White-knuckling our grip on the universe

In order to answer this question, we Christians may have to temporarily shoo one of our sacred cows out to pasture—namely the idea that God created the physical universe in the way we have imagined—the literal architect. This is tough because the opening eight words of the Bible are “In the beginning, when God created the universe…”

Hindus aren’t so sure God was directly responsible for creation of the cosmos. They believe the physical universe is maya, a sort of illusion draped over our actual reality. Author Diane Morgan in The Best Guide to Eastern Philosophy & Religion writes “Although maya is not exactly an illusory world, as is often stated, neither is it truly real. In fact, it’s deceptive, and covers the truly real like a veil…maya is formed of matter, and matter is what hides the truly real.”

Einstein hinted to this. He called reality “an illusion, albeit a persistent one.” An illusion requires two to tango; something doing the deceiving and a mind to be deceived. The Dali Lama reports in The Universe in a Single Atom the Buddha taught all of space was coming out of our minds. British astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington called the universe “mindstuff.”

The "conscience of physics" thought the universe was mind-related

Physicist and Nobel laureate Wolfgang Pauli corresponded with psychologist Carl Jung over 25 years on the similarities between Jung’s model of the mind and the quantum mechanical model of spacetime physicists were uncovering in the twentieth century. Had Pauli’s cheese slipped off his cracker? David Lindorff notes in Pauli and Jung: the meeting of two great minds Pauli earned the reputation of “the conscience of physics.” Nobelist Paul Dirac said of his peer “[Pauli] shows a power of criticism and of penetration to the essential features of problems which is surpassed by no one.” So stellar was Pauli’s reputation as a theoretical physicist, as Einstein approached retirement age the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton sought Pauli as his replacement.

To this day hardnosed, science types look to Pauli as their guiding light of rational, critical thought. Yet over a period of 25 years he explored the idea that the universe was structured like the human mind. Think about that for a moment. We are one species on one planet next to one ordinary star in a galaxy of 100 billion stars, in a universe of 100 billion galaxies. What are the odds all that vastness is structured like the human mind?

Yet so convinced were they, Pauli and Jung believed the disciplines of psychology and physics would one day merge.

Welcome to the mental projection called spacetime

To understand how the universe is created by our minds, we need to look to one of the oldest inventions in the world—mental projection. Humans have looked at things and mentally projected images and stories on top of them for tens of thousands of years. Let’s look at one example: the process of mentally projecting the shapes of animals over clumps of stars in the night sky. Professor Bradley Shaefer notes in Scientific American there is direct physical evidence constellations were created and named by people as early as 1,700 B.C. He says the Great Bear constellation, which could date back as far as 30,000 years ago to the time of bear worship, “…is quite likely one of the oldest inventions of humanity.”

So we have a long history of projecting images on top of the reality surrounding us. A clump of white dots in the sky becomes a great bear. A stick in the hands of an imaginative child becomes a pirate’s sword. A black person bears the projected role of slave. A woman becomes a non-voter. Human history is the history of mental projection on everything around us—and our subsequent rejection of the projections that are hurtful and limit our freedom.

The modern Christian non-dualistic text A Course in Miracles clearly states this ancient process of mental projection is wholly responsible for this “persistent illusion” of a universe we see in front of our eyes.

We're proud residents of Fantasy Island

A metaphor may help answer Groening’s question. Let’s imagine three men adrift in a lifeboat on the ocean. For weeks they’ve seen nothing but water in every direction. One man wants to see land so badly he mentally projects a mirage island over the ocean surrounding them. The second man is a true realist and has no interest in participating in this fantasy. The third man is a wise sage.

Let’s rephrase Groening’s question in light of our metaphor: “If the ocean is everywhere, is it in the island?” To the non-hallucinating realist, the answer is clearly no. The island doesn’t exist, so how can the ocean be “in” it? There’s obviously only ocean everywhere. To the delusional, hallucinating man, the answer is also clearly no. The ocean is not in the island—he imagines nothing but sandy beaches, lots of solid ground and plush, soft toilets discreetly covered by palm-frond canopies gently blowing in the wind.

