Nothing Ever Dies

I was listening to the Prairie Home Companion this week. One of the story segments was a continuation of a segment from last week about a snowman in the front yard of a house.

The snowman is quite philosophical and questioning, wondering what the sky looks like since he can’t move, what’s behind him, why he’s here, and so on. Amusing and poignant all at once.

This week the snowman still lives and encounters a new character in the neighborhood, a tree. The tree itself is played by what sounds like a black woman with sass and verve and some attitude. This only seems to be confirmed when the snowman asks the tree what kind of tree she is and the tree says ‘Black walnut baby.’

While the snowman and tree are talking, the snowman wonders what it’s like to die, since he has a sense it will happen soon. The tree responds with ‘Nothing ever dies, it just becomes part of something bigger.’ The snowman asks, ‘Like what?’ The tree says ‘Me. You melt and go into my roots and I grow.’

I wouldn’t normally associate PHC with this kind of wisdom, but this one I like. It’s true – our soul might move on to somewhere else, but everything does into become part of something bigger. Everything on Earth goes back to the ground, to the Earth, to the huge planet we live on. That includes plants, animals, humans, even rocks as they break apart. Even a star when it implodes and dies becomes part of something bigger – another star perhaps, or particles scattered in a galaxy.

What a great piece of wisdom for the day.

The Swing

This is one of those days I love when I watched something and came to a new understanding of the world and how I see it. Or in this case it’s about Baseball and Golf …

well sort of …

Tonight I watched Moneyball, a movie about Baseball – yes Baseball with a capital ‘B’. An All-American game. I’m not a baseball fan, but the movie reminded me of why for some it’s such a fascinating game. Sure there are statistics – more than any other sports. There are strategies based upon anything and everything. That’s all for the spectators.

For the players it’s all about the moment. The moment the ball goes across the plate and the batter decides to swing or not and hope to connect with the ball. Or at least that’s what it would be for me. I’ve never really played baseball, a little t-ball as a kid, hitting a few tennis balls in the backyard with a bat, but never baseball. But maybe I understand the mind of a player a bit more.

How can I bring every last bit of experience of my life into this one moment, this one decision? To assess the weather, the light, the wind, the pitcher’s throw, the curve of the pitch, the spin, my stance, my grip, how will I swing, how I’ll lift my front foot, how much to step forward, to swing in exactly the right spot to hit the ball. To bring forth every previous time at the plate, whether in a game or practice, to bring forth the experience of every previous pitcher, every word of advice from a coach. And not just the baseball moments, but everything – the moments in the weight room, the moments of eating, time spent in preparation, hours and quality of sleep, all the rituals and superstitions, all voices in my head coming together for one moment. Every moment of my life compressed into a slice of time to hit a ball with a stick.

The truth is the statistics of the number of connections is low. There are the pitches never swung at, some smartly because it’s not worth chasing. There are pitches misjudged which should be swung at and aren’t. There are pitches that are swung at that miss. There are pitches swung at that go wild and out-of-play.

Still I know that if Baseball was my game I’d spent the hours and days and weeks to step up and make that connection, with the ball and with life. I understand why they stand around and wait. For those 5 or 6 times at the plate in 9 innings to put it all on the line.

It’s the same with Golf. I’m not a golfer, but I have gone to the range to swing at a few buckets of balls. Even in those short periods of time, I can feel the pull. To find a grip, a stance, a swing, shoulder placement, follow-through, twist, concentration, focus, precise effort (not too much, not too little). I can feel the pull to try again. To try something different. To connect better with the ball, to get the perfect arc, to send it farther down the green. I can feel the pull. To try again to bring every bit of life into this one swing that lasts a second in time.

Then I let go because it’s not my game. And because I want more.

I want more than the moments of the smack of a bat against a ball a few times in a game. I want that complete devotion to the present now, … and now, … and now. I want to bring every bit of who I am into every moment in time. Every piece of work, every slice of play, every smile to a stranger, every footfall of a run, every connection with another being.  To be present here and now. I don’t know how well I’ll do, but I’m sure going to give it my best!

