Wk 9: My E-Prime Day

Over the last 2 days Martha and I have been looking at various astrological charts for clients, family and friends.  It appears that the information we received in our last class may be very applicable to people’s lives and experience from the practice we have been doing. 

One person seems to be in the grasp of a particular lunar mansion, called Purva Phalguni, which might be characterized as an angst-ridden, “Dark Night of the Soul”.  The affects of this asterism might be what could be at the root of her anger and rage issues, especially in her marital relationship…because it also appears that her husband may be similarly influenced by this nakshatra, which may be what underlies the snarky nature of their communications.

Wk 8: Descartes has a lot to answer for!

One of my favorite authors is teacher and herbalist Stephen Buhner.  Some of his books include: Sacred Plant Medicine and Sacred Healing Herbal Beers.  But it is in his book, The Lost Language of Plants, that he takes Descartes to task, and I couldn’t agree more.  

Under the heading of “Turning the Universe in a Machine”…”The journey from sacred intelligence at the center of the Universe to a generally accepted belief that the Universe is a great machine devoid of spirit occurred over a number of centuries…and emerged as the new ‘epistemology of reductionism’ through Rene Descartes…Prior to the rise of Christianity, the Romans believed, like most historical cultures, that sacredness and intelligence were present in everything.”

In other words, that which was esteemed with ‘sacred significance’ previously, was now subject to ‘scientific scrutiny’, devoid of the historical respect and the context within which to be understood.   All of the material universe, was broken down into its respective parts, and relegated to its empirical place, relative to everything else.  The whole lost it’s meaning, compared to the detail of its parts.

So, the problem is, that we as humans now so many centuries later, still live culturally within the inherited context that Descartes created for us.  Never mind that his was a highly idiosyncratic perspective, and not even particularly correct of one; but, it is one that has stuck with us as a race.  And even though, quantum physics has long ago disproved the mechanistic perspective as inaccurate, still it is held by many to be the pinnacle of truth and so continues to inform and direct our communal reality.  The real question is, just how long will it take for humanity to embrace the quantum reality of what is, with all it’s ramifications?  Are we ready to embrace that truth?  Time will tell…

Wk 8: Our “Energy Efficient” Culture

Going Green…it’s in the news everyday.  And yet so is ‘green-washing’ the term used for those unscrupulous individuals who want to jump of the green bandwagon to gain the benefits associated with appearing to be green –but- without truly putting those green practices into effect.  But that’s how it always is about everything, some people are honest, and others are not.

There definitely are changes happening in the world, that show we are moving in the right direction, even if more slowly than some of think we urgently need to.  For example, in 2004, according to author and biologist David  Suzuki, there was the first Green Builders conference, which celebrated the establishment of the Green Building industry complete with best of practices, etc.  Not to mention, there is now the whole new approach to Green Chemistry where manufacturing plants and  their systems are designed from inception with the intent that there are no waste streams created by the manufacturing process.  And whole generations of kids are being raised on the mantra: “Reduce, re-use, and recycle!”

Yet, we still need to be aware of how much energy we use on all levels, especially in the western part of the world…like in America, where we have 5% of the world’s population, while we consume 20% of the world’s resources!

However, as it turns out in 2009, according to the Global Energy Review, world energy consumption decreased for the first time in 30 years (-1.1%) or 130Mtoe, as a result of the financial and economic crisis…so, it seems the Great Recession hasn’t been all bad…

Week 8: Newtons Laws & Me

In my experience, some of Newton’s laws are right on while others no longer accurately describe the universe that I exist in.  Let’s take them one at a time:

       1)     “We are to admit no more causes of natural things such as are both true and sufficient to explains their appearances”…in other words, don’t look for supernatural causes, that’s the domain of the church!  Well, this sort of artificial separation of church and state might work for the purpose of   government (and certainly they protected Newton and allowed him to do his work in a politically charged climate) –but- it does not accurately reflect my world-view.  I believe, that what gives rise to my experience of reality, arises from a local interaction of the non-local, unified field with itself.  It is from this original, intelligent, primordial substance that everything, all vibrations, all emanations, all material substance emerges; which includes both natural and supernatural phenomenon.

