Amazing Commentary on Africa

I was listening to NPR the other day and, of course, they gave a program over to speaking with folks who knew Michael Jackson. One of the guests was a woman in Africa who spoke about the first time The Jackson Five visited. I found one of her comments very striking. She was giving accolades to Michael’s talent and how impressed the people there were with it. Then she said, “And this comes from a continent of people who sing and dance….and do them very well.”

I thought that was an amazing statement and could think of no other continent that could claim such a thing. In fact, I’ve had a hard time thinking of a singular distinction that any other continent could claim in which everyone participates. Of course, I realize that there is a lot of killing, brutality, and dieing in Africa. That only made her statement more impressive to me. Singing and dancing are, by their nature, wonderfully celebratory and life-affirming acts.

Perhaps you can think of a similar claim that another continent, or even a country, could make. Comments welcome.

Review of The Quantum Activist

Review of The Quantum Activist
Documentary featuring Dr. Amit Goswami
http://quantumactivist.com/

Thanks to the nice folks at Blue Dot Productions, I’ve had the pleasure of viewing an advanced copy of the new documentary Quantum Activist featuring theoretical physicist, Dr. Amit Goswami. You may be familiar with him from his many books including The Self-Aware Universe or his appearance in the documentary What the Bleep Do We Know?

Most professors admit that they truly did not understand their field of choice until they began to teach it to others. Dr. Goswami’s mastery of quantum physics is quite evident. His textbook on quantum mechanics is still the de facto collegiate standard for teaching students the basic equations of that science. From reading his books and watching this documentary, it is also evident that he has a mastery of philosophy that is inclusive of many cultures, religions, and belief systems. All of this knowledge is squarely rooted in a true understanding of history and the evolution of human thought, and that is what makes him a visionary. It is impossible for someone to connect such far-flung dots if they do not have a deep understanding of multiple disciplines and how they evolved into what we now experience.

It’s extraordinarily difficult to produce and market a documentary of this type. Veteran intuitive practitioners may find the tenets of spirituality Dr. Goswami presents very basic in scope. But, it’s important to understand the intended audience. Over the last several decades, a bridge has been built between the realm where scientists reside and the realm of intuitive practitioners. Dr. Goswami was once far inland on the science side. This documentary is the story of his journey to the bridge and his continued movement in that direction. He mostly speaks in language that is grounded in scientific and philosophic tradition. It can be heard by those who live inland and still practice materialist science. If he turned in the other direction, he would be facing the bridge and speaking only to those who are already standing nearer to the center, and that is preaching to the choir and unnecessary.

All documentaries are a snapshot in time. Where Dr. Goswami is on the bridge at the time this documentary was made is not nearly as important as the fact that he is moving toward the center and doing it in a way that will eventually bring other physicists with him.

One of the greatest gifts Dr. Goswami presents is something that he first gave to himself, and that is clarity. He knows what he knows with precision. Anytime he is presented with a question he cannot answer, he is diligent to investigate it, drop old beliefs that are no longer relevant, and expand his framework to accommodate the new information while maintaining the consistency of his theories. It’s like a sculptor finding the art that he already sees in the stone. He is in the process of removing that which is not the art and we are the benefactors of his craft.

I believe history will record Dr. Goswami as being a pivotal influence in developing a definition of consciousness that works across multiple disciplines, which in itself is a grand feat. He does this by making the case for consciousness as the ground of being instead of matter, as it has been regarded by Western culture since the time of the Ancient Greek philosophers. This resolves a number of paradoxes in quantum physics including the illusion of duality and the quantum measurement problem that even Einstein and Schrodinger grappled with in the beginning of the discipline.

He is also building the framework for a new understanding of the multiple levels of consciousness. In doing so, Dr. Goswami is presented with the limitations of current vocabulary. It is difficult to present an entirely new idea using words that have been wracked in controversy and highly emotional debates for eons. At the moment, Dr. Goswami defines at least two levels of consciousness using the words ego and god. He does so because it is necessary for him, by some means, to relate his new theories to concepts we already understand. To add insult to injury, these word choices could also lead to unnecessary disagreements that distract from the point he is trying to make.

However, in the documentary, he uses inspired analogies to explain the different levels of consciousness and clarifies several misunderstandings that were made vogue in the 1970s that eventually led to misinterpretations of practices that focus on attraction and intention and why many of these exercises don’t work. He also elucidates the concept of how we create our own reality versus how we perceive and react to reality and then create our own experience of it.

