Genius vs Flow

 

The difference is obvious 

Pack up your troubles!

While many people believe that happiness is as easy as winning the lottery, human experience will show that happiness is much more elusive than winning, power or cash, and history hold many a legendary tale of fabulous fortune and ultimate ruin.

In the past, the only tried and tested way of finding happiness lay in monastic pursuit, but somehow the habit of monks, the vows of chastity and never ending meditation never caught on, and somehow the vow of poverty could never quite make sense.

While happiness through sacrifice may feel good while you are doing it, the pleasure quickly fade in the face of our modern day living. But thanks to the research that started this journey to sense, we now have the answer again. And were it not for the fact that the secret was hiding in sight all the time, we may never have believed that it's as easy as making up our mind.

In his article that highlight the latest revelation on nature, Dumb Little Man provides his readers with the science behind the facts that make happiness a breeze. Take for example that only 20% of our reality experience is made up by perception, be that sensory or more, while a whopping 80% is preconceived and subject to choice.

It boggles the mind when you think that happiness is a decision, and in the absence of choosing it our feelings would default to any of a number of subconscious fears, assumptions, probabilities and presumption. That our live can change miraculously if we start to choose how we feel, and that lofty and noble ideas of mindful living, of being the change we want to see, of creating our own destiny and making the most out of every single moment of life are all in within reach.

If you think about it, it almost make sense, until you start living it. By living our life as nature intend, we begin to comprehend the the answer to most of the questions in life look for value and meaning, and most of the time we'd be happy to live it just as it is, if only we were happy to get it.

Got it?

Good!

Which animal is synonymous with sin?

Ever heard of the Sloth?

These arboreal, tree hugging mammals got their name from their mottled and pest ridden fur, and their excruciatingly slow movement that suggest they are dirty and lazy by nature, but if we take a closer look we see much more than the unfortunate name of sloth would suggest.

For starters, the Sloth is believed to have existed for about 60 million years, almost 24 times longer than Homo Sapiens, given the current understanding of our own evolution. Just like the human race they are considered to be somewhat of an oddity in the animal kingdom, and in a manner of speaking the Sloth seem to share many habits with ourselves.

Sloths prefer to set up a permanent home, and may live their entire life in one tree. These solitary animals prefer to spend their life hanging from from branch to branch in search of green leaves and buds that form the staple of their diet. Just like humans, the Sloth find themselves at the top of their very own and unique branch of the food chain. Protected by their lofty position in tree tops as well as the camouflage of leafy shade, they keep hidden from the rest of the world by a combination of circumstance and lack of movement.

Besides humans, they are probably the only known species that crap on their own porch, a risky practice that come with a high fatality rate. Once a week they climb down to the same piece of ground below their tree, make a hole in the ground, take a dump, and then carefully cover the excrement after they are finished. It is during these times of ablution that the Sloth become easy prey, risking life and limb to perform the ritual burial of . Just like we find in the human race, it is an example of instinctive behaviour that persist even though it seems to be a negative evolutionary trait.

But then, as we often find in nature, similar does not mean same. Contrary to the human race, these ancient and peaceful beasts exhibit various complex symbiotic systems that are inextricably part of their existence. From their furry coats, right down to their diet of leaves and their curious excretion habits. The fur of a sloth host two species of symbiotic cyanobacteria, which provide additional camouflage. And because of the cyanobacteria, sloth fur is a small ecosystem of its own, hosting many species of non-parasitic insects.

The diet of leaves provide the Sloth with very little energy or nutrition as they do not digest easily. Sloths therefore have very large, specialized, slow-acting stomachs with multiple compartments in which symbiotic bacteria break down the tough leaves. As much as two-thirds of a well-fed sloth's body-weight consists of the contents of its stomach, and the digestive process can take a month or more to complete. Sloths deal with this by a range of economy measures: they have very low metabolic rates (less than half of that expected for a mammal of their size), and maintain low body temperatures when active (30 °C (86 °F) to 34 °C (93 °F)), and still lower temperatures when resting.

