Resolved to See the One

The end of one year and transition to the next is generally looked upon as a time of reflection and resolve. Today I am doing an experiment of sorts, an exercise to realign my self-image with what I know to be true – that we are all one – one with each other, one with all things, one with our Creator and all of Creation. For one hour today, for everything and everyone I see and encounter I will silently say to myself “I am that, I am”. It is one thing to say we are one with all things; it is quite another to BE one with all things.

The mind is a very pliable tool that enables us to change the world. Each one of us has this tool at his or her disposal at every waking moment. Today, I will use mine to shift my perception, at least for an hour, to a true realization that there is no separation between me and the world around me. I bear no grandiose expectations, but indulge in this exercise to perhaps begin an important spriitual transformation of personal growth. I will begin with one hour where when I look at any and every thing or person around me, I will say “I am that, I am”.

In the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, God called upon Moses to help lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses asked God for His name and what he should say to the Israelites. God said “I am that, I am” (in Hebrew, ehyeh asher ehyeh from Exodus 3:14) and provided a promise to Israel that He would become whatever they needed Him to become – in this case, their deliverer. Many believe this promise found in the name of God - “I am that, I am” - can be extended to all of humankind, still today. God can become what each of us needs Him to be to restore us each to Universal Harmony.

Moses never made it to the Promised Land, but we can still use the Code that God gave Moses to return to who we each truly are in the universal scope of things. The Code itself lies within the words and deeper meaning of the name of God as given to Moses at the burning bush: “I am that, I am”.

What God was essentially telling us is that everywhere you look you see God. One can say that God is in everything, One can also say everything is in God! God isn't just saying He created that. He is telling us His presence is everywhere in its fullness. He's directly saying I AM THAT. I am that person, I am that experience. I am every thing that there is.

Many of us are still stuck in a sort of fifth-grade idea of God as an old guy with long white beard and flowing robes. It is we who have made God into our own image. Because of these simplistic notions, the great name of God, “I am that, I am”, continues to be misunderstood. These words are God's very simple way, God's very human way of giving us an enormous truth. We and all that is around us are the embodiment of God. I AM THAT, I AM. I mean REALLY, I AM THAT, I REALLY AM.

Be the Wave

Every soul is like a raindrop that falls from the sky into one vast ocean of consciousness.

Most raindrops hit the surface and make a small ripple that fades away...

But some ripples become waves.

24,689

Twenty-four Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Nine is the number of days I have lived on the Earth this time around, as of today - December 29, 2019. It is also the number of days my father lived on this Earth before leaving us all long before we were ready to say good-bye. As of tomorrow, I will have lived longer than my father. It is a realization that gives me great pause, a moment in my time to seek remembrance in celebration of this man I loved so dearly, my father.

When my father Dean passed in 1991, I was not able to either take time to mourn his passing or celebrate his life because of unavoidable responsibilites I had to my own family. But I did get a chance to say good-bye and tell him that I loved him. I had to choose between seeing my father for the last time on his death bed or attend his funeral. My father's brothers picked me up from the airport and brought me to the hospital where my father came out of his coma just long enough to look me in the eye and tell me that he loved me before slipping back under a coma.

In the single hour that I had to spend with dad and my family before having to fly home, I embraced the poignant death watch and reached into my father to sense his mix of pain, love, and confusion. From my mind to his, from my heart to his, I said to him that everything was alright. I encouraged him to go to the light, not to worry about the rest of us. We would miss him always, but we would all be fine and forever love him. I could sense his acknowledgement and his appreciation for letting him go. Having been through my own near death experience by drowning over twenty years before I knew that when the moment arrives when you actually have to decide whether to stay or to go, it is very comforting to have those around you encourage you to stay or give you permission to leave and let you know they will be alright when you are gone. Within a couple days, dad left his ravaged body behind and crossed over to the other side.

You always miss those you love most, especially a parent. I don't think I ever really mourned my dad's passing, but have set about to honor him with my life by taking what he gave me and making the best of it. My life is a celebration of all the gifts those around me have given me. I certainly have my father's sense of adventure, and though he is no longer there to share a story or a smile, somehow I think he still lives vicariously through my adventures. The best I can do is take the lessons and live them in a way he would very much have approved.

The love I have for my father runs deep. My roots have been nourished by it. I don't really sit and think about him in a yearning sort of way because I have always sensed that he is there any time I think of him in a loving way or actually need his counsel (and believe me, there have been quite a few times where dad has come through loud and clear to see me through one hurdle or another).

