Thank you - you are right (as in correct :)) Sorry, let's see, DP - Dem. Party, LOTE - lesser of two evils, BS - ha,ha guess that one is universal, TINA - lesser of two evils.
I am 74 - we have lived through "interesting times" - I get that the future belongs to the younger generation - but, as they say, those who don't learn the lessons …
Thank you - you are right (as in correct :)) Sorry, let's see, DP - Dem. Party, LOTE - lesser of two evils, BS - ha,ha guess that one is universal, TINA - lesser of two evils.
I am 74 - we have lived through "interesting times" - I get that the future belongs to the younger generation - but, as they say, those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them, but they can't learn them if they don't know them - that, IMO, is what us old folks are around for :D
Hey, SH, thank you for LOTE ! I did not "have" that one at all !
Yes, at our age the *only contribution might be having been among those who lived *through the upheaval that brought us to present day chaos. Some of the young just still *envy our generation for the Sixties when all they see are the *way cool clothes, and they hear the *killer music. They have no clue that the counter-culture music in particular was often a cry of fully ineffable *pain, anguish, hopelessness, and *bone-crushing confusion watching our classmates *and the enemy being mass slaughtered in *astounding numbers overseas, and college kids being shot down and killed by the National Guard here at home at Kent State and Jackson, MS.
All of this happening while not ONE DAY did our government have the *slightest idea of WHY we were in Vietnam. Don't take MY word for that statement. I am quoting none other than former SecDef Robert McNamara twenty years AFTER the fact, while he was being interviewed by Time Magazine. Yup, many of the grunts on the ground figured THAT out before the end of our first year (1967 for me) *before the games like the "Draft Lottery" began! Many of the young think that the Sixties and early Seventies were a WAY cool party, which is accurate in part, but not at all the "whole picture" ! Most of the time, I do not bother to disabuse them of that magical thinking, unless they actually *ask me.
This country , as far as I can see, never had a "reverence for elders as keepers of the flame" unlike other cultures, e.g. indigenous cultures - so yeah, maybe some of us can't remember what we had for breakfast - but we do have decades of that "lived experience" that is supposed to be respected - we can remember what life was like before the internet - what organizing and action could be accomplished using shoe leather, land line telephones, copy machines, flyers instead of keyboards, when pictures WERE worth 1000 words - instead of something that could be faked.
So I really don't care if Twitter or FB exist in any form - in fact I consider them anti-social media - the sooner they disappear, the better, IMO ... I think that perhaps that is one thing we have to contribute - the memory and knowledge of what could be done with our analogue brains and bodies, that independence is strengthened once we eschew the concept that we are disabled without our digital paraphernalia ....
Elders were respected, especially in societies spiritually connected to their ancestors, like most Indigenous Groups of the world, for their innate wisdom and knowledge. By the time Europeans who came to the Americas arrived, their culture still looked to elders and those relative few who were actually literate for their knowledge and wisdom, but they also had libraries for "backup counsel" that could take them back to the Ancient Greeks and others for knowledge and wisdom.
The huge potential of the Internet has been squandered and wasted upon the "money changers in the temple". The worse part of that, of course, is that the Net too frequently communicates monetized lies as a business model, and never was actual "wisdom" founded upon pure lies.
I take comfort in the fact, however, that "The Kids have been going to hell in a handbasket" at *least since the time of Socrates" ! ;-D
The internet, that I initially (about 1990) felt would be a great democratizing and equalizing force, is about to be turned into a tool for Big Brother to cement himself in power, forever. Almost sad I lived to see it. Definitely ashamed I didn't see it coming.
I’ll admit I am a true believer and supporter of Wikipedia as the true flame of what the internet could be. Jimmy Wales is one of the last of the true believers.
I started out as a fellow devotee to Wikipedia until I discovered individual instances of people being written up *inaccurately on Wikipedia. People who, no matter *what action they take attempting to get recourse via documentary evidence of *fact about their lives, cannot get anyone at Wikipedia to *correct the online "information". I still trust them for data that is hard to politicize, such as the elevation of the City of Seattle, but not so much their data on individual contemporary people.
Wikipedia is not the content creator. They don’t ultimately fact check all posts. It’s up to us. I find their info largely accurate, and it is in a nonstop evolution. Of course I have found inaccuracies, as if that didn’t occur before the internet. Check out old Britannicas. They’re a mountain of biased misinformation.
