Week Four----Energy, Matter and the Four Forces ...

How has e=mc2 affected you? .....Einstein's iconic equation, e=mc2, is the foundation of much man-made phenomenon in our modern day world, yet many of us do not understand, or even care to ponder, its meaning and effect (it is a bit disturbing that when I google "e=mc2" half the links are to half-naked pictures of Mariah Carey.) And I must admit, I am one of those people. It is ever so easy to plug in a lamp and take it for granted that everything is illuminated. And when I do contemplate the fact that all matter is condensed energy, I brace the edge of my chair in anxiety that the Universe, with a snip, could unravel and explode. There was a Big Bang once afterall. Relaxing back into my chair, I think of energy from a more Eastern perspective. Qi. The dynamic aggregation and dispersal of energy into more material and immaterial forms, respectively. (And when I google "qi" I do not get any links to half-naked pictures of Mariah Carey.)

How would you compare the four forces? ....The strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, for me, must be imagined. Of course I 'experience' them, but given that they act on a sub-atomic level, I take them for granted. On an observable level, they hold it all together---in balance---make life as we know it possible. Gravity and electromagnetism also make life as we know it possible, however, they are more observable. Gravity is marvelous---strong enough to hold everything 'down', but weak enough to let us move it all around. We are always standing on the edge of it all, and gravity lets us hang there. Electromagnetism has both positive and negative charges; it attracts and repels (and makes your hair stand up with static electricity). It is interesting how the West views energy in this way---the categories that are constructed to bind and quantify these mysterious forces ....and the stormy thought bubbles that arise when no one theory can umbrella them all. Perhaps examining the nameless energy that all of these forces together comprise should not be broken down in the manner that they are, meaning---perhaps we are looking a bit too deeply, too intellectually, into what is only meant to be felt?

How is gravity related to the other forces? ....Gravity, because of its attractive force, "gives things weight." Although it is a weak force, it causes objects with mass to attract (as opposed to, repel) one another. Electromagnetism both attracts and repels---it hold things together on an inter-molecular level. Strong and weak forces hold things together on a sub-atomic level. Gravity is exceptional because its pervasive energy is what "holds us down." Grounds us. Encourages us to believe that there is such a thing as the ground, that life is linear and only moves in one direction. Our philosophies would be quite different in we floated about with nothing solid beneath our feet.

Week Three---Synchronicity .....

What evidence can I find for synchronicity?.... Last Saturday was the first anniversary of my mother's death. Her death was sudden and even a year later, I feel like I am only beginning to adjust to the energetic shifts that I feel surrounding this experience. I consciously decided that I did not want to acknowledge this day in any sentimental way. So it begins....I do not get to the beach very often, but on Friday evening, I got this strong urge to be near the water. Making this plan come together for the next day was no easy task, but I was a bit obsessed with the idea. So Saturday, I go to the beach ....and it is sunset. And it comes to me---why I am there, had to be there. When my mother passed, I was living abroad in Edinburgh. After a brief visit to the States, heading back to dark and stormy Edi did not appeal, so I went to the south of Portugal where it is warm and sunny this time of year. I had been feeling very confused about life and death and everything before and after, and a bit perturbed in general, having this feeling that my mother's energy was around me. I spent six days sitting on a cliff high above the ocean watching sunsets. Convening with nature. Gathering myself. Sitting on the beach this past Saturday, something settled in me. A kind of knowing. I felt like I was brought there on this marked day....apophenia or synchronicity?---What would Jung say?

How would I explain connectivity?....To me, 'connectivity' sounds like a technical word---a term used when speaking about internet access and cell phone reception. It also rings with connotations of 'disconnection', as though one is either connected or disconnected. But in a Universe where everything is relative---energies overlapping, shifting, condensing, diffusing..... in my view, disconnection is not possible lest the whole pulsing orb of it all unravel. Some connections are so long and slack that a sense of connection, tension and tethers, is not immediately felt, but it is there if one seeks it out. I think of the human body and how its systems function in symbiotic relationship. It is its own universe. The digestive system, circulatory system, immune system, the skeletal system ....organs, arteries and veins, glands, muscles and bones, nerves ....neurons, antibodies, bacteria, hormones ....all aspects of our physical bodies are connected. We have a pulse. And as beings, grounded in our self-centered existences, I feel that we are all connected. Our individual universes overlap, our consciousness intermingles and mutually constitutes our realities.

Week Two---Quantum Mechanics ....