So as of tomorrow, I'm off to explore new territory. There is no time to look back; there is only the eternal now to cherish and fill with living. From here on, I take up where dad left off. Until we meet again, let me say that I appreciate his constant companionship and abiding love. Such is the eternal bond between a father and a son!

Tesla and the Great Pyramids

The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena,

it will make more progress in one decade than in

all the previous centuries of its existence.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla had a particular fascination with the pyramids. He believed they served a higher purpose, that they were monuments built to withstand all catastrophes so that humanity could always have access to the codes of the universe. Throughout his career he attempted to make sense of their mysteries and their mathematics. Many of his ideas have either been dismissed or forgotten over the past century, but considering that Tesla's findings are either directly or indirectly behind eighty percent of the technology we use in the modern world today, it behooves us to continue to examine even his most far-reaching conclusions.

Planet Earth, according to Tesla, was a gigantic electrical generator spinning around two magnetic poles from which limitless energy could be harnassed using the right medium or “shape”. In 1905, Tesla submitted his U.S. Patent 878,413, titled “Art of Transmitting Energy Through the Natural Medium” which included designs for a series of worldwide generators later referred to as Tesla's electromagnetic pyramids because of the shape of their design. Tesla obviously tapped into the shape and location of the the pyramids at Giza in Egypt with his design, perhaps because he discovered they exhibit fractal energy much more efficiently than any other types of design. When he built his design in both Colorado Springs and on the East Coast, he did so with regard to where the pyramids at Giza were located, believing that with the proper placement of his devices he could transmit power wirelessly. Unfortunately, after his mysterious death in 1943, his discovery and devices disappeared.

What Tesla was tapping into may have just scratched the surface of something much more ancient. According to Tesla, the numbers 3, 6, and 9 are the key to the universe. He became so fixated with these numbers that he acquired the obsession of driving around a building three times before going inside; he lived in hotel rooms only divisible by the number three; and made calculations of even the most minor things in his immediate environment just to make sure the measures were divisible by 3. By doing everything in threes, what is it that Nikola Tesla was trying to make us understand?

It is important to understand humans did not create mathematics; we merely discovered the universal language and laws of mathematics. The ancients used the relationship of numbers in much of their construction. Every design decision had numeric meaning. Tesla's strict attention to specific numbers was likely the result of his discovery that the ancients built these great monuments to remind us of certain great truths. He believed the pyramids deliberately and purposefully speak to our planet and perhaps were built to harmonize all of creation.

The codes to such a great power lies in the mathematics of their geometric design. The measures of the pyramids are specific and intentional. When you examine those measures, certain numbers keep popping up – numbers that shouldn't be there – like universal constants – the phi constant and the Golden Mean and Fibonacci sequence. Did Tesla read a message in this geometry?

The Great Pyramid sits at 30 degrees north astronomical latitude, one-third of the way to the North Pole. The scale of it is huge – occupying slightly more than 13 acres; weighing 6 million tons; consisting of 2.5 million individual blocks of stone; and aligned with true astronomical north. If one measures the original height of the Great Pyramid with its gold cap, it is found to be precisely 482.7575 feet high. When this factor is multiplied by the number 43,200 we arrive at the number 20,855,124 feet which is 3949.834 miles - precisely the Earth's polar radius. If you measure the perimeter of the base and multiply it by 43,200 you get the equitorial circumference of the Earth. In other words, if you scaled up the Great Pyramid by a factor of 43,200, the Earth would fit perfectly within it.

Tesla may have discovered that the pyramids are here to remind us of our place in the stars. Is it pure coincidence that measures of the pyramids give us precisely not only the Size and Shape of the Earth but also the Mass and Density of the Earth; the Gravitational Constant; the Escape Velocity from the Earth to obtain an Open Orbit; the Escape Velocity from the Earth to obtain escape from the combined Earth’s and Sun’s gravitational field; the Mass of the Sun; the Mass of the Moon; the Mean distance to the Sun and the Circumference of the Earth’s Orbit; Neutral Points of Gravity between the Earth and the Sun; the Mean distance to the Moon; the Orbital Velocity of the Earth; the Orbital Velocity of the Moon; the Metonic 19 year cycle of the Moon’s orbit of the Earth; the Lagrange Point (L1) between the Earth and the Moon; the Speed of Light; the Orbital Velocity of the Solar System relative to the Center of the Milkyway Galaxy; the Velocity of the Local Group of Galaxies which includes the Milky Way Galaxy relative to the Universe, to mention only the most significant?

