Every now and then, our 'girls', three miniature dachshunds, seem to be staring at something or someone we can't see. Sometimes they even bark at 'it'. The idea that they are aware of something that I am not doesn't surprise me. Their sense of smell is very different and their hearing is very likely much better than mine - why not their eyesight too?
The ghosts that surround me are very different. Unlike the ones that cause the girls to react, these ghosts are neither seen nor heard. They haunt me nevertheless. Decades of taking everything to heart and wanting things to be good for everyone else (and failing miserably it seems for the most part) have left me with regrets*. Slowly, however, with much help from friends and my dear K, I am letting them pass by when they visit. Frustrated with my newfound indifference, they come to visit less frequently.
The girls are doing their best, I think, to teach me dog nature. Dogs never live in the past and they rarely seem to anticipate beyond the next meal. The girls and all of their kin live in the moment. They give other creatures (well, maybe not squirrels) the benefit of the doubt, until they are shown to be best avoided, or eaten.
There is good evidence that the domestication of wolves and the domestication of humans happened in parallel. Some even suggest friendly wolves domesticated us! At the very least, they are more than our best friends; they have the capacity to change us for the better.
*Regrets are silly things, and if you don't have them, think nothing more of it. You are much better off.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
Harder Than Rocket Science?
When one has ideas that they might understand how the universe works, they should probably take a pill and lie down until it goes away. But no, I have continued to dive in.
It seems my focus has finally narrowed to one suspect who raises her ugly head too often; Quantum Mechanics. A warning - what follows will not include mathematical formulae, but it might as well for all the sense it makes in the real world. As some early twentieth century scientists were variously quoted:
Here goes:
A fellow by the name of Einstein got it started with his General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916, by inspiring others to consider that classical theories of space and time had got it wrong. Space and time were instead connected into a continuum he called space-time.
In the 1920s a fan of Einstein's named Schrodinger, who famously seemed to dislike cats, developed his Probability Wave Function which has been used successfully in many applications since to describe our world. It is not a formula that tells you everything, but instead it is used to tell you the probability of things being a certain way at the atomic level.
We used to think the world is solid right down to the tiniest things, but we now know that all there is, way down there, is a cloud of possible things that might be. Fortunately, the probabilities work at that tiny level, and at the macroscopic level where we live, a table, chair, or the floor are all quite solid because all those possible-things-that-might-be cooperate to keep us from noticing that the chair is, in fact, a cloud of seemingly uncountable non-existent atoms.
In a thought experiment designed, some say, to illustrate how preposterous this situation is, Schrodinger described a situation in which a cat was confined in a box where poison would be released if a detector recorded the decay of a particle of radioactive material. According to the wave equations, there was a certain probability that the cat would be alive when the box was opened. In order to satisfy those who wanted the world to be "normal", it was postulated that until an observation occurred, the cat existed simultaneously in those two quite different states; alive and dead. However, (and this is the concession to the fans of 'normal') since we assume the observer lives in only one world, the probability wave was suggested to "collapse" when an observation was made, and from then on, the cat was either dead or alive but no longer both.
The whole thing begs questions, including "What is so special about the act of looking?" and "What if a hyena had looked inside instead, then either had eaten or not eaten the cat? Is a hyena's power of observation good enough to collapse the wave function, or maybe, (and this is important) would the hyena have then lived in two parallel universes with the cat, having either eaten the carrion, or wandered off looking for a meal?" And the best question of all, "what if ... everything obeys those probability equations of Schrodinger's and we also live in a set of parallel universes where either we saw a dead cat or a live one?" That would mean that we are conscious of only one of a multitude of universes that exist, since these sub-atomic this-or-that decisions are constantly being made. An idea referred to as Quantum Entanglement suggests that we are conscious of only one of those universes at a time, because we become entangled with only one at a time.
These ideas came into current thought as a result of a paper written by a graduate student, Hugh Everett in 1957, (rejected by the physics community of that time, but since accepted) referred to as the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. To emphasize, it says that everything obeys the probability equations, not just the sub-atomic particles in the cat box but every bit of matter. We are all existing in a multitude of universes, but are entangled with only one.
