Mind Over Matter Blog

2010-10-11T08:06:00.001-07:00

THE ONLY WORLD WE KNOW

As the seasons change, I think of possible influences that war, hatred, politics and climate change will have on our planet in the coming year. I wonder why it is that we are often occluded to each other's humanity? Why do we notice the differences between us but not the similarities which by far, out-number the differences? I am reminded of the essay by the late Carl Sagan called, "Pale Blue Dot". I am reprinting it here as a reflection on the only world we know.

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Nature: Beauty, Power, Mercy

2010-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

It’s that time of year when Nature is resplendent with her beauty and her power. For me, appreciating her beauty goes along with respecting her power. In Upstate New York and New England, we have been having thunder storms. Seeing them, I am in touch with how very small I am in comparison. I contemplate the meaning of mercy.

This post is just a reminder to all to practice safety as we enjoy the bounty of Nature. This means staying hydrated, wearing sun block, checking ourselves for ticks and exercising caution when there is a chance of thunder storms. Below is an excerpt from the most recent newsletter for the "Adirondack Mountain Club “.

-------------------------------------------

UNSAFE SHELTER AREAS include all outdoor metal objects, like power poles, fences and gates, high mast light poles, metal bleachers, electrical equipment, mowing and road machinery. AVOID solitary trees. AVOID water. AVOID open fields. AVOID high ground and caves.

4. Lightning's distance from you is easy to calculate: If you hear thunder, the associated lightning is within audible range ... about 6-8 miles away. The distance from Strike A to Strike B also can be 6-8 miles. Suspend activities, allowing sufficient time to get to shelter. Of course, different distances to safety will determine different times to suspend activities. A good lightning safety motto is: If you can see it (lightning), flee it; if you can hear it (thunder), clear it.
The 30/30 Rule says to shut down when lightning is six miles away. Use a "flash to bang" (lightning to thunder) count of five seconds equals one mile (10 = 2 miles; 20 = 4 miles; 30 = 6 miles).

5. If you feel your hair standing on end, and/or hear "crackling noises," you are in lightning's electric field. If caught outside during close-in lightning, immediately remove metal objects (including baseball cap), place your feet together, duck your head, and crouch down low in baseball catcher's stance with hands on knees.

6. Wait a minimum of 30 minutes from the last observed lightning or thunder before resuming activities. Be extra cautious during this phase as the storm may not be over.

7. People who have been struck by lightning do not carry an electrical charge and are safe to handle. Apply first aid immediately if you are qualified to do so. Get emergency help promptly.

References:

Adirondack Mountain Club website: http://www.adk.org/

National Weather Service website: www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

Center for Disease Control website: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/

Mayo Clinic website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dehydration/DS00561/DSECTION=symptoms

The Remains

2010-02-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

(special thanks to Lisa who formatted this text for me)

The Remains

Last night I had another dream about you

In my dreams

I have no memory of your death

I have no judgement of your life

In my dreams you're just there

being you -

watching me, being me, watching you.

In every spiritual tradition I know there is a concept

of something within us that survives

after the flesh dissolves

It is the essence of is-ness

It is the pure awareness that is consciousness

it is the soul of a being -

the light that returns to its source.

It can not be found

because it is everywhere

in everything and

I did not know for sure it existed

until I saw it in you.

I saw that “something”

grow brighter and brighter

as I watched you fade away physically

as you flowed into silence and stillness -

as you accepted the Eucharist of surrender.

Two weeks earlier

coming out of unconsciousness

you looked at me and asked if you were going to survive.

“Am I going to make it?” you wanted to know

I promised you

that no one had given up

on your healing -

and you smiled with your hopes intact.

You were and are my sister

My other self

the self I never was

the self I never knew

the self that rescued me

from expectations I could not fulfil.

You were and are my sister -

A mirror, a constant companion, a constant teacher, a constant antagonist.

One year after your death - your transition

I want to believe that light remains

and that It survives in all things because

it is at the heart of creation -

not in the past but in the now.

It unites us in my dreams,

I have dreamed about our childhood;

I have dreamed about our laughter;

I have dreamed about our aging;

I have dreamed about our struggles -

and I never dreamed I would survive you.

Written for Andie...

Revelation - Saint Lucia - CMEX

2009-12-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me that my interest in spirituality is based on a deep desire to be fully present in my life, to perpetually find joy and grace in all of my experiences. This is what some call “bliss” or “enlightenment”. It is a delicious state of consciousness and being to which the mystic aspires.

Knowledge stored in ancient spiritual texts combined with the expansion of consciousness that occurs during meditation put our feet firmly on the path to this enlightenment. Time spent in solitude can bring us closer to the experience of being 'one' with creation.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days in Saint Lucia, West Indies at a Caribbean Media Exchange conference on “Sustainable Tourism”. Saint Lucia is a beautiful island with warm and friendly people. I was awe-struck, from the lush, ancient rain forest to the modern resorts architecturally designed to blend into the ecology. The representatives of the island whom I met had a passion for the land that showed in their commitment to sustainable farming and eco-tourism. The conference schedule left little time for reading my sacred books and I did not do my regular meditations. There were so many people interested in talking with me that I found it difficult to be in solitude even for a few moments.

It was on this exquisite and beautiful island that I had a revelation. Looking out at the clear, blue ocean with the mountains all around me and feeling the sun pouring over my skin, I realized that I need to incorporate this kind of activity into my life on a more regular basis.

I realized that every once in a while, I need to get my head out of the spiritual texts, open my eyes from meditation, come away from my solitude and truly experience the glorious creation of Almighty God.

