If I were going to help Deepak in his argument with Leonard (Leonard Mlodinow) I might say:
Our eyes are only capable of seeing a tiny sliver of all the magnetic waves that exist.
“Deepak, ask him whether he believes in the 4th dimension. After he says, ‘Yes,’ ask him to point to it.”
He can’t. He can’t even imagine it. Our brains are incapable of even imagining it. They’re hard wired for only 3 physical and one temporal dimensions. Unfortunately they make a perfect playground on which Social Conditioning can make it’s stamp
of reality only consisting only of what our 5 senses are capable of experiencing. Note that even our eyeballs, as advanced as they are, are only capable of sensing a tiny fraction of the lightwaves that are (Conveniently coined the “Visible Spectrum”)
Isn’t that the same as Spirituality? We can’t point to it, but we know it’s there.
It’s the “Mythic” dimension, which is constantly at right angles, known as “eternity”, to the arrow of time.
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time,” said Blake.
Why?
Because like a beautiful work of art needs a canvass to act as a medium for manefestation, even in some sense acting as “foil,” eternity needs the “foil” of time and space to act as “relief” in representing it’s message of the infinite.
Think about it. In order to represent something moving, you have to have another thing standing still, or the message can’t be conveyed.
In the same way, in order to convey the message of “revelation” you need to have the backdrop, the blank canvass, if you will, of a mundane, restricted, and merely mechanical “Worldview.”
Without the Labyrinth, there wouldn’t be the adventure, the magical thread that leads one out.
I want to breath again
beneath the mythic pond.
This presence blows the wind
And bares the dew soaked dawn.
The spirits sing from wells.
The earth’s throat opens wide.
They say what no man tells.
Their secrets dance inside.
The king is sleeping still.
His drawbridge dream released.
His knights ride Isis’ hill.
And dive her bluest seas.
His white deer fly through snow
To kingdoms no man’s known.
This is in iambic trimeter poem with the form of an English Sonnet.
Maybe the only thing I disagree with Ron Paul about, is that there is a time when the Fed should create liquidity, and that time is when, like in the 90’s due to the Internet and Communications revolution, there is a period of incredible growth. A growing economy needs liquidity like a growing body needs food.
The problem is, that it’s exactly during periods of growth that the Fed turns the spicket off and starves a growing economy of the liquidity it needs. This is one of the major reasons that Web 1.0 crashed.
And then during times of recession like the past few years the Fed does the opposite. It adds liquidity, which causes inflation and “stag-flation.”
This is why we don’t need so much a “Gold Standard” in as much as we need a “De-Facto” Gold standard, meaning Gold should be used as the barometer for when liquidity should be injected and or “mopped up.”
Using the price of Gold as a barometer, the Fed, or whoever directs monetary policy, should keep the price of Gold in a tight trading range by adding liquidity when the price of gold dips below a certain target, and mopping up liquidity when the price of gold rises above the target.
This does two virtuous things: It gives a growing economy the right amount of liquidity it needs to sustain, and it also permanently ends inflation and deflation.
Other than that I totally agree with Dr. Paul that the Fed, as it acts now, should be ended, or given the tight mandate of using a Gold barometer for monetary policy.
A few minutes into that video on the previous post Leonard Mlodinow says something like neither Hawking nor he, and presumably neither science in general, rule out the possibility of there being a God.
But really thinking of “God” as a fact is not what spirituality is about. God as a symbol for that which is beyond fact or fiction, beyond being and non-being, beyond past and present, or any duality one can think of is what spirituality is about.
Any kind of definition throws you out of the “Garden,” to which only “being” can bring you back.
Also, I was really exited that Deepak tweeted me back. I had tweeted him “The Scientific Method did not create Relativity or the Quantum Theory. Inspiration did. The Scientific Method only verified them.”
He tweeted back that he liked that, that way of putting it, that the Scientific Method hadn’t rested the physical laws but only verified them.
But now that I think about, even he was missing my point a little bit. Of course the physical laws weren’t created by The Scientific Method, but what I was saying was that even the scientific theories themselves came from Inspiration & Imagination, and then only later to be verified by observation.
So what I was saying was no we weren’t using the Scientific Method to explain our World. We were using imagination and creativity to do so, which are Zen like, Spiritual activities, and then later the Scientific Method to verify them.
