Happy New Years!

2012 is right around the corner. I can feel the buzz of it and it feels good.

There’s been an enormity of change throughout the world the past year and 2012 has the potential for even more. I’m looking forward to it.

So as 2012 begins here are two expressions for the new year: Obi Wan Kanobe speaking the immortal ‘May the Force be with you’ … followed by Buzz Lightyears’ exuberant ‘To Infinity … and Beyond.’

Copernicus Mirrors

I don't often remember my dreams, but this is an unusual one I did from several months ago. I had a dream where I was in a writing class. In the class, the instructor asked us to write about anything we wanted. I sat there for a while and I couldn’t think of anything to write. The instructor came over and asked if she (or he?) could help, but I didn’t know what to say. Finally she (he?) said write about Copernicus Mirrors. I had no idea what a Copernicus Mirror was, but I figured it was enough to start, so I did.

I was in the in-between state between being asleep and being awake. I seemed aware of what I was dreaming, and somehow able to control it, and still yielding to what might come forth. So I began writing in my mind, and at that point the classroom disappeared as did paper, pen, and any awareness of any reality. All I knew was what I was writing/speaking/expressing words about Copernicus Mirrors.

What came forth was magical and brilliant, full of mystery, full of symbolism and symbolism within symbolism, or at least that’s what I thought as I was immersed in it. But I can’t remember any of it, only impressions! Somehow I fully believe that if I were to be a similar state, I could perhaps produce something equally as powerful. What I do remember it that it was about mirrors, layer, perceptions. Like a story within a story within a story and so on, such as in the movie ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’, or to see an Escher drawing that folds back on itself. In that in-between state I sensed this theme and thought about how to layer it and let that happen in words. And then I thought I should undo a layer, and that happened too. I think I went 4 or 5 layers deep and undid them, some of their own, some with my urging. It was fascinating. The expression came to an end and it was time to awake, and all that was left was Copernicus Mirrors – so I did some research.

Copernicus was an astronomer in the 15^th century who introduced the idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. This was a huge paradigm shift in thought, equivalent to learning that the earth was not flat, or Einstein’s theory of relativity. It changed a fundamental human perception. The heliocentric theory also helped spark the scientific revolution that followed.

Mirrors are reflectors – giving back light in that preserves the picture its reflecting. It can also distort the picture depending on the curvature and markup of the surface. Copernicus even used mirrors in his telescopes.

Somehow the term Copernicus Mirror doesn’t seem so outrageous or unusual even. Perhaps it’s a way of talking about a paradigm shift as a result of seeing the reflection of something in a different way. I suppose the analogy could be taken in other fascinating and curious directions as well.

While I can’t say I know what Copernicus Mirrors might mean or represent, if anything at all, I do like the phrase. And I do like that it offers a combination of two powerful factors and the mystery of how they can come together and produce something different.

About Me

The profile are of Blogger offers limited space, so here is an introduction

Among the many roles he plays in this life include software developer, bodyworker, athlete, yogi, and writer. He is a seer, believer, visionary, connector, healer, and artist of life. Sitting at the crossroads of the breadth and advances of science, timeless wisdom, modern technology, extreme athletics, progressive thought, and energetic health he discovers new connections and relationships while questioning it all. He regularly explores edges and perceived limits. A spirited agent provocateur graced with a foundation of deep stillness, an unshakeable peace, and a fierce passion for life; an everyday warrior guided by integrity and heart and soul who relishes the immersion in this epoch, feeling both the intensity of centuries of devastating heartaches and inspiring joys. A being developed on courageously meeting his own struggles, pains, fears, insecurities; the insight of dozens of teachers and guides; and decades of being human. He believes in the vibrancy of every being; and our ability to harness our common desire to live in a beautiful world to shift towards that dream.

Here are a few other posts about me and this blog!

More of my life experiences.
http://fiercewolfspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-introductions.html

Why do I write this blog!
http://fiercewolfspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/01/why.html

More about fierce and what it means to me.
http://fiercewolfspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/01/fierce.html

A little Alice in Wonderland

"I mean, what is an un-birthday present?"
"A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course."
Alice considered a little. "I like birthday presents best," she said at last.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" cried Humpty Dumpty. "How many days are there in a year?"
"Three hundred and sixty-five," said Alice.
"And how many birthdays have you?"
"One." - Lewis Carroll

Loopholes in human DNA?

This might be considered another part of my theories on evolution, similar to my post on DSM, but an alternate or even complimentary theory.

When software developers write software they do their best to anticipate and respond to most inputs. Usually they are fairly successful. Then they turn the software over to the software tester and they, being more devious and needing to do their job, provide even more inputs and configurations to find more edges. Still software testing can only go so far. Then the software goes to the public for use. At that point the lack of control is gone and sooner or later some user does something entirely unexpected, finding a loophole in the code, and the program gives a fatal error.

When the US Congress writes the tax code, they do their best to close the loops. I’m sure they give it to accountants and others to read and uncover potential loopholes, but again it only goes so far. Then it goes to the public – and guess what, someone finds a loophole!

