Change and Time

change and time:

what is time? there is time because there is change. as you are aware, time is measured by the cycles of days and years and it is assumed that it is valid to do so, that the concept of common time throughout this reality is real, that every bit of matter, everything that exists, moves in time together.

what is change? a different state in the same something that exists. i will avoid most of the philosophical debate as to whether something that changes can be considered the same thing. here are some words that may confuse the issue, fluid, infinitesimal, continuous, etc. the infinitesimal is a mathematical concept but i don't believe that it is a real one, in reality, i posit that the infinitesimally small does not exist. perhaps neither is real the idea that change could be somehow fluid or continuous. change could be discrete. a high definition television of 1920x1080 pixels may show a changing image that seems fluid and continuous but it is not, the mind is easily deceived here.

it is commonly held that time travel is generally impossible, but posit that past states of a bit of matter can be achieved again, that you can, in this sense, go back to the past exactly as it was and you can even go back to the state at the start of time. even if this may not be true, a similar state may be achieved.

what little is known about is how its neighbours affect change in a single bit of matter. what is obvious is the mimicking or copying effect. this is how we see an object appear to move across our field of vision. a change in image or state is passed on to the neighbour. after a lot of change in a bit of matter, perhaps it can be brought back too by its neighbour who has not changed or changed very little.

on another note, what of change and death? well, we must define what death is, first of all. originally, it was a word associated with a nebulous dread and a vague sense of "the end of it all". on earth it means the end of a life on earth or quitting the world of earth. if we apply the word to change, does change not mean the death of a bit of matter from what it once was? is time not then constant death? rule out the concept that something that exists, that has "mass" or substance, can cease to exist in any shape or form, become nothing, lose "mass" or substance. this is a slippery slope! only that, yes, it could cease to exist only in the sense that its state has changed. much thinking is all skewed in the vague feeling that we have all "died" long ago and ongoing change towards something very different is inevitable and that we can never recover what once was. but i have just posited that exact states can be regained, we can bring the "dead" back to life! on the other hand, what if change were something very "difficult", that a return to the starting position were inevitable, that the "gravity" exerted by the start of time position were altogether too strong, that we could be imagined as a statue in equilibrium, that we could never really move about too much? of course, these are extremes, but either or both could be relatively true at the same time for different parts of reality!

CLEARCHARGE

The Inevitable Abrasive Nature of the Web of Words

the inevitable abrasive nature of the web of words:

we may think of words as something insubstantial, perhaps just images in a book, text on a screen, sounds in our heads, but consider that they might be something more tangible, an essential part of the machinery of life and the universe. any procedure or social process in life on earth requires words, words make things work.

posit that words and their languages and meanings occupy their own dimension in space, that they are something as real and varied and substantial as the material of light or sound. they are an instrument of life. all words and their meanings form a web in space, all connected to each other. the ways they are linked and the conceptual distances between different words and their meanings are something we all know intuitively. and just by thinking and using words we shape and change this web all the time.

it is unfortunate that there are bad words, just as it is unfortunate that bad things happen. again it is unfortunate that we can carelessly trigger bad thoughts in others when talking. some words or phrases inevitably conjure up negative ideas, others, though neutral in themselves, may naturally lead to bad thoughts anyway, as they are only a short distance away. when they lead to bad thoughts about the person itself, calling into question its own beliefs about self, or play on its own worst fears, such that they might be true, the sometimes abrasive nature of words and language reveals itself. we are all party to fear and pride, such is the nature of the human being.

i fear this abrasive nature of words and talk is inevitable. often it is difficult to console anyone that frightened, or to validate anyone that proud. the perfect idealized conversation requires conditions of security and jolliness and mutual interest that cannot always be met. perhaps as the other person, you can only provide at best a sense that someone is not alone, that there is the other person who cares.

CLEARCHARGE

On Numbers and Motion

on numbers and motion:

there is Zeno's paradox of motion that holds that travel from one point to another is impossible mathematically for if you were always to travel half the distance again from that just covered you would never arrive. although theoretically possible, could infinitesimally little numbers simply not be real? if we assume space is finite, we could not even write an infinitesimally little number down, there is not enough room!

but what is motion as assumed in this model? that an object really moves from one place to another relative to a fixed spatial location! the other view is that everything has a fixed spatial location, nothing can truly move. what we see, which i think could be agreed upon, is that there is a fluid change of the pixels of our eyesight which shows the object's recognizable configuration flowing across our visual range. this is just the same as what happens on a television except in 3 dimensions. therefore if only what we see is real and not based on any material world where the objects truly exist beyond our senses, we could conclude that motion is only virtual and the conventional model is false. i feel this a fundamental argument in metaphysics.

just as infinitesimally little numbers are not real, can we apply this reasoning to distance in space? everything that exists, let us call it matter, is in its own fixed space. surely an infinitesimally little distance is not real either? there are differences in matter. matter adjoins other matter. therefore, we can reason that, in isolation, neighbouring matter, by definition, is different matter, for if it were the same or subject to the same changes over time, surely you could not argue that it is indeed another separate bit of matter. we could reason that the littlest distance that matters is the size of the littlest bit of matter. it would seem obvious then, just as infinite space is impossible, that an infinitesimally little bit of matter could not exist.

CLEARCHARGE

A Practical Approach

a practical approach:

earth is a complex world. it didn't always exist, i think that can be agreed upon. it may not always exist in the future. it is a belief, however, that the soul is eternal, that is, ever present in all time. how a soul can be placed upon earth, by forces beyond our control, is another question. in this view, we all come from other worlds to earth. and what happens when we leave? there seem only two possibilities, that we return from where we came, or that we pass on to yet another world, assuming that we are not fated to live again and again on earth, and that we never truly die.

earth can seem an alien place, always a sense present that this is not truly home and that it is only for a while. because life is complicated and we are required to make many decisions, some of which go wrong, it can be a cruel, hard experience. it would seem some people are driven by their ambition, they know what they want, but i am rather more sure of what i don't want, what i want to make sure does not happen to me. you could say i am more driven by fear not by want.

in every poor decision, there is often the failure to consider all the possibilities that could happen. we naturally make optimistic assumptions at first, but we need to be more aware of risk and the likelihood that such assumptions simply do not hold, that what we have thought about for much time does not happen at all. too often, i have assumed the best outcome and subsequently been sorely disappointed. ask yourself, first, what if it's not true and second, have i considered all the possibilities? what do i need to do? what do i need to not do?

unfortunately, regret is something we all suffer. we all make mistakes. to my mind, a life without error is impossible. however, we do become more intelligent about risk as we grow older, and a future of fewer lesser mistakes and without serious accident is something to strive for.

CLEARCHARGE

The Search for Truth

the search for truth:

to anyone, the thought that you might be insane or even just a little muddled, is something deeply concerning. to not know the truth is bad enough, to believe falsity is at best embarrassing, at worst truly horrifying. to live a lie, and then to realize so, crushes the soul.

the whole problem with thought is that it is too wide in range and somewhat random. we can entertain ideas that are wildly distant from reality, not only easily, but too often. this range can be a strength, to be sure, we can happen upon true ideas from a short start sometimes, but the thought process is like watching a building being constructed haphazardly with different concepts that may or may not form a complex that is true. but thought never ceases, it continues throughout all time.

but how, if we arrive at a thought, do we know if it is true or not? we have the ability to consider all the combinations, quite carefully even. does the truth return something from the void out there, a confirmation of validity? it is frustrating when there seems no way to prove whether something is true or not. we hope that the truth will unlock the puzzle. if the mind is like a computer, trying all the combinations that fit, it would seem a slow process, and often it is.

the need to know the truth about life and existence is not just an exercise in vanity and greed, to know it all, so to speak, for how can we ever be secure in ignorance or dangerous insanity? for example, everyone knows they exist, but what do they know of others who exist, how many and who are they? the range of estimates of number, if not hardened belief, goes from zero to billions, from the world of solipsism to an entire plural universe or multiverse, but even this is confusing, for how do we define ourselves and what the other person is exactly, that is, what is a living person and can someone very different from me be a living other person as defined by myself? to believe that i am the only real person in existence, the solipsistic nightmare, is a horrific thought. basically, you are god, but you can't control that much, everything around you is an illusion and you are completely alone! alternatively, to believe there are billions of people brings its own troubling thoughts, personal insignificance, difficulties relating to so many others and so on. this leads us to assume there is a magical perfect number of people, perhaps, a "goldilocks" population, not too many, not too few.

which brings us to the perpetual thinking difficulty, if you had the power, would you want things to be a certain way, just as you think, that is, if you were God, is this what you want to be the case? there is the danger of confusing thought with emotion. caught up in our thoughts, we delude ourselves that we are thinking about what we want, when this is not truly the case.

is the truth a resonant thing? is the universe a wonderful machine where the truth is the only thing that "works"? the conscious thoughtful mind connects to the subconscious to the unconscious to the rest of surrounding reality. there is a process of testing hypotheses perhaps. we are ever closer to the truth.