Further to this, consider that our brains are part of the physical structure of the universe(s) we live in, and so, our thought process is entangled as well.
I have often asked where ideas come from. Perhaps what all of this means is that all ideas exist but I have only become entangled with a few of them.
Wouldn't it be interesting to find a way to observe those other roads not travelled?
It seems my focus has finally narrowed to one suspect who raises her ugly head too often; Quantum Mechanics. A warning - what follows will not include mathematical formulae, but it might as well for all the sense it makes in the real world. As some early twentieth century scientists were variously quoted:
"Reality is not only stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can possibly think."
Here goes:
A fellow by the name of Einstein got it started with his General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916, by inspiring others to consider that classical theories of space and time had got it wrong. Space and time were instead connected into a continuum he called space-time.
In the 1920s a fan of Einstein's named Schrodinger, who famously seemed to dislike cats, developed his Probability Wave Function which has been used successfully in many applications since to describe our world. It is not a formula that tells you everything, but instead it is used to tell you the probability of things being a certain way at the atomic level.
We used to think the world is solid right down to the tiniest things, but we now know that all there is, way down there, is a cloud of possible things that might be. Fortunately, the probabilities work at that tiny level, and at the macroscopic level where we live, a table, chair, or the floor are all quite solid because all those possible-things-that-might-be cooperate to keep us from noticing that the chair is, in fact, a cloud of seemingly uncountable non-existent atoms.
In a thought experiment designed, some say, to illustrate how preposterous this situation is, Schrodinger described a situation in which a cat was confined in a box where poison would be released if a detector recorded the decay of a particle of radioactive material. According to the wave equations, there was a certain probability that the cat would be alive when the box was opened. In order to satisfy those who wanted the world to be "normal", it was postulated that until an observation occurred, the cat existed simultaneously in those two quite different states; alive and dead. However, (and this is the concession to the fans of 'normal') since we assume the observer lives in only one world, the probability wave was suggested to "collapse" when an observation was made, and from then on, the cat was either dead or alive but no longer both.
The whole thing begs questions, including "What is so special about the act of looking?" and "What if a hyena had looked inside instead, then either had eaten or not eaten the cat? Is a hyena's power of observation good enough to collapse the wave function, or maybe, (and this is important) would the hyena have then lived in two parallel universes with the cat, having either eaten the carrion, or wandered off looking for a meal?" And the best question of all, "what if ... everything obeys those probability equations of Schrodinger's and we also live in a set of parallel universes where either we saw a dead cat or a live one?" That would mean that we are conscious of only one of a multitude of universes that exist, since these sub-atomic this-or-that decisions are constantly being made. An idea referred to as Quantum Entanglement suggests that we are conscious of only one of those universes at a time, because we become entangled with only one at a time.
These ideas came into current thought as a result of a paper written by a graduate student, Hugh Everett in 1957, (rejected by the physics community of that time, but since accepted) referred to as the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. To emphasize, it says that everything obeys the probability equations, not just the sub-atomic particles in the cat box but every bit of matter. We are all existing in a multitude of universes, but are entangled with only one.
Further to this, consider that our brains are part of the physical structure of the universe(s) we live in, and so, our thought process is entangled as well.
I have often asked where ideas come from. Perhaps what all of this means is that all ideas exist but I have only become entangled with a few of them.
Wouldn't it be interesting to find a way to observe those other roads not travelled?
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
As a Child
There are some articles on brain development that suggest there are good reasons why memories of childhood, before the age of four, are foggy.
It seems to me that one of the reasons we don't remember has to do with how much more observant a child that age is. In order to learn, we take everything in. As preschoolers we are easily distracted, and as a parent and now a grandparent I say thank goodness for that, but preschoolers process everything. Because we don't try to understand as much as we accept, I believe that is the time in life when we are as connected to the unseen world of the spirit as we ever can be. We need love as much or more than any other nourishment.
In the New Testament, it is recorded that Jesus taught that we must become like little children. This was likely included in the collected scripture because the passage suggests that children take a low position and accept authority, and so, therefore, should we. I believe there was much more in that teaching to be child-like.
