It was the ancient ones who first recognized the nature of cycles,  passing down the knowledge, gifted in written text and oral traditions to the chosen of each generation to keep records of what was meant. The task for them was to create an atmosphere where harmony exists without interfering with choice.

The ancient ones were aware that cosmic forces are immense and subtle, remaining invisible until sensitivity to them is developed much as knowledge is often hidden among the clutter of pointless facts noticed before a truth is revealed.  On the other hand they contended that “nothing is useless as long as its appropriately prioritized.” An approach no different than subjecting students to a multiple choice test who are given more information then they need to choose the correct answer, a way of encouraging the development of  knowledge by also sharpening the ability to use a sound process of elimination (guessing).

Who the ancient ones were is less important than what they said about the universe describing it as “a lot of space with ‘things’ suspended within, in constant motion  as everything moves in relation to their previous position and/or mutual gravitational effects on each other.” They were aware of the closest and farthest currents although they attracted less attention by being silent and occasionally leaving inspiring hints along the way, sometimes misinterpreted, becoming the basis for cults.

According to them, the universe could be interpreted as a conduit for the cosmic pulse, while the veil is defined as “anything that is not known,” frequently misunderstood as a symbol for whatever prevents revelation, neglecting to consider its dual purpose as a protection from the knowledge one is not ready to receive. They indicated, “the ability to verify existence or calculate cycles is not necessary to understand the imperceptible.”  Only a rudimentary comprehension of mathematics is important as one silently listens to the cosmic breadth and reads the poetry of light, sound and motion.

Fragments of fable and myth  have been passed down revealing some things about the first ancient one, said to have been born in a small town in the Himalayan Mountains.  Originally the youth, like the other men of the village, was a peaceful farmer. However, an elder villager held in great respect somehow gained certain  knowledge which he shared with the one who later became the first of the ancients. Both began exploring the secrets of the universe learning how to harness cosmic energy for their own uses, although their motives were quite different. While the elder focused on  building a vast empire, the youth wished to use it for the benefit of his fellow villagers. A great struggle ensued between the two, symbolic of the battle between selfishness and selflessness, as  the legacy of the ancient ones remains a contemporary theme about power.

Another reminder of cycles are found in  remnants of The Mayan civilization, which constructed the most mathematically accurate calender ever devised, informed with future astronomical events which influenced their culture along with paganism and human sacrifice. Survival they realized depended on planting crops at the right time and understanding the forces that effected their growth much of which involved cycles of climatic regularity and change. They found ways to ensure a continuation of their society until they vanished, leaving only mystery and myth for scientists to fathom, although their calender and some written hieroglyphs remain.

The Mayan calender calculates the end of one cycle and the beginning of another at 11:11 am GMT on December 21, 2012.  All they contended was that the transformation from one to another would be characterized by “great changes,” as the Sun and its planets approach the center of the galaxy, an event that occurs once in twenty eight thousand years.

What happens after this date is unwritten suggesting that it must be left to those who are now alive to determine the shape and intensity of the change.

Suppose it were possible to make scrambled eggs without beating them first - perhaps a trivial concern - but when was the last time you cracked an egg without paying attention to what you were doing? It doesn’t really matter where the egg is struck, as long as it contains no shell.

Every now and then a double yolk appears and those become unusual events, especially when children are looking on, eagerly absorbing everything with awe struck attentiveness. To them it’s a magical event and how they interpret what they see can shape their personality and define the approach they will take to life. This may sound like a hefty claim, but each time an egg is successfully transformed into an omelet, it builds confidence, a celebration when it enhances the ability to focus, especially for children and multi-taskers who revel in cracking two, in both hands at the same time.