So, really Science and Religion aren’t so different. It’s just that the science of 4000 years ago is way different than the science of today. Today we have new explanations: The Big Bang, Inflation, String Theory. Non of which are incongruent with Spirituality. As a matter of fact each new discovery seems to invoke the Sublime and increase the sense of wonder that we have labeled “Spirituality.”
OK, so I haven’t read the book. Or have I? Quantum theory would say that there is at least one Universe in which I have.
But we’ll stick with the consciousness that I am experiencing now. I haven’t read the book. I’ve seen Deepak tweet about it for a while now. I follow Leonard Mlodinow, and he actually followed me back.
Once I tweeted him saying, “God is Symbol for that which is beyond all thought, beyond what is even capable of being thought.”
He replied, “You sound like Deepak!” I must admit that made me happy. Happy because Deepak is a hero. Happy because not only did he reply, acknowledging me, making me feel part of the conversation, but also because, though I disagree with him (Do I? Again, there is at least one Universe in which I agree with him, but also one in which I am him!) he was cheery. That was nice.
I don’t like debates. That’s one reason I’ve been reticent to begin reading this or even to watch the videos, but I do feel like the fact that Leonard is such a cheery, warm, nice person, that perhaps some benefit can come from it.
My sister put it best on the phone just a while ago, “Maybe he isn’t coming from it from a place where he needs to win.” Debates could be productive activities if neither side had an absolute need to win, in as much as having a desire to come to the truth.
So I don’t know if this post will even be finished. I’m just doing it “stream of consciousness” starting with a couple tweets I sent today (10/8/11) after watching the first 10 minutes of a video of them debating. Again, not liking debates, that’s all I could watch for now.
So if this goes on, if I can continue and actually read the book, this post might actually get done, or at least expand.
My niece who works at the Wall Street Journal, actually sent me a copy that she saw at their offices without even knowing I knew anything about it. I guess lying around. It is definitely an advanced copy. On it read, “Not for resale.” I feel special. Thanks Michelle!
That fact seems kind of Zen to me already.
So here goes the beginning of my ‘real’ post or the beginning of what I’m thinking:
The Scientific Method didn’t create Relativity or Quantum Theory. Inspiration did. It merely verified them.
OK, so what I’m saying here is that the two greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th Century did not come by way of the “Scientific Method” of which Dr. Mdlinow seems to constantly refer. Those discoveries came through imagination and inspiration. They weren’t discovered through a calculatory method, but rather through a creative method, and then later verified by calculations. These achievements have more in common with the revelatory nature of spirituality and mysticism (at least in their birth) than they do with the systems (Science! Physics! Computers!) that they gave birth to.
The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the Earth, yet men do not see it.” – Jesus
Why don’t they see it? Here’s a story that might explain:
A young yogi came to his master.
“Master,” he said, “You say ‘Buddha is in all things’?”
“Yes,” replied the master.
“Is the Buddha in me?” asked the student.
“No.”
“But you said he is in all things.”
“He is in all things, but not in you.”
“But why?”
“Because you are asking the question.”
Do you get it? So the sense of asking the question is actually creating an “Ego” type separation consciousness, actually cutting one off from Unity Consciousness to which one must re-link (“re-ligio” .latin) or re yoke (“Yoga”) in order to have an understanding of that which is beyond thought.
Lyrics and Music Stephen Pickering – Creative Commons 2011
All is calm I can’t go on Leaving love behind In the still summer night
There’s a pain over there That the rain won’t spare And a piece of the sky That my heart wants to climb
Chorus:
It’s been a while It’s been a long one Since we’ve been apart
I could’ve sworn the pieces had fallen Leaving motionless the stars
But I know there’ll come a day for our silent serenade.
Here comes May The Sun after the rain We swim through flowers all day And found a bower to lay
You’ve got your call Feels as cold as rain in the fall Where’s the peace of the night Where our love used to hide?
There’s a thief who stole All the diamonds and gold Where the soul used to hide When I had you by my side
Chorus 2:
It’s been a while It’s been a long one Since you’ve been a apart They could’ve made up the same lines A little closer to the heart I would’ve shown what I made In this silent serenade.
