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

The notion that humans only use approximately 10% of their brain has been perpetuated without any evidence. No one really knows its origin, perhaps a misunderstanding of the words of William James (1842-1910), an American psychologist and philosopher who wrote in his 1908 essay, The Energies Of Men, “We are making use of only a small part of our potential mental and physical resources.” Among his other notable works is, The Subjective Effects Of Nitrous Oxide.

Myths are notoriously difficult to trace, partially because they have multiple sources and are often culturally defined, adding and synthesizing the moral implications at its core, but, assuming it was true, it would mean we could still function if 90% of the brain were removed. A difficult statement for any credible scientist to agree with, and yet so many people still believe we only use a fraction of our brain.

Ask any neurologist and they would probably say, “Neural pathways are difficult to map although removing part of the brain can have devastating effects on behavior,” a meaningless statement to co-notate that science still knows very little about the brain, suggesting we probably have not tapped its true capability assuming that it could be measured scientifically. When was the last time you heard anyone say, “I’ve lived up to my full potential.”

On the other hand, it is difficult to disagree that education affords the opportunity to increase latent ability, it’s still unclear whether that means more brain utilization is involved. Perhaps motivation or some unknown force is at play, although intelligence is known to be more than what is measured by the IQ test. Parents however still proudly beam when their children achieve a high mark. Many still associate increased brain capacity with smartness and imagine super human abilities of memory, telepathy or telekinesis. Whether this is delusion, the work of science fiction or fact yet to be revealed, there is always hope that brain function can be enhanced as evolution proceeds.

One way to increase and train brain skills in the privacy of your own home, aside from reading, is known as The Brain Fitness Kit, a wonderful gift idea for Christmas found on latestbuy.com. “It contains 108 fully illustrated giant puzzle cards designed to test both logical and lateral thinking! Plus it comes complete with a set of instructions and a timer. Play it on your own and beat the clock or compete with a friend and beat them senseless by showing off your grey matter at an affordable $14.95.”

Read more about brain myths at neuroscience for kids (http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html)

The number 9 is the natural whole number following 8 ½ and preceding 10, also known as a Motzkin number to indicate the different ways of drawing non intersecting chords on a circle between n points. It’s ordinal adjective is ninth.

A number is evenly divisible by nine if and only if its digital root is 9. For example, adding all the digits of a number until a single digit remains, the digital root of 655,360 is 25, and the square root of 25 is 5. A nine sided polygon is called a Nonagon and a group of nine of anything is called an Annead, quite an odyssey of information.

Nine is also a musical adaptation based on Italian director Federico Fellini’s autobiographical cinematic masterpiece, 8 ½ (Otto e mezzo). The movie was awarded the Best Foreign Film of 1963. His choice of the number as the title of film is said to represent the six feature films, two shorts and the one film Fellini co-directed up to that point. Add music to 8 ½ and you have 9. The film version is currently in production somewhere in Rome and stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido Contini and Sophia Loren as Mama in a sweeping epic of creative and sexual reflection set for release November 2009.

links:
- Federico Fellini
- Sophia Loren
- Daniel Day Lewis
- 8 ½
- Motzkin number

September 20th also markes the 75 birthday of Sophia Loren, who has gifted the world with her charm, wit,  grace and elegant beauty. We wish her , her children and grandchildren the very best on this day and for the future.

Happy Birthday Sofia Loren, may you have many more .

A majority of scientists now agree that global warming is a direct result of the burning of fossil fuels and other by-products of the industrial revolution but will decreasing them reverse the process?

The presumption has been that it would but what about forces that are not as noticeable such as declining solar radiation reaching Earth? Global warming has gotten so much focus in recent years, it has obscured attention from data that prove there has been progressive loss of sunlight, unnoticed and un-investigated by scientists for five decades despite considerable statistics. Why has global dimming received so little attention from scientific scrutiny?

During the 1950’s, scientists in Israel and Germany began independently measuring the amount of sunlight hitting the planet. They took accurate calculations of solar radiation levels. Although some articles were published in journals of the time, they failed to draw any widespread notice among the scientific community until the three days following the 9/11 attack, the time when all airlines throughout the United States were grounded.

This event provided an opportunity for scientists to observe solar radiation in the absence of fuel emissions burned by jet planes, and equipped with decades of measurements to compare the results. What they found was alarming: during the three days in September 2001, sunlight over the United States increased dramatically. When plane travel resumed, less sunlight reached Earth.

