost?

Week 5 - Sacred Geometry & Physics

Both Sacred Geometry and Physics look for patterns and answers in the unseen world. They both attempt to put into view the relationships between space, time form and thought. The presence of spirals in our universe was understood from the I Ching and later found in many places all over our universe. In many ways, physicists can be considered modern day spiritual leaders. They strive to understand and explain our universe. Why are we here? How are we here? What is the purpose of al this? These are questions that everyone on a spiritual path or path to higher learning must ask.

Week 5 - CP violation

The CP violation makes sense to me in that the universe is not "explainable". I commend the scientists for their patience in studying kaon particles, but it just gives me a picture of quantum particles having a laugh at all these studies. If the kaons' decay rate can distinguish past from future then does it mean we are in fact moving forward thru time. What does this mean for the theories of time? Is time distorted on a quantum level that we have never considered? If we can explain kaon CP violation is the secret to understanding time travel?

I don't really understand CPT but I like that quantum physics is so unpredictable.

Week 5 - symmetry

If we think in terms of Yin &  Yang. The world is both symmetrical and asymmetrical. It is all relative. If something is symmetrical then we must be comparing it to something that is not symmetrical. Western studies have shown that beauty is directly related to symmetry, meaning the more symmetrical our face is, the more beautiful we are considered to be. This unfortunately has been carried into all forms of beauty, especially design. This western view of symmetry only looks at the clearly visible and measurable.

Eastern beauty, especially the art of Ikebana, embraces asymmetry. I find asymmetry to be far less complicated (although more difficult to achieve) and very calming. When considering design, I strive for the empty space provided by asymmetry. It forces me to choose wisely and display only those things that are necessary. The intensity that comes from one strong object and it's relationship to the empty space around it, for me, create a calm symmetry. They are balanced and equal, respecting each other for form and formlessness. This is a problem with Western design, clutter. For every space filled in with clutter, there must be an equal amount of space that is clear and empty to balance that energy. We may not be able to see it but this constant search for symmetry will only reveal more and more seemingly asymmetrical things. The harder we look the further we are from finding it. That in itself is true symmetry.