Week Eight---Classical Physics ....

Newton's Three Laws of Motion and Me ....Most everything that I have learned about life, I have learned from riding my bicycle. A route that may be harder on the way to my destination, I can rest assured, will be a breezy downhill on my way back home---it all balances out. Newton's First Law: Objects at rest, remain at rest; objects in motion remain in motion, in a straight line at constant velocity, if, and only if, a force is not applied to change its state of motion. I am most happy for my bike's brakes---I am not a fixie riding hipster. When the light turns red, more often than not, I hit my brakes---thus applying force to my spinning wheels---and bringing myself to a halt before I am taken out by oncoming traffic. Newton's Second Law: The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force acting on it, and inversely proportional to its mass. Every now and again, not so often these days, I go riding up in the hills. And while I do enjoy a mighty uphill crawl, I get ambivalent about the drops waiting on the other side. I am sorry to say that this is the only time I wear a bike helmet. Bombing the roads down from Grizzly Peak, I have reached velocities of 45mph (using a digital speed-o-meter)---gravity feels like a thirsty beast, and again, happy for those brakes. Newton's Third Law: If two objects interact, as in a collision, the force of the first object exerted on the second object is matched by the force of the second object exerted on the first object of the same size, but in opposite directions ...Lucky for me, I have never been in a real bike accident. But today, as I was riding my bike I came upon a car accident and thought of Newton's Third Law. The two vehicles were smashed into each other, and from the damage, I assume that they were going pretty fast, thus colliding with much force. (It seemed like everybody involved was okay.)

Our "energy efficient" culture---I used to go to the gym. Working out on my elliptical trainer I would take in the scene around me---a sea of other warm bodies perched upon workout machines, sweating with intent. Bicycles, treadmills, and ski machines ....all plugged in. We use energy to expend energy. How inefficient is that? (And how "inefficient" is an overfed culture that relies on 'gyms', rather than true hard, physical labor, to use up the calories, or energy, that it consumes ....we may spend more time laboring intellectually, but in the process, we are oft times merely inventing more things to feed our varied and voracious appetites.)

Descartes has a lot to answer for! ....Yes, he does. How quaint it all was---the world was tame and contained, predictable. The Mystery was solved. Until the early twentieth century when someone (namely, Maxwell, Bohr, Einstein and Heisenberg) decided to take a closer look. The blanket of everyday reality looks very different when you inspect the threads. Quantum physics shredded the blueprints for the mechanized universe and Wonder was reborn. And to this day, we still do not fully understand how the Great Machine works. Cartesian reductionism may have been the doctrine of its day, but its tenets no longer apply. Thought is a product of brain activity---no doubt that the brain is involved in thought, but it is one of our many physical organs involved in the process of thinking, but the brain does not think on its own. The brain itself has no sensory nerve endings---how could it possibly be solely responsible for telling me what I feel? Most of the Universe is dead---life is a process of being and becoming. Always dynamic never static. Never as predictable as we wish it was. How could most of the Universe be dead? Show me proof great scientist. Scientific descriptions are independent of the observer and the process of knowing---pure objectivity is some-kind-of-impossible. We are always trying to achieve an end by some means. Quantum physics has proven that probability is all that we can ever know. The act of observation---intention---is what brings phenomena into being. There is no such thing as independence in the great tangled web of the Universe. We are separate from nature---how can we be separate from nature when it is Nature thyself that nourishes us? Try as we may, Nature can not be reduced to charts and graphs. Chemistry is full of exception after exception ....Nature apparently does not even follow its "own Laws'.

Week Seven---Chaos Theory ....

"Ordered chaos"---does this sound familiar? ....It is interesting to think about what 'equilibrium' really means---a balanced system---but in my mind, I make the assumption that 'equilibrium' also means order. In a dynamic system, 'order' also means 'static', and for a dynamic system, this is a true imbalance. To understand life itself as the result of two seemingly oppositional processes---autopoiesis and entropy---is to grasp deeply the fundamental tenet that All is relative ....order and disorder are not at all at odds with each other, but rather, making life possible. The struggle for balance is life; balance is and must always remain an Ideal. Life is chaotic.

Fractals are patterns of complex systems ....One of the properties of a 'fractal' is self-similarity---essentially, a part of a given item resembles the item as a whole. A good example of this is broccoli. Take a look at a stalk of broccoli: you will find that it is made up of a collection of 'mini-broccoli', or broccoli florets. Each floret, a part of the whole stalk, resembles the broccoli stalk as a whole. This self-similarity is a kind of patterning ("x+1"). It may be inferred that broccoli has an amazing self-organization capability. It is a super-food. (I love broccoli.) Fractal patterning can also be found in the human body---one of the best examples are our lungs. The architecture of our lungs sub-divides and sub-divides into 'branches'. Their very structure makes the act of breathing possible.

Consciousness out of chaos ....I would argue that individual consciousness is something that trickles down from a greater cloud of collective consciousness. Like raindrops. And these raindrops evaporate and condense into a greater stream of consciousness. I think of energy. We are all plugged into the same machine. The individual nature of consciousness is what breeds chaos in our world---we are a disordered race of beings, the masses, all inter-connected but trying to break free. I think of war zones. Everything is chaos. Survival in a war zone (I imagine) requires a higher state of consciousness---you are on edge, your senses are painfully heightened, your awareness is all too aware.