Thanks, yes. It was in the "old days" that I created my trust in Wikipedia.
You are correct in your observation that the internet ruined them. They even used to be "open software". Users could independently correct and suggest other data. Not much remains of that either.
Hmm, I just realized, duh, that I took your comment about kids literally! whereas I don't think that's the way you meant it - oh dear, after all that discussion about sarcasm and all - rats! oh well, be patient, if you will - of course, there's that saying that patience is a virtue, but it never helped a rooster lay an egg - so perhaps the trick is figuring out how to tell a rooster from a hen ... but that seems to be getting confusing these days as well ... :D
That reminds me that I wanted to respond to your observation re: emojis. I use only a landline phone, so I am not "fluent" in emoji, but I find that "picking and choosing" can be valuable in online writing.
Online writing, including email, has THE greatest proclivity for *ambiguity of all types of written communication I can think of !
Even a handwritten note has *less chance of being "taken the wrong way" than does online writing. That is why people like Matt and Glenn are to be even more greatly admired for the *clarity they both bring to their work.
Given that, I am more than happy to use happy faces, etc. to *enhance my meaning with email and online comments.
We were discussing sarcasm. Sometimes that can be communicated by writing a *scathing screed, and then adorning it with happy faces. So, I use whatever tools present themselves.
And gender language ? Confusing indeed. We now have 27 "genders" and counting ! ;-D Our generation *used to get by with only two genders. So does the *bulk of creation at the hands of mother nature.
Indeed. I never used emojis, thought them idiotic in extremis, until I lived in China. Picto and ideograms are actually lovely. And gender language?!? To what degree am I responsible for reinforcing someone’s self image? That’s a DIY situation AFAIC.
Yes ! Yes ! I lived as a young man in Japan for six months. The locals were just incredibly sweet in their efforts to instruct me in Japanese. The women were the sweetest, and the men *seemed accommodating ! ;-D After a point, I noticed that when I "went out with the guys" they would often *howl at my primitive Japanese. I had no CLUE that there were languages with gender differences ! I worked as hard as I could learning the language from the women, as well as the men, but I saw more of the women. *You, will already know where this is going ! ;-D When I went out clubbin' with the guys, they would totally crack up, because, in my ignorance and naivete, I was using language that is "ONLY" appropriate in Japan for *women to use ! And those guys took their own sweet freakin' TIME letting me in on the JOKE too ! ;-D But, all these decades later, at least I now know what *you meant by "gender language" ! Thanks for the lesson update !
I confess i do not take much comfort in that - considering that I do think us Boomers have had a great deal to do with creating that hell - but perhaps that is why we can be useful now, one CAN learn from another's mistakes, perhaps that is the only learning that lasts -
But there is another type of learning, the one you alluded to, that elders can bring - the knowledge of tradition and ceremony, as lived, that stretches back through time - that connects us to each other and the rest of Creation -
I had a discussion on another thread about the role of Mythology as elucidated by Campbell - are you familiar with his work?
Oh, yes ! HUGE fan of Campbell, and, along with *most of the country at the time, I simply *DEVOURED his series with Bill Moyers called "The Power of Myth".
However, I went to college on the G.I. Bill, where I studied *all philosophers, both Western and Eastern, to include the Mystics and all of the Masters of the Ancient Mystery Schools who had ever eventually been translated into English. I mean, I was hungry for ALL knowledge after that freakin' war, even science. I eventually took my degree in science, and I now get a kick out of watching modern Science, especially Quantum Physics, "dovetailing" with ancient Mysticism by finally *proving many of the precepts that have been *taught by the ancient mystics for upwards of 3 Thousand years now. (Ancient Egyptians, etc.)
"The Power of Myth" describes the ethos of most indigenous people who did not actually choose to go into the practice of shamanism. All knowledge has value, the trick is simply to identify the proper time, place and manner in which we need to *apply that which we know. So, yeah, the kids will be "alright", just as we eventually were.
History, and "The Hero's Journey" as Campbell calls it, is *rife with tales of Trial By Fire, just as is Plato with his Cave Allegory in his book "The Republic" from about 2,400 years ago. All civilizations in all countries and cultures are basically dealing with the *same kind of mysticism. Only the degree of mysticism, the language and the customs vary.