                 

2)     “The same natural effects must be assigned to the same causes, ie: cause & effect”.  Restated, this law means that to every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.  Well, interestingly enough, I was originally going to argue that this law doesn’t realistically reflect the law of Karma, which is what I equate it to.  However, according to our Vedic Astrology teacher, Hart de Fouw, it most certainly does.  So, I stand corrected, and learn once more at a still deeper level.  Here’s what Hart has to say about Karma:

“The Law of Karma is another name for Newton’s Third Law of Motion…as such it is inherent in the universe’s structure: ‘The doctrine of act and fruit, is less a product of man’s sense of justice, that one shall be punished for what one has done, than a necessary consequence of the doctrine of inherent efficacy of the acts’.  In other words, the tree and the thing from which it sprang cannot exist simultaneously; the former must develop from the latter.  Events occur in our universe according to a sequence which is scheduled by the Law of Karma on the great calendar known as time.”

So, basically, this law is still fully in effect in my life…

3)     “Qualities of bodies are to be esteemed universal”…Well, we know from Quantum Mechanics that the classical laws of Physics breakdown in the Quantum Mechanical environment…where things do not behave as one would expect.  So, in an expanded view of the universe, this law loses its integrity in my estimation.

4)   “Properties deduced form the observation of phenomena”…in other words, the ‘Scientific Method’.  Again, here I would take issue with Newton’s view since we know that this also breaks down under the circumstances of Quantum Mechanics…where the observer actually influences the experiment.  This then, would mean that these observations can’t be viewed objectively as accurate, because as such they are more a reflection of the state of consciousness of the mind that perceived them, than they are of an independent statement of objective, scientific fact.

Wk 7: Consciousness out of Chaos

When I think of Chaos theory and the Butterfly Effect, it reminds me of what I have been taught about karma; and how a small change can have far reaching and monumental effects as it plays out over a life time.  Karma as most people think of it seems to be the lump sum of all our actions that create an effect in our lives.  And, in Vedic Astrology there is a name for that: ‘Sanchita’ karma.  It would probably take a saint to be able to tease out of that body of information, something that is meaningful in a given life.  So, as Astrologers what we look for is the ‘Prarabdha’, or the ripe karma, that is likely to come to fruition in this life; as reflected in the fixed (‘druid’), confluent patterns seen in their astrological chart.  There is also karma that is created from just thinking about doing something this lifetime.  And all of these different streams of karma fold back in on and influence each other as they play out their dance, entwined with free will.  The events of a given life may feel and seem chaotic and random to the untrained eye, but to those who have learned to see what ordinarily would be “unseen” (adristha), the energetic patterns are there and their effects are evidenced in the life experience.

Take birth trauma, for example, which (for Vedic Astrology’s purposes) includes having the umbilical chord wrapped around your throat as well as the ever-popular Cesarean section. When such experiences happen the organism is so sensitive and vulnerable, they create an energetic trajectory of experiences that will play out in very predictable ways, depending on the specifics of how such trauma is created in the chart (and the life).  Again, these influences are ‘unseen’ and can appear random to those who do not have eyes to see the underlying factors involved.  And similar to, the principal of iteration from Chaos Theory, these seemingly small events create a ‘ripple effect’ as they play out over a lifetime.

Here’s some other interesting perspectives on this that I found while researching this topic:

Causality, Chaos, and Consciousness: Steps Toward a Normative Cosmological Principle in an Evolving

The intent of this paper is to present a conceptual model of a physical and biological universe in a state of constant change and evolution, based on three principal ideas: (a) neo-Aristotelian notions of reciprocal causality, (b) chaotic dynamics and contingencies of self-organizing systems, and (c) emergence of consciousness and sense of moral purpose in humans. While these different ideas and conceptual frameworks may seem unrelated at first glance, it will be shown that they have certain common and interconnected features that are quite illuminating for developing a process- and ecologically-based ontology of an evolving universe. It is hoped that such an approach would lead to an articulation of a normative cosmological principle that is consistent with Alfred North Whitehead’s organismic metaphysics and process-based ontology, as extensively developed in Process and Reality.

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2858

And here’s another interesting take on it, from a more shamanic perspective, using self-guided imagery as a healing tool:

CHAOS CONSCIOUSNESS AND HEALING

Experiential therapy sessions have shown that as consciousness journeys deeper and deeper into the psyche, it eventually encounters a state characterized either as "chaotic" or void of images.  Those emerging from this non-ordinary state of consciousness report an increased sense of wellbeing ranging from mood alteration to profound physiological changes.  We know that research has shown that imagery can affect the immune system.  Imagery journeys in the autonomous stream of consciousness may activate psychosomatic healing forces, such as the placebo effect.

The chaos of our human lives is re-iterated from the subatomic through the cosmic level.  Chaos is the matrix of creation.  It provides a bridge for unfolding "heaven on earth", a means of manifesting and grounding spiritual energy, that is not only creative, but healing.