Creating a batter in a bowl is a rote expenditure of energy. Another approach would be to open the eggs directly into the heated pan, then using a fork, mixing the yolks and the whites together when they are in the process of solidifying, creating a unique variation of color and texture, as a small amount of milk or cream for the aristocrats is added with salt and pepper. This encourages risk-taking, an absorbing adventure each and every time the task is undertaken. Most important is not having to scrape them from the pan. An assurance of an experienced knowing hand, especially when one of the kids asks: “Why are some eggs white, and some brown?” Then a learner-ed parent can respond with a smile, “They can also be green.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_shells

In Hinduism, Avatar is a  Sanskrit word referring to the conscious descent of a deity from heaven to earth often translated into English as “incarnation,” but a  more appropriate term is “manifestation.” Its meaning is the basis of James Cameron’s visual epic that took fourteen years to complete depicting native life of Pandora, a planet that takes several years to reach in suspended animation. The film is an artistically stunning adventure in 3D worth seeing  even if the story, written in two weeks, is a bit derivative with a  screenplay that borrows heavily from some of the directors previous work and brings to mind too many similarities to Dances With Wolves.

The military look of the film is so reminiscent of  Aliens that it distracted me from  becoming immersed in the film. Aliens is the 1986 classic that Cameron directed about the bugs that gestate in the chest of its living host and have acid for blood. As in Aliens, the company or corporation features prominently as the prime antagonist of evil instigating  the invasion force that plans to drain Pandora’s natural resources for the benefit of Earth. Our planet is now an ecologically depleted waste land, a victim of economic greed that Weavers character, Dr. Grace Augustine, a Bio-Anthropologist opposes as passionately as she did as Ellen Ripley in Aliens.

The feel of the film’s technology including a cargo loader machine similar to the one Ripley uses to defeat the queen bug at the end of Aliens is featured in facsimile in a major battle scene at the end of Avatar. This similarity is an annoying element of this new film which was written, directed and produced by Cameron with a running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Although the 3D nature of the films construction is groundbreaking, the plot is predictable and the characters are too two dimensional drawing  heavily from other science fiction/ fantasy films. The premise that all living things emanate a common energy also known as “the force”  fills everything in the universe is perhaps a reference to the  Star Wars universe , not that there is anything wrong with imitation, but even the forests of Pandora,  a magical place  with luminescent creatures and large revered trees  evokes the image of Lothlorien the mystical home  of the elves of Middle Earth. Add to all this the notion of cloning a personal avatar and a neural link, then  Alien Resurrection and The Matrix comes  to mind. But despite all its flaws, Avatar is worth seeing if only to make one realize that Star Trek (2009) is a much better film.

Disaster films are most engaging when they convey the immediacy of an unexpected catastrophe that is about to happen at the moment its first perceived. No way out and little time to think, absorbed more with the survival struggle of the main characters, usually portrayed by an array of high profile actors unwilling to accept their fate.

The threat, if caused by something from outer space is relegated to science fiction, possible but not probable when scientific evidence to think creatively is obscured by disbelief - a meteor hitting Earth, or a rogue planet out of orbit as portrayed in When Worlds Collide, a 1933 science fiction novel. A story about two planets, one on a collision course with Earth, the other coming close enough to be a haven for survivors if a rocket ship could be built in time to shuttle to the new planet. The continuity of humanity depends on constructing this ark to transport two of every species to a place that may not even have the climate to support Earth’s biodiversity.  A tale filled with uncertainty and biblical drama as portrayed in the 1951 film of the same name. An end of the world scenario inspiring a string of disaster films with a cast of billions and numerous sub plots. The survival of each character depends on luck and the ability to minimize shock, control fear and be able to act quickly while experiencing catastrophic events. But wait, doesn’t this   sound like 2012, the movie?

The fourth cycle of the Mayan Calender culminates at 11:11 am GMT on December 21, 2012 . An anthropological examination of other cultures and their belief systems independently mark this day for some impending change. As the date approaches, prognostications from many sources will become increasingly quoted from the Hopi, I Ching, and Nostradamus to name a few. What will really happen on this date if anything is unclear. Here is where science can speculate on the possibilities of a sudden planetary event such as the reversing of Poles which would cause a ripple in gravity effecting the very atmosphere of Earth.