Quick caveat, however, mysticism and organized religion are antithetical to one another. One is about controlling the masses, the other is about advancing the individual. No extra credit for accurately identifying which is *which ! ;-D
You have summarized my own "discoveries" very nicely ... :D
"Organized" religion has always had a hard time with mystics - the idea that a person could be "enlightened" without a hierarchically interpreted dogma drives 'em cuckoo-bananas - such "mystics" are labeled and persecuted as heretics. Sorta reminds me of the current PC "religions" of various stripes engaging in "cancel culture" :D
But the Enlightenment made Science the new religion - with its own priests, dogma and sacred texts, banishing all the "superstition" of the previous "dark, primitive times" before it - LOL! The "ancients" had it right, but are dismissed because they didn't have the "mathematics" to prove it - now along comes quantum physics, and they have, or should have, the last laugh ...
I, too, have a degree in science - and have seen enough to know that, although it is a useful tool, to limit the definition of what is "true" to what can be proven or demonstrated by the "scientific method" leaves so much Truth out ... That Western science should be considered the arbiter of Truth by so many who don't really "get it" is, IMO, at the root of much of our current planetary dysfunction - but the irony is that we seem to pick and choose the science we "listen" to - there is convenient science and inconvenient science, and here I think, we should get some extra credit for accurately identifying which is which :D
STELLAR POST !! Yes, we gain little from anything that we attempt to *worship, rather than to USE ! Science is NOT a god, Science is a tool, and in many cases, even a sadly *limited tool. People do not "believe in" Science. That would be like "believing" in a hammer and a crescent wrench, or any other tool.
People *know Science. Like a hammer or a crescent wrench, they know how Science *works. Much like Logic, Science is an *excellent tool for separating truth from superstition.
The first tenet of EVERY *Mystic teaching is that "ALL is Illusion". We can verify *that with science ! The Ancient Greeks knew of the atom. They postulated that it was the basic building block of *ALL things. So, to the 3-D Consciousness, what IS the atom ? An infinitesimal nucleus surrounded at a relatively incredible distance away, by protons and electrons in orbit around it. This *fact makes it irrefutably accurate to observe that the atom is MOSTLY Energy and Empty SPACE ! The nucleus has a bit of what we call mass, or "matter" both of which are also accurately called "energy at rest". The protons and electrons are nothing BUT energy. So, yes, "Energy and Empty Space".
In other words, as quantum physics would have it, that atom is not even *really THERE. Concurring with the Mystic who says that ALL is illusion, quantum physics proves that the atom only has "being" *while it is being observed by the scientist !
Else, it is always like Schrödinger's cat .... both there and NOT there until it is finally observed by a researcher. The cat is "possibility". An ILLUSION that can strike a response in a human 3-D eyeball, or *not !
If we look at an energy spectrum that depicts the range of 3-D human *senses, we see a *very limited range. Consider human sight. Just on a spectrum of the energies humans can *prove are out there, human eyesight represents an almost *invisible little strip of white light. It blows me away to consider the fact that for *most of 3-D Human History, we SWORE that that tiny strip of energy was ALL THAT EXISTED ! (Because it was all we could SEE).
All human instruments from the microscope to the Massive Hubble Telescope do nothing but *expand the range of 3-D human senses, in this example, sight. What about things that exist OUTSIDE the dimension of 3-D ? To the human they *never "exist" because we cannot see, or otherwise "sense" them, even with our powerful artificial *extensions of human sight (micro and telescopes.)
The Mystic will tell us that there is an entire dimension out there called 4-D (and infinite others) that we cannot comprehend, because we are *limited to our 3-D levels of perception and understanding. The Mystic will remind us that ALL of 3-D is an Illusion. So is all of 4-D even when we shift our level and speed of perception to *know 4-D.
The Mystics say the "Macrocosm is in the Microcosm." Who can look at the structure of the atom *without seeing our Solar System looking right back AT them ? Who can see our Solar System without seeing our Milky Way Galaxy looking right back at them ? Mysticism never *excluded Science, it just went SO much further that 3-D bodies with their limited-to-3-D senses had no hope of keeping up !
Science is even now looking at something that is driving them crazy.
They cannot *see it, they can only observe It's affect on *other things that the scientists can see. They call this invisible "whatever" Dark Matter.
The Mystic will hint that, just as is the case in *quantum physics, we cannot "see" things from other Dimensions with our 3-D eyes, or our manufactured *extensions of our 3-D eyes. We must literally create an entire change in *perspective.