Play and Work

“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between their work and his play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body, their information and their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly knows which is which. They simply pursues their vision of excellence at whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them, they are always doing both.” - James A. Michener

The Paradox of Responsibility

The title of this post comes from a section of another blog called Revealing Wisdom written by Anne-Marie Marron. In particular it comes from a post titled Human Heartbreak and Longing.

Here’s the section:
The Paradox of Responsibility:

How do I take responsibility and then let go of responsibility all at the same time?

There is a fine edge between being responsible for creating our life circumstances and surrendering any sense of responsibility. I’m exploring this edge right now as I find my way into creating work that inspires and sustains me. It’s so compelling to be responsible and take every action known to mankind to ‘make things happen’.

The worker part of me just wants to work even if it’s not in alignment with the bigger vision. This keeps me disconnected from the rhythmic flow that appears below the radar and at the center of my heart.

How do we each find our particular edge of balance between taking action and let letting go to see what appears?

I love paradox, and not just paradox, but polarities, apparent opposites that flow into one another. Yin and Yang, Daylight into Night, the Masculine and Feminine. I love the question Anne-Marie puts forth – how to be in that balance of being and doing, resting and working, waiting and pushing forward.

I find myself at this edge, this balance, all the time. Knowing when act and move and progress and push forward; and when to rest, be still, watch, wait, listen. Like a tide or a breath there are stillpoints on either end of the acting and resting. After the inhale is a pause … feel that pause now. Then there’s an exhale and another pause … and soak that one in too. In those pauses is the potential. What will happen next?

In life, it’s the same. After the action and moving, there often comes a natural pause which we must recognize. In that natural pause we look around and using our best judgment, intuition, and listening we decide what’s next, or maybe life decides for us if we don’t listen well. Maybe what’s next is to rest, or maybe it’s to change course. Rest has its own pause, where movement just begins to happen and we decide what’s next. To let the movement grow, or to let it fade.

We need both – the inhale and the exhale – and we need the pauses to invite new possibilities. It’s a lifelong practice of listening and experimenting in every moment.

What choice will we make now?

Why?

The profile section of Blogspot here doesn’t offer much space for an introduction, 1200 characters plus some favorites and interests. Because of that I wanted to share more about this endeavor. I started with the word fierce, and this one will answer the question why.

Why write a blog? Why not just keep a journal somewhere hidden away? If I did that, I’d never read it again and have no need of eloquence. Besides this isn’t a journal with intensively private thoughts, it’s a collection. So why do it?

-        For me it’s a keepsake of sorts of my favorite quotes and poems. Now they are scattered about in emails, documents, and scraps of paper. Putting them all here I can share them, remember them, and even write about why they are favorites, why they resonate with me.

-        When I’m reading a book I’m always excited when the author provides glimpses into the etymology of word. How it was originally used, what it’s derivation was, where  it originally came from. It’s fascinating to discover how the usage of words has changed over time. So again it’s a collection and keepsake of all those amazing words out there.

-        I have cool ideas, or at least I think they’re cool. Writing them down gives me a chance to share them. I won’t get to most of them, but maybe someone else will.

-        I suppose part of this may be like a journal with personal reflections on words, ideas, things I read or hear.

-        Part of this exercise is simply to write better. I don’t do much writing for style in my profession. With some practice, my aim is to express myself through words better – more eloquent, more meaningful, more entertaining at times.

-        When I read other people’s blogs I am deeply fascinated by what they wrote, how they wrote – it’s so intimate. It’s not a newspaper article written in a certain style. It’s not a book with chapters and plots. It’s not a research paper with numbers and conclusions. It’s not a business plan with details and plans. It’s writing from the soul. I wanted to do the same – write from the soul. What stirs me, what moves me, what do I think about. Perhaps someone will appreciate what I write, or how I write it, and get to know me better because of that. Still there’s a strong element of self-discovery in all this.

-        Another simple basic answer is because it feels like the right thing. In some aspects I can’t explain it, it’s just a calling from my soul.

That’s a few answers, actually more than I had expected would come forth when I began writing this. It’s even surprising to me, but there you go.

Enjoy! Or not!

The Mexican Fisherman and the Investment Banker

An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna.

The banker complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."

The banker then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The banker then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

What Matters Most? The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life."

The investor scoffed, "I am an Ivy League MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. "

The investor continued, "And instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would then sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution! You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But how long will this all take?"