Tesla discovered that the scale of the pyramids is not random. Our planet wobbles by 1 degree every 72 years, moving from one zodiacal constellation to the next. There are twelve zodiacs, each occupying 30 degrees, so that once in every 2160 years (30 * 72) we move from one zodiac to another. Right now we are moving from Pisces into Aquarius. If you take the whole cycle of 12 zodiacs times 2160 years each, we get what the ancients called the Great Year, when everything cycles back to the beginning and the whole process begins again. That's 25,920 years.

The number 72 is a number that shows up again and again across all cultures across all time. The number 43,200, for instance, is a multiple of 72 (72 * 600). The fact that the ancient builders of the pyramids gave us not only the dimensions of the Earth, but they did so on a scale defined by the Earth itself. Incredibly clever piece of work! Could these ancient builders have given us a monument to decode our human existence? Interestingly enough, the numbers Tesla was so interested in show up time and again in the Great Pyramid:

Earth Moves 1 Degree Every 72 Years 7 + 2 = 9

Base Circumference 43,200 4 + 3 + 2 + 0 + 0 = 9

Divides into Base 600 6 + 0 + 0 = 6

Latitude of Pyramid at 30 Degrees North 3 + 0 = 3

Full Cycle 25,920 Years 2 + 5 + 9 + 2 + 0 = 9

Zodiacal Age of 2160 Years 2 + 1 + 6 + 0 = 9

Is it possible that Nikola Tesla tapped into the Pyramid's Code? Was Tesla trying to tell us that our future lies in our ability to read the language and geometry of the universe – mathematics? Perhaps Tesla picked up on the purpose of the pyramids to educate the people of the Earth of their true place in time and space. Perhaps, too, after thinking about the opening quote in the headline of this blog, I wonder if Tesla figured out that the pyramids were pointing to a new way to think in ways outside of classical science and perhaps even to help move human consciousness further along its evolutionary path.

Quantum Computing

On May 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a contract with Cray Inc. to build the "Frontier" supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Frontier is anticipated to be operational in 2021 and, with a performance of greater than 1.5 exaflops, will then be the world's most powerful computer. One exaflop is a thousand petaflops or a quintillion, (1,000,000,000,000,000,000), double precision floating point (“0” and “1”) operations per second. That's a lot of computing power... a lot of flops! Even at that, there will still be some fairly straightforward mathematical problems that even Frontier will not be able to solve.

For instance, take the fairly simple factoring equation:

M = p * q

where a number M that is the product of the multiplication of two large prime numbers. If Frontier is given M and asked to find the two prime numbers it is derived from, it is a phenomenally difficult problem to solve. There is no other way to find it than to divide by a sequence of prime numbers until you have the solution. This problem is so difficult that it is used as the basis of all sophisticated encryption today. Today's codes of encryption are so unbreakable that it would take billions of years for even Frontier to break down a very large number M. Pretty secure.

The question that begs is “Will we ever have computing power able to solve not only a simple problem such as this, but even more challenging practical conundrums that currently elude us?” And the answer is a likely “yes”, but probably not for a few more years once we progress into quantum computing. The difference between today's classical computers and tomorrow's quantum computers is that while both break the world down into the bits “0” and “1”, quantum computers go one step further with the addition of a factor of “0” and “1” in superpostion to one another - called a Quantum bit or a qubit. In contrast, quantum computing will be able to find a solution to the most difficult M = p * q problem in a matter of seconds rather than billions of years.

Quantum computing is fundamentally different in that it is based on two laws in the quantum mechanical world - superposition and entanglement. A quantum superposition state of two pure states is a linear combination of these states with the coefficients representing the probability distribution of the pure states inherent in their quantum mechanical nature. Quantum entanglement describes the “entangled interaction” of qubits so that you cannot describe the state of two entangled qubits independently; if you measure one qubit, the measurement result of the other qubit is determined on the outset. Measurement results on qubits are still stochastic due to their quantum mechanical nature. These two effects in quantum computing, superposition and entanglement are responsible for the first step in the exponential speed boost provided by quantum computers.