They would just say that what we are calling "Dark Matter" is not at all "Dark", and it is only *invisible to 3-D senses. Mystics would say that "Dark Matter" is a 4-D phenomena.
Sounds just *beyond crazy, doesn't it ? Ask anyone *JUST how crazy Quantum Physics seemed to those who were in the early days of discovering *that !
Even Einstein detested Quantum Physics. He called it "spooky action at a distance". Albert insisted that GOD would never "play games with the universe."
Now we all call it the school of Quantum Physics, founded by Einstein's colleague and friend, Niels Bohr. It is STILL confusing, but it is now considered to be *quite real.
Except, you know, to a Mystic who also recognizes Quantum Physics, but who could show proofs that it is just another *aspect of a Universe that is ALL Illusion ! :-D ;-D
Science is actually "a snapshot" of our Last "BEST" Understanding of what we are looking at. Science then, changes its own explanations and conclusions to *accommodate new knowledge as quickly as it comes in, and there is *always something "new" coming in ! We are obliged to "take notes if we can't keep UP" ! ;-D ;-D
I fully concur. And, of course, formulas are also "tools", and tools will often have more specific, rather than widely general application.
As ever, each question that we answer only opens a thousand new questions. But that is how both science and the expansion of "cosmic consciousness" work.
Heh, that period was only "magical" for the trust-fund babies who were doing every drug they could get their hands on and sticking it into every hole imaginable.
I was going to be "polite" about overlooking the kind of brain "fluff" that I myself know all *too well, but I also did NOT "have" TINA. So, thank you as well for having the courage to offer it for my benefit in *spite of the "brain bump" ! ;-D
I have been following the reports of "long Covid" that are increasingly being experienced (I suppose that is one good thing the internet has done - allowed folks in similar situations to form "support groups") and notice that often the symptoms reported are "brain fog", loss of short term memory, etc. - all the stuff that, in our age group, are considered the inevitable deterioration of age - I wonder if society will be forced, not simply to be more tolerant but, more importantly, more patient - in this age where "progress" is getting stuff faster, cheaper, and easier ...
Thank you - you are right (as in correct :)) Sorry, let's see, DP - Dem. Party, LOTE - lesser of two evils, BS - ha,ha guess that one is universal, TINA - lesser of two evils.
I am 74 - we have lived through "interesting times" - I get that the future belongs to the younger generation - but, as they say, those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them, but they can't learn them if they don't know them - that, IMO, is what us old folks are around for :D
Hey, SH, thank you for LOTE ! I did not "have" that one at all !
Yes, at our age the *only contribution might be having been among those who lived *through the upheaval that brought us to present day chaos. Some of the young just still *envy our generation for the Sixties when all they see are the *way cool clothes, and they hear the *killer music. They have no clue that the counter-culture music in particular was often a cry of fully ineffable *pain, anguish, hopelessness, and *bone-crushing confusion watching our classmates *and the enemy being mass slaughtered in *astounding numbers overseas, and college kids being shot down and killed by the National Guard here at home at Kent State and Jackson, MS.
All of this happening while not ONE DAY did our government have the *slightest idea of WHY we were in Vietnam. Don't take MY word for that statement. I am quoting none other than former SecDef Robert McNamara twenty years AFTER the fact, while he was being interviewed by Time Magazine. Yup, many of the grunts on the ground figured THAT out before the end of our first year (1967 for me) *before the games like the "Draft Lottery" began! Many of the young think that the Sixties and early Seventies were a WAY cool party, which is accurate in part, but not at all the "whole picture" ! Most of the time, I do not bother to disabuse them of that magical thinking, unless they actually *ask me.
This country , as far as I can see, never had a "reverence for elders as keepers of the flame" unlike other cultures, e.g. indigenous cultures - so yeah, maybe some of us can't remember what we had for breakfast - but we do have decades of that "lived experience" that is supposed to be respected - we can remember what life was like before the internet - what organizing and action could be accomplished using shoe leather, land line telephones, copy machines, flyers instead of keyboards, when pictures WERE worth 1000 words - instead of something that could be faked.
So I really don't care if Twitter or FB exist in any form - in fact I consider them anti-social media - the sooner they disappear, the better, IMO ... I think that perhaps that is one thing we have to contribute - the memory and knowledge of what could be done with our analogue brains and bodies, that independence is strengthened once we eschew the concept that we are disabled without our digital paraphernalia ....