To which the banker replied, "Perhaps 15 to 20 years."

"But what then?" asked the Mexican.

The banker laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions!"

"Millions. Okay, then what?" wondered the Mexican.

To which the investment banker replied, "Then you would retire. You could move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

The Oddities of Air Travel

I’ve done my share of air travel in my adult life with at least several hundred thousand miles under my belt. At first it was unusual, but after so many trips it feels like just another part of life. But overall, it seems like a rather unusual experience.

It would seem that the restrictions and frustrations of air travel would generate a lot of complaints and backlash.  There are multiple modes of travel besides the plane itself – moving walkways, taxis or buses or trains to get to and from the airport, trains at the airport. Flying requires being at the airport several hours before the flight. After the flight, often waiting for baggage can take a long time even in small airports. It’s even true that airlines have scaled back services – no more pretzels, no more free baggage, and some contemplating charging to use the bathroom.

The reality is I rarely hear a complaint, even from friends and family who travel. Of course when there is severe weather or other unusual situations that disrupt the system and cause massive delays, complaints are there. After all it’s no fun sleeping on an airport floor or spending 36 hours in an airport.

Oddly, it seems just the opposite. Every line is usually calm – the check-in line, the security line, getting on the plane. Even the atmosphere on the plane seems relatively calm. There’s not a lot of disruptions or unruly passengers or words spoken in anger or frustration. How is that?

I wonder – is this because of the rules. It does seem that there are quite a few rules – take off your shoes, take out your laptop, only seating area 1 first, an assigned seat, put your luggage in wheels first, etc. These rules are not oppressive in any way and even not that restrictive. The truth is they make travel easy because they are simple, they are easy; everyone knows what to expect and how to behave. Everyone can relax for a bit.

That’s what people do – they relax. This is nothing to do but follow the pattern from leaving home to getting to the airport to checkin to the actual flight. There’s nothing to do, no place to go, nobody to please, no cellphones to answer, no email to attend to. It’s peaceful in an unusual way. Just grab a book, listen to music, take a nap, do a crossword – it’s like recess or free time.

It’s not that I particularly look forward to the routine of travel, still it offers an unusual calmness.

 

Food Sovereignty

Wow - this is awesome!

I first heard about this idea just a few days ago from a news story about a small town in Maine that passed a law to allow the sale of locally grown food without the interference of regulators. Here's the article.

The idea is awesome! What's even more amazing is that this is the 5th town in Maine to pass such a law in the past year.

Ready for more - the concept of Food Sovereignity began in 1996 with a group called Via Campesina. Wikipedia has a great article as well.

I hope this catches on!

Anton's Key

Orson Scott Card wrote an amazing trilogy of science fiction called Ender’s Game over 25 years ago. The three books of the trilogy are Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. Card subsequently wrote two more to bring the total to five – Children of the Mind and Ender in Exile. Then he wrote four more books covering the same period of time from the perspective of other characters. I’ve read the original trilogy multiple times and still find it fascinating, not just as a story, but with the combination of topics, philosophies, and modern relevance. If you’re looking for a great set of books, these are great ones to consider.

This post is about Anton’s Key though which comes from the Ender's Game books.. From Wikipedia: “Anton's Key is a fictional genetic modification to human DNA. Though named after its inventor, a scientist named Anton, it primarily afflicts Julian 'Bean' Delphiki; over the course of the novels.” The fictional genetic modification results in unstoppable growth in the brain and therefore incredible intelligence. The downside is the unstoppable growth of the body as well resulting giantism and eventually a significantly shorter life than an average person.

I wonder – do humans have something like an Anton’s Key within their DNA?

Consider this – some of the most amazing artists, thinkers, musicians, philosophers, scientists are absolutely brilliant in their endeavors, sometimes even ahead of their time, and still most of these people also had a significant counter to their skills. A lack of social grace, depression, and so on – something akin to the absent-minded professor who is so smart, but can’t find his glasses on a regular basis and forgets to eat. It doesn’t happen all the time, but why is this so common? Is there something in human genes that has this kind of affect?

There is alternative – perhaps there is so much natural energy and focus towards their chosen endeavor that is leaves very little energy, or time, or desire to fulfill or step into other sides of life.