So is the ocean (our parallel to Groening’s “everywhere” God) in the fantasy island toilets? Both the realist and hallucinating man would answer no, but for two different reasons. The dreamer because he is deeply emotionally invested in the idea the ocean doesn’t exist where the island is. His mental projection of the island blocks out the ocean’s reality from his awareness. Focusing the locus of his attention wholly inside the illusion, he refuses to see the ocean at all. Not seeing it is key to his fantasy. The second refuses to see the illusion, and so, too, his answer is no, the ocean is not in the toilet, because the toilet doesn’t exist. He experiences only the sad reality of hanging his backside over the side of the boat when nature calls for a number two.

The sage helps us visualize the way off the island

The sage might suggest the answer to the question depends on the men’s frame of reference. From an absolute sense of reality, the ocean is not in the island in the sense of being wholly contained in the island, because clearly it extends beyond, around and through the island mirage. In contrast, we would say a dead goldfish is in a toilet, meaning fully contained by the toilet, yet the universe is not in the toilet in this same sense because it extends far, far beyond the toilet. So if by ‘in’ we mean “fully inside and not extending beyond” then the answer is the ocean is not in the island.

If the sage mentally leaves the island mirage and switches his perception and his awareness—the locus of his attention—back to the reality of the ocean, he will observe its waves do not slow down or change course as they strike the imaginary island. From the frame of reference of this physical reality, he would also say the ocean is not in the island, because the island has absolutely no effect on the ocean, so how can it be “in” the island or its palm-frond-covered toilets? The two do not share a common reality in which they can exchange effects of any kind. Just as lightning doesn’t share a common reality with Sasquatch: it zips right through its butt without singeing a single hair. No common reality, no shared effects.

The “translator” between the two non-connected realities is the mind of the one doing the imagining; only at the mind level can they be joined and exchange effects. Interestingly, C.S. Lewis said "The door of hell is locked on the inside...All those who are in hell choose it." The man imagining the island fantasy will find all its borders, its "gates" or "doors" remain internal to the fantasy. The ocean experiences no gates or borders from the island—no llmitations or restrictions—it flows through the island unimpeded. Only the man's conscious choice to hold the mental projection of the island creates any kind of "border" between it and the ocean. When he lets go of the fantasy the border dissolves.

But from the vantage point of their true, shared reality, the sage observes neither is the ocean absent from the island. The presence of the projected illusion on top of their true reality does not impede, change or block the presence of that shared reality. They could all step out of their boat and try to walk ashore onto the hallucinating man’s island but they would all fall into the ocean. His illusion has not diminished the presence of the ocean one bit. So, from the framework of physical reality, the ocean is not inside the island—because the island does not exist and does not impede the presence of the ocean in any way. Yet the ocean is also not absent from the island, because no matter how much they believe in the island fantasy, they’ll still be up to their necks in water if they try to go ashore. Not in but not absent from. Wrap your noodle around that one and you’ll see how your mind flips back and forth between an absolute reality (like an infinite ocean) and a mental projection (like a fantasy island and its palm-frond-covered toilets).

How far is Heaven? Now you have an answer.

Thus those who say God is “in” physical matter need to be clear that He is not “in” physical matter like a dead goldfish inside a toilet, meaning wholly contained by matter. Yet neither is God absent from matter, just as the ocean is not absent from the island. This absence will only be experienced if we fully vest our perceptions and emotions and focus our awareness wholly inside the illusion of physical reality—a mind trick. This is what maya really means. As physicist Fritjof Capra notes in The Tao of Physics, maya is really about a limited perception of physical reality, although I would go a step further and say it’s about limiting our perception to physical reality in the first place.

If the men release their attachment to the mental projection of the island, and slowly let the real ocean come back into their illusory reality, they will see the ocean has always been in the island, meaning not absent from. The men would not have to go physically outside the island in order to find the ocean. Their journey to the truth of the ocean is one of zero distance. How far is Heaven? the band Los Lonely Boys asks in their pop hit. The answer is zero distance; the distance from any mental projection to the reality it masks.

Nor could the men find the ocean by mentally digging through miles of sand and rock. The secret to finding the ocean is to mentally and emotionally let go of their attachment to the island. Thus the Dalai Lama says endless reductionism, the equivalent of digging through the imaginary sand to the find the real ocean, is not the way of the Buddha. The Buddha taught non-attachment to all sense objects was the way to achieve Nirvana; letting go of anything we could perceive with our senses—like a toilet.

Similarly Jesus says the kingdom is within us. We can find it right where are right now, inside this fantasy island we call spacetime. Thus the Buddhists say when we search for truth, we are like a woman searching for a ”lost” necklace of pearls still hanging around her neck. She is excited and glad once she “finds” it, but in reality it was never gone.