Elders were respected, especially in societies spiritually connected to their ancestors, like most Indigenous Groups of the world, for their innate wisdom and knowledge. By the time Europeans who came to the Americas arrived, their culture still looked to elders and those relative few who were actually literate for their knowledge and wisdom, but they also had libraries for "backup counsel" that could take them back to the Ancient Greeks and others for knowledge and wisdom.
The huge potential of the Internet has been squandered and wasted upon the "money changers in the temple". The worse part of that, of course, is that the Net too frequently communicates monetized lies as a business model, and never was actual "wisdom" founded upon pure lies.
I take comfort in the fact, however, that "The Kids have been going to hell in a handbasket" at *least since the time of Socrates" ! ;-D
The internet, that I initially (about 1990) felt would be a great democratizing and equalizing force, is about to be turned into a tool for Big Brother to cement himself in power, forever. Almost sad I lived to see it. Definitely ashamed I didn't see it coming.
I’ll admit I am a true believer and supporter of Wikipedia as the true flame of what the internet could be. Jimmy Wales is one of the last of the true believers.
I started out as a fellow devotee to Wikipedia until I discovered individual instances of people being written up *inaccurately on Wikipedia. People who, no matter *what action they take attempting to get recourse via documentary evidence of *fact about their lives, cannot get anyone at Wikipedia to *correct the online "information". I still trust them for data that is hard to politicize, such as the elevation of the City of Seattle, but not so much their data on individual contemporary people.
Wikipedia is not the content creator. They don’t ultimately fact check all posts. It’s up to us. I find their info largely accurate, and it is in a nonstop evolution. Of course I have found inaccuracies, as if that didn’t occur before the internet. Check out old Britannicas. They’re a mountain of biased misinformation.
Thanks, yes. It was in the "old days" that I created my trust in Wikipedia.
You are correct in your observation that the internet ruined them. They even used to be "open software". Users could independently correct and suggest other data. Not much remains of that either.
Hmm, I just realized, duh, that I took your comment about kids literally! whereas I don't think that's the way you meant it - oh dear, after all that discussion about sarcasm and all - rats! oh well, be patient, if you will - of course, there's that saying that patience is a virtue, but it never helped a rooster lay an egg - so perhaps the trick is figuring out how to tell a rooster from a hen ... but that seems to be getting confusing these days as well ... :D
That reminds me that I wanted to respond to your observation re: emojis. I use only a landline phone, so I am not "fluent" in emoji, but I find that "picking and choosing" can be valuable in online writing.
Online writing, including email, has THE greatest proclivity for *ambiguity of all types of written communication I can think of !
Even a handwritten note has *less chance of being "taken the wrong way" than does online writing. That is why people like Matt and Glenn are to be even more greatly admired for the *clarity they both bring to their work.
Given that, I am more than happy to use happy faces, etc. to *enhance my meaning with email and online comments.
We were discussing sarcasm. Sometimes that can be communicated by writing a *scathing screed, and then adorning it with happy faces. So, I use whatever tools present themselves.
And gender language ? Confusing indeed. We now have 27 "genders" and counting ! ;-D Our generation *used to get by with only two genders. So does the *bulk of creation at the hands of mother nature.
Indeed. I never used emojis, thought them idiotic in extremis, until I lived in China. Picto and ideograms are actually lovely. And gender language?!? To what degree am I responsible for reinforcing someone’s self image? That’s a DIY situation AFAIC.
Yes ! Yes ! I lived as a young man in Japan for six months. The locals were just incredibly sweet in their efforts to instruct me in Japanese. The women were the sweetest, and the men *seemed accommodating ! ;-D After a point, I noticed that when I "went out with the guys" they would often *howl at my primitive Japanese. I had no CLUE that there were languages with gender differences ! I worked as hard as I could learning the language from the women, as well as the men, but I saw more of the women. *You, will already know where this is going ! ;-D When I went out clubbin' with the guys, they would totally crack up, because, in my ignorance and naivete, I was using language that is "ONLY" appropriate in Japan for *women to use ! And those guys took their own sweet freakin' TIME letting me in on the JOKE too ! ;-D But, all these decades later, at least I now know what *you meant by "gender language" ! Thanks for the lesson update !
I confess i do not take much comfort in that - considering that I do think us Boomers have had a great deal to do with creating that hell - but perhaps that is why we can be useful now, one CAN learn from another's mistakes, perhaps that is the only learning that lasts -
But there is another type of learning, the one you alluded to, that elders can bring - the knowledge of tradition and ceremony, as lived, that stretches back through time - that connects us to each other and the rest of Creation -
I had a discussion on another thread about the role of Mythology as elucidated by Campbell - are you familiar with his work?