With all these fascinating facts about the Sloth I cannot help but wonder if perhaps we are wrong about the nature of sloth, and since it is only recent that we have invented a tool to observe the working brain we may well find that like the Sloth, the sin that shares in its name is nothing at all what we think.

Abomination to Nature

The term “Abomination to Nature” was recently mentioned in connection with our search for the bason quark. It is not a term that is used a lot, although there has been some people that have been described as such through history.

In this article I would like to focus on the practical implications of such a term and examine what it would mean for the existence of such an entity. One of the reasons that it does not get used often is because it is something that defies something of which we are an integral part.

The fact that there is still a big argument about things like evolution, the big bang theory or entanglement does not change the fact that they exist, and they do so in the interest of maintaining a system that was created by the word of God.

The theory that we are from nature, and have evolved beyond many other species on this planet is a testament to the perfect design of the system, and speaks more about how privileged we are in the grand scheme of things, as to how we are the crowning glory in a system where it is survival of the fittest.

The Big Bang Theory is probably an accurate account of the particle physics that occurred at the moment of creation, but it is the crowning glory of a large amount of research that has informed us about our world, how privileged our planet is to exist in the grand scheme of physics, mathematics and biological principles, that the mere argument of its existence is of no value whatsoever in our search for answers.

The existence of entanglement, a hotly contested theory about the particles that hold together all matter, is undeniable, and the fact that we have advanced technologically to the extent that we can actually observe it from happening is a testament to our technology, but it says nothing about our knowledge about the system in which we find ourselves, or our understanding of it.

And last of all the is the term “Abomination to Nature”. The fact that we can conceive of such a notion implies that it exists, but whether our technology has advanced to the level of actually observing such an entity, that is a matter open for discussion. A matter that would probably cease to exist as soon as we understand it.

Which is just the same as everything in life I suppose.

10 fiendishly simple principles to success

Below you will find 10 fiendishly simple principles towards fast tracking your journey through life with a high probability of flawless decision making, almost instant relief of guilt and grief and abundantly high levels of happiness and bliss.

 Use them at your own risk.

1. Regret is more often than not the result of an emotional decision.

2. Our journey to the point of choice is exactly what we need to make it.

3. The most important moment is right now.

4. Failure does not need a reason, what matters is the journey you took.

5. Changing your perspective is the only way to improve your perception.

6. Whenever life gets you down you are carrying too much.

7. As a general rule of thumb, things with value have no worth.

8. The most important choice you can make every day is your attitude.

9. Honest communication is the only way to discover yourself and to grow.

10. Where the mind goes energy flows, that is how we create reality.

May the road come up to greet you, and may love take care of the rest.

Similarities between biological and crystal growth patterns

You may be forgiven if at first glance you mistook the picture in this post as a snowflake. The picture is only one of a whole range of bacterial growth patterns, and part of research being done by Eshel Ben-Jacob, a professor of physics at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Professor Ben-Jacob is collaborating with colleagues at the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at the University of California to determine how the growth of biological systems and colonies are influenced by different environmental stimuli. According to New Scientist: "In order to flourish in difficult living conditions the colony must adapt. This requires communication and cooperation from the individual microbes to organise the entire colony."

What immediately struck me as odd was the similarity between snowflakes and these colonial growth patterns. Whereas the petri dish pictures are the direct effect of different environmental influences on biological growth and diversification, the complex formations we can observe in snowflakes result from the interaction of water vapor and the environment.

Snowflakes grow in very cold environments as water vapor condenses directly to ice. While we do not fully understand the mechanisms responsible for the formation of snow crystals, recent research on the nature of water suggest that it has something to do with the behavior of electrons within the water molecule. These charged subatomic particles influence crystal formation and provide water with many of the characteristics that have baffled scientists for decades.