What if human DNA has loopholes? What if over time evolution has tried out various combinations and said ‘yeah that works’. Humans are created from that DNA and go out into the world. Maybe evolution has its own testing scheme, similar to software, but reality/life is the ultimate test. Maybe part of human DNA has never been tested. After all the last couple hundred years of human existence has proved that humans can create a lot of things nature itself never did and even use nature in unusual ways. There are whole categories – antibiotics, plastics, manufactured pharmaceuticals (legal and illegal), noxious gases, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), mono-strains of corn and other crops, high fructose corn syrup, pop/soda, pasteurization, chemical fertilizers, cell phones – and the list goes on. What we can expect when humans throw all this at a human body? When all of this is never ‘tested’ by DNA, by evolution?

I imagine we see the results of the unexpected, the unnatural – diabetes, or epidemics of obesity, or gluten allergies.

But humans think we’re smarter, so to counter these conditions we develop insulin and then stomach stapling, and corn that can tolerate Round-Up and so on.

Or maybe nature has outsmarted humans already and these aren’t loopholes at all. What if diabetes as a result of excess sugar is an attempt to weed out the undesirable results and hopefully influence human behavior back to more natural forms? What if gluten allergies force us to change our diet and improve our health?

Who knows really – but humans and their DNA will be on this merry-go-round of mutual interdependence for a while!

The DSM – an indicator of evolution?

From Wikipedia – “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.” Currently in its fourth revision, it covers 297 disorders and is 886 pages long. It should be noted that this is mostly used in the US.  I would imagine similar dictionaries exist in other countries, but the DSM is a good tool for this post.

So what does the DSM have to do with evolution? I have a theory that they may be linked.

We tend to believe that evolution moves in slow cycles. After all it took about a 100,000 years to develop the human brain, the neocortex on top of the limbic system on top of the reptilian brain. I wonder if it’s really the case that evolution moves so slow. After all, we can’t really see it even though DNA may be changing. In fact nature has even more opportunities to play with a population of seven billion humans and about half million new babies born each day. With the rate of change everywhere in human society, doesn’t evolution have to keep up somehow?

What if, what if the DSM is one description of nature’s play? Of nature’s attempt to further evolution? To change human DNA for the next shift, the next leap? Granted most of the conditions in the DSM are not ones we would hope are the future of the human species, but maybe they provide clues for nature. They could just be experiments.

Of course there is no dictionary of the flip side – of the developments in human consciousness. The psychics, the energy healers, telepathic, clairvoyants, precognitives, clairaudiants, psychokinetics, geniuses – maybe they are as much as experiment as those with bi-polar disorder, ADHD, or anything else described in the DSM.

I have no basis for any of this, but it’s fun to speculate, to throw out a different idea. Humans are changing and human culture is changing, but it’s difficult to see that when we as humans are part of that.

Hallelujah

You might think this post would be about Handel’s Messiah being that it’s near Christmas, but no, this is about the song Hallelujah penned by Leonard Cohen. It’s one of my favorite songs, and while I like Cohen’s version my favorite covers are by Brandi Carlile and Jeff Buckley, both of which give me goosebumps. Brandi Carlile sang it with the Seattle Symphony live – I wish I could have been there for that.

Below are 5 verses most often sung. I believe there are at least two more common verses and I’ve even read there are another 20 verses somewhere, but I’ve never found them. The lyrics are like poetry – just beautiful, full of imagery. Still they don’t seem to make much sense on the surface. Supposedly it took Cohen a year to write these lyrics, which makes sense as the song reveals itself over time for the song covers time.

Then you hear the song on the radio, or a CD, and you start singing along. The music reverberates through you and the meaning reveals itself.

For me it’s about faith – having it, keeping it, losing it, discovering it again and again, having it tested, having it return, rejoicing in it, knowing/feeling it’s real. It can be sung as hopeful, sorrowful, joyous – it depends on the artist, the mood, the musicians.

For a short while I did some singing and this was my favorite song to sing, especially backed up by the amazing pianist I worked with. And when I sang it for an audience – wow, what a feeling. What a feeling inside and it was clear I had reached everyone listening.

Regardless it’s always beautiful and profound. Find your favorite version and sing along, let it sink it and light up your day.

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

I've heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

It goes like this

The fourth, the fifth

The minor fall, the major lift

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you

She tied you to a kitchen chair

She broke your throne, and she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before

I know this room, I've walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew you.

I've seen your flag on the marble arch

Love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know

What's really going on below

But now you never show it to me, do you?

And remember when I moved in you

The holy dove was moving too

And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above

But all I’ve ever learned from love

Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you

It’s not a cry you can hear at night

It’s not somebody who has seen the light

It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Beginnings

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, Begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

This seems a good way to begin – with boldness. To write a blog, on the web, where everyone can see it. Though still anonymous for now.

Before going any further though, this quote needs some expansion … and clarification. These two sentences are only the end of a larger quote:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

Now for the clarification. Almost every source of this quote cites this as the words of the famous German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. However, that’s not the case as the Goethe Society themselves have uncovered. The full explanation from the Goethe Society is here (and here ). The real author is William Hutchinson Murray.

Thank you Mr. Murray for empowering so many people for the past sixty years.

Let the magic begin!