The basis of Mayan belief is that time is linear and cyclical simultaneously. They looked towards the sky for architectural landmarks which lies at the heart of the structures they built and their cosmological science expressed in surviving records. The sophicated mathematics of its calender are universally recognized for predicting eclipses thousands of years before they occurred. The ancient texts described knowledge of sudden shifts in the climate and references to the dark center of the Galaxy referred to as the cosmic womb identified long before telescopes found evidence for a black hole as the core of The Milky Way.

Many legendary prophecies continue to be credible as long as they remain generic and open to interpretation. Then if something happens it can neatly fit withing the guidelines of what was foretold, but they can also contain ironic twists associated with understanding their meaning in the context of contemporary thought. Some of the great oracles in history such as the one at Delphi went into trances and gave readings in cave dwellings usually connected to fault lines that exposed gases such as ethylene known to have hallucinogenic effects. The one’s that have some basis in science and mathematics, are not as easy to dismiss even after the anointed interval surrounding the date passes because the factors involved that could make the events happen are noticeably present such as global warming and global dimming.

What is agreed upon is that The Sun, Earth and the other planets of the solar system will be at the center of the milky way in an alignment that only happens once in 25,800 years on the winter solastice of 2012. An increase of solar and magnetic energy from the sun is anticipated, but how all this will impact on the crust of Earth, volcanic activity, movement of the oceans and shifting of the continental plates is hard to assess.

Predicting a great change doesn’t necessarily mean annihilation, and all the remaining records of Mayan civilization indicates is that the end of a cycle will occur on that date. The fact that they associate great disaster and upheaval with the transition between one cycle to another is where all the doom and gloom theories are emanating, and yet no one really knows what will occur at 11:11 am GMT on December 21, 2012.

It was a clear sunny day, a cloudless sky with sunbathers lying on the beach reading the newspaper as the grains of sand reflected radiant light from the sun, a deity central to myth and legend. Then, eyeful of the sky a change was noticed as birds disappeared and sounds of the shore were silenced. A chill filled the air as instinct informed something was approaching. The tide moved out, then a rush of surging wind and finally above the horizon was a suffocating sight, a wall of water fifty stories high, moving towards the shore. There was nowhere to run as awe and disbelief paralyzed the moment of this disturbing vision.

The tsunami on December 26, 2004, began as an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean creating a wave that killed 300,000. The height of the wave was within the range commonly caused by the movement of the continental plates. Similar waves can only be caused by a landslide of immense proportions or from an asteroid hitting Earth.

Off the coast of Africa, toward the west, on the Isle De La Palma - last in the chain of Canary Islands - is Cumbre Vieja, an active volcano. Scientists are concerned it is showing signs that a landslide is near although when it will occur is uncertain.  The displacement of water by such an event could generate a massive wave as high as 2 km, moving thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, hitting the East Coast of North America, Mexico and parts of Central and South America, destroying everything in its path and changing the face of the coastline.

“The Mega Tsunami” as it is known has not received much attention and the thought of a wave the size of a sky scraper is not something anyone is prepared to envision, let alone prepare for. Up until now, it’s been left to special effects artists, but the coming of 2012 when the Mayan calender ends, the predictions of Nostradamus and others describing natural disasters  - although expressed in cryptic language - are a cause for reflection. Many foretold catastrophe for this year. Add to this, prolonged drought, unusual flooding and documented melting of the ice caps to realize that perhaps the signs have arrived.

From an astrophysical perspective, on December 21, 2012 - the Winter solstice - the Sun will touch the Great Rift, the center of the galaxy, seen as a large black hole considered by the Mayans and other cultures as the cosmic womb, a symbol of transformation and rebirth, a place of immense spiritual energy. This is when the calender ends and a new cycle begins. The alignment of planets and energies influencing Earth’s crust will be unique, placing stress on the continental plates argue prognosticators and Vulcanologists but no one really knows what the effects these spacial events will have on the planet. Perhaps the impact will be physical as soothsayers portend or a subtle shift in consciousness. Only time will tell as 12/21/12 approaches and films depicting the end of the world increase as the sirens are sounded to take cover and move to higher ground, assuming there is a place to go to be safe where solace can be found. Otherwise, a final embrace from the cosmic womb and surrendering to the infinite pulse perceived as evolution can’t hurt.