The speed boost of quantum computing, in short, starts with a “spread” of all given pure states into superposition, so that every state is equally likely to appear. The second step is to “translate” the solution of the problem defined by a quantum mechanical algorithm into circuits using a set of qubits and quantum mechanical elementary gates. Additionally, oracles implement a Boolean function on a set of qubits representing the input of the problem. Final measurements on the set of qubits, with a high number of repetitions, provides a probability distribution as an interpretation of the final state being a superposition of all pure states of all involved qubits. The output of the quantum algorithm is a single pure combination of the set of qubits derived from the distribution; for example, one could take the combination with the highest frequency. Thus, quantum computing can only achieve a better performance compared to classical computers if an analysis of the quantum algorithm proves correct results and shows a lower complexity in the expected number of steps a set of gates and oracles needs to be applied. It’s all about the algorithms!

The first prototypes for quantum computers are already here – like the image of the one pictured above. So what are we going to do with them? Quantum computers promise to run calculations far beyond the reach of any conventional supercomputer. They might revolutionize the discovery of new materials by making it possible to simulate the behavior of matter down to the atomic level. Or they could upend cryptography and security by cracking otherwise invincible codes. There is even hope they will supercharge artificial intelligence by crunching through data more efficiently.

But there considerable reason for caution in our expectations too. It isn’t entirely obvious how useful even a perfectly functioning quantum computer would be. It wouldn't simply speed up any task you threw at it; in fact, for many calculations, it may actually be slower than classical machines. Only a handful of algorithms have so far been devised where a quantum computer would clearly have an edge. And even for those, that edge might be short-lived. The most famous quantum algorithm is for finding the prime factors of an integer like the M = p * q example above. Many common cryptographic schemes rely on the fact that this is hard for a conventional computer to do. But cryptography could adapt, creating new kinds of codes that don’t rely on factorization.

So when will we get there? The best and brightest minds in the field believe that the revolution will not really peak until a new generation of students and hackers get to play with some of the early quantum computing prototypes. Quantum computers require not only different programming languages but a fundamentally different way of thinking about what programming is. The first useful machines are still likely several years away, and that’s assuming the problem of managing and manipulating a large collection of qubits won’t ultimately prove intractable. Enthusiasm could sour if the first quantum computers are slow to find a practical use, but those on the leading edge continue to go forward with confidence and the hope that only a discoverer exploring the frontier of the unknown can fully appreciate.

Finding the Dangerous Path

Finding the Dangerous Path – Herman Hesse

In each one of you there is a hidden being,

still in the deep sleep of childhood.

Bring it to life!

In each one of you there is a call, a will,

an impulse of nature,

an impulse toward the future, the new, the higher.

Let it mature,

let it resound, nurture it!

Your future is not this or that;

it is not money or power,

it is not wisdom or success at your trade —

your future, your hard dangerous path is this:

to mature and to find God in yourselves.

A Shamonic Christmas Tale

Have you ever wondered where the tale of Santa Claus came from? When you think about it, the jolly old man in red and white, who travels on his sleigh pulled by flying reindeer to deliver gifts to children all over the world, is a pretty fantastical notion. So where did this eccentric, universal tale begin?

We’re told that he is based on Christian Saint Nicholas, who was known for his extensive generosity and good charity in the Fourth Century, in modern-day Turkey. A devout Christian, old Saint Nick represented love, charity, and good faith. It is said the Dutch adopted Saint Nicholas (for them, ‘Saint Nikolaas’ which soon morphed to, ‘Sinterklaas’) and brought his legacy to America in the 1700s.

But there’s another, lesser-known story; one that quite convincingly explains the bizarre traditions of our white-bearded, present-bearing, fur-clad, chimney-descending friend. This story begins in a land far, far away; a land in the North covered in snow, where reindeer freely roam. Alas, I’m not talking about the North Pole …

This story begins with a Shaman. A Shaman who descended down smoke holes in snow-covered homes, carrying medicinal red and white mushrooms to give to the cold families that inhabited them, during the relentless winter solstice. We’re in Siberia, pre-expansion of the Russian empire in the Seventeenth Century; a country that is known for its vast landscape, and harsh Northern winters. Several Indigenous tribes dwelled here and amongst them were ‘Shamans.’

Shamans can be described as conduits of spiritual energies. They were, and still are in some parts of the world, known for their abilities to reach altered states of consciousness in order to access the spiritual world and bring forth healing and wisdom. For this reason, they are highly regarded among their communities and are often respected advisors and representatives of the Great Spirits.