By this time, scientists in other countries began comparing levels in the same manner, recording solar radiation levels near cities that produced industrial pollutants, comparing them to rural locations. They all came to the same conclusion separately. The amount of sunlight reaching the planet has steadily declined globally since the 1950’s. The only question remaining is what impact would reduced sunlight have on attempts at restoring global homeostasis.

Conventional thought at the time was that the precipitation and evaporation of water, part of the “The Water Cycle” was more dependent on temperature, however records measuring rain patterns worldwide (Pan Evaporation Rate)* showed evidence that the cycle was far more impacted by sunlight. A decrease in solar radiation meant that the rate of evaporation was also declining and having a cooling effect. If pollution disappeared completely overnight, the net effect would be an increase in the speed of global warming rather than the opposite, suggesting that the true rate of warming has been masked, counteracted by global dimming. Quite an alarming thought and a very persuasive argument that could be made by fossil fuel lobbyists to slow down conversion to cleaner forms of energy.

The question I have for scientists is: Why did global dimming take so long to get noticed? All the data was there, yet no one made the connection until the 9/11 attack that grounded all airlines. Science certainly dropped the ball on this one.

references:

- *The pan evaporation rate is determined across the globe by filling a flat pan of water and measuring the amount evaporation within a period of time during the daylight hours.

- Watch the following video on global dimming:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2058273530743771382&ei=l76YSqLxGsPWlQeX0vzQAg&q=global+dimming++&hl=en

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.

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.

“Doom and gloom has to be logical, carefully presented and designed to reach people who exist in a basic state of denial. It requires eloquence, a well articulated, diplomatic build up, objective assessment of the events, whether economic, cultural or personal, dispassionately without emotion or it is lost,  hence influencing judgment. Learned lessons as wisdom to an open eye…” [unidentified source]

Originally found in an old timeworn text, translated from its native French, words perhaps handed down from one generation to the next with a dubious claim that names Nostradamus as their source, while saying much in less than fifty words.

Thinking about the future distantly, so many unanticipated events have to occur for a future to evolve. Is it possible to envision all of them or even know which ones are most important to (a) specific outcome(s)?

Perhaps the place where creative ideas originate, also the source of invention tapped by some with capabilities thought impossible, becomes the “stuff” of future dreams. Trends suggested by individuals, often described in cryptic terms transformed into concepts that happen in some ironic way introducing new possibilities effecting the future and defying credible prognostication.

A reasonable conclusion to reach until one encounters “the genius” capable of composing music before anyone of comparable age can verbalize complete sentences for example. What comprises those indefinable talents, which are vague inspiration to some, while a tool for another acting as a conduit.

Doom and gloom usually draw more attention than “they lived happily ever after,” a common ending to most fairy tales, hoping that along the way something not currently known will introduce itself into the gloom that changes enough of the circumstances to create the happy ending most sought.

Some believe that the future projects itself onto the past by using signs that already exist in the present. What makes the future happen is unknown, even after it happens, a confluence of limitless possibilities that makes more sense when viewed retrospectively as taught lessons, hopefully to avoid making repetitive mistakes that are predictable.  Recognizing that any prophecy, mystically or religiously based, is made so that there is enough time to make the necessary changes to prevent it from happening.

Nothing doesn’t mean non existent, rather the absence of “something”, which could be anything. The problem is never knowing for sure the boundaries where the limits of conceivability are since it is difficult to envision all possibilities, another way of saying “everything”.

Perhaps it is technically correct if the consistent position is: Whatever isn’t proven could exist as part of the stream of potential, the place where ideas become the basis for invention. The other way to look at it is: It doesn’t exist unless it’s proven. The conflict between both points of view surrounds the need for it to be personally substantiated before believed. However, accepting “something” as fact is predicated  within the context of the five senses.

Plausible or not, verification becomes less important when increased reliance on one’s own observations, confidently trusted with critical honesty, develops while intuiting what isn’t perceivable by those same senses. Calling it a sixth sense seems reasonable, rather than automatically assuming it as a reference to some mystical belief system, or divination.

Intuition doesn’t need elaboration, taking a chance without proof, built upon trust of one’s accumulated experience tapping into what hasn’t as yet been conceived and allows it to be believable  while recognizing that mistakes can be made.

In mathematics, the numeral 0 is the symbol to represent nothing. Yet, contained within its boundaries, is everything needed to elucidate what its perimeter contains. All else external to its border can be anything, which is also everything.