Links:
1. St. Lucia Ministry of Tourism - http://www.stlucia.gov.lc/agencies/ministry_of_tourism_and_civil_aviation.htm
2. Caribbean Media Exchange - http://www.caribbeanmediaexchange.com/
3. Anse Chastanet, Jade Mountain - http://www.jademountain.com/
4. Coco Palm - coco-resorts.com

5. Hotel Chocolat - http://www.hotelchocolat.com/
6. Indigenous Environmental Network - http://www.ienearth.org

Pictures:

1. The Pitons, St. Lucia, West Indies

2. Anse Chastanet, Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia

3. "Inside" the Anse Chastanet, Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia

Happy 75th Birthday to Carl Sagen !

2009-11-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

Ann Druyan, the wife and long-time partner of Carl Sagan often said that Science is as spiritual as any religion. What it lacks is good music. John Boswell may have created the first "scientific hymn". In this video called, "A Glorious Dawn", he pays tribute to Sagan. I think it's a wonderful blend of science, art and creative license. Druyan could have stopped the video with a threat of copyright infringement but did not. Instead, she praises Boswell and says that Carl Sagan would have loved it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc

Possibilities of Time Travel?

2009-11-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Although Einstein's theory of Special Relativity shows that time is relative and travel is theoretically possible, in the physical world is believed to be impossible because in would require a velocity greater than the speed of light to achieve.

As a particle approaches the speed of light, the effects of gravity on its mass would make it too heavy for any known force to enable it to continue to accelerate. Actually, we experience time travel continuously but only in one direction –forward.

So this applies to particles with mass. Thought consciousness, presumably has no mass so is it possible, at least in theory, for our consciousness to experience time travel into the past? Mystics through the ages have reported an ability to move through time. This is even hinted at in the Sci-Fi show, “Lost”.

Here’s an interesting article about a real-world attempt to build a Flux Capacitor for time travel.
The popular film, "Back to the Future" was based on this idea. Any rocket scientists out there?

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/11/1105back-to-the-future

2009-11-04T05:17:00.000-08:00

…and now a disclaimer:
This is a somewhat difficult subject for me to pursue. I am not a scientist but I am a strong advocate for science. Much of the science is over my head and certainly most of the math is way over my head.

So my approach here is more philosophical and spiritual than scientific. Therein, lies the rub: How does one negotiate the intersection of science and spirituality? Is there even an intersection? I’ve heard it said that science attempts to answer the questions what and how whereas spirituality attempts to answer the questions why and who. In this blog, I am exploring the possibilities or the questions about if.

The Nature of the Meditation I do

2009-11-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

I’m not planning to do a daily entry. At most, I will probably update this blog weekly but, at this point, I have a backlog of ideas to sort out. I thought it would be good to have a brief discussion of what happens during the initial stages of Transcendental Meditation (which I will refer to as TM henceforth).
You start by internally repeating a mantra which is given to you by your instructor. In my case, it was a word in Sanskrit. The word itself has no meaning to someone who doesn’t speak Sanskrit so there are no thought images associated with it. TM instructors say that these sounds have been specifically chosen to create the desired effect. The sound has a calming effect on the mind which, in turn relaxes the body. The body being more relaxed, in turn calms down the mind even more. So this iterative process continues until you are in a deep state of relaxation.
My experiential evidence of the meditative state of consciousness is that during meditation, I have a sense of peace and timelessness. There have been times when I thought I had been in meditation for only a few minutes but after coming out, more than an hour had passed. At times, I don’t experience thoughts yet I am fully aware. What TM instructors say is that during this phase, your mind has “transcended” into the field that is the source of all thought and it is a field of pure creativity. So, I became very curious about this field. Does it exist inside the human mind or is it a dimension that is shared among all humans or, indeed all of conscious existence?

The problem with exploring this within the TM movement is that after the initial training, it becomes more of a religious exercise where students are encouraged to read the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu spiritual texts. At the time, I was not interested in that.

This is My First Post

2009-10-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

I started this blog so that I would have a central location to collect and store my thoughts and notes pertaining to the study of consciousness. I have been a “student” of consciousness for more than 35 years starting with subjective experiences I had after learning Transcendental Meditation as an undergraduate in college. During meditation, I experienced a state of being where I could observe my own mental or conscious processes. It is a very powerful experience but almost impossible to describe on paper. I became aware of this as a unique state of consciousness which was different from waking, sleeping or dreaming. I am a skeptic by nature so I wanted to understand what could be causing this mental experience within the physical (or material) world. Was it just my subjective experience or was it a natural course due to the consistent practice of meditation?
I discovered that descriptions of this meditative state could be found in ancient spiritual texts and in the mythologies of a number of indigenous cultures. Again, my skeptic nature turned me to a more objective way to study this but I couldn’t not find an epistemology for the study of consciousness. So I started looking more into physics, organic chemistry and other areas of science as a way to gain a more objective way to think about a subjective experience.
I also began to “sense” a unifying presence in almost everything I studied. I noticed this in how the Universe behaved whether I looked at cosmology, astronomy, physics, chemistry or mathematics but, so far, I have not found any evidence of a correlation between the physical world and my subjective conscious experience.
Recently, I read Dan Brown’s novel, “The Lost Symbol” which examined concepts of power in the human mind. This tells me that there is a large enough collective consciousness about this topic that I can find kindred spirits.
So, as I said, this is just a place for me to collect and store my thoughts from the past 30 years and going forward but feel free read and to post if you’d like.