The link between the growth patterns and water can be found in research published by CU-Boulder physics Professor Noel Clark. According to an article in Science Daily they found that surprisingly short segments of DNA, life's molecular carrier of genetic information, could assemble into several distinct liquid crystal phases that "self-orient" parallel to one another and stack into columns when placed in a water solution. Life is widely believed to have emerged as segments of DNA- or RNA-like molecules in a prebiotic "soup" solution of ancient organic molecules.

(Images courtesy of Eshel Ben-Jacob and snowflakes.com)

That day

I wonder if this would be that day. You now, the day you sit somewhere with a long cold drink, your feet pushed into the warm hot sand. Laying back on the cool white sand and languid sun and thinking this is it. This is what it means to be living!

And then you hear the wrinkled age of someone fighting with their lover, arguing about love. and though you'd rather not you hear the voices clear. You hear the desperate pleading tone of love misunderstand. Love that does'nt reach the depth of seperation. Love that doesn't stand. Love that doesn't know that stand is only the first step.

No wait, that is the next!

And in the heartbreaking silence that follows you see the couple part in silence, you hear their braking hearts and know that this is over.

The end however, it is not. Not by a long shot.

You are the person that will make the difference. You can make a difference how it ends. You can decide the end. This time you have control and you can mend these hearts. And it has nothing to do with how it ends, but how it begins!

Five years earlier this was you. And you want shout and say fuck it all will you two stop!

Just stop and listen to yourself. Listen to the pain you cause. Cant you see the pain you cause. Cant you feel the pain. I can see it clear and plain like it was Yeasterday, and in your mind you see yourself shout stop!

You hear the rage that fills the space between you now and then, and feel the hopelesness of love that burns with the endless yearning of passion and desire.

And then you burst out in a laugh. You pick a pebble and throw it in the sea.

Life is but a breeze.

The Universal Truth of Balance

In the realm of chemistry we find a concept called diffusion that describes the universal truth of balance. In essence it describes the movement of particles from a high concentration to a low concentration when two solutions of different composition come into contact with each other. This movement will continue as long as the solutions remain in contact with each other until they contain the same concentration of particles.

In the example above the concept specifically relate to chemistry and solutions, but the same principle can be seen with temperature, particle physics, color, sound and the behavior of waves. It is the basis of many scientific principles, including those of Fourier, Einstein and Galileo. While these universal “laws” may take some time to explain, there are numerous other examples that occur almost constantly around us.

Some of these we hardly ever notice, like the way that a group of people seem to walk in step with each other, or the way the pendulums of different grandfather clocks seem to swing in unison when they are put in the same room. Some of the examples are seen as scientific curiosities, such as the behavior of quantum particles in String theory, or the way that random number generators are influenced by a collective conscience.

The principle of diffusion can also explain various “alternative” healing practices like homeopathy and Reiki, and the curious observation that the hormonal cycles of any group of females that live together become synchronized.

It also provides a plausible theory

to recent research that show how happiness can benefit totally unrelated “friends of friends” as well as various cultural practices that believe in the mutual benefit of maternal stroking of small infants.

Most of these examples are grouped together under the “new age” concept of entrainment that describe the principle of diffusion in various other systems, including some of those mentioned like chronobiology and physics. According to Wikipedia, chronobiology is “the alignment of a circadian system's period and phase to the period and phase of an external rhythm”, and entrainment in physics is “the process whereby two interacting oscillating systems assume the same period”.

Given the examples provided it is obvious that diffusion is a universal truth that can be observed in the mathematical, quantum, physical, chemical, emotional, spiritual and even in mixed state realms of our existence. According to scientists at the University of Illinois a virtual pendulum with an instantaneous bidirectional coupling to a real pendulum will exhibit the same entrainment that we observe in the physical world.

The universal truth of balance exists everywhere and influences everything. It can be demonstrated in our physical, virtual and spiritual experience. By consciously acknowledging its existence we begin to align ourselves with the universe. By understanding the effect of balance we discover why we do not have to try so hard to control everything in our lives. By living the truth of balance we find that choice is divine, and that each one of us have the power to change our existence.