Wrapping up and flushing

So, if God is everywhere, is He in the toilet? Depends on your frame of reference. From the vantage point of ultimate reality, the answer is no, God is not in the toilet because God’s reality is an infinite ocean of love, as the mystics have said for millennia, and does not include the idea of waste, refuse or discarding—as we’ll examine in later posts. Sorry, no porta-potties in Heaven, (which would actually be hell at an outdoor rock concert.) From deep within the illusory physical universe of maya, the answer is similarly no because we perceive only the toilet, and not God. We don’t have to ask God to move over when we take a seat on the John. As we awaken to our ultimate reality, we see the toilet as illusion, but also know it does not block, impede or limit the presence of God—just as ocean waves flow right through the fantasy island mirage. Thus mystics awakening to the presence of God see Him in everything around them. Similarly, Mother Theresa told her nuns to look for the face of Christ in the suffering people of Calcutta. No matter where we are inside the illusion of spacetime the distance to God is always zero.

"Closer to us than our jugular vein," as the Muslim mystics say.

Thanks to my girlfriend I am using her other laptop til I figure out what I am going to do about my newfound laptop free situation. So blog updating will not be stopped.

On that note I thought I would mention one of my new favorite comic strips. I have always been a newspaper fiend since I was a little kid(I know it sounds lame, but I love em) and what started me out were the serial strips in the paper. I liked comic books, mostly X-Men and The Punisher, but I was never as interested in them as I was on the strips.

One of my new favorite Internet strips is Tales of Mere Existence. It reminds me a lot of Jim's Journal a comic I used to love when I lived in Madison, WI which was written by Scott Dikkers who co-founded The Onion combined with Matt Groening's old strip Life In Hell both of which I read in the University of Wisconsin student papers my dad would bring for me. The humor is very dry and sometimes very open ended with the jokes not necessarily having a set up or even a punchline if that is possible.

Here is the one that ran on Sfist today it was a nice pick me up after the stress of yesterday.

È che quando il peso dei giorni ti lascia inerte e muta, non ci sono nemmeno più parole per spiegare il silenzio. Così, agli occhi degli altri che non sanno si appare vacui, o in vacanza, che poi non fa una gran differenza.

Invece sono sempre stata qui. La casa si è svuotata e l'ho trasformata nel mio parco giochi personale fatto di pranzi a letto e fogli sparsi sul pavimento. Ho azzerato le differenze tra giorno e notte, sballata di caffeina e scadenze. Ho lavorato, e pensato al lavoro mentre ero a letto, in auto, sotto la doccia. Una mattina mi sono precipitata giù dalle scale in preda all'ansia, ho chiamato il fidanzato e gli ho detto: "Sono all'inferno", poi ho fatto il giro dell'isolato e sono rientrata a lavorare. Ho abbracciato forte un'amica che se ne va, l'unica che qui posso considerare tale, e nella stretta ho sentito il peso dei giorni che verranno. Mi sono stordita di telefilm sulla psicoterapia e, senza rendermene conto, mi sono ritrovata a parlare dei miei guai agli analisti della tv. E una mattina ho pianto fino a strozzarmi, perchè posso accettare che la vita si accanisca, ma quando sono le persone a farlo è un dolore inaffrontabile.

Quindi, per chi se lo chiedesse, no, non sono in vacanza.

VOTE FOR ME !!!

It is not hard for me to imagine horns on the foreheads of professional politicians. People that seek power over the masses, and cling to that power after their usefulness has passed are borderline evil, and will sometimes do evil things to remain in control.

I was born and raised in a city called Cincinnati. It was first called Fort Washington (after George Washington). A decision was made to re-name the city, The name Cincinnati was chosen in honor of a Roman politician named Cincinnatus, who after serving his term in government (though he was very popular) returned to the fields of his farm. President Washington was a great fan of Cincinnatus, and in fact after President Washington served his term in government (though he was very popular) returned to the fields of his farm.

George Washington, as well as the founding fathers of this great country, were statesmen first and politicians secondly. A trait obviously absent in todays politics. today we have professional politicians, people who (it seems) do not know how to do anything else.

We have three such people competing for the office of President of the United States right now...

• Someone who was (with her daughter) pinned down by sniper fire! while on a stately mission. oh but wait! she mis-remembered that. (seems to me, that if I had been shoot at, I would remember the incident clearly (which she did at the time say "I remember clearly")).

