Cool here, not clear

They say flower pictures are better when taken in overcast conditions. Well, guess what we have here in Bellingham? Cool, cloudy, windy conditions this morning, the temperature not even 60 degrees. Taken yesterday at the Farmers' Market, I thought this picture of the red, white and blue (and yellow, purple and pink) bouquets was quite lovely.

I am almost finished with the book, Biocentrism. (This link will take you to the author's page about the book.) I've been reading about quantum mechanics, Zeno's paradox, entropy, the Time Train, and much more. Here's an excerpt from the chapter entitled, "No Time to Lose":

That time is a fixed arrow is a human construction. That we live on the edge of all time is a fantasy. That there is an irreversible, on-flowing continuum of events linked to galaxies and suns and the Earth is an even greater fantasy. Space and time are forms of animal understanding -- period. We carry them around with us like turtles with shells. So there simply is no absolute self-existing matrix out there in which physical events occur independent of life.

When I was younger, I read quite a lot of science fiction, and I especially loved stories where people in a spaceship would travel to a distant world at close to the speed of light. They would return home to find that all their contemporaries had died long before because of the time differential. This was fascinating to me, particularly when I learned that is exactly what would happen if we could indeed travel at near light speed. To learn that the galaxies and stars sent their light to Earth billions of years ago and they no longer exist as I see them boggles my mind.

At the end of each chapter, Lanza presents a Principle related to his theory of biocentrism. The farther along in the book I travel, the more interested I am. He also tells stories about his childhood, how he got to be a doctor, and about his family dynamics. He'll inject a little unexpected humor now and then that makes me laugh out loud. Although I have a few more chapters to read, I'll be a little sorry when it's over.

Although none of the ideas in the book are completely new to me, they are all put together in a way that has expanded my idea of consciousness, time and space, life and death. It's actually comforting to look at things through the lens of biocentrism. It allows for the possibility of the death of loved ones being something other than what I have experienced. Lanza's sister was killed in an auto accident not long after she had married Ed, the love of her life, and things were looking up for her. From the chapter "Death and Eternity":

Christine had recently lost more than a hundred pounds, and Ed had bought her a pair of diamond earrings as a surprise. It's going to be hard to wait -- I have to admit -- but I know Christine is going to look fabulous in them the next time I see her . . . in whatever form she and I and this amazing play of consciousness assume.

The book also has two appendices, one on the Lorentz Transformation and the other on Einstein's Theory of Relativity. They look a bit daunting, but I will make my way through them in appreciation for the author's ability to take me into his worldview.

If a tree falls

I took this picture of myself with my trusty self-timer, sitting in my favorite chair (as you can see, a simple reclining lawn chair), a glass of wine (just below the purple water bottle), and the red Super Soaker on the floor behind me.  As you can see, I've started reading Biocentrism. And I have already learned, just on Chapter 3, that if a tree falls in a forest and there's nobody around to hear it, it does not make a sound!

Yes, you heard that right: no sound. You will have to take my word on that, until you yourself read the book and discover the incontrovertible truth. So far, the book is absorbing on many levels, not the least of which is that the theory it presents, well, it just feels right. I am nowhere near finished with it, and I'll write a real book review when I'm done, but I did want to write down something that has been percolating within me for a few days now.

I'm going to write fewer posts in the near future, and here's why. First, I find myself casting about for blog fodder all the time, looking at my life events through that lens. I think I actually need to change my focus to discover why I wanted to start blogging in the first place. Second, I really function well when I have a framework within which to work. My other blog only has one post a week, and I spend the week thinking about what I'll address. The desire to be honest with myself, to look at who I used to be and how I got here is the main focus, not some urge to get interesting posts up whether I feel like it or not.

No, I will put one up for sure every Thursday that I go hiking with the Trailblazers, because all of them, including me, like to share it after the fact. Everyone who has internet access visits my post to see what the day looked like according to me (and my camera). I'd also like to have another weekly post that I would label introspective, for now anyway, and one other post to be determined by desire. It would be great if I got to a place where I actually couldn't wait to write it, rather than looking for pictures, ideas, something that would be of interest to my friends.

If I want to, there's nothing to keep me from breaking my new rules, but I'm wondering about other bloggers who have gotten to this juncture. Is there some maturing process that has been at work within me? Smart Guy said it's like when you're a young skydiver, everything is a certain way, but you can't have a hundred jumps forever: you mature as you spend increasing time in the environment. Maybe it's like that. What do you think?
:-)

Biocentrism

The other day I stumbled across a very interesting article by Robert Lanza on the Huffington Post. It is entitled, "What Happens When You Die? Evidence Suggests that Time Simply Reboots." That title in itself was enough to make me interested in reading it, and I found that the whole idea of biocentrism is predicated on a theory by Lanza that "life and biology are central to being, reality, and the cosmos -- life creates the universe rather than the other way around." (quote from Wikipedia)

The whole idea is based on quantum physics (which I know nothing about), but there are seven principles that define his theory. I won't list them here; they are available in that Wikipedia link above, but the first one fascinates me: that anything we perceive as reality involves our consciousness, and therefore any external reality would by definition have to exist in space. But this is meaningless, according to Lanza, " because space and time are not absolute realities but rather tools of the human and animal mind."

Hmm. I don't know why, but I find this entire concept to be really fascinating and rather comforting. To think that if we are experiencing all that exists, each in our own way, means that the scary aspects of death cease to exist. Lanza has written a book about all this, called (what else?) Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe, and I think if it's not too awfully technical I'll get it and read it. R.C. Henry, a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, has this quote:

What Lanza says in this book is not new. Then why does Robert have to say it at all? It is because we, the physicists, do NOT say it –– or if we do say it, we only whisper it, and in private –– furiously blushing as we mouth the words. True, yes; politically correct, hell no!”

 Now THAT is enough to make me want to rush out and buy the book. I'll let you know what I think of it once I've read it.
:-)