CLEARCHARGE

A Motion in Time

a motion in time:

the mind is an excitable creature and easily led by its own interests and concerns. when a lot happens, our senses force many changes in our consciousness. we are caught up in the moment. our minds are almost distorted by events, though these do not have a lasting effect on our consciousness, for like an elastic band, they revert to what they once were, or like sand castles by the sea, the tide washes them away, and our minds forget.

things could be divided into those that are volatile, like the life of our minds, where much happens, and those that are not, where very little happens. if everything could be represented visually and we could sit in a control room where everything was shown on a bank of screens, we might see such a difference, one mind's thoughts, the words and images on one screen, the passing of the day on another, perhaps a still image on yet another, which never changes.

memory and the future both relate to our emotions. when we are emotional we may remember things better. it is a motion in time, if you like, that is captured. and our emotions ensure that certain things must happen, things that we want, and that certain things never happen, things that we fear or hate. in the belief that the mind is eternal, that it always did and always will exist, the question of the start of time and our memory of it emerges. when there are many things unknown to us, we become nervous or even scared. on the first day, we knew very little, therefore logically, the day was one of great fear and emotion, so we should remember something of it.

CLEARCHARGE

A Note of Discord

a note of discord:

there were four of discord
to agree without hesitation was not the case
two were fearful
one was forceful
and the other silent
not that they differed on intention
but only in the execution
varying values of importance
where attention once held
so focus lay
and so set in alarm at conflict
in discussion
but together were they
and fearful became all four
but resolution came
in modifying their aims
so four became one
the same
and forward they went

CLEARCHARGE

On Size and Complexity

on size and complexity:

on first impression, the world, and the universe, seem a very big place. there is the sense, to anyone born on earth, that there are many places we will never explore, many people we will never know, many things we will never try. we walk a narrow path in life, aware that we only sample very little of what seems possible. the world is large and complex.

but complexity is not always bound with spatial size. little things could be very complex and large things may be simple. the permutations of a spatial arrangement become increasingly complex with the number of objects. and though an abstract example, in mathematics, everything is achieved with only ten numbers. and spatially large things may only have a few states, while spatially little things may have many. a tv screen has only so many pixels but it offers size in complexity as to what can be seen on it.

is so much possible in one life? or even desirable? what would we wish to avoid? and what do we truly want?

CLEARCHARGE

The Place of Consciousness

the place of consciousness:

located in space are many, or few perhaps, centres of mental activity, each point being where individual consciousness lies, surrounded by a vivid, fluctuating field, different and to a degree separate from all others. was this arrangement always thus or was it created or was it shared?

what controls the flow of conscious thought? other than light and sound? raw data from the unconscious mind? we are so locked into thinking about what we see and hear that other things have less of a place in our thoughts.

consciousness endlessly mixes and matches ideas together to form new concepts. some thoughts are well defined, some only vague. we don't always know what we are thinking about! consciousness is a speculator, an explorer, a thing that is always chasing knowledge and understanding.

CLEARCHARGE

The Rolling Complex of Life

the rolling complex of life:

perhaps because we are easily distracted and easily forget, for short term memory is fleeting, we like and do compartmentalize different aspects of life. family is one thing, work is another, popular culture is something else. but what is true is that all are concurrently happening in the universe and what we think is no little matter, for thought binds it all together. how it all fits together in the universe is not something we can see, it is not visible, how light is connected to sound, how everything is electronically wired, in reality.

the pessimist is trapped in a black hole of despair perhaps. but optimism is needed. the thinker is required to be an all rounder, so to speak. the law of attraction is a law of magic that speaks of the effect of thought on reality and that events are determined more by what we think than can be proved by science. and why not? current science lacks an understanding of consciousness and assumes that our minds are mostly perception, not capable of the opposite, that is, to somehow drive surrounding reality itself. there is even no term currently for what i am describing, apart from magic, a very old word. if we could be likened to a radio, surely we could send and receive, that is, be a two way wireless, not be just someone who can only sense their surroundings but not materially affect them?

the whole question of magical thinking is often dismissed as a symptom of craziness, but what if some of it is true? if i do such and such, the result will be good or if i do such and such, something bad will happen. we certainly don't know how everything works yet, what depends on what. can we prove or disprove everything? perhaps not and scientific hypothesis testing, within its limits, is impossible?

imagine the successful woman or man on earth, a meticulous planner no doubt, for do we really believe that success can be gained without it? they have filled out the possibilities, weighed the risks, become more businesslike in their lives. they think a great deal.

the very nature of consciousness is that of something malleable, volatile even, you can think of something and, within a few moments, find it incredibly hard to remember what you were just thinking of. perhaps it is a little like the flame of a cigarette lighter, dancing in a darkened room, illuminating what is going on subconsciously, and posit that the unconscious is indeed very larger than the wavering conscious mind. it highlights what is going on around us, it is a highlighter. the apparent power of consciousness is revealed in our decisions of course but what other secrets does it hold?

CLEARCHARGE

Between Fearless Optimism and Fearful Pessimism

between fearless optimism and fearful pessimism:

it all starts with a wish, a hope. we are happy, we think we can win at something, we can succeed, make progress. there is little or no fear, how can there be? we know nothing of the bad possibilities of the future. we are innocent. but those at the other extreme arrived by losing time and again, for they feel only fear and a conviction, deeply ingrained, that they just cannot win.

examining the path of the doomed gamblers of earth, where the odds are never in their favour, provides a useful lesson to us all. how does it all start, the want to gamble? there is the simple glamour of it all to begin with, the urge to prove to yourself that you are indeed a lucky guy or girl, that life can be exciting and easy, and, of course, everyone needs money. perhaps in the beginning, it is likely they won a little, or even a lot, which built a mindset, so set their minds to believe that they were a winner, and this mental setting was hard to shake off. beginner's luck became a curse. when eventually they lost heavily, they could not accept it, and gambled and lost even more, to oblivion.

i would say rarely does reality meet preconception for most. it always turns out slightly differently to what you thought. some you win, some you lose, sometimes something completely unexpected happens. in the end, it is about considering the risk involved in any venture. some risks are not acceptable. the only problem is, experience and mistakes and some misfortune are almost always required beforehand to accurately assess risk in life.

CLEARCHARGE

The Nervous Animal

the nervous animal:

such is the nature of the human being, an animal born with fear, nervous from the very start. fear of what? it is said some of our fears are irrational but could we ever be completely rationally afraid? perhaps it is just not possible.

we have several words that imply horrible, dreadful things but, if we are lucky, and nothing truly bad has ever happened to us, can we really think about these things with any clarity of thought? we have only a hint of what they entail. this is to argue the case that only someone who has actually done or really experienced something can truly think about it. the rest of us live in a dimmed awareness of such things.

but fear remains, it is connected to our thought, it swells when we consider bad possibilities, when we worry about our future, it can lead to irrational panic attacks when the impossible horror seems either totally possible or real already.

a girl walking in the forest alone, she keeps looking behind her, it just goes to show state of mind. perhaps she is scared of getting lost and looking back to get her bearings straight, perhaps she is scared someone is following her and she is all on her own. indeed, a lot of nerves are about travel and other people. given that it is a universal truth we are socially anxious animals, easing others' nervousness is a skill.

there is in human nature an urge to explore and to create. this is in itself a dangerous thing, not everywhere or everything is safe. once we have made mistakes, we are nervous whenever it seems they might happen again. could we ever be so aware of danger that we can avoid the whole learning by making a mistake thing?