The consciousness field is that which relates us to the entire universe.  It may be viewed as chaos, or energy in a primal chaotic state, prior to any solidification into matter.  It is a field of energy, not a "thing."  It is able to take on infinite forms, including images.

 

Time is also a field.  Consciousness may intersect with time at a 90-degree angle, in which case a linear flow seems to emerge.  Or, it may fold over in a contiguous way, producing a "bending" or folding of space.

 

If you take any portion of a fractal and expand it, you find it is self-similar.  This reveals a harmony with shamanic law--that organization repeats itself at all levels of organization.  Patterns repeat at all levels of organization.  It is much like finding the universe in a grain of sand.

 

The real healing IS this quantum shift in mental, emotional, even physical structure.  The approach is one of wholeness and following the image.  The dream-healing process is aimed at addressing this very profound level from the beginning.

 

Progress comes unpredictably in quantum leaps in consciousness.  Carl Simonton's work using imagery with cancer patients touches on this.  The use of imagery with the intent of bringing about healing seems to mobilize forces deep within us that were formerly inaccessible.

http://www.asklepia.org/chaostheory/chaostheory.html

In complex systems, such as weather patterns like Hurricanes and Tornadoes, to track the small changes in the variables that occur as the system’s chaotic behavior travels along the ‘arrow of time’, scientists have developed chaos theory.  Fractal patterns are one of the tools used as a feedback mechanism in the patterns of ordered chaos through the principle of iteration, or repetitive changes.  These repetitive changes require huge amounts of calculations on mega-computers, as even the tiniest change is magnified over the number of calculations that are required, in order to even attempt to predict the weather.

Here’s what the research paper “Fractal Behaviour of Complex Systems”,  had to say about the subject:

“One of the most important properties of systems is complexity. In a simple way, we can define the complexity of a system in terms of the number of elements that it contains, the nature and number of interrelations and the number of levels of embeddedness. When a high level of complexity exists in a system, it is considered a complex system. Complex systems can be soft systems and hard systems. In hard systems, when their elements are interrelated in a non-linear way, they are considered complex systems when they contain a great number of elements interacting in a non-linear way. To try to understand the behavior of this type of system diverse mathematical tools have been developed. A new scientific discipline with great impact in the analysis of the complex systems has been developed in recent years, called fractal analysis. The study of the complex systems in the framework of fractal theory has been recognized as a new scientific discipline, being sustained by advances that have been made in diverse fields ranging from physics to economics. In this paper the history and the basic concepts of the fractal analysis of complex systems are discussed briefly and an oil crude price volatility fractal analysis is provided.                                     Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

For more on this paper, visit:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sres.984/abstract

Similarly, while researching this topic, I came across the following information from Nagai Toshiya - http://www.nagaitosiya.com

1. You cannot reduce the whole to parts but to rules.
2. They are brought about by self-referential repetitive application of simple rules.

Modern scientists have analyzed objects by reducing an unintelligible whole to intelligible parts. But when the unintelligible whole is composed of similarly unintelligible parts, reductionism proves to be helpless.

In a real nature however it is linear algebra that is exceptional and most of nature has a fractal structure.

Chaos also refuses to be reduced to parts. Most of chaos including Lorenz attractor has a fractal structure. Its "strange" whole can be reduced not to parts but to rules.

Makes one really think about the nature of the universe…

Wk 7: “Ordered Chaos” – does this sound familiar?

“Ordered Chaos”… at first this seems like an oxymoron, it also seems to be the paradigm that underpins life on this planet, especially as seen in the natural world.  The thing is, life on this planet is paradoxical.  On one hand, things seem totally random and chaotic and can hardly be tracked or projected: such as the weather, earthquakes, tidal waves, landslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic explosions.  We attempt in vein to predict them, but they elude us.  

 Yet, even the weather does have broad seasonal patterns.  And on a more profound level, there does seem to be an ordered, cyclical nature to the universe…as embodied things like the rising and setting of the sun, the birth of new galaxies and the death of old stars, the cycles of the moon, the tides, the four seasons, the phased growth and development of various sentient beings, including their migratory patterns and the fractal patterns we see throughout nature’s flora and fauna.  Our eternal quest for balance lies in, how much are we able to go with the flow of life, versus how much we attempt to assert our own influence; either by controlling the natural world around us or our needs for schedules and planning.  And you know what they say, “People plan, Goddess laughs!”