The world is filled with so many distractions for us all - distractions that keep us from noticing or believing that there is any real magic around us. We are convinced that becoming "grown up" is our most important task in childhood. We are taught to label and classify. Our appearance and behaviour are monitored and criticized in such a way that we are loath to stand out in a crowd - a crowd that has been similarly cowed into accepting that there is no such thing as magic.
It is no wonder that a guide or teacher who sincerely desires that we should remember and connect with that hidden spirit would encourage us to be childlike. In adult terms, they would encourage and teach us to meditate, allowing the distractions of the world to fall away. Sadly, because we seem hardwired to look for community, the ultimate intervention happens. We find a church, mosque, or the like, to become part of a community of faith. The spirit that came to us easily and naturally in our own calm place, is given a name. We are educated in the finer points of what it means to be part of that religion. The ego is satisfied and what follows is a loss of the very openness and child-like innocence that allowed the spirit to find us.
I do not know how one can teach such a thing to another, but I do know that, for me, adopting an attitude of indifference to the opinions of others was essential to finding self-love and acceptance. These things were a bi-product of my search for wholeness. I knew my life could not long continue as it had. Breaking from the norm was my only option.
As though I had somehow hit the psychic jackpot, I was changed, and a child, locked away for decades, came forward to run the show. Not labelling and classifying the world - most times not even fully comprehending what goes on, I am able to accept, nonetheless. A belief long held, but pushed away, has become a centre-point to my personal faith. Maybe it is a cliché, but if you think that bothers me, you need to read the paragraph above more carefully.
It seems to me that one of the reasons we don't remember has to do with how much more observant a child that age is. In order to learn, we take everything in. As preschoolers we are easily distracted, and as a parent and now a grandparent I say thank goodness for that, but preschoolers process everything. Because we don't try to understand as much as we accept, I believe that is the time in life when we are as connected to the unseen world of the spirit as we ever can be. We need love as much or more than any other nourishment.
In the New Testament, it is recorded that Jesus taught that we must become like little children. This was likely included in the collected scripture because the passage suggests that children take a low position and accept authority, and so, therefore, should we. I believe there was much more in that teaching to be child-like.
The world is filled with so many distractions for us all - distractions that keep us from noticing or believing that there is any real magic around us. We are convinced that becoming "grown up" is our most important task in childhood. We are taught to label and classify. Our appearance and behaviour are monitored and criticized in such a way that we are loath to stand out in a crowd - a crowd that has been similarly cowed into accepting that there is no such thing as magic.
It is no wonder that a guide or teacher who sincerely desires that we should remember and connect with that hidden spirit would encourage us to be childlike. In adult terms, they would encourage and teach us to meditate, allowing the distractions of the world to fall away. Sadly, because we seem hardwired to look for community, the ultimate intervention happens. We find a church, mosque, or the like, to become part of a community of faith. The spirit that came to us easily and naturally in our own calm place, is given a name. We are educated in the finer points of what it means to be part of that religion. The ego is satisfied and what follows is a loss of the very openness and child-like innocence that allowed the spirit to find us.
I do not know how one can teach such a thing to another, but I do know that, for me, adopting an attitude of indifference to the opinions of others was essential to finding self-love and acceptance. These things were a bi-product of my search for wholeness. I knew my life could not long continue as it had. Breaking from the norm was my only option.
As though I had somehow hit the psychic jackpot, I was changed, and a child, locked away for decades, came forward to run the show. Not labelling and classifying the world - most times not even fully comprehending what goes on, I am able to accept, nonetheless. A belief long held, but pushed away, has become a centre-point to my personal faith. Maybe it is a cliché, but if you think that bothers me, you need to read the paragraph above more carefully.
Love Is
Monday, February 4, 2019
Mystical Connections
In the light of brain studies and sensible theories on the evolution of thinking and feeling creatures, it has become hard to justify expressing a feeling and saying it comes from the heart. What seems to be from that muscular pump must instead be originating in the brain. But that collection of cells can't travel through time, can it?