Dr. Goswami has lived in-country with materialist science and he fully understands the culture from an experiential basis. His statement that physics does not deal with the nature of reality is not new. It never has. But, his charge that the current paradigm in physics leaves no room for such questions is a highly contentious declaration to those still entrenched in that way of thinking. The first big split in quantum physics was due to a fundamental argument between Einstein and Bohr concerning the non-local aspect of reality. Dr. Goswami is resurrecting that argument in a way that is likely to revive many of the old lines of reasoning, putting them up for renewed debate. And, that is the point. If we hope to think new thoughts, we must construct them from new models. Dr. Goswami has done his homework and is now shaping a new framework that will eventually lead to real advancements in human thought instead of re-treading old ideas.

The Math Behind 2012

Where science, psychology, and psi events meet

As we approach the year 2012, new theories and predictions are emerging from multiple sources about what we can expect at the end of this current epoch that was chronicled in the calendars of several ancient peoples.

While viewing this information, a little critical thinking must be applied to understand the so-called facts that are being presented and the conclusions that are being drawn from that information.

Several documentary style programs attempt to link only the Myan calendar to disasters and changes occurring in North America and Europe. This is a rather myopic view. Yet, the narrator states that the coming shift will be global in scale. Therefore, the facts presented do not equate to the conclusion drawn.

What is a fact is that the planet is a living, dynamic system that is constantly changing, exploding, freezing, drying up, shaking, and flooding. It is also moving at high velocity through a universe that is littered with asteroids, black holes, and gamma ray bursts, all of which are planet killers. None of these facts have anything to do with humans or the effect of their presence on the planet. It’s rather vain for humans to think they can destroy the Earth. At best, all we can do is create an environment in which we cannot survive. The planet will eventually rebalance itself just fine without us.

Given these facts, another thing to consider when correlating historical data to epoch calendars is that any date will do. Epoch, or long count calendars work over a small range of dates revolving around a repeating cycle. For instance, an epoch might be one thousand years. Events happening in a thirty year span around this anniversary date would be considered significant. Did I mention any date will do? To give you a sampling, I picked a starting date of 500 B.C. and listed disasters, political changes, and the emergence of great teachers on a cycle of 500 years. You’re welcome to pick any date you like and rotate it on any cycle you like and you’ll find the same type of results. Try it. Following is my list. The information comes from sites like History.com and eHistory.osu.edu. It's easy to find plenty of others.

I hope that I'm being clear about the fear propaganda being perpetuated by many of the recently published documentaries, books, and papers. There is a shift happening, but I believe that it will be seen by history as more akin to the European Renaissance that set the stage for the modern world than to regionally isolated apocalyptic events, such as are noted below. Just be careful when you watch or read information on 2012 and apply a little skepticism about whether the producer is creating fear or hope.

500 BC
-In 429 B.C., plague kills over one-third of the population of Athens. Morale in the city, where people are engaging in, among other things, excessive drinking and lewd behavior, is low.
-Chinese philosopher Confucius wanders from state to state preaching about morality, the family, and politics. Many of his teachings will be recorded in the Analects.
- Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician, pioneers the field of modern medicine by studying anatomy and physiology and by expanding medical vocabulary to include words such as chronic, crisis, convalescence, relapse,and exacerbate.
- El Nino event triggered large tidal wave to strike the northern coast of Peru triggering so much flooding that a major cycle of landscape deflation lasted for several more years.

1BC
- Mount Vesuvius erupts in 79. Tons of lava, mud, and ashes blanket Herculaneum and Pompeii. Thousands lose their lives.
- Having antagonized many Jews with his teachings, Jesus of Nazareth is seized by Roman soldiers and handed over to the Sanhedrin, who condemn him for blasphemy, circa 33. (The exact year of the crucifixion is disputed.)
- In 70, Romans destroy the Third Temple of Jerusalem, leaving erect only the famous Wailing Wall. Rome stations troops in Jerusalem and abolishes the Jewish high priesthood and Sanhedrin.

500AD
-Disease, war, famine, and natural disasters make life in sixth century Europe difficult at best.
- In 529, Byzantine Emperor Justinian the Great closes the academy the Greek philosopher Plato had established in 347 B.C., accusing it of un-Christian activity.
- In 541, the Great Plague of Justinian (a bubonic plague) ravages eastern and western Europe, causing serious famine and many deaths on the Continent.

1500AD
- Shaanxi (Shensi) province, China experiences the most deadly earthquake in history to that point with 830,000 killed.
- Black slaves first arrive in the New World when Spanish settlers bring them to Hispaniola.
- Spanish adventurer Hernando Cortez conquers the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, after a battle with Emperor Montezuma II; the great empire is soon ravaged by European intrusion and disease.
- The Mogul Empire of India is formed when Zahir-ud-din Babar conquers the sultan of Delhi.

