Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Lines of Enquiry

the lines of enquiry:

be it as it may that the present collection of knowledge after centuries of thought seems a lot, it is still continuing, for there are areas to explore yet, so far mysterious still to us, and truths undiscovered, hopefully soon reached. originally, as human beings, with the physical aspect of life being of overarching importance, we wondered about our bodies, their stable health and condition. the world to be seen around us excited an interest in our surroundings. we thought about other people. and so the various disciplines and subjects began, biology, geography, languages, history.

as an abstract subject, arithmetic was certainly practical, division a must when goods were to be fairly distributed amongst a group. interest in shapes led to geometry, and forming equations for unknowns led to algebra, and observing the algebraic function in the form of a graph, and its gradient, led to calculus.

once set upon this path, arriving at what we know today seems inevitable, the inception being the original questions in the mind of humanity and the urgent need to find answers to them. the precarious nature of the first few days of time rather influenced the way things are, indeed the impact of the start of time and the early years cannot be denied. even if memories were hazy, examining dominant themes in modern culture still provides clues as to the state of reality in the beginning. of course it begs the question, how much have things changed? if the answer is not much, then probably for all "what a relief". all theories of creation or evolution cannot avoid the singularity of the question, "what was i or what was i doing at the beginning of time?" evolution theories require there to be much capacity for change. creation theories require there to be much power behind will. here are some questions. "do people really change?" "is anyone that powerful?" "is the tree eternal?" "am i stuck being me in all time?"

so, propelled by an early intention to acquire knowledge, we were thrust along lines of enquiry that marked a trail of expansion into often highly arcane and abstract constructs. what was once pressing, in that the demand for knowledge was real, became a steady almost involuntary push into the frontiers of thought. to dismiss anyone's academic work as irrelevant at best, untrue to the original thinking agenda, is a cruel turn. as always all are still interested in social relations. isolation is a hazardous thing. for the fevered mind, busy thinking, the degree of truth in one's thoughts is not always plain, the initial steps into the unknown are hopefully correct. it is easy to be crazy. let's say anyone can think of all the combinations of possibilities. how do we know what is true? if we can test it, how do we test it? for those who have suffered from false beliefs and realized such, have experienced a kind of mental agony that scars the soul.

one subject that has always fascinated us is motion. what is it? what is a wave? how does one influence another? it is true like breeds like, like a universal game of tag, it is this that explains the wave. however, this is only one way that one influences one's neighbour. the wave is not the only form of motion. a wave is like a cue ball hitting a snooker ball straight so that the ball rolls on in the same direction as the cue ball did, it carries on the same. of course, there are other possibilities of hitting the cue ball in snooker or pool, such as the angle shot where the other ball rolls off in another direction, just as there are other types of motion beyond the wave. the signal is not carried, it is distorted or something completely different is the effect on what is nearby.

when we talk, we pass on what others have told us. gossip is contagious, just like a wave. where does the chain stop? naturally, we introduce our own stories, and conversation forms its own pleasing pattern of things the same and those different. of course, the easiest way to arrive at the truth is to closely observe the natural world, rather than an almost random thought process or heuristic of trying to find the remaining pieces of the puzzle of the universe that fit.

CLEARCHARGE

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Past Lost

the past lost:

if time is but an illusion in the sense that the bulk of reality is little changing, what does that mean for the conscious mind? is it an impulsive, forgetful, easily led creature, darting from one point to another, every part a transient experience? life's journey's effect on an impressionable consciousness certainly gives us the sense that time is real and of the loss of the past.

for the mind, in both its conscious and unconscious whole, is a quick vehicle. while the earth may not be changing, our minds are. it accelerates upon what it imagines to be a good idea, it has a value system that drives our decisions. unfortunately, we are not always right. too little thinking results in bad consequences. it is not enough to leap on what seems fine, we must consider the possibilities. in our haste, and in our enthusiasm, we often neglect to do so. look before you leap. what if that happened? what if something didn't happen? what if some person did that? it all reflects something common in our personality, the rush towards something that seems so good.

and so often the past seems strange to us. "what were you like?" it speaks of the ignorance of our younger selves and also of the volatile nature of the atmosphere or the mood or the zeitgeist over time, as though the universe distorts itself for a period and then rights itself, leaving only our memory as proof of the past.