Oh, yes ! HUGE fan of Campbell, and, along with *most of the country at the time, I simply *DEVOURED his series with Bill Moyers called "The Power of Myth".
However, I went to college on the G.I. Bill, where I studied *all philosophers, both Western and Eastern, to include the Mystics and all of the Masters of the Ancient Mystery Schools who had ever eventually been translated into English. I mean, I was hungry for ALL knowledge after that freakin' war, even science. I eventually took my degree in science, and I now get a kick out of watching modern Science, especially Quantum Physics, "dovetailing" with ancient Mysticism by finally *proving many of the precepts that have been *taught by the ancient mystics for upwards of 3 Thousand years now. (Ancient Egyptians, etc.)
"The Power of Myth" describes the ethos of most indigenous people who did not actually choose to go into the practice of shamanism. All knowledge has value, the trick is simply to identify the proper time, place and manner in which we need to *apply that which we know. So, yeah, the kids will be "alright", just as we eventually were.
History, and "The Hero's Journey" as Campbell calls it, is *rife with tales of Trial By Fire, just as is Plato with his Cave Allegory in his book "The Republic" from about 2,400 years ago. All civilizations in all countries and cultures are basically dealing with the *same kind of mysticism. Only the degree of mysticism, the language and the customs vary.
Quick caveat, however, mysticism and organized religion are antithetical to one another. One is about controlling the masses, the other is about advancing the individual. No extra credit for accurately identifying which is *which ! ;-D
You have summarized my own "discoveries" very nicely ... :D
"Organized" religion has always had a hard time with mystics - the idea that a person could be "enlightened" without a hierarchically interpreted dogma drives 'em cuckoo-bananas - such "mystics" are labeled and persecuted as heretics. Sorta reminds me of the current PC "religions" of various stripes engaging in "cancel culture" :D
But the Enlightenment made Science the new religion - with its own priests, dogma and sacred texts, banishing all the "superstition" of the previous "dark, primitive times" before it - LOL! The "ancients" had it right, but are dismissed because they didn't have the "mathematics" to prove it - now along comes quantum physics, and they have, or should have, the last laugh ...
I, too, have a degree in science - and have seen enough to know that, although it is a useful tool, to limit the definition of what is "true" to what can be proven or demonstrated by the "scientific method" leaves so much Truth out ... That Western science should be considered the arbiter of Truth by so many who don't really "get it" is, IMO, at the root of much of our current planetary dysfunction - but the irony is that we seem to pick and choose the science we "listen" to - there is convenient science and inconvenient science, and here I think, we should get some extra credit for accurately identifying which is which :D
STELLAR POST !! Yes, we gain little from anything that we attempt to *worship, rather than to USE ! Science is NOT a god, Science is a tool, and in many cases, even a sadly *limited tool. People do not "believe in" Science. That would be like "believing" in a hammer and a crescent wrench, or any other tool.
People *know Science. Like a hammer or a crescent wrench, they know how Science *works. Much like Logic, Science is an *excellent tool for separating truth from superstition.
The first tenet of EVERY *Mystic teaching is that "ALL is Illusion". We can verify *that with science ! The Ancient Greeks knew of the atom. They postulated that it was the basic building block of *ALL things. So, to the 3-D Consciousness, what IS the atom ? An infinitesimal nucleus surrounded at a relatively incredible distance away, by protons and electrons in orbit around it. This *fact makes it irrefutably accurate to observe that the atom is MOSTLY Energy and Empty SPACE ! The nucleus has a bit of what we call mass, or "matter" both of which are also accurately called "energy at rest". The protons and electrons are nothing BUT energy. So, yes, "Energy and Empty Space".
In other words, as quantum physics would have it, that atom is not even *really THERE. Concurring with the Mystic who says that ALL is illusion, quantum physics proves that the atom only has "being" *while it is being observed by the scientist !
Else, it is always like Schrödinger's cat .... both there and NOT there until it is finally observed by a researcher. The cat is "possibility". An ILLUSION that can strike a response in a human 3-D eyeball, or *not !