CLEARCHARGE

Calculation and Consciousness and the Unconscious Mind

calculation and consciousness and the unconscious mind:

the human mind is not merely an observer and audience of its surrounding world, it is also able to think about what may be purely abstract and theoretical, it can process information in order to calculate a result. so often, a person judged to be most intelligent, is someone who is a powerful calculator, so to speak.

whatever it is in the mind that calculates, is it truly only an aspect of consciousness? or posit that the calculating component might be something based mostly in the unconscious mind. indeed, when we concentrate, think hard, conscious thoughts merely follow the workings of the calculating unconscious mind.

CLEARCHARGE

Awake, Asleep and the Cycle of Thought

awake, asleep and the cycle of thought:

there is an interesting universal question, that is, was i born awake or was i born asleep? i mean, really? let us explore what we mean by these two words, awake and asleep.

awake, conscious, seeing light and hearing, thinking about the world around us. asleep, though the lights are off so to speak, this does not mean that our thoughts have died, and our thinking ceases to exist, only that it has become more abstract, less to do with the very real senses of sight and hearing.

well, why can't we remember what we dream of, and what we were thinking of before we fell asleep? when sleep fades in, our thinking becomes blurry, less controlled by what we see when awake, and it is an often wild, volatile sequence of thoughts, unto the state of being dead asleep, that we experience daily.

what is typical in the states of being awake and being asleep, probably exist simultaneously all the time. in a sense, we are never "100% awake and 0% asleep" or "0% awake and 100% asleep", at any time. which leads to a refining of the first question, well, how awake was i, at true birth, and how asleep?

dreams are a strange mixture of the two, a fluid state that is similar to the stage of falling asleep, in that thoughts are often abstract, for we cannot easily define what we are thinking about.

is this an important question, the nature of our minds at birth?

CLEARCHARGE

The Relative Inch

the relative inch:

what is an inch? put simply, it is something to measure distance in space. is it an absolute everywhere for everyone? or is my inch different to your inch?

what if on earth the perception of sight was so wired to make everyone seem of a similar physical size while in actuality true personal size differed greatly? this is assuming the virtual nature of the world and the quite fixed position of all people in space. put simply, we are assuming the 3D mechanical motion world construct is but an illusion. yes, what if the largest human body were actually a hundred times bigger than the littlest, but on earth they seemed the same height? although it is obvious to any reader what the 3D mechanical motion world construct is, let me express what it means. relative to the earth, humans "move" about, change their positions constantly on the ground, while only 3 dimensions are "allowed". the paradox of empty space arises when we consider seriously this construct to be entirely real. if motion is only virtual, we can dismiss such thoughts as a false dead end.

distance and physical size so far, but what about density and variety in true space? i think, superficially, if we can see and hear things that seem to be at more or less the same position in space before us, we can assume that our own personal field is rather dense with a great variety of things in it, can we not?

but how to overcome the rigidity in our minds that perhaps 3 dimensions in space are all that there are? it safest to say this is the minimum. perhaps there are 5 or 6 or more, we just cannot see them is the simplest explanation.

CLEARCHARGE

Change and Time and the Human Being

change and time and the human being:

from the perspective of any observer, things change. because things change, this gives rise to the concept of time. the primary sense in which this is evidenced is in our eyesight. this is something obvious we can think about, the field of our vision is ever changing, ever moving. this does not prove that all things change however, and we cannot assume it, perhaps there are parts of reality that simply do not, and therefore are without time itself yet still very much real in space. it is a great part of our consciousness that the sun rises and sets and days and years pass, indeed perhaps we overemphasize this natural cycle, chiefly because we can see it. however there are things that cannot be seen, we cannot easily think about yet, but they change nonetheless too.

what is a human? a mind with a body, that principally can see his or her interaction with a 3D physical construct. because of his or her mind, a human can think, process its movements within this construct, and even wander off into abstract thought! also a human has emotions tied in as well, which can explain his or her actions. can a human think clearly about real things that it cannot see or hear? everything is connected, so perhaps he or she can. what is consciousness and what are our senses? does one gradually become the other? the power of abstract thought is that it can consider all the possibilities that could be true of reality. the crazy person does not get very far, perhaps. we hope eventually that the truth will fit, will work so to speak, and drive the solution to the puzzle of life and the universe.

i think it can be said that not everything changes as much as everything else. this may seem obvious but actually can be quite a nebulous concept. they have different "speeds", different "distances", in the way they change. we might suppose that some things change so fast or move so fast that we cannot keep up, we cannot think about them properly. some things seem to be out of our control. it's like a part of life was born at 360 mph, and that dangerous too! we might hope to find a few "safe" courses of action which we could repeat. allow me to express something i think is mistaken. we must stop thinking of time as an endless mutation that can never return, as a linear one way passage on the mathematical x-axis to infinity. just as it is night now and the sun will rise again in the morning, and blue will be blue and red will be red forever, time is not a one way trip to oblivion, as you would think in a paranoid moment. posit that things revert to their starting point. but though it is highly unlikely, what if time were an infinite loop, somehow everything reverted to its original state at the start of time, at the same time? what makes this impossible?

consciousness is a volatile substance, and we can forget easily. assuming it always existed, everyone must wonder what it was at the start of time. lack of knowledge is an anxious making condition. everyone still worries about their future, that hasn't changed! we can only conclude the state of nervousness on the first day of time must have been extreme!

CLEARCHARGE

Language, Meaning and Values

language, meaning and values:

are we speaking the same language? of course yes, but still...

do we mean the same thing when using a word or phrase? or do our own individual personal value systems conflict or vary sometimes so as to lead to misunderstanding or worse? the language is not uniformly contained in every one of us. we all use it differently sometimes, indeed we could so define the word "individual" from this aspect.

everyone has their own values or interests, stemming from, to put it simply, first what they do want, second what they don't want, and last what they would hate having. people's values are not ever constant, they are subject to change. but primarily, as human beings, we physically need houses, food, clothes, sleep, etc. these are basic wants, but superficially, we may crave other, less important things, which differentiate personality, so that we can conclude that we are individuals. we form our own values. we speak of what we want. and we hope we can find others with the same values.

that is not to say that words can mean radically different things to different people, but even if only in a little way, context and meaning can differ, to create surprise when talking. everyone, though they may not have have written it down or thought about it at length, holds a list of personal vocabulary, not far down in the subconscious and not far from reach, a chart, if you like, of words they have thought about, ideas and concepts with values and meanings attached to each. one person might say something with happy positive associations in his or her own mind, but heard by another, invoke bad or scary thoughts. such is the abrasive nature of contact with different value systems.

but how did language develop in the first place? was it rapid or slow? such is the pace of change in the modern world that you might suspect it was always fast. and what is it in the sound of a word that triggers meaning in the minds of those who hear it and how was it that many people could agree on a meaning? does it show like mind for all those who can speak a language? is this inherent?

and what is a word, in the metaphysical sense? it exists in handwriting, in print, electronically in the internet, and in recordings. in the sum of all minds in reality, it is linked to meanings, images, actions, and perhaps even other structures of which we cannot yet identify.