Uncertainty .... Can we ever know anything with certainty? What is 'certainty'?---predictability, or fixity, knowing the answer to all questions. Mystery is not allowed for as it is always already solved. If the universe were 'certain', dynamic phenomenon would take on a rigid character akin to stasis; all trajectories would be severely narrowed to one movement for transformation, and one movement only. Ever. While there are countless observable patterns in the universe---day turns into night and night into day, the cycle of the seasons---there is also allowance for great variation in these patterns. I feel like there is energy in the universe that is more grounded, like a foundation or core (observable)... and ascending from this base energy, there are infinite levels of ever more dynamic energy, some more fluid or porous than others, that allow for a great variety of phenomenon. All energy is relative and intermingles; energy that is more condensed allows for 'certainty', and energy that is more ephemeral allows for 'possibility'. Like yin and yang, 'certain' holds a seed of 'possibility', and 'possibility' holds a seed of 'certain'. In relation to Quantum Mechanics, to me, subatomic particles are the more ephemeral, the immaterial material greatly imbued with possibility. It follows that they are only deliberately observable, and you can only know their position on a scale of probability, not with any certainty.

Causality .... When I think about 'relativity'---the fundamental tenet that 'everything is connected'---'causality' seems like the immaterial material that fills in the 'gaps', or the porous spaces of the universe's web---the 'interminglingness' of all things. I think of causality as a neutral energy shifted by 'intention'. In Buddhism, all actions begins in the mind, with intention. Following that, it would seem that observable energies in the world both trickle down from thought and would be affected by thought. I know that when I am feeling rather 'fine-tuned', I experience a sensitivity to the energies around me and can viscerally feel my own energies shift in response.

Is the Universe weird? ....It is funny to think that our thoughts can will actions, but I think it is entirely possible. To me, it correlates with the idea that the behaviour of the observed is affected by the act of observation, and the observer. When walking down the street and I run into someone that I have not crossed paths with in some time, someone that I was just thinking about this morning---did my thoughts will this interaction? or, did I cross paths with this person because their thoughts willed the action?... or did we both will the action? .... or did someone else who thinking of both of us will the action? ....Can not say. I oft think of the Universe as giving me 'gifts' or 'tests', or that the Universe has moods. I do not the think the Universe is 'weird' per say, but I do think it has a rather snarky sense of humour.

Week One---The Meaning of Time ....

What attracts me to Chinese Medicine? .... I find the fundamental theories of Chinese Medicine most interesting---the relativity of all phenomenon, the connections between the emotional and physical bodies and the subtle and the gross bodies, the focus upon 'balance'.... Like many others, my interest, in part, has grown through my own engagement with Chinese Medicine as a patient. I have studied Eastern Religion academically and in a way, this is a continuation of my studies in religion, philosophy, history and culture, but expanding upon that, I also feel a calling to the practice of 'healing'. This is why I am here.

What do I think of Physics? ... I do not know much about physics, but something tells me I do know more than I think! As a field of study, I feel that it is man's attempt to classify and categorize all phenomena happening in his universe, but more, also an attempt to 'explain the unexplainable' (ontological comfort) .... and control his universe. Many of man's ways of being in the world feel counter-intuitive to me, manipulative of nature (like the harnessing of 'time').

Have I experienced the "slowing down" or "speeding up" of time? .... Absolutely. Time seems to slow down when I am very conscious about its passage---like staring at the clock at work during a slow shift. Time seems to speed up when I am less conscious of time---like when I am fully engaged in an enjoyable activity, like sewing. I have also experienced the suspension of time---perhaps this can be best described as an 'out-of-body experience'.

Reflections on class discussion ... Time has both quantitative and qualitative aspects. To me, the quantitative seems more problematic. Clocks---what is accuracy and precision in the measurement of time? Can time truly be measured---reduced to a mathematical figure sans its quality, the way it is experienced? Time, to me, seems more subjective than objective; we all experience the same moment differently, meaning---time can not be truly standardized. But yet this does not stop us from trying to measure time---clocks are everywhere---strapped to our wrists or chained to our pockets, displayed on the screens of our mobile phones and laptops, glaring in a red digital display from our nightstand table. With the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, time itself was revolutionized. Hence the invention of punctuality, tardiness and the lunch break. Time is something we spend and save, a commodity. Once upon a time, long long ago, man lived according to the seasons, the cycles of the sun and the moon. No more. In the modern world, it seems that most people do things when they are supposed to do things (ruled by the arm of clock), not when they feel like doing things. And while I can lament modern man's loss of living in accordance with nature, his primal instincts, I must also acknowledge that the practice of 'measuring time' does have its functions---it enables an organization of society that would not be possible if we all gave primacy to our un-synchronized internal clocks. In many ways, I live according to the 'machine', the great mother clock ... but I will never have a nine to five job.

Thoughts on next week's topic .... Quantum Mechanics illustrates that the universe can not be uniformly quantified. Surely supporters of a deterministic viewpoint would find this theory either very frustrating, or incomplete. In my view, QM does demonstrate relativity---that Everything is connected, that the universe is dynamic, never static. QM can only predict probability, nothing is definite. Energies constantly shifting; change is inevitable. The world is as it seems ... to me, to you, and to everyone we know and do not know. All of our impressions are real; all perspectives exist at the same time. I am curious to learn more ... !