Illusions

I really like illusions. This is one of my fav cuz it reminds me to be aware that illusions should not become delusions, also reminds me that the mind likes to play.

The different ways people perceive the Müller-Lyer illusion likely reflects lifetimes spent in different physical environments. American children, for the most part, grow up in box-shaped rooms of varying dimensions. Surrounded by carpentered corners, visual perception adapts to this strange new environment (strange and new in terms of human history, that is) by learning to perceive converging lines in three dimensions.

When unconsciously translated in three dimensions, the line with the outward-feathered ends (C) appears farther away and the brain therefore judges it to be longer. The more time one spends in natural environments, where there are no carpentered corners, the less one sees the illusion.

The above is one of the few posts from a former blog site that i wanted to save, and lookity what i found about an hour and a half later (click 'explores' for full article): David Weisman explores how Buddhism gets the brain right: Neuroscience tells us the thing we take as our unified mind is an illusion, that our mind is not unified and can barely be said to “exist” at all. Our feeling of unity and control is a post-hoc confabulation and is easily fractured into separate parts. As revealed by scientific inquiry, what we call a mind (or a self, or a soul) is actually something that changes so much and is so uncertain that our pre-scientific language struggles to find meaning. Buddhists say pretty much the same thing. They believe in an impermanent and illusory self made of shifting parts. They’ve even come up with language to address the problem between perception and belief. Their word for self is anatta, which is usually translated as ‘non self.’  One might try to refer to the self, but the word cleverly reminds one’s self that there is no such thing.

Summer Daze

sun-dappled blue pool
weightlessly i float and see
wispy cirrus clouds



jacuzzi bubbles
a happy fizzies party
relaxed and dreamy

Wild Strawberries

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

- Pink Floyd, Brain Damage







A few days ago i was reading Sam Harris' blog where he answered tweeted questions, one of which was about the best meditation guide for beginners. In his answer he left a link to: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-meditate.

A few searches later: http://www.wildmind.org/walking/introduction. Yes, i do want a balance between outer and inner; yes, i do want a mind that is calm, content and quiet. Awareness and patience are needed for these wants, and that should help to lengthen the time i seem to so easily fall into a state of meditation, and then get too easily distracted.

I suddenly got the urge to get up and move, but felt lazy, then felt hunger pangs, but nothing sounded good, besides i had an upset tummy. Wild strawberries popped into my mind. A few weeks ago i noticed a large patch beside a back road while on a bike ride, had found a few ripe ones last Saturday, that got me out of my comfy chair, and pedaling to a tall grass and daisy field where the pickings were good. As i was stooped down peeking under leaves to find those sweet little berries, a pricker vine grabbed hold of my shirt. I jerked away in some irritation that turned into a smile as i discovered it was a raspberry vine, with more treats to come:]




At the end of this back road is a busy street with a strip mall including a Hispanic grocery that recently opened. I luv small local businesses; one of the things  i bought was a black candle with Santa Muerte on it. When i first saw it, it was turned so all i could see was 'santa', and wondered what Santa (Claus) was doing amidst all the religious icons on the other candles. I mentioned that to the young woman at the register, and she asked if i knew what the candle was for. Almost sure it was to burn if someone in your family died. She seemed surprised, and asked if i were religious, no; did i believe in g0d? No. What a strange conversation with a looney Americano, i'm sure she thought. I did not tell her that Death was my companion.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte  There were two colors of the Santa Muerte candles. Found this after i came home: Red is for love and passion. It can also signal emotional stability. Black, which i choose, represents total protection against black magic or sorcery, or conversely negative magic or force directed against rivals and enemies.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen

Link to remind self to read sometime soon, although i think that i know i need more do and be than think. This has been on my mind for some time, and it just popped in again, the person i most admire is HH the Dalai Lama. Whenever i see pics of him, he _always_ appears so happy and at peace. He is living proof that the possibility exists for any human to be happy and peaceful.

Time Waves

Reminiscing about

two suns    
fording river rocks
slip in the current
past and future
merge in the present
simple ordinary things
driving my ol' jeep
warmly dressed in mink
dig out of snowbank
down the lane
fireflies are star wars
in amazing fields
hear maize creak
dappled forest river
crossed on a tree 
greet brother bear
on trail above the falls
stood on mountaintop
contemplating suicide
dancehall dances
pinball tilts
lazy days at the beach
six foot waves break
some moments speak

Companies That Use Monsanto Products

Harvest Moon

Hot Wheels

Gone Fishin'

http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

RIP

Ride Sally Ride

Link o' teh Day

http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/08/30-amazing-stanley-kubrick-cinemagraphs/

Magic

The things one learns...

While reading an article on the possible origin of the Hokey Pokey dance: the phrase "hocus pocus" comes from a line in the Latin Mass,  "Hoc corpus meum" (This is my body).

It's _all_ magic.

Because the Bible Told Me So

Hotter than Hell




An anonymous proof that heaven is hotter than hell, from Applied Optics, August 1972:

The temperature of heaven can be rather accurately computed from available data. Our authority is the Bible: Isaiah 30:26 reads, Moreover the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. Thus heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as the Earth does from the Sun and in addition seven times seven (forty-nine) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or fifty times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is a ten-thousandth of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that. With these data we can compute the temperature of Heaven: The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation. In other words, Heaven loses fifty times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann fourth-power law for radiation

where E is the absolute temperature of the Earth — 300K. This gives H as 798K absolute (525°C).
The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed but it must be less than 444.6°C, the temperature at which brimstone or sulfur changes from a liquid to a gas. Revelations 21:8: But the fearful and unbelieving … shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be below the boiling point, which is 444.6°C. (Above that point it would be a vapor, not a lake.)
We have then, temperature of Heaven, 525°C. Temperature of Hell, less than 445°C. Therefore, Heaven is hotter than Hell.