CLEARCHARGE

The Eternal Environment

the eternal environment:

posit that some things are eternal, that they exist in all time. then other things necessarily are created. what can we observe around us that might be eternal? things that seem ubiquitous, things that the world seems full of. humans, trees, houses even? for if memory is not clear, the path of history lost from the mind, time can be an agent of confusion and indeed, crazy making.

what is this a universe of? were certain things made by God, or gods or goddesses, or men or women, in acts of creation or did they always exist in some form, even if only latent? what if they were always present in the unconscious or subconscious, urging people to make manifest?

posit that time does not always seem rational, by which is meant, the record of progress shows logical anomalies. A did not lead to B and then to C, perhaps the order was B to A to C. perhaps then we could conclude that B always existed, indeed is eternal, and what seems the logical starting point A, came later. visualize if you would, a world at the start of time, complete with simple houses and trees and land already, humans walking the earth from the get go, a land covered with mist in the dim dawn of the beginning.

what of things truly created? will they last forever or are they doomed to perish, lost forever, the effort to keep them alive too much? could they only recur like the flowers of spring? indeed, is that what life on modern earth is, a short trip to somewhere so far from the beginning that naturally, it cannot last?

CLEARCHARGE

Measure of a Downfall

measure of a downfall:

many the reasons for failure or loss there may be, but the one often thought of, and what might be considered yet so unnecessary and yes, even avoidable, is pride, in the worst sense of the word. pride or arrogance, resulting in overconfidence and a complete sense of assurance, and of right, lead to tragic failure. pride before the fall.

it is easy to see how this develops in everyday life, not just in some ancient greek tragedy. an easy childhood and early adult life, several successes along the way, perhaps. it would build a feeling of success, things that to most would seem too risky or even dangerous, do not flash warning. and then something bad happens.

there are those that plan rigorously, no doubt, and carefully consider the risk in every situation. those that experience such pride perhaps cannot truly evaluate risk? they have never suffered setbacks that for most would make them aware of danger. it is always appropriate to question assumptions you make before deciding on anything. what if it's not true? there are always only so many possibilities. have you considered all of them?

"if only she weren't so proud of herself! she thinks she knows everything!" this describes someone who is so afflicted by pride, with a bad meaning. you can imagine such a person, proud, unsympathetic, unempathetic, self-obsessed and convinced of her own glory, unaware of hubris. and then the error that forces the situation to tragedy. when bad things happen, they are always prefaced by a bad decision, as anyone who has made mistakes is aware of, though of course, you could argue that this is overplaying personal responsibility for everything and that some bad things may be out of our control, though hopefully not. you could think that perhaps pride, in the negative sense, and insanity are linked. they are not fully aware of what is going on, so certain are they of their own infallibility.

some passages of life may be carefree and going about on auto-pilot may be fine for that period but there are also times when things come to a head and decisions must be made carefully, using the full capacity for critical thinking that you have, so as to avoid tragedy.

CLEARCHARGE

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

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

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

A Question of Precedence

a question of precedence:

the human mind is a powerful tool, apparently, as it can shape events. and the universe is ever changing. in an excited, unstable and highly emotional state, the mind can warp reality, indeed perhaps even change natural laws which hold in more normal, settled times. this is how it seems. now this could be dismissed as just flawed perception, that the actual universe has not changed, but to do so would be to dismiss and underweight perception and consciousness itself, to deny personal experience as important. in someone's strange, wild and crazy world, unusual things are happening! there is an assumption that we receive correct data from an "external world" to our brain and to our senses, that there is no great individual power to change this "external world" through our being, that there is no forceful feedback that can alter the state of it, so to speak.

posit that a great, and mad, scientist, perhaps in a dream, perhaps from an unusual experience, perhaps in an epiphany, creates a theory of how something works. his or her mind is engrossed with theoretical possibilities and detail, mechanical metrics and hypotheses and statistics. he or she, very excited, doesn't sleep for days and, when he or she does, has strange vivid dreams. then this mad scientist invents a machine or test to determine whether this hitherto only theoretical stuff is true or works. and it does. the question is, is this really science, is this the way things were or has the scientist changed them? or is it magic, is he or she actually a wizard of some kind? or just the god of this new machine and theory?

there may be true natural laws which came before thought chanced upon them, but what if we have altered the universe with our minds, created new systems, which we now label as "science"?

CLEARCHARGE

The Dream Gateway to Other Worlds

the dream gateway to other worlds:

consider that the unconscious mind is a powerful force. perhaps we are not aware of it until it is highlighted in conscious thought from various material sources what exactly is going on out there, but it may seep into our subconscious from time to time and then to thought. it is said dreams are fed by our unconscious selves. and dreams deserve exploration.

how do we know certain things before they are evidenced by their manifest proof they exist? there is something apart from sight and sound that tells us things are so. and what is the connection? how do we know instinctively what is the general state of affairs? some call it the zeitgeist. are we thinking about the unconscious?

i remember the start of this life on earth as a series of dreams or not quite dreams which became waking reality, with very little memory of what came before. in my dreams, i have explored other places, other realms, indeed other worlds.

there is a philosophical dilemma as to the validity of some human experience, that dreams are somehow unreal. but dreams, especially vivid ones, which incur strong emotions, how are they not real? and there is a sense of paranoia at times, that you could wake up in the nightmare world even, for example, in the flooded ruins of an old great city. it hasn't happened to me yet. the default assumption that life on earth is all that there is, is a sterile and simplistic opinion, but we on earth all have it.

the unconscious mind is a great builder, a constructor of worlds and complexes, those that have access to it are greatly enhanced thinkers. not all is as it often seems to the conscious mind....

CLEARCHARGE

Person without and within Myself

person without and within myself:

as individuals we sense and can think about what is immediately around us, but not beyond ourselves. other people exist but they see and hear things we do not, because we are localized, what happens elsewhere we are less aware of.

what is the other person? someone like yourself, a variation of a person, with the senses you have and an independent capacity to think. we are all linked together in a network with busy traffic, and over many years, we have come to learn about and understand others.

if we are in any sense alone, however, it is that which makes us the individual, indeed a person with something to offer to the other person.

CLEARCHARGE

And the Storm and Disorder Came

and the storm and disorder came:

then fate served several blows. at twenty years of age, he was surrounded by people he could see and hear, but couldn't escape feeling all alone inside still. a mental disintegration swiftly followed. to describe a schizophrenic episode as a collapse of order in your own personal reality is an apt one. for example, objects were lost forever, spatial structure seemed to randomly shift, there was a strong sense of dislocation. for an unstable mind means an unstable reality.

in positive reflection, it meant and forced him to reconsider much of his life and the world he lived in. it was a fluid time then in young adulthood, because it happened, a permanent change in his state of mind occurred.

and it fed many years of independent thinking about many things, as if it loosened his mind, and would lead him to question much that before he received without further thought.

CLEARCHARGE

The Litter of Memory

the litter of memory:

he sometimes worried about his memory. it was almost as if he was losing his mind, though surely it wasn't that serious, all things considered. he was still alive and well and the past had been successfully navigated, true!

often, he wondered if separate events had occurred on the same day or different days, for he couldn't be sure, perhaps his mind had conflated different memories. he didn't keep a diary and the fog of the past prevented any clear evidence of what had happened and when. in a reductive frame of mind, he reasoned that yes, these things had actually taken place but hopefully the sequence and date stamp were not that important.

why he remembered some events, and not others, he didn't know. seemingly insignificant things stuck in his mind and sometimes details of important events were not so well kept. why was this so?

what he was most concerned about were false memories. did some things really happen? were they in a dream? a memory is like an indent made, could time mutate it to something else entirely, a falsity believed to be true? it was truly most perplexing.

CLEARCHARGE

From Child to Present

from child to present:

he had met his friends for lunch. they had talked and reminisced of old times. though their life situations had moved on from twenty years ago, they were all recognizably the same people, but now the talk was more of work and business and news.

he often wondered how he would answer the question, how old do you feel? in truth, he thought he felt exactly the same at all ages of his life but to answer, the same as when i was three and now, seemed a little ridiculous and somewhat provocative.

but how had he changed? he felt wiser, he supposed, better at assessing risk, if nothing else, not only from the mistakes and errors of judgement he had made in the past but from a better understanding of generally how things worked on Earth. he wondered if all prescribed grownup speech and behaviour was all some kind of program he had picked up along the way to adulthood, and compatibility between people depended on like conditioning.

when he had first met his friends, they were all still in the form of children, playful yet watchful, and in a way, quieter and more subdued.