Recommended reading: http://eclecticcommons.telldat.net/2009/09/13/when-science-fails/

A slimy, pulsating blob, “the sewer monster”, has been found to exist beneath the streets of North Carolina. A colony of prehistoric creatures called Bryozoans eat using a set of brown tentacles.

A worm-like form, they live near ponds and lakes and were captured on film by a maintenance company doing a routine inspection of the sanitation sewer which is located beneath one of America’s oldest shopping centers.

“The Glob appeared larger on film,” asserted a spokeswoman from Malphrus Construction, the firm that shot the video.

Environmental inspector, Ed Buchan was reported by the Charlotte Observer to have said “it was a rare phenomenon, ” first thought to be extra-terrestrial in nature that also led to conspiracy theories about an alien invasion.

Authorities claim there is no plan to remove the blob since its not clogging the pipes.

Promoting a product or a range of services is known as advertising - part art form, part science - using psychologically inspired messages, both overt and subliminal, meant to effect a target audience revealing a need for “something,” suggesting the article or service offered can satisfy the inner craving better than anything else.

One could argue that how something is advertised can create a mass obsession (illusion), with television and other forms of communication especially when focused by someone (ad manager or director) who is astute, charismatic and able to influence collective thought and public opinion. The consumer, a recipient of these effects, interprets input differently, believing some and seeing through others by evoking past experiences that reveal preconceived notions and cultural influences.

Known in Hindu as Maya, illusion in a general sense is held as neither true nor false, but is as real as the reflection one sees in the mirror, although initially considered by most as a falsehood.  Some people may be able to see through illusion as Hindu philosophy believes, by shedding ego and  evolving, presumably to yet another illusion that lies hidden, suggesting that existence is layered like an onion, with tiers when peeled.

Illusions  rarely present sequentially,  often appearing simultaneously, which is part of the reason why it’s difficult to identify let alone distinguish them, although they have been the basis of parables, myths and legends often unnoticed, sometimes invisibly obvious. It is possible that dream imagery reveals them in symbolic form. The number seven is a good example to illustrate: “An individual faced with the appearance of seven perplexing forms (choices, tests) emerging from something as mundane as a series of seven chalices in a cloud or mist. The person’s back is toward us gazing at the dazzling array of ‘prizes’ appearing from these cups as aspirations, fears and rewards, with positive and negative obstacles. Jewels, a snake, a laurel-wreath, a dragon, castle, head, and a shrouded person.”

There is nothing mystical about these symbols, some of which are arch-type in nature. A veiled shrouded figure commonly represents  that which one cannot see, while a person’s head perhaps signifies a relationship or ill tidings during the French Revolution. Jewels can be wealth but also clarity of vision. The wreath of power denotes influence and control over others which can be benevolent or malevolent. All of them  suggest duality of positive and negative with clues suggesting the attainment of balance. The problem with symbols is that they can be archaic,  and it’s possible to read more into them than they convey. However, the one thing they all seem to have in common is they all contain the potential for attachment, which is in and of itself an illusion.

for more reading: The Sacred Symbols of the Ancients.

At present, the merits of health care insurance reform are increasingly at the forefront of public tension. However, the problem with this debate is that there has never been a system to reform in the first place. The current structure of private insurance evolved from a vacuum created by the lack of ideas to share the developments of advancing medical technology which demonstrated the ability to increase life span and extend the opportunity to live a longer and healthier life.

The only group that has total accessibility to the best medical care is the wealthy since they have so much money they can pay for the high cost without effecting their economic lifestyle. For most, insurance is the only way to pay for medical costs and avoid debt, until the price for coverage itself becomes so expensive that its weight threatens a financial disaster even in countries that have universal access run by the government, since the cost of medical care is rising everywhere, just at a slower rate then in the United States.