Shamans commonly use plants as medicine and to facilitate their connection with Spirit. They work with powerful, mind-altering, psychedelic plants such as Ayahuasca, Peyote, Washuma and more. Siberian Shamans typically used the fungus Amanita muscaria, known more commonly in the West as ‘magic mushrooms’ or ‘toadstools’.

Amanita muscaria is a native of Siberia, among other regions of the world. These bright red mushrooms with their cute white specks have long been associated with folk tales of fairies and other mystical creatures, but also make an annual appearance at Christmas time. Many of us have likely had the adapted versions; red and/or white baubles, currently hanging from the branches of our Christmas trees, which according to some Ethnographers, is no mere coincidence.

Amanita muscaria mushrooms grow under pine trees and were hung in the trees to dry. Coincidence? The forests of Siberia are predominantly made up of pine trees and Amanita muscaria are commonly found growing at the base of the majestic pines since the two have a symbiotic relationship. Sounds a lot like red-and-white wrapped gifts found at the base of a traditional pine Christmas tree.

The Siberian Shamans would spend ample time collecting the precious fungi from the forest floor and then went about drying them, as eating them fresh was dangerous but dried and administered in low doses, the mushrooms produced a sensation of warmth and increased energy.

In the warmer months, this was done by positioning them amongst the branches of a central pine tree that received direct sunlight (hello Christmas baubles!). The other method was to place the fungi in a sock hung by the hearth. Fascinating, right?

The connections don’t end there. As the solstice drew nearer and the days grew shorter and colder, it is believed that Shamans would visit people’s homes to deliver and administer these medicinal dried mushrooms; these treasured gifts, to brighten the damp spirits of the families trapped in their cold homes. Due to the extreme winter conditions, the doorways to these dwellings would often be snowed in so the only access would be through a hole in the roof where the smoke from the fire would escape – aka the chimney. Shamans would descend through the roofs of people’s homes to bring them the mushroom goodies.

Presents under pine trees; pretty red-and-white decorations dangling from branches, an adored man descending through chimneys with his red-and-white gifts, and socks with more treasures hanging by hearty fires. The correlations are quite astonishing, but there’s still more – we haven’t yet addressed the unmistakable attire of our friend Santa or his trusty steeds.

Almost every Westerner knows Father Christmas wears a red, velvety suit with woolen or fur trimmings to keep the chills at bay. Many believe it began with Coca-cola, who adopted Santa as their jolly red and white mascot in the 1920s. Prior to that, Santa’s ‘look’ was inconsistent, and not the kind, round, white-bearded man we all recognize now. He was often depicted in a variety of ways; Elf-like, or tall and gaunt, sometimes wearing a bishop’s robe or a Norse huntsman’s animal skin. The Bishop’s robe and tall, gaunt look were likely influenced by Saint Nicholas, as that is how early doctrines described him. As for the ‘huntsman’ look, Siberian Shamans would wear coats of caribou (reindeer) so it’s not unrealistic to speculate this image was birthed here and tales of these deer-coated men, with their unusual winter solstice practices, spread far across Europe, and later, the world.

Finally, we come to Santa’s reindeer friends. Siberia has a large population of reindeer, both wild and domesticated, and early Siberians depended on these animals for their survival. Aside from their meat and fur, they were used to pull sleds; an efficient and practical mode of transport in this snow-covered region of the world. It is thought that people who were hallucinating from the gifts of Amanita muscaria mistook the reindeer and Shaman to be flying off into the night. Reindeer, like Amanita muscaria, were considered sacred among the Siberian people.

So what does this all mean? What Magic do you choose to believe? For a start, it clears up many obscurities around Santa and Christmas. With a little research, however, it becomes clear there are a number of stories regarding Santa Claus’ origins, and though we can speculate until the reindeer fly home, one can never know the absolute truth of this tale. The Siberian-Shaman-became-Santa theory appears to check out, but perhaps both sides of the story contributed to the evolution of modern-day Santa. Perhaps it doesn’t matter.

Whether this Shamanic twist of the tale is, in fact, responsible for Santa or not, an exploration of this festive topic has revealed two notable things: Regardless of the origin of this jolly character, his essence is unwaveringly consistent, and to me, that’s what matters here. St Nicholas or Shaman – both are global beacons of kindness; both symbols of the spirit of coming together. Secondly, the polarity of one origin having roots in spirituality and the other in religion just reminds us, no matter who you are, what you look like, what you believe, or where you come from, the story of human connection and community is what has stayed the distance. It’s strong. It’s global. It runs through us all. It is our shared essence. Even if we don’t subscribe to the beliefs it stems from, we can all relate to the moral of this story; the story of a shared humanity, of kindness and hope.