CLEARCHARGE

The Maze of Space Time

the maze of space time:

from the start of time we entered a theoretical maze, some parts perpetually travelled, some sections visited only once, and some areas never walked through at all.

it is a frightening concept we could get trapped or lost in this maze, never to find our way home again. some parts of the maze are surely dangerous, some benign. we are not born with the gift of a full map of the maze, unfortunately often we only learn from mistakes which are bad sections.

but why does the maze exist? indeed why do we exist? only but we were born and we lived. there is no explanation.

CLEARCHARGE

Time from a Distance and the Start of Time

time from a distance and the start of time:

the clock ticks and the days pass, and we send and receive messages from each other, as we do not live in isolation, but communicate and function as a group. the transfer of signals across space proves we are all connected to one another. if we are all connected, it allows for the concept of a common time. it is a sequence of reactions to events at a distance which gives us the sense of progression.

we have examined the concept of a least bit of matter, its ends of time and time reversal. what of the start of time? for a least bit of matter this can thought of as just another limit, like an end of time is a limit. at one moment of time, time zero, however, throughout space, all matter was at this limit.

CLEARCHARGE

Conversation and the Information Exchange

conversation and the information exchange:

social animals that we all are, we long to talk, to learn about others, and to give voice to thoughts about our lives.

what is happening? what is going to happen? what has happened? dealing with the matter before us is often our most essential part of everyday conversation, a discussion unavoidable while we are together, for there is a need to arrive at a mutual understanding of events.

to find agreement, to share details of our lives, our personality, to help each other, to give insights into matters in which we are expert, to feel what others feel, all are the life blood of talk. it is a natural curiosity about the other person which must be satisfied. be it we are impressionable creatures, for we feel the glamour of others and their most noticeable differences, in voice and actions.

we build on what we have in common, a kind word is remembered, disagreements may pass, and a real connection is made.

CLEARCHARGE

The Doomsday Rule and the Odd+11 Method

the doomsday rule and the odd+11 method:

the doomsday rule is an algorithm or method of calculation to find the day of the week of any given date.

it is noted that 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12 and 5/9, 9/5 and 7/11, 11/7 all fall on the same day of the week in any year. this is the "doomsday". from knowing which day of the week this is you are able to calculate the day of the week on any given date in the year relatively easily.

what about another year? it is known that with each additional non leap year, the doomsday advances by one day of the week, or two days for a leap year. if the doomsday for the start of the century is known you can calculate the drift by the odd+11 method.

1. look only at the last 2 digits of the year
2. if it is odd, add 11
3. divide by 2
4. if this result is odd, add 11
5. divide this result by 7 and subtract the remainder from 7

the result is the number of days of the week drift from the doomsday for the start of the century.

let us examine some of the number patterns involved in this algorithm. there are four possible types of numbers.

1. those that are divisible by 4 exactly
2. those even but not divisible by 4 exactly
3. those odd but when 11 is added, the result is divisible by 4 exactly
4. those odd but when 11 is added, the result is even but not divisible by 4 exactly

note that for all odd years, the doomsday is the same as 11 years later, after 3 leap years have passed. this is why 11 is added to all odd years.

note that for case 2, even years not divisible by 4 exactly, the doomsday is the same as 22 years later, after 6 leap years have passed, and which is a number divisible by 4 exactly. let us examine the calculation using the example of 14.

14/2 = 7
7 + 11 = 18

which is the same as starting with 36 as the year as

36/2 = 18

and yes

14 + 22 = 36

let us examine case 4, when 11 is added to an odd number and the result is even but not divisible by 4 exactly. we know that the doomsday is the same as 11 years later and also that for an even year not divisible by 4 exactly, the doomsday is the same as 22 years later. therefore, in this case, the doomsday is the same as 33 years later as

11 + 22 = 33

and which gives us a number again divisible by 4 exactly.

let us use the example of 15.

15 + 11 = 26 and 26 + 22 = 48

therefore 15 is the same as 26 which is the same as 48.

we can conclude that all years not divisible by 4 exactly however have an equivalent year that is divisible by 4 exactly. let us examine the years divisible by 4 exactly.

YEAR, YEAR/2, REMAINDER AFTER DIVIDED BY 7, DRIFT

4, 2, 2, 5
8, 4, 4, 3
12, 6, 6, 1
16, 8, 1, 6
20, 10, 3, 4
24, 12, 5, 2
28, 14, 0, 0

etc.

note the drift series

5, 3, 1, 6, 4, 2, 0

is recurring as 28 years, with 7 leap years, is a cycle in the calendar.

we see the algorithm holds.

note it can be stated

7 - (x/2)mod7 = (x + x/4)mod7
for x = 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28....

References:

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Doomsday Rule", Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[2] Chamberlain Fong, Michael K. Walters, "Methods for Accelerating Conway's Doomsday Algorithm"
[3] Chamberlain Fong, "What Day Is Doomsday? How to Mentally Calculate the Day of the Week for Any Date", Scientific American, October 18, 2011

CLEARCHARGE

Tracks of Time in Space

tracks of time in space:

it is assumed that everything that exists in space is made up of tiny bits of matter, which can be subdivided further to even lesser bits of matter, up to a limit at which they are indivisible further and thus individually uniform across their occupied space. posit that a least bit of matter does not move relative to surrounding least bits of matter, that all matter is fixed in its location in space, that quasi motion we see is merely a visual effect, a working of the pixels of our eyesight, a transfer of a signal. bits of matter do not break off or crash into each other, they are forever in static alignment. with time involved, least bits of matter change individually. their motion can be regarded as change over time.

all of these changes may be regarded as different incremental positions in a theoretical model of the tracks least bits of matter make over time. the concept of a start of time may actually only be relevant in referring to one common position. what of an end of time? well, there may be many ends of time in this model for a least bit of matter, as it reaches an end position, then reverts to an older position, only to reach a different end position later. you could say that time can flow in reverse in this model. to visualize these tracks time makes would conjure up a kind of maze, with many dead ends as ends of time and a central equilibrium quarter in the middle. the maze develops as time progresses.

time in this model is not a linear journey of change to infinity. what if you started seeing red and then red changed to another colour and then another, continuing to change to a new colour all the way to infinity, never to return to red? this is clearly not true!

however, what is theoretical is hard to prove! it can only be hoped that we have all thought of the truth somewhere down the line.

CLEARCHARGE

Before the Storm

before the storm:

....and so the last day of term came. he went to her room and exchanged addresses with the girl he had just come to know. it was a relief he had passed all his exams this year, there would be no awkward explaining to his father he had failed like the previous year. she was going abroad for her third year to study the language there. he thought he would never see her again, as he was only on a three year course.

he spent the summer with his sister in Montreal. she was four years older and working already. it was a happy summer. he had never visited Montreal before, or Canada even, and he liked it very much. by the time he returned, he had started to dread the beginning of the academic year, and the idyllic time before the emotional storm, which was about to come, was over.

CLEARCHARGE

The Balance of Odds

the balance of odds:

it was the time of the Asian Financial Crisis. by 1998 HSBC stock had plummeted. though he had quit gambling on the stock market for four years, he sensed an opportunity, that HSBC stock had reached a low.

now buy low and sell high is the only directive in share investment. selling high or exiting a profitable trade is probably an easier decision to make than the two harder questions of what to buy and when to buy.

interest in the stocks of young companies in new or existing industries always exists, but the probability of failure and inherent risk are always high. as long as there is an economy, there will always be banks. he was betting that HSBC would not go bust and that it would recover eventually.

probability is rather nebulous when applied to share price movements, but as HSBC fell the odds of it falling lower were reduced in his opinion.

by 2000, the price of HSBC had more than doubled, almost trebled.

