Sunday, August 24, 2008

We are the Machine / The Machine Is Us

So I found a really interesting video some time ago, and I occasionally revisit it because its extremely fascinating. It goes into how the Web, or specifically the "Web 2.0" is changing humanity. The amount of information, all that we put of our lives on the Internet. All of this is revolutionizing our society, indeed our very civilization. The Internet already has an enormous influence on our societies, and in time we will find that those who are currently in control will be very eager to limit the free flow of information. It is revolutionizing how we think about government, society, culture, art, boundaries. It is changing the landscape of human interaction, of human evolution.

You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Quantum Vibrations

"Hear the songs of creation,
From which life comes to fruition.
The quantum melodies which calm the mind,
Where answers you seek you will find
The ancient words of yore
Which vibrate forever more
In that prison where the spirit dwells
And where the waves of chaos swells
Wisdom which the atoms hold
The inner mind which shatters the mold
The divine song shall resound
Once the inner self has been found."

Been awhile since I've posted any poetry, came up with this while doing laundry and reading. Hope you enjoy.

Synergy

So my last blog post was not the intent I originally had for it, but as it has been posted it must have been done for a reason. However, what I originally wanted to write about was something of a more esoteric nature, since I wanted to devote more of my time writing to exploring the subjects of reality and cosmos.

I may not have posted before in here with regards to my interest in Theosophy. In the future I may post more indepth as to what Theosophy actually is, but suffice to say it is a philosophical and spiritual tradition first developed to length by HP Blavatsky. It focuses on truth rather than dogma, and has been probably one of the closest things to what I and Aldous Huxley describes as the perennial philosophy. A quote, taken from wikipedia and quoted by Huxley describes the perennial philosophy as thus:

"The Perennial Philosophy is expressed most succinctly in the Sanskrit formula, tat tvam asi ('That thou art'); the Atman, or immanent eternal Self, is one with Brahman, the Absolute Principle of all existence; and the last end of every human being, is to discover the fact for himself, to find out who he really is."
-Aldous Huxley

Theosophy, or "Divine Wisdom" makes the attempt at discovering the underlying and fundamental truths of the cosmos. Now, it being primarily a spiritual tradition it does focus on scientific truths as well. As far as I understand it, Theosophists go as far as to say they have no problem if science one day disproves some of the currently accepted ideas within the tradition.

I called this post "Synergy" because we are at a time in the course of human civilization where we must start focusing on the synergistic relation between science and spirituality. We are slowly beginning to discover that the universe is far more complex then we were originally led to believe scientifically. Quantum physics has gone to great lengths to demonstrate that. I take an example from an article on Theosophy and Quantum physics.

Consider that an atom is comprised of mainly empty space. We have the nucleus, consisting of the protons and neutrons and then around the nucleus shell are the arrangements of electrons. The spatial relation between the nucleus and the electrons, however, is pretty large. That is, it is mostly empty space. However, the electrostatic interactions between the electrons and protons are what holds the atom together, and this electrostatic attraction is what holds atoms together to form molecules and ultimately the matter that our universe is comprised of.

The article makes a very interesting claim though, and that is regard to the fact that reality does seem in fact to be Maya, or illusion. Most of it is empty space, but electrical energy holds it all together. This is not even getting into the subatomic molecules that comprise the three fundamental particles. And not even close to touching the ideas behind string theory which postulates that particles are the result of the minute vibrations of small strings. To think, science may eventually discover that reality is nothing but vibrations, what an Occult idea!

I'm going to close for now, with intent to revisit the topic as I pour through the article and analyze it a bit more. But, I want to make my point. As someone who is both very spiritual and very scientific I've often had to reconcile ideas which may be unscientific or unspiritual. The truth, is however, that once we get down to the very fundamental ideas we see these two realms are not entirely different. I do not feel threatened that science will somehow discredit my spiritual beliefs, because I do think there are still areas that one or the other can never touch. I know of my consciousness, I know that I am, and that idea, that concept, is something science can never disprove. What underlies this consciousness may be something that science can eventually probe, but it will always remain a spiritual topic. On the opposite side, the spiritual can not offer practical answers to every problem the way science can.

Slowly, however, we're seeing the distinction disappear and hopefully someday we can have a true perennial philosophy.

Source:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/btheos/articles/GH-Quantum.htm