A very Merry Christmas and may the essence of Santa touch each one of us this festive season and well into the coming year.

by Briony Dalton

A Politically Correct Christmas Eve

A Politically Correct Christmas Eve
~ Anon

Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck...
How to live in a world that’s politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to “Elves”,
“Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.
And labor conditions at the North Pole,
were alleged by the union, to stifle the soul.

Four reindeer had vanished without much propriety,
released to the wilds, by the Humane Society.
And equal employment had made it quite clear,
that Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his beautiful sleigh,
because the ruts were deemed dangerous by the EPA,
And millions of people were calling the Cops,
when they heard sled noises upon their roof tops.
Second-hand smoke from his pipe, had his workers quite frightened,
and his fur trimmed red suit was called “unenlightened”.

To show you the strangeness of today’s ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose.
He went to Geraldo, in front of the Nation,
demanding millions in over-due workers compensation.

So...half of the reindeer were gone, and his wife
who suddenly said she’d had enough of this life,
joined a self help group, packed and left in a whiz,
demanding from now on that her title was Ms.

And as for gifts...why, he’d never had the notion
that making a choice could cause such commotion.
Nothing of leather, nothing of fur...
Which meant nothing for him or nothing for her. 

Nothing to aim, Nothing to shoot,
Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls and nothing for just boys.
Nothing that claimed to be gender specific,
Nothing that’s warlike or non-pacifistic.

No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish upon the truth.
And fairy tales...while not yet forbidden,
were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden,
for they raised the hackles of those psychological,
who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

No baseball, no football...someone might get hurt,
besides - playing sports exposed kids to dirt.
Dolls were said to be sexist and should be passe.
and Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

So Santa just stood there, disheveled and perplexed,
he just couldn’t figure out what to do next?
He tried to be merry he tried to be gay,
but you must have to admit he was having a very bad day.
His sack was quite empty, it was flat on the ground,
nothing fully acceptable was anywhere to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might,
give to us all, without angering the left or the right.
A gift that would satisfy - with no indecision,
each group of people in every religion.
Every race, every hue,
everyone, everywhere...even you!
So here is that gift, it’s price beyond worth...
“May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on Earth.”

 

On Solitude

On Solitude - Herman Hesse

Most men, the herd, have never tasted solitude.

They are never alone,

they never commune with themselves.

And when a solitary man crosses their path, they fear him

and hate him like the plague;

they fling stones at him and find no peace

until they are far away from him.

The air around him smells of stars, of cold stellar spaces;

he lacks the soft warm fragrance of the home and hatchery.

Solitude is the path over which destiny endeavors to lead man to himself. Solitude is the path that men most fear. A path fraught with terrors, where snakes and toads lie in wait… Without solitude there is no suffering, without solitude there is no heroism. But the solitude I have in mind is not the solitude of the blithe poets or of the theater, where the fountain bubbles so sweetly at the mouth of the hermit’s cave.

Solitude is not chosen, any more than destiny is chosen. Solitude comes to us if we have within us the magic stone that attracts destiny.

True action, good and radiant action, my friends, does not spring from activity, from busy bustling, it does not spring from industrious hammering. It grows in the solitude of the mountains, it grows on the summits where silence and danger dwell. It grows out of the suffering which you have not yet learned to suffer.
 

the Highest Form of Patriotism

Dissent is the immune system of society. Suppressing dissent doesn't just aim to get rid of pesky political protesters and conspiracy theorists, it also aims to prevent the innovations and solutions society needs to adapt to changing conditions. History shows that suppressing dissent dooms a society to sclerosis, decline, and collapse.

Regimes that lose public support always make the same mistake; rather than fix the source of the loss of public trust - which is ALWAYS the few enriching themselves at the expense of the many - the regime reckons the problem is dissent. If all dissent is suppressed, then everyone will accept their diminishing lot in life and the elites can continue on their merry way. Or so they imagine! Dissent is a relief valve - shut it down and the pressure builds to the point that the system explodes. Regimes that no longer tolerate anything but the party line are doomed to fall in one of two ways: Either the pressure builds and the masses revolt, tearing the elite from power, or the masses opt-out and stop working to support the regime, so the regime slowly starves and then implodes.