CLEARCHARGE

When the Trend Stops Being Your Friend

when the trend stops being your friend:

the experience was one of the worst he ever had. it was 1991. the Gulf War was yet to break out. the stock market had been trending lower for months before the actual news came out that the war had begun. naively, he thought this would mean the market would only fall further. he had bought FTSE 100 put options a few days before, betting that the index would fall. this wouldn't have been so bad, but his broker allowed him to buy traded options without cash upfront. he reasoned he would close the position in a few days, and collect the difference on settlement without ever having to pay for the options. the size of the trade was more than he had in his bank account.

and then the war broke out and the horror began. the market went up. for an entire day or so, the potential loss on the trade was more money than he had in his bank account. his mind was in total turmoil. he had been given a comfortable sum of money by his father and he had used it all to gamble on the traded options market. how could this have happened?!

in conclusion, it was luck that saved him. the rebound turned later that day and he eventually closed at a smaller loss than he had feared, a loss he could cover. unfortunately, he had learned his lesson the hard way, not to believe the general opinion, not to overextend himself.

CLEARCHARGE

Person and Aims

person and aims:

in a flight of fancy, i once imagined all the people in existence, as statues lined up in a row, each with their name inscribed below and a descriptive sentence below that.

perhaps there are only a few hundred or even a thousand basic types of person, it is hard to imagine you could differentiate personality to the tune of a billion. by differences in emotions from others, especially want and ambition, define a person.

to equate the other with the different is all too easy, but we have many things in common. social success, to have a friend, to agree with and to share, are needs inherent in our nature. we cannot always be together. there are lonely moments in everyone's life, which is why to share, and to talk, are so important. what often divides us are our reactions, for not everyone feels the same level of fear or enthusiasm.

CLEARCHARGE

The Heightened Past

the heightened past:

it was the second year at university. he had moved to a new dorm. by summer he had started running into this girl who lived on the same floor pretty often. she would pass by and smile. at the time he was on the pizza diet, partly because pizza is delicious, partly because it was cheap but mainly, to avoid the dining hall. the first time she spoke to him it was time for dinner. he had just got back from the pizza place, only ten minutes walk from the dorm, carrying a box of pizza. she was coming down the stairs as he was going up. presumably she was going to the dining hall to eat with her friends. she smiled at him and said, "pizza again!"

but soon most of the summer term had passed and the exams were over with. there was no more studying to be done and the time was free.

one day, a few days before the end of term, he had gone to the kitchen to get something from the refrigerator and there she was. she was chatty and showed an interest in his life and they talked about waiting for exam results. she had a boyfriend, a big family, and an interest in linguistics.

she was someone he remembered quite clearly. at a time when he felt a huge isolation from others, she seemed friendly. she seemed a happy person. upon later reflection, perhaps many felt the same despair he did. there were so many differences on display, people too busy with their own lives, failing to find common ground.

CLEARCHARGE

Luck without Foresight

luck without foresight:

the fortune of good birth accounts for a lot, both to begin with and perhaps for time eternal, qualities inherent in our being which cannot be denied.

the way in which luck plays a role in our lives, when unforeseen happy events occur, when the various variables of life become so aligned favourably, is a source of wonder. the question is, do we have any material part to play in bringing luck about? we would like to think, that through intelligence and wise decision making, and perhaps hard work too, we can all achieve success, that we do not have to rely on luck.

but could we ever reach such a state of perfect awareness and power over our situation? are there not too many variables out of control, that we could never manage completely, that there will always be a concept such as luck?

CLEARCHARGE

A Limit of Time

a limit of time:

it is both a startling thought and yet a challenge to think that everything is possible in life, this is a broad stroke at the subject of possibility that requires much narrower definitions of terms. but of course, this is thought of and said in a positive manner! we like to think at the larger visible level, to imagine things happening, to see events both filled with people and action, and that, in another time, this or that could take place. there is no limit to imagination. whether or not time allows for all manner of things to really happen is another question.

for example, as a lighter, it has only the dual states of being unlit and lit. now usually a lighter is required, as part of the whole process of smoking, to light a cigarette. it is a small but essential part of the process. we, and all situations, are formed of millions and billions of lesser parts, not easily examined perhaps, as we are bound to think of the big picture at all times. what is possible at the basest level? do many things only have dual states, or a few more, or many?

imagine yourself in a room in an unknown house. never mind how you got there! you discover there are four other rooms in the house leading off from this one central room. you cannot ever leave this house, but certainly you can imagine other houses.

of course there are limits to time and what can actually happen, both at the littlest material level and in terms of life in general.

CLEARCHARGE

Questions of Time

questions of time:

it cannot be argued against that when we reference time, we use as a basis the natural cycle of the day and the year. they are the most easily observable cycles. but is this natural cycle only a small part of space and reality as a whole such that it is actually a poor measure of time? are there other things happening that make such observation irrelevant?

time involves change. now these changes spread across space. that is the fundamental effect required for communication between people.

posit that, for the sake of peace of mind, the natural cycle of the day is fixed. it will not alter, it is based on some perfectly uniform infinite cycle underlying nature. but we use this to reference every other event. what if there were distant points in space completely isolated from each other? indeed how connected up is reality? in essence, we are assuming that the cycle of the day is a large background for everything else to happen in. what if it isn't?

imagine if the day didn't exist. how would we measure time? it would be a matter of sending off a signal out into space and waiting for a response. that progress would be the measure of time.

stuck in a certain decade....
what if this were more real than popularly imagined? what if, for a time, a temporary cycle asserted itself somewhere in space. a time warp, so to speak.

assuming that we are all interconnected, literal time travel cannot happen. but theoretically, if the memory of the past were intact and could be activated, a facsimile could be recreated.

the case is that the more connected we are and the more we observe the same things, the more real time, in the commonly imagined sense of the word, is.

CLEARCHARGE

The Search for Fine Meanings of Words

the search for fine meanings of words:

many words have bad meanings. they have their basis in paranoia, despair and other negative emotions and were born of bad situations or imagination for horror. the very word bad itself suggests something not wanted or not desirable, something no one would like.

in the subconscious mind, horrible imaginary scenarios turn and twist, and certain words are associated with them, things most feared by all.

it is merely suggested that all words could have a fine meaning, and words currently with a bad meaning, to divorce them from their horrible associations, and to give them a neutral meaning at worst.

things commonly feared, such as death, damage, illness, the state of being unloved or unwanted, are what drove an early paranoia. people's obsessions with quality, and the judgmental nature, also define words with bad meanings.

it is a goal to think at length of various meanings a word can fully take and propose several positive or neutral associations it could have.

CLEARCHARGE

Invention and Worth in History

invention and worth in history:

it is agreed that the event of an invention of great worth, which would aid the world and all the people in it forever after, is one of the most worthy of historical record. gossip and related news of people of the time may spark idle curiosity, social animals that we are, but surely are of lesser importance, is it not? for people and their relationships and struggles in life may possess a timelessness, an eternal difficulty, that only confuse the true record of progress.

there was once an ancient world without developed language, without knowledge of health and lifestyle and accepted manners of behaviour. imagine the dawn of time, a bleak world populated by unwitting people, the initial struggle was immense. once language had developed, and people could communicate, the first progress was made and relationships could develop. from then on, the ongoing question was and still is, how does everything work?

each point in progress, major and minor, deserves studying. what was the original idea in someone's mind? how did he or she develop it and what were the conditions at the time? an invention, whether it be cultural or material, a machine or otherwise, if taken up by most, is a process involving real change.

in the ancient woods of early days, the first concepts of self and other, and shared activity, dominated the invention of language. the world to be observed closely followed.

perhaps one day, all will be known, and everything provided for, and perhaps only then, will be the true end of history as a story of progress.