2000AD
- Tangshan China in 1976, twenty square miles of the city was devastated by an earthquake that measured 7.5 in magnitude killing 655,000. This is the 20th century's worst earthquake.
- East Pakistan in 1970, some 200,000 killed by cyclone-driven tidal wave from Bay of Bengal. Over 100,000 went missing.
- Callejon de Huaylas, Peru in 1970, an earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude destroyed the Northern Peru towns of Casma, Huaraz and Chimbote. A quake-induced rock and snow avalanche on Mt. Huascaran buried the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca. This entire event resulted in 66,794 dead and 400,000 left homeless.
- In 2004, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake ruptured in the Indian Ocean, off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake triggered the deadliest tsunami in world history.

Working with the Body's Crystalline Matrix

Articles - Topics covered in The Sage Age
One of the main catalysts that initiated the research that eventually became The Sage Age was understanding the body as a vibrational system. This included the physical body, the subtle energy bodies, and how both of them reacted to internal and external stimulus.

My father’s entire family were professional musicians so, I was exposed to music at a very early age and encouraged to play with sound. By the time I was a teenager I had already become a multi-instrumentalist and composer. Even though I had some success in the music business, gaining international airplay, my true passion for it was always experimenting with sound. Over the last decade, I’ve become increasingly interested in how we interact with sound through our physical and subtle bodies, as well as through our emotions and mental processes.

Currently, I’m working on the final touches of a class that I wrote last year called Acoustics for Intuitives. I hope to broaden the understanding about the physical properties of sound (acoustics) for intuitive practitioners who use it as a tool for healing and manifesting. I also hope to learn how they use sound and what affects they can conjure with it. The reason for my desire to learn from them is because this class is part of a larger research project I’m working on to build sound devices that are specifically tailored to an individual’s physical body. I’m particularly interested in working with the body’s crystalline matrix, which is primarily comprised of bone and connective tissue. There are two articles featured on the Sage Age site that explain this matrix.

I would like to invite those of you who work with the crystalline matrix of the body and/or sound to leave comments here on the blog and share your wisdom.

Book Review - Living Deeply

Title: Living Deeply: The Art & Science of Transformation in Everyday Life
Authors: Marilyn Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications, 2008
Pages: 256
Amazon link
Living Deeply site

Attempting to document the process and aftereffects of a transformative experience is a daunting task. Ultimately, it is a personal and subjective event. However, the authors of Living Deeply succeed in bringing a scientific perspective and methodology to this subject as they skillfully explain what is otherwise ineffable.

The introduction to the book contains a well-delivered, brief education into how the authors define the terms “living deeply” and “transformative experience” as well as the term “noetic knowledge.” In doing so, they frame the reader’s perspective for the information presented in the rest of the book.

On the first page of the first chapter, the authors give their definition of consciousness. It is a necessary prologue because each field of study, from quantum physics to philosophy, has their own working definition of consciousness. In fact, an over-arching definition of consciousness that functions for multiple disciplines has become somewhat of a holy grail in its own right.

The rest of that chapter presents first-hand accounts of people who have undergone a transformative experience and how it has changed their perspective and behavior. While approaching the subject from this angle is not novel, what sets Living Deeply apart is the breadth of variety of the people interviewed. The content of this book is based on a decade-long research program and includes rigorously analyzed data from over 900 interviews. The participants were selected from a wide diversity of background and culture, including Eastern, Western, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous peoples.

After this initial presentation, the authors adeptly begin to explain situations, customs, practices, and beliefs that open opportunities for transformation. They also educate the reader on the different types of transformative experiences. The most basic type is the common “ah-ha” moment that opens a person to another perspective or deeper understanding. However, it usually does not produce life-changing effects. The more profound transformation is at the level of consciousness itself and it does produce long-lasting changes in the way someone relates to themselves, others, and the world.

The authors further explain the differences in the types of transformative experiences by stating that assimilating a new idea and accommodating it are not the same. Assimilation means we simply add a tidbit to our current belief system. But, if it won’t fit, we must widen our beliefs and our worldview to accommodate the new idea.

They also address the internal struggle of striving toward living deeply while enduring the necessary changes it brings by saying, “Even though you may have an internal resistance to change, you also have a natural inclination toward growth.” This is a profound statement of the nature of dualism, which is One knowing itself.

Each chapter is followed by a guided journaling exercise that helps the reader absorb the information and then bring it forward again into a working knowledge that has practical application in their own lives.

Toward the end, the authors restate why they wrote this book, which was “to develop a map of the transformative process that will help you do just that. We offer you a story of how transformation happens that is applicable no matter what spiritual, religious, or even atheistic philosophy you already hold.”

In my opinion, they have succeeded in their goal. Living Deeply is an experience, an education, and a workbook that will help you gain a noetic knowledge of the transformative process.