Or maybe they’re both true.

Like many of my other posts, I have no idea of an answer, other than to postulate the question and wonder …

enlightement

Wow - there's an overloaded word. It means something different to each person, each religion, each spiritual tradition. Ask 100 people from house means and you'll get a fairly consistent answer. I imagine you'd find some themes if you asked 100 people what 'enlightenment' means. Myself, I usually have an internal chuckle because I think of enlightenment in a different way.
I look at the middle of the word - lighten. That's what I think of in two forms of lightening. The first is lightening your load - getting rid of junk. That is beliefs, thoughts, ideas, patterns that have been embedded into our being since birth. A return to our eternal nature. Lightening.

I also think of it as 'Hey, lighten up' - have fun, enjoy yourself. I recall an experience at a one-day Integral Zen/Mondo Zen retreat. At one point during the retreat the Doshin encouraged us to let go of the solemn, quiet nature of the day, and just laugh. What a great release and view of the world!

Fierce

The profile section of Blogspot here doesn’t offer much space for an introduction, 1200 characters plus some favorites and interests. Because of that I wanted to share more about this endeavor. I’ll start with the word fierce.

Most common definitions and usage of the word fierce intones violence, force, savage, or something bad or severe.  Examples might include a fierce warrior, fierce competition, fierce animals, fierce wind. This is not entirely the meaning or idea I had in mind, nor is that how I think about the word in the context of my totem, Fierce Wolf, especially since my character isn’t that.

What do I mean then?

Here’s a start which also meshes the above common definition: profound, deeply and intensely felt and often aggressively expressed.

From the common definition and this addition comes several themes

-          Passion, focus, depth, intensity, zeal

-          A lot of force or energy, either physical or spiritual or emotional

-          Often involves emotions, which can cover the spectrum from love to rage

The website UrbanDictionary.com had another definition which adds a new flavor also: the act of being bold, daring, and/or highly creative.

There is a further dimension not implied in any of these as fierce is an adjective more often used with things or actions.  I am see the human dimension as key.

So here goes: the human strength of soul, passion, and intensity expressed with boldness and courage.

Here are a few modern examples:

David Whyte, who is an Irish poet who brings his work into corporate settings as a means of change and fostering creativity,  uses the word fierce in his work. As in the fierce edges of life, or the fierce conversation with yourself when there are challenges afoot.

Fierce Grace is a new documentary about Ram Dass and his experience of reshaping his life after having a stroke in 1997. Fierce Grace is how Ram Dass describes his experience.

Like any word, it can have tremendous power, as so it is with fierce.

Einstein

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them. - Albert Einstein

I love this quote and how it can be applied in so many ways. It can be applied to personal issues, to physical issues, to solving problems. It's a lot about perspective and seeing things in different ways, especially if we're stuck and need another kind of input whether that's another person, another idea, or letting go altogether to quiet the mind to discover our hidden wisdom.

Moore's Law

Moore’s Law is a prediction that the number of transistors on a computer processor within the same area would double every 18-24 months. This statement was made by Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel Corporation, in 1965 after being asked to give a prediction of what the next 10 years of semiconductor development would look like.

Astonishingly, Moore’s Law has been fairly accurate for the past 45 years since Moore put forth his prediction. The accuracy can even be extended backward in time from 1965 to 1946 when ENIAC, the first general purpose electronic computer was created.

In general this also means there has been a decreasing cost per unit (or increase performance per unit).

Here’s a short timeline of Intel chips for Personal Computers to illustrate the effect in just the past 25 years.

-          1984 – 8086 chip had 29,000 transistors. A complete IBM PC was about $3000 (or $7000 today)

-          1992 – 386 chip had 275,000 transistors

-          2002 – Itanium 2 chip had 220,000,000 transistors

-          2011 –6-core i7 chip has 2,270,000,000 transistors. A complete PC today about $2000.

It would take 80,000 8086 chips from 1984 to match the power of just 1 modern i7 chip! Or it would cost probably in excess of $50,000,000 for a computer in 1984 with the equivalent power of a 2011 i7 personal computer.

This is just a common personal computer, not even a server or a super-computer which are still thousands of times more powerful – and which before long will be sitting on a desk, or in a phone even.