"Cool Experiments" ....Having a cat that is always up for fun, interactive games, I was particularly drawn towards Cat Static. In a dark room, I rubbed kitty along the carpet---and while the air felt somewhat 'electric', I can not say that I saw any sparks (the experiment instructions says this will happen). I was a bit disappointed ....Perhaps the room was not dark enough? Or perhaps I should have been a bit more malicious as I rubbed kitty along the carpet? ....well, she was already giving me that 'insulted look'. Though I did not achieve the exact results hypothesized, I think it is more my error.

Week Six----Vibrations ....

Are all vibrations 'good'?....No, vibration can be undesirable in many cases. For example, an electrical appliance with a motor, like a blender, because it vibrates, it produces noise. Vibration can also be an indication of a malfunction---something mechanical is not operating properly and energy is being wasted, parts are being worn down. In discussing vibrations, an amazing experience that I had comes to mind. I was working at a bar that showcased live music. There was a front room with seating, and a main room with more seating and space for a band. One evening, we had a party reservation for the front room, about thirty people. It was a social gathering sponsored by a local deaf activist organization; most of the guests were deaf, all of them communicated through sign language. Again, this party was held in our front room which is sectioned off from the main room. When I would go to this area to check in with them, I felt overcome by the atmosphere. My own senses were a bit boggled---I would step into this room full of people buzzing with activity....yet there was almost no sound. Everyone was speaking in sign language. It was like the air around me was vibrating. I remember feeling a sense of surreal calm in the middle of it all. When the band started playing, some of the people got up to dance ....it was such a beautiful thing to witness. They could feel the vibrations of the music through the floor.

Resonance in my world ....the phrase "that resonates with me" comes to mind. Something that I surely think/say every now and again. What am I feeling when I do ....it is like a chord is struck within me. An internal spark. Maybe of understanding? Definitely a feeling in the truest sense of the word, especially in the context of other people. To tune into another emotionally; feelings are mutual. Being on the other side of someone while being on the same side as someone. Some hint that perhaps we see the world a-lot-a-bit in the same way in that moment. There is resonance.

Connections I make between Energy and Qi ....From a Western perspective, matter is energy. It is condensed energy. Energy can be transformed; never created nor destroyed. It simply is. Qi also is. Qi is also energy, and like the Western concept of energy, it can be transformed---it is dynamic, always pulsing ....aggregating and dispersing. From an Eastern perspective, the aggregation of qi is akin to life, and the dispersal of qi is akin to death. But in a way, qi, like the energy concept of the West, is never truly created nor destroyed ....qi is what creates life and its transformation---dispersal---from a more material state to a more immaterial state is what we would call death, but this energy is never truly destroyed.

Week Five----Symmetry and Sacred Geometry ...

My (a)symmetrical world ....While symmetries can certainly be found, I feel that the Universe is as asymmetrical as our human bodies. Symmetries, such as musical scores and visual graphics, are certainly pleasing to the senses---who has not reached some altered, some-kind-of-transcendent state of consciousness through engagement with such 'objects'? They can be quite calming. Overall, I think that we subscribe deep meaning to symmetries. For example, cultural symbols, such as those of religious groups or nations, are iconographic and memorable, imbued with all kinds of passion---true fervor. On an everyday level, we look for symmetry in relationships, whether it be the relationship of 'cause-and-effect', or our relationships with loved ones. Most wondrous to me are the symmetries found in nature, fractals fractals fractals! Romanesco in particular is a delight. (See: www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2006/02/brass...)
From a matter/anti-matter perspective, it seems to me that the Universe is unquantifiable---that there is simply too much change to be accounted for, that things come in-and-out-of-being in such an awesomely dynamic way that any attempts to sum the Universe up are a snapshot with no relevance to the newer Present moment ....everything has changed. Shifted. And shifted again. And again. But I would infer that the Universe is made up of more matter than anti-matter simply (or not so simply) because we experience ourselves as material beings ....but what puzzles me, is why physicists find this so puzzling?

Just what does this CP violation really mean? .....Well, my understanding of this is very elementary, but I think it means that the Universe as we know it is possible because of CP violation. Inotherwords, there is no symmetry between matter and anti-matter. If all particles, such as protons and electrons, were cancelled out by their symmetrical anti-particles, then the Big Bang would have been a chemical reaction resulting in equilibrium ....and no matter. And no life.

Are there connections between Sacred Geometry and Physics? ....Absolutely. In my view, physics is yet another way of attempting to understand the Sacred (but that which can not be understood, but better---felt.) There is something so indescribably harmonious about symmetry, proportions, patterns, etc .... To sit with a sacred, geometrical image---there is something so calming (yet ecstatic) about being on the precipise of it All. The very edge of a positive and negative cancelling each other out ....and becoming Whole.

Science and Religion are the particle and the anti-particle. A false duality.The great mysteries of the Universe---are we not all talking about the same thing?