If we look at an energy spectrum that depicts the range of 3-D human *senses, we see a *very limited range. Consider human sight. Just on a spectrum of the energies humans can *prove are out there, human eyesight represents an almost *invisible little strip of white light. It blows me away to consider the fact that for *most of 3-D Human History, we SWORE that that tiny strip of energy was ALL THAT EXISTED ! (Because it was all we could SEE).
All human instruments from the microscope to the Massive Hubble Telescope do nothing but *expand the range of 3-D human senses, in this example, sight. What about things that exist OUTSIDE the dimension of 3-D ? To the human they *never "exist" because we cannot see, or otherwise "sense" them, even with our powerful artificial *extensions of human sight (micro and telescopes.)
The Mystic will tell us that there is an entire dimension out there called 4-D (and infinite others) that we cannot comprehend, because we are *limited to our 3-D levels of perception and understanding. The Mystic will remind us that ALL of 3-D is an Illusion. So is all of 4-D even when we shift our level and speed of perception to *know 4-D.
The Mystics say the "Macrocosm is in the Microcosm." Who can look at the structure of the atom *without seeing our Solar System looking right back AT them ? Who can see our Solar System without seeing our Milky Way Galaxy looking right back at them ? Mysticism never *excluded Science, it just went SO much further that 3-D bodies with their limited-to-3-D senses had no hope of keeping up !
Science is even now looking at something that is driving them crazy.
They cannot *see it, they can only observe It's affect on *other things that the scientists can see. They call this invisible "whatever" Dark Matter.
The Mystic will hint that, just as is the case in *quantum physics, we cannot "see" things from other Dimensions with our 3-D eyes, or our manufactured *extensions of our 3-D eyes. We must literally create an entire change in *perspective.
They would just say that what we are calling "Dark Matter" is not at all "Dark", and it is only *invisible to 3-D senses. Mystics would say that "Dark Matter" is a 4-D phenomena.
Sounds just *beyond crazy, doesn't it ? Ask anyone *JUST how crazy Quantum Physics seemed to those who were in the early days of discovering *that !
Even Einstein detested Quantum Physics. He called it "spooky action at a distance". Albert insisted that GOD would never "play games with the universe."
Now we all call it the school of Quantum Physics, founded by Einstein's colleague and friend, Niels Bohr. It is STILL confusing, but it is now considered to be *quite real.
Except, you know, to a Mystic who also recognizes Quantum Physics, but who could show proofs that it is just another *aspect of a Universe that is ALL Illusion ! :-D ;-D
Science is actually "a snapshot" of our Last "BEST" Understanding of what we are looking at. Science then, changes its own explanations and conclusions to *accommodate new knowledge as quickly as it comes in, and there is *always something "new" coming in ! We are obliged to "take notes if we can't keep UP" ! ;-D ;-D
https://aeon.co/essays/how-psychology-fills-the-gap-from-the-disenchantment-of-the-world
Good piece - I have some quibbles with it, but it also mentions James, of whom I am also a big fan ..
IMO consciousness is the universal "substance" - everything is a manifestation of consciousness - and we don't have a "formula" for that ...
I fully concur. And, of course, formulas are also "tools", and tools will often have more specific, rather than widely general application.
As ever, each question that we answer only opens a thousand new questions. But that is how both science and the expansion of "cosmic consciousness" work.
When the Ad machine shuts down
The Brain turns on
Takes my old brain into the ditch by following up with
Turn on
Tune in
Drop out
Peace!
These days that seems to be
Turn on - your phone
Tune in - to Twitter
Drop out - of humanity
Peace - pieces
Heh, that period was only "magical" for the trust-fund babies who were doing every drug they could get their hands on and sticking it into every hole imaginable.
Now look at them. Bunch of crooked statists.
I suspect that very few of that generation were "trust fund babies" - so what generation are you?
OOPs - TINA - there is no alternative - guess my age is showing :D
I was going to be "polite" about overlooking the kind of brain "fluff" that I myself know all *too well, but I also did NOT "have" TINA. So, thank you as well for having the courage to offer it for my benefit in *spite of the "brain bump" ! ;-D
I have been following the reports of "long Covid" that are increasingly being experienced (I suppose that is one good thing the internet has done - allowed folks in similar situations to form "support groups") and notice that often the symptoms reported are "brain fog", loss of short term memory, etc. - all the stuff that, in our age group, are considered the inevitable deterioration of age - I wonder if society will be forced, not simply to be more tolerant but, more importantly, more patient - in this age where "progress" is getting stuff faster, cheaper, and easier ...