Until the personal need for health care becomes acute, thinking about it is as appealing as writing a will or purchasing life insurance by focusing attention on a subject influenced by anxiety. Most people know they are mortal, but that doesn’t mean they want to be reminded of it. That’s why sickness and end-of-life issues are difficult and often subject to the influence of superstition, overwhelmed by considering the theories of the unknown revealed in religion and myth.

When illness brings the issue to the forefront, it is then revealed whether one’s existing insurance is sufficient to cover whatever medical situation may arise. In most instances, it’s not enough. If a public outcry is unleashed, private interests concerned with maintaining the status quo, a lucrative industry, debate that a single payer system run by the government can only lead to declining quality because it creates no incentive to encourage competition which they claim would lower the cost of medical care. This has always been the argument against a single payer system, although decades of the private sector approach have failed to result in controlling the cost of medical care. This is why reform is needed.

HMO’s are businesses and are accountable to their stockholders, existing as private co-operatives that maximize profits by excluding those with pre-existing conditions unless they can get coverage as a benefit of working for a large company that can negotiate a package for employees. If jobs are lost, so is medical coverage. For that reason, equating health insurance with employment needs to be reconsidered. Some people argue that this is a threat to free enterprise; others see it as a moral dilemma with cultural consequences.

Private insurers claim that they comply with all the regulations that exist although requirements placed on them vary widely from state to state, creating too many different markets to keep track of, a real problem when trying to develop uniform standards. Relying on them to monitor themselves is similar to what happened on Wall Street. These companies specialize in creating complicated forms and booklets with paragraphs that are difficult to comprehend without a knowledge of medical terminology or a familiarity with contracts.

Individual policies are so expensive for those who are already sick to intentionally discourage them from seeking insurance. They are forced to get treatment at the emergency room which drives up the price for medical care because Medicaid, a state run system, pays the cost by increasing taxes for everyone. Medicare, also a government program, is a problem as physicians, unhappy with the cost limitations imposed by the government, are increasingly refusing to take on Medicare patients just as the baby-boom generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, approach the age of 65, adding more stress to a system already close to collapse.

This is where we are now as President Obama tries to convince the public that in order to prevent another financial meltdown health care insurance must be reformed especially since medical technology is so interconnected with other aspects of the economy. However, whenever there is an increase in government intervention or regulation, the cry of Socialism fills the air.

Any agenda for reform has to include concrete plans focusing on prevention and an increase in primary care physicians who are trained as adept diagnosticians who know when it’s appropriate to refer to a specialist. Family care practitioners can deal with eighty percent of medical problems. Perhaps government financing medical students in exchange for practicing in primary care settings for several years after they graduate can be one part of the solution. But this would be a government program that costs money up front, and yet it is difficult to be precise about costs and savings when you’re talking about preventing something that hasn’t occurred yet .

The focus, in reported news stories, on the sensationalism of the disruptive elements occurring at the town hall meetings that took place in early August, littered with irate constituents demanding to know the exact cost rather than on the improvised clinic of Inglewood California just outside of Los Angeles, as thousands of people stood in line for days waiting for medical and dental care. According to the New York Times editorial of August 16th, “there is a vast palpable need for a change in the health care system, one that politicians opposed to reform insist is the world’s best.” This debate is less about health care reform than about reforming medical insurance.

“Describing idiosyncrasies is often based on who is being spoken of, a double standard built upon defining someone differently when they have money, talent and exhibit bizarre behavior, explaining them as strange but ‘brilliant eccentrics’, otherwise suggesting those who are poor and nuts are just plain ‘crazy,’ even though they are unusually gifted.”

Without judging eccentricities as oddities but rather as traits skewed in one direction or another that falls along the principles of the Bell Curve, a visual description of the statistical norm deviating from the most frequent number of cases of whatever is being measured. Some people display curiosities that are provocative, testing tolerance in different ways,   expressing what is believed to be harmless behavior until some line of perversity is crossed, not forgetting that peculiarities are subjective and culturally defined.