CLEARCHARGE

The Best Shuffler

the best shuffler:

he knew it was unreasonable to expect to win, after all, the odds were not in his favour. but he enjoyed playing was the thing, the whole ritual of the game, the shuffling of the six decks of cards at the beginning, the cut, and the deal, and the clearing away after each hand.

it was sometime in the afternoon. the room wasn't busy yet. come night time it would be heaving with bodies. there were the regulars there, those he saw every time he came it seemed, most of them elderly and quite rich he guessed.

he was alone at her table watching her shuffle expertly. "you're the best shuffler in here," he said. and it was true. he believed it. but she only smiled then but later, after he had won heavily, finally replied, "i really am the best shuffler!"

there was something about her. perhaps she reminded him of someone else he had once known, a quality reflected here in her.

time makes people in the past seem too distant. only sometimes when people seem familiar or act in the same way are we reminded of them.

CLEARCHARGE

The Motion Illusion

the motion illusion:

as we know in our dreams, changes in place can be abrupt, for suddenly we are somewhere else as if we had teleported there. and so instead of the whole construct that we are moving around on top of a planet Earth in a 3D universe, we should consider the opposite view, that we remain fixed in position, we do not move relative to our surroundings, but the scenery we are so beguiled by moves relative to us. logically there are only two theoretical possibilities.

that people are in motion relative to the surroundings, however, is the theoretical model we have held since day one, that the surroundings are stable and two points are always the same distance from each other and that travel one point to another occurs in an unbroken line.

imagine a model of a series of 2 rooms in which this 3D logic breaks down. there are only 2 rooms with 3 doorways, one at the end of room A, one between rooms A and B, and one at the end of room B. the traveller walks from the end of room A through the doorway between rooms A and B to room B, all according to 3D logic. however when he or she passes through the doorway at the end of room B, he or she finds himself or herself back at the end of room A. now imagine a whole complex of rooms with different rules for which room leads to which room and back again. what if the rules then become unstable and you are never sure which room leads to which room?

in a situation where such 3D logic breaks down, it leaves only the theoretical case that motion in the conventional sense is but an illusion, that we never move at all.

CLEARCHARGE

The Culture Particle

the culture particle:

imagine as one the collective unconscious mind, the subconscious that extends everywhere throughout space. it is a collection of thoughts and data. everything that has been consciously thought of disperses as particles into this collective unconscious. around all living things is a charged field of culture, streams of particles containing ideas and concepts and images and sound packets.

culture particles flow around us all, meeting and mixing with other culture particles. as particles accrete, these form complexes, as they are matched with others. in a way, this may be a random process or not as patterns form which follow existing complexes.

often when we speak and interact with others, we draw from this field, little consciously thinking about what we say or do sometimes. we feed from it, so to speak, as it is a rich source of ideas ready made.

for all thoughts affect the field, be mindful of what you think!

CLEARCHARGE

A Hint of Power

a hint of power:

it is questioned, is fate real? the deciding factor is power, of course. without any power over our lives, a mindless fate must seem real. this is a frightening concept, like a person thrashing wildly, spun and carried by the waves of fate to a destination unknown. few of us have the powers of a god, but some power, even a hint, is most useful!

with power, is there the wisdom and intelligence to exercise it properly? you could argue, yes, fate was not real in his or her case, because he or she clearly made the right decisions in life and it all turned out pretty well! what is most feared is ignorance.

now there may be an assumption that the world is more stable than perhaps it really is. things can change in an instant or more slowly, but change is inevitable. what is the case today may not even exist in two years time.

observing how things develop and change is both fascinating and essential in life.

CLEARCHARGE

The Dream Construct

the dream construct:

often in dreams there is a strong theme. you are somewhere and such and such is happening and your thoughts are extremely intense. sometimes there are false memories which, only when you have woken up, do you realize are false, but which are completely convincing whilst you are dreaming.

in the alternative world of the dream, there is amnesia involved, of which details of your waking life cannot be remembered, for example, the true date or when something took place. in dreams violent changes in place and thought destroy parts of our memory.

if reality were itself mostly a mental construct, we must consider that the subconscious is far larger than the conscious mind, our waking self.

CLEARCHARGE

Is Time Random?

is time random:

it is commonly thought that each event leads to another and that the course of history can be described as a whole chain of events which have led us to the present day. this must be in some sense true of course but what of the random and unpredictable nature of everyday life? things that come out of nowhere, thoughts or actions that cannot be explained. is this just an inadequate understanding of how it all works?

consider the concept of independent events. is there no such thing as everything is connected and everything influences everything else? it may be the case that there were independent events near the start of time but surely not now?

imagine a display chart of repeating events. to an observer would they recur in a way that seems random?

finally, are people indeed random in nature? are we impulsive or are we driven by logic?

CLEARCHARGE

The Filter of Time

the filter of time:

since the early days, from the dawn of time, man has been in pursuit of knowledge, and this agenda, for it is instinctual, has carried us through the centuries to the present day. what was achieved in progress tends to blur the memory of past mistakes and error, for it is human nature to lock on to the truth and hold it forever, while dismissing as false misconceptions once held up as truth.

conventional units of time give us a macro sense of progression. there are natural cycles at work, such as the day and the year. but what has really happened? if we reject formerly believed ideas and concepts as false, they are avenues where we will no longer travel. is it not then that the past is raked over, so to speak, smoothing out the twisted tangle of self deception and error?

it seems in history that a lot of progress often happens in short bursts, while long periods are stagnant, as though the injection of new ideas encourages even more to occur, we being almost in stasis until a breakthrough happens.

it is something tangible, the need to understand the world, reality, and people, and it was always thus, an original and undiminished part of ourselves.

CLEARCHARGE

A Passage of Time

a passage of time:

conventionally time is imagined as a linear progression. events happen, new ideas are created, are considered to accrete over time and then consolidated opinions are formed on everything. we are indeed used to the concept of progress in history. but what of the non-linear aspect of time?

things that happen, never to happen again, and that are eventually forgotten. something drops out from the chart of history over time, so to speak. for life may be imagined as a zero sum game, what is gained is only to be replaced by something else.

time opens one door, explores a passage, and then retreats and the door closes behind.

CLEARCHARGE

Psychic Soul Twins

psychic soul twins:

consider two neighbouring souls bound and fixed in the matrix of reality, psychic soul twins together forever. extrapolate and posit that all people, all souls, are like a colloidal presence in the fabric of space. where does one person become another, truly?

what is identity? what is self? an independence of thought and of mind, a capacity to think about yourself and your senses. indeed everyone has their own individual personal field as such, do they not?

however, vast is reality, it is both complex and complicated. life in dreams, life on earth. is there a collective subconscious mind?

CLEARCHARGE

Right into the Stream of Life

right into the stream of life:

the long journey to now began in a plane. he remembered being given cookies to eat by his father at the start of a long flight. things were to get complex but the drama of life was yet to escalate. he had little idea of what was to come.

CLEARCHARGE

Measures of Wealth

measures of wealth:

from medieval times, there was an attachment to gold, it was most prized as a possession and was an early measure of wealth.

with the expansion of the economy and developments in technology, wealth and demand only increased. what is most prized today? a survey of what the most demanded things in the modern economy are would be revealing.

is it communications? world wide web access?
is it more conventional? housing?

an analysis of demand may lead to more relevant measures of wealth. but how to accurately measure demand? and how to quantify wealth?

CLEARCHARGE

Where the Senses Occupy

where the senses occupy:

can we see and hear in the same location? it may seem so for in theoretical 3D space we can, but surely sound and light could not be at the same point? even though something happens before us and the noise it makes is perceived at that place.

now sound and light are two different things to be considered. is an explanation that different senses occupy different space, that sound and light are in different dimensions, that there are indeed multiple dimensions, and they only seem to exist at the same point, of course, from a theoretical 3D space point of view.

CLEARCHARGE

A Long Series of Dreams: From One World to the Next

a long series of dreams from one world to the next:

asleep for days....
it began with a long series of dreams, as a little child, events which should have taken place over a longer period of weeks or months appeared in dream episodes squeezed into these few days asleep.

and then waking up in the world of the dream, in a new life, new people, new things.

how long was i asleep? four to five days?

CLEARCHARGE

The Traveller's Care

the traveller's care:

all being said and done....

big travel requires a big plan. navigation and recognition. mapping and imagining the course to follow.

language at its most basic and functional. openers, confirmation, exchange, a question....

gone away are the regular life patterns of old, in their place, life by the day, or by the hour. when should i travel? why do i want to go there?

what are needed are physical energy, a clear head, and care.