Transistors are not the technology following an exponential growth curve

-          Graphics processing (pixels) which also affects TVs

-          Storage, both hard drives and RAM

o   In 1984 512 kilobytes of memory was a lot for a PC. Today  25 years later, 8 gigabytes is common, or 16,000 times more memory.

o   In 1984 10 megabytes was a good sized hard for a PC. Today 25 years later, 500 Gigabytes is common, or 50,000 times more hard drive storage.

-          Network capacity and throughput

o   In 1984 a 1200 bits/second modem was common. Today a home internet connection is 5 Megabits/second (625,000 bytes/second) or 4000 times faster. And beyond the home those networks are even faster.

-          Digital cameras

o   The first 1 MegaPixel cameras were introduced around 1998. Today there are cameras with 20 MegaPixels, or 20 times as many pixels.

-          Solar power generation

-          Information generation – the amount of information available on the internet – music, video, photos, blogs, newspapers, research, etc.

The nature of the physical world as it’s currently understood it does seem to put a limit on Moore’s Law. At the very least the limit of 1 atom will be reached. 1 atom however is not a singular entity, but composed of electrons, protons, and neutrons with varying energies, spins, and fields. It’s not inconceivable to have computing and storage capacities at a subatomic level. Nevertheless, it’s still expected that Moore’s Law will continue to be accurate for another 20 years. Which means another 1000-fold increase in power!

With this kind of exponential growth, in 2005 there was 1 million times more computing power in a similar area than in 1965. In less than 15 years from now in 2025, there will be 1 billion times more computer power in a similar are than in 1965!

I imagine these kinds of numbers are hard to understand and grasp. Why? Mostly it’s invisible and it’s so ubiquitous. These rapid growth cycles mean the new stuff is integrated into daily life very quickly. It’s also hard to find any comparisons since there isn’t much that much with the same speed – building/housing, transportation (cars and planes), books, energy development. These are all no doubt affected by the increases in computing power, but they continue to move in a much longer lifecycle.

As technology continues to move forward so quickly, I think it’s worthwhile to attempt to understand the trends and where they might lead. Moore’s Law is one of the ways to do that.

Ray Kurzweil

It’s likely you’ve never heard of Ray Kurzweil, though you will have almost undoubtedly seen or been affected by some of his inventions which including electronic keyboards, optical character recognition, and flatbed scanners among many others.

What makes him so significant and the reason I write about him here is because he is a futurist, and has been for more than 30 years. His predictions of technology and it’s changes have been fairly accurate over those 30 years. He’s written multiple books about these ideas beginning with “The Age of Intelligent Machines” in 1990, “The Age of Spiritual Machines” in 1998, and “The Singularity is Near” in 2005. One of his central themes is discussing technology and how the rate of technological rate is accelerating – and what the means for the future of technology and humans.

Kurzweil has captivating predictions for the future of mankind and of technology. His predictions have the potential to bring about massive change for the betterment of the planet and humans, and also brings about the potential reality of scenarios in ‘The Matrix’. Many people also point out the potential holes and flaws as well as the shear optimism and determination with which he believes in his predictions.  Regardless of whether he’s right or not, or even partially right, his ideas bring forth the reality of bigger questions coming for humans.

I won’t write too much here other than to introduce him and invoke your curiosity, but there are so many lines of thought and questioning that can be started and linked to some of his ideas. Here’s a few which you’ll read about by me in the coming weeks and months:

-          Moore’s Law

-          What does it mean to be human?

-          Immortality

-          What happens at the point when machine intelligence, or silicon intelligence, has more computing power than the human brain?

-          As a human being, how to comprehend and integrate the coming paradigm shift of intelligence.

-          Rate of change itself

-          How does spirituality and consciousness mesh with new intelligence?

-          How to balance technology and biology?

-          Nature’s intelligence

If you want a taste of his ideas without fully diving into his books, the movie 'Transcendent Man' is great start.

While the turning of the calendar to 2012 is still fresh and I look forward to the year ahead, I’m just as excited to see further down the road of what the next paradigm shifts might be. Stay tuned for more.

Courage

One of my favorite quotes:Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon


Here's a second part to this - the root of the word courage comes from the 14th century French word curage or the Latin word cor - which means heart.