I was pre-school age, much too young to have any idea of history, when I dreamed of being a monk in a monastery. I remember that "I" had never learned enough to perform the duties I was given. Unlike most dreams, the feeling of dread being that man wouldn't leave me. I never dreamed of that monk and his stress-filled existence again, yet memories of that past life taught me that I never wanted to have a job I wasn't thoroughly qualified to do.
Such musings might be in the same category as "Where do dreams come from?" or "What did that dream mean?" And I know that the brain that I'm carrying about now couldn't have been alive hundreds of years ago. The only rational explanation is a very active imagination; or is it?
I was pre-school age, much too young to have any idea of history, when I dreamed of being a monk in a monastery. I remember that "I" had never learned enough to perform the duties I was given. Unlike most dreams, the feeling of dread being that man wouldn't leave me. I never dreamed of that monk and his stress-filled existence again, yet memories of that past life taught me that I never wanted to have a job I wasn't thoroughly qualified to do.
Such musings might be in the same category as "Where do dreams come from?" or "What did that dream mean?" And I know that the brain that I'm carrying about now couldn't have been alive hundreds of years ago. The only rational explanation is a very active imagination; or is it?
Monday, November 26, 2018
Take Care of You
Here is a letter to my younger self; one who couldn't know better.
Do you have any idea how ignoring your own needs will affect you?
Fear of abandonment haunted you. Your need to control relationships made you push away people you cared about, especially if they cared about you. You feared that someone that close, whom you care for so much, might uncover a great secret that you were sure nobody could possibly understand. More than anything you feared that ultimate rejection. Ironically, loss and fear of loss made it impossible for you to trust your own feelings. They were a source of so many of your problems. Soon, you learned not to ever rock the boat; taking a perverse pride in being a "goer-alonger".
You have to understand and care for yourself. When you have a strong feeling that there is something that you need to act upon, even or especially when, that something is only for you and not for the good of others, resist the urge to push that feeling down.
When you hear someone say something like "Do you have any idea how that (action you are contemplating) will affect me?", carefully consider the motive behind that question.
Know yourself. Understand that what you think is self-control is a lack of self-esteem. Realize how others have learned to manipulate you, then turn those questions around and ask them of yourself.
Do you have any idea how ignoring your own needs will affect you?
Thursday, December 29, 2016
If I could go back
This is the first time someone else's words have appeared here, but if I could go back to 1988, I would take this and read it to my children, and then we would talk about it.
Perhaps my granddaughter might need this someday.
I definitely could have used it when I was 11 or 12.
You know what breaks me, when someone is visibly excited about a feeling or an idea or a hope or a risk taken, and they tell you about it but preface it with:
"Sorry, this is dumb but-".
Don't do that.
I don't know who came here before me, or who conditioned you to think you had to apologize or feel obtuse. But not here.
Dream so big it's silly.
Laugh so hard it's obnoxious.
Love so much it's impossible.
And don't you ever feel unintelligent. And don't you ever apologize. And don't you ever shrink so you can squeeze yourself into small places and small minds.
Grow.
It's a big world.
You fit.
I promise.
Owen Lindley
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
A Manifesto
Created on a computer and printed on a dot matrix printer, this final note from the late 1980s was folded up and tucked into the back of the little binder. On the outside was written:
"Contains one manifesto. Open in times of confusion or pain."
"Contains one manifesto. Open in times of confusion or pain."
God is. And ever has been.
We are. And ever have been.
We live in the Universe that is God's Thought.
We live in the Universe that is God's Thought.
There is no evil. There is only love. That which we call evil is an absence of understanding.
There is no death.
We choose our lives as one chooses a television program to watch. Sometimes we want to be entertained. Sometimes we need to learn. Mostly we do a bit of both. Not all programs are happy. Sometimes we watch horror stories or soap operas where people are cruel to one another. There is nothing wrong with anything we do, when we are doing what we want.
There is no need to be nice, or kind to others. They are free to leave us or remove us as they wish. If we live, free in the knowledge that the thing we call death is only a change of the channel, a change of focus, then love will come easily, and respect for others will follow as we respect ourselves. There will be no need to judge others or to judge ourselves.
We have the power to live and love as we choose.
We can change the script of the program at any time.
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