Creative people are sometimes an uneven mix of genius  marked by social immaturity that is enough to draw attention evoking a reaction. Considered lovable in spite of their oddness, tolerated when young until they pass into adulthood and the immaturity  becomes so glaring a stop sign is needed, reinforcing the social constraints expected. Hopefully, those surrounding them will provide a necessary reality check. Unfortunately the people who are closest and most able to convey the problem are often, especially for the rich and famous, frequently financially dependent on the wealth and persona generated by these people  which results in pampering and reassurance, telling them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.

Public notoriety exacerbates the situation which also becomes a motivator, among other things, encouraging substance abuse as an escape made easier when money is plentiful to purchase access to all sorts of drugs and pharmaceuticals as they are caught in the struggle to forget their situation, unable to judge how close to the bottom of the barrel they are or the level that is necessary to change, over indulged by some while severely criticized by others.

Over time, as personal objectivity dissipates, depression accelerates. Once trapped, it acts like quick sand, not knowing what direction to move to get unstuck from the quirks that lead to a spiral descent as common sense, morality and discrimination suffer from the need to be shielded from the rest of the world. Usually afflicted with sleep disorders, drugs are taken, prescribed by doctors willing to write prescriptions for a price, until one day the person doesn’t wake up.

Promises are commitments that are frequently made before the full range of possibilities are known, especially when the ‘minds eye’, is distracted by anxiety.  External pressures lead to some movement, hopefully unaffected by subjective fear, encouraging a path that does not include procrastination.

Moral judgements can affect the type of alternatives  perceived and the extent of those that remain invisible, since many options will not be noticed until the psyche allows,  just another reason to cultivate  sharp observation for what exists in the surroundings. Adding more information can increase the odds for making better choices by clarifying  existing blind spots.

Right or wrong has little to do with good or bad, effected more by interpretation based on learned upbringing and cultural backround influenced by emotion. Ethics requires credible logic with diligent  reasoning, a more important factor when defining the position taken while  faced with a moral dilemma.

Ideally, marriage for example, was originally conceived as a religious institution based on a pledge intended for the duration of life, based on  how one feels at the time its proposed. A commitment binding one to another until death. However somewhere along the line, divorce and annulment became  a political tool to deal with a change of feelings that occurs over time.

In the past, social constraints on women have stressed the need for marriage because for them, options were limited and inhibitions were placed on their citizenship that influenced personal opportunities in favor of men. However, as barriers fall and changing circumstances alter conditions by balancing the playing field, perhaps women will become less willing to bind themselves to perpetual unalterable commitments, relegating reproduction as lower on the list of priorities to justify marriage.

Although biology has defined physical differences between men and women, culture and society have varying expectations of husbands and wife’s, assuming we are talking about heterosexual marriage. Even then, the question arises, is social maturity defined by whether one is prepared to commit to a future shaped by events that is not possible to know, or feelings that will motivate judgment in the future differently?

When secular governments point to the equality of partners as fundamental proof of equal citizenship, they cannot then create a legal imbalance in favor of one group over the other by using  religious doctrine to justify it, since the purpose of a secular government is to eliminate favoring one faith over the other  by finding the balance between ethics and universal religious principles that are inclusive,  especially when faced with the issue of same sexed marriage.

Since the US Constitution makes no mention of committed unions, it’s irrelevant to citizenship and cannot then be used by government to justify restricting the benefits of equal citizens  based on  a majority plebicite influenced by the religious right,  such as in Proposition 8 in California.

Although committed unions are for example not mentioned in the Federal constitution, the economic benefits afforded married citizens  are glaring, nor can any democratic  government justify denying some groups from those same advantages while acknowledging them to others.

Perhaps secular societies should eliminate the term marriage altogether and replace it with civil partnership, affording everyone equal rights and make all the divorce lawyers happy. Religions can do what they want as long as they make no attempts to infringe of the rights created by secular society.