• Someone who can attend church for twenty years, and not know what his minister is saying.

• Someone who is lauded a hero for being held POW for six years. Who while claiming to be a Republican, relishes his working with "the other side" more than his own side (echoes of Stockholm Syndrome?).

Of all the great people in this country, when the call goes out for a leader ... this is what bubbles to the top!

Where have all the statesmen gone?

We have (I"m sure) heard it said "choose the lesser of two evils". However when we do that ... we still choose evil.

The solution? ... Prayer ... pray for our country, pray for our politicians. Be a bright light, after all, evil is the absence of good, where the light shines ... darkness must flee.

We live in Hell ... It's our job to rise up out of it.

yours in Gnosis ... Daniel.

Matt Groening vet mye, blant annet hva kjærlighet handler om. Derfor er det bare å løpe og kjøpe Life in Hell.

Info zur Serie
Der US-amerikanische Filmproduzent James L. Brooks wurde durch die Zeichentrickserie "Life in Hell" auf Matt Groening aufmerksam. 1985 bat Brooks Groening bei einem Treffen für seine Show "Tracey Ullman Show", etwas Neuartiges und Außergewöhnliches zu zeichnen. Innerhalb von 15 Minuten erschuf er die Simpsons. Die ersten Zeichnungen waren noch ziemlich plump und grob, da Groening hoffte, dass die Mannschaft rund um James L. Brooks den Figuren den nötigen Feinschliff geben würden. Dies geschah jedoch nicht und die Figuren wurden eins zu eins übernommen. 1989 entwickelte der Sender "Fox" die Idee zu einer eigenen Serie weiter, die zuerst nur in den USA lief. 1991 importierte das ZDF die Simpsons nach Deutschland. Seit dem Jahr 1994 laufen die Simpsons auf ProSieben und eine derartige Bindung zwischen Serie und ProSieben ist in der deutschen Fernsehlandschaft einmalig. Dies bewies auch die Simpsons-Kampagne, die ProSieben im Sommer 2007 zum Start des ersten Simpsons-Films ins Leben gerufen hat.

Schon gewusst?
Da Matt Groening die Figuren innerhalb von 15 Minuten erschaffen hat, hatte er wenig Zeit sich Namen auszudenken. Kurzerhand gab er den Simpsons die Namen seiner Familie. "Homer" ist der Name seines Vater, "Marge" der seiner Mutter, "Lisa" und Magie" heißen seine beiden Schwestern. Hätte er den Simpsons-Sohn nun auch "Matt" genannt, wäre es zu doll aufgefallen und daher hat er ihn "Bart" genannt. "Bart" hat ein Anagramm für "brat", was im Deutschen so viel wie "Balg" oder "Gör" bedeutet. Matt Groening hat sich aber trotzdem in den Simpsons verewigt. Wenn man Homer von der Seite und näher betrachtet, ergeben seine Haare ein "M" und sein Ohr ein "G", die Initialen von Matt Groening.

Der Check | Folge "24 Minuten"

Von den Simpsons ist man ja schon ein hohes Niveau gewohnt. Diese Folge sticht jedoch von allen hervor, weil es eine Specialfolge ist. Denn "24 Minuten" ist, wie der Titel vielleicht schon erahnen lässt, so aufgemacht wie die Actionserie "24". Auch hier gibt es wieder zahlreiche witzige Momente, wo man einfach lachen muss. :) Bei vielen Folgen steht entweder die ganze Familie oder nur einzelne Mitglieder mit einer Geschichte im Mittelpunkt. Aufgrund der "24"-Aufmachung wird jedes einzelne Familienmitglied in einer eigenen Geschichte gezeigt, was nochmal den Highlight-Faktor dieser Folge unterstreicht.

Was zum Ende nochmal ein Höhepunkt darstellt, ist, dass Jack Bauer und sein Team ins Spiel kommen und sich bei Lisa bedanken und Bart der gerechten Strafe unterziehen wollen. Da nun kein Agent mehr da ist um die Terroristen zu bekämpfen, explodiert eine Atombombe - zum Glück über Shelbyville :D

E-Mail an den Autor
Infos zur Serie von Wikipedia.de

 Well...brc, old buddy, old pal...I have begun to remedy that sitch.

Actually, brc you made my wall...see right there...no a little more to the right...

That's right your leaf.