for many things will not happen again. that is the effect of regret and other emotions, jadedness, dread and horror over mistakes. "what was that all about anyway?" of course many good things happened in the past, but it is difficult to reclaim that past. it is somewhat disquieting that something in the mood that seemed so vital, so real, perhaps for a number of years, came to an end and may never recur. you could weakly define a person as what they think about and what they do, what they obsessed about at the time. to think that such a period comes to an end involves a little death of the personality to some degree, does it not? perhaps this is overstating the case.

we invoke the concept of life balance as desired, indeed, to counter the tendency in us all to "go overboard" about things. "he's obsessed" or "she's obsessed" is not praise. we have it in us all to be excitable and cling to things or activities we think of as good or "really cool". a long time ago humans plucked the fruit off a tree and ate them. now we are "addicted" to food. not all addictions are bad! the danger lies in the promotion of something in our minds without considering the question of how long it will last. whether it is ultimately good or bad is unknown at the time.

if life is but a journey, we might have only the memories to keep. some people may prefer to remember the best things but the worst things are often well remembered too. it is hoped, the good things will last, as forever is eternal, and all to find peace with the past.

CLEARCHARGE

The Mystery of Other Realities

the mystery of other realities:

given that we are as of one large, complex reality, entirely connected, that we can account for it as one whole unit, the question arises, what of other realities that exist? well we can say that they are entirely separate, one does not influence or connect to another, by definition.

this leads us to the question, if they were separate at the start of time, will they always be separate? does the factor of time make a difference? obviously something that was with us from the start of time and always will be cannot be considered separate. that's just silly.

you could think, well, how far away are they? at an infinite distance? but this is too easy and is a product of our conditioning of thinking of the world in three dimensions with respect to distance and contact. if you were to think of charting the theoretical multiverse, with maps and such like, you might like to visually imagine that we are in our own particular universe, while they, the others, are in theirs. where on the map? we can only conclude that the other realities, for all purposes of affect, are not here simply.

now this may lead, by an inflamed imagination, as to speculation as to what these other realities might be like. might they be similar, or even parts the same? if they are the same, why aren't they here?

we have defined this place, here our home, as one reality, as there are, though they may be long and tortuous, links to every other part of this reality within it. we are all connected. but does this mean necessarily that everyone truly affects everyone else? or are some proceeding as quasi-independent sectors of reality?

to pick up a previous point, can it happen? can other realities become joined to us? if so, can they then be disconnected? can segments of this reality which were intact from the beginning of time become disconnected? there is a soothing argument that perhaps time, which you are worrying about no doubt, is somewhat insubstantial in itself, that time does not change the situation as per contact with other realities. indeed, once separate, always separate, once together, always together.

the problem in thinking about this matter lies in the way this reality has been set up, or perhaps is indicative of the way it is for eternity, the overrating of the concepts of distance and position. applying a mathematical model of number of connections between points comes to mind as an alternative. other realities have none to any here, indeed, their connection is zero.

i suppose, as a reality goes, this one you could say, is a highly involved reality, quite big, and rather complicated. hopefully all's well that ends well.

CLEARCHARGE

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Time and Equilibrium

time and equilibrium:

there is a philosophical question, how real is time? is it just an artificial theoretical construct or is it something more substantial, more real? it is assumed essentially that the quantity of what exists fundamentally does not change, and that there are constants in the universe, and perhaps change, which is what time involves, is unimportant.

imagine a simple reality, where the person is confined to a single room, where there are no doors, no windows, indeed nothing beyond this room. at the end of every day, when this person is tired, he or she goes to bed and, in the morning, gets up and stands by the bed, in the same place every time. the person thinks about everything that has been done, all the positions in the room he or she has stood, but cannot escape the fact that every morning, he or she will stand in the same place by the bed. there is an equilibrium in space and time.

even in a complex reality as ours, there are equilibrium positions in many senses. we are, for the most part, healthy, intact, and free from injury or illness. people strive for a "healthy balance" or equilibrium in life, not to pursue obsessively certain things, to be free of addictions, to do nothing to disturb the balance.

when we try new things, when we get away from routine, we are entering the unknown in space and time, uncharted areas if you like. there are risks but of course there may be rewards, which is why we strike into the unknown. the person in the single room may be trapped, but secure forever. we are allowed greater exploration, but the potential for danger is greater too. however, as curious animals, the longing for new experiences is common.

the question lies with satisfaction. will we ever be satisfied with what we have already?

CLEARCHARGE