CLEARCHARGE

The Memory Trail

the memory trail:

what is memory? a coded pattern that seems like a design? a recording?

passing through life, generating waves, these do not settle immediately. they shadow the present.

easily recoverable memory of the past depends on matching like with like, that which suits together.

CLEARCHARGE

A Theoretical Vector of Time

a theoretical vector of time:

imagine a 2D map of the multiversal grid. consider the solo traveller in a moving pod car beginning the journey away from the grid square it calls home, in a perpetual state of motion. its original vector may be northeast, for example, at a certain speed. if we consider each grid square a different form of space, as the journey continues further into alien space, the traveller and even his pod car may be significantly affected. the vector changes as the direction and the speed of the pod car alter.

although the traveller is not completely alone, for there are other travellers in other pod cars nearby who influence our traveller's journey.

is there a way home? is there a tractor beam force, in effect, that guides our travellers homewards in an instant?

CLEARCHARGE

Medieval History: Bitter Conformity, Ritual and Discovery

medieval history bitter conformity ritual and discovery:

this was a time when society had become settled, in that housing had become secure, communities had developed and a base language had formed. however, fear of the unknown and the spread of illness meant that, although life seemed safer now, there was a need for the group to have similar manners and like ways, to conform to a common ideal.

an outsider, although welcome, was instantly recognized as such, and to the outsider it seemed as if it had happened upon a secret society, so to speak, bent on some group purpose with their own vocabulary and speech. music had a following, used in various rituals and chants.

it was a time for great thinking, many discoveries were made, natural philosophy and science were academic pursuits, and it was a time for writing and the arts.

CLEARCHARGE

Mathematics: Increments in Series and Derivative Calculations

increments in series and derivative calculations:

ratios, fractional odds and probabilities

4:3 and 5:4
57% and 56%
57:43 and 56:44

7:4 and 9:5
64% and 64%
64:36 and 64:36

around the middle of the decimal series 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and its derivative series and fractional odds and probabilities, commonly used in gaming and associated betting, something in the pattern of numbers is significant in various series and derivative calculations. when used in predictive mathematical models and algorithms, it reduces unnecessary calculation in the best instances.

although the difference between 57% and 56% is tiny, the difference between 57% and 64%, for example, is significant. in the case of:

3:2
60%
60:40

5:3
63%
63:37

the difference between 60% and 63% is tiny.

numerical algorithms are patterns of numbers that can benefit mathematical models, used in programming and other applied sciences.

CLEARCHARGE

Latent Demand in the Open Economy

latent demand in the open economy:

personal ambition dictates many consumer choices. a common demand may be frustrated by lack of supply and production means or by low savings or high interest rates. there are many indicators of interest rates in the modern open economy as there are many asset classes and forms of money or credit.

the herd instinct is one of the larger truths about the market, it may be that this clouds the issue of latent demand, be it either social or industrial, for example. the connection between people in the market may be wavering and lead to false indicators. the hot money is always chasing the next big thing.

CLEARCHARGE

Observation and Manipulation

observation and manipulation:

when something happens that is fantastic, the natural line of questioning begins thus....

did i make this happen? am i responsible?
can i repeat it?

the old practitioner has long mastered the variables involved required to bring about a certain effect. if i do this and this, then that happens. if i alter this variable in such a way, then something happens that is different.

the master has sensed the importance of the sources of the event manifest, and become an expert in managing the result.

CLEARCHARGE

Catch a Word, A Spell

catch a word, a spell:

what was i thinking at the time? what words were in my head?

a token to remember an event
a memory of importance

word a spell, how to spell?

CLEARCHARGE

The Most Popular Theoretical Model

the most popular theoretical model:

the most popular theoretical model that everyone is familiar with is, without doubt, the 3D mechanical motion theoretical model. our eyesight is aligned with this in mind. indeed, the 3D world is projected across our field of vision and we are practised in thinking about it over centuries of life with this the common state of affairs.

this is, of course, the original theoretical model when thinking about the universe. do we have any power over this? well, they do say practice makes perfect. any physical skill requires repetition. the difference from the first time an object is thrown towards a far target to the hundredth or thousandth time may be quite remarkable, from rank lack of coordination to elegant ease.

when two people are together, the stage of life is set. does the other person view me accurately? when i turn to the right, does the other person see thus? when my mood changes, what expression is seen? in an electronic sense, this all requires vast circuitry, does it not?

CLEARCHARGE

A Historical Perspective on Social Hierarchy

a historical perspective on social hierarchy:

there is in man an innate sense of social hierarchy. there are leaders and their followers. it is almost a common obsession, and this is reflected in history.

from medieval history, with its princely states and duchies, lords of various calibre and the notion of the free man. hope that the leader is wise and able, to submit power to the few in command.

wealth and power are associated with these concepts. a more modern view of such a man might be the millionaire playboy businessman, leader of a large company employing many people and with his bright red sports car and jet, indeed free to come and go as he pleases.

attached to rank are presumed qualifications of social ease and attention to those around and of course natural intelligence.

CLEARCHARGE

A Frame of Love

a frame of love:

it was morning. she was somewhere safe. the previous twenty four hours had been a struggle. what was happening now was erasing memories of the far past when they had been together.

it was another life now or certainly seemed it and the new replaces the old. he had violated the past with his activity but there was something between the two still intact.

to recount to her, to tell her of his life after many years was a move back to long ago.

CLEARCHARGE

With a Twist of Love

with a twist of love:

the sentiments of the morning had settled. evening came and the noise and voices of the crowd rushed in their place. they told of worries and frustrations, long held views of other people and their hopes and ambitions. it made an uneasy mix.

a drink, chatter surrounding him, then something dropped. like the various symbols on the wheels on the slot machine coming to rest, a chain of miserable thoughts came in a shot - her, doubt, pain. the two worlds had collided.

another day, similar circumstances, but he had recovered.

CLEARCHARGE

Long Summers Ago

long summers ago:

a wry comment and laughter marked the entrance of one of those long summer days of the past with time spent both indoors and out in the garden and playing fields. what was in memory could not be taken for canon truth. was it one summer or another, one day or another?

the laws of manners dictated extensive conversation. yes, truly, shoot! have a ball. engage one another. the lord of our party kept a watchful eye over us. ain't too much? is he looking? we were aware of each other and wary of ourselves. indeed, what was fitting and proper, in this the last few days together? soon to be shipped away from this patch, this land.

CLEARCHARGE

The Promise of Ancient Alliances

the promise of ancient alliances:

as it was, there was no modern society with its customs and practices, its rote forms of behaviour. as it is today, people take many things in common for granted, the language, dress and general culture, no longer do we need to search intensively to find what to say or how to behave in most situations.

still, then it was a divided world....
divided by differences of geography and personal differences, and they were in fairly isolated groups. alliances between groups of a few became alliances between many, and anything of value was quickly distributed and shared. the leaders of the time gave promises that they would help and continue together as part of a larger group.

the difficulty of these early meetings was the struggle in communication and the often startling differences between people.

CLEARCHARGE

The Mystic Legacy of the Ancients

the mystic legacy of the ancients:

several things from the ancient past are not lost. their view of life, as it was, may have been simple but surely they could imagine today, at least in part, though perhaps they could not quite place the details of the present. people dreamed of cities with their tall buildings and quick means of transport to distant places long ago, before they existed. with little to do, what else could they do but imagine the far future? they constructed language and forms which reside with us now. sometimes it is hard to distinguish what is truly modern and what is ancient in culture.

it is a primal urge to imagine the possibilities of the future. even today, people imagine starships and travel to other worlds. as of yet, they do not exist. hyperdrive and fuel have not been invented.

sometimes, echoes of the past arrive, to inform us of ancient objectives and agenda. it is human instinct to search for knowledge and this was emphasized in the ancient past.

CLEARCHARGE