The Big Tech monopolies in America today - Facebook, Twitter and Google - are effectively suppressing dissent in three ways: Shadow banning where the audience who gets to see your content is throttled back to a fraction of your pre-shadow-banning audience; the mechanics are shrouded in secrecy, Stasi-style. Second is De-platforming where a Big Tech monopoly declares you persona non grata for a supposed violation of their Kafkaesque Terms of Service and bans your content from their platform, effectively silencing you. And third is De-monetization where your content is still officially on the platform in truncated form, but the flow of advertising revenue is turned off; you are welcome to post content but you will no longer be able to make any money from it.

When you crush dissent and spend a full year cracking the skulls of protesters, you end up with what we have witnessed this year with France's general strikes. Here in the United States, dissent gathered momentum when all dissent was lumped together as "fake news" or "Russian propaganda." What better way to throw the baby out with the bathwater than declare any dissent from the approved party line as "fake news" or "Russian propaganda."

The catalyst was a completely fake "list of Russian agents" assembled by an unidentified source called PropOrNot in 2016. The Washington Post and other corporate media outlets immediately published the baseless accusations without bothering to seek the identity of the accusers or establish any sort of objective standards to judge the validity of the accusation. It was pure Orwellian.

In police-state fashion, Big Tech took the list of accused, declared all those named guilty and promptly shadow-banned, de-platformed, or de-monetized everyone without coming clean about how they engineered crushing the dissent. In classic Stasi fashion, the mechanics are all black box - the accused are never confronted with their accuser, never provided with the evidence of their "crime," and never given an opportunity to defend themselves against the false accusation. No due process whatsoever.

Everyone on the PropOrNot list was declared guilty until proven innocent, but there was no way to prove innocence. Kafka, meet Orwell - a completely opaque, privately owned Stasi (Facebook, Twitter, Google) does the elites' dirty work, concealed behind the impenetrable bureaucracy of algorithms, secret guidelines and Terms of Service which can be interpreted in whatever way serves the gatekeepers' interests.

Suppressing dissent guarantees disorder and collapse. The frantic efforts of an exploitative elite to eliminate dissent only accelerates the regime's path to collapse. America's contemporary Stasi cannot stand. Thank God we are at the beginning of a regime change with a Dissenter in Chief in the Oval Office.

Living Inside a Video Game

CERN researchers are baffled at how matter thrived in the early universe when it should have been destroyed by antimatter, a discovery which has evoked an actual scientific theory that the universe is controlled by a mysterious realm lying outside space and time. Matter and antimatter should have destroyed each other at the moment of the Big Bang, preventing the universe from even existing. The nature of matter and energy as we understand it does not support the fact that we are here.

“All of our observations find a complete symmetry between matter and antimatter, which is why the universe should not actually exist,” said CERN research lead Christian Smorra. “An asymmetry must exist here somewhere but we simply do not understand where the difference is.”

So what is the source of the symmetry break? The conclusion they have been uncomfortably reaching at CERN is that perhaps the physical laws of the universe are steered by something - or someone - outside the universe; in other words, the universe isn’t the “base reality” but is rather one level of existence contained within another superstructure unknown to humans, or at least unobserved by the scientific community – a very disconcerting finding from the besT and brightest among us!

There are enormous philosophical ramifications within these new physics-based insights into the nature of reality. Physics is up against a sort of veiled reality, ultimately hidden behind the concepts of time, space, matter and energy. Even more disconcerting is the idea that such an ultimate reality may remain an infinite, eternal mystery without explanation forever and always.

My son Keith may understand this better than the best and brightest at CERN. Keith is a young man who is autistically challenged, yet a virtual genius when it comes to mastery of gaming strategies. When he is playing one of his games he inserts himself into the game without ever getting a glimpse of or having the slightest understanding of the game's source code – the superstructure that runs the program. Very much like the world that physics now struggles to define.

the Limits of Performance

Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive when it comes to foot speed - at 28 miles per hour. Zoom, Zoom! But how many miles per gallon does he get? What is his caloric efficiency? Measuring the human equivalent of miles per gallon is tricky, since we each use different amounts of energy depending on what we are doing.

It's obvious that we burn more calories when we are running than if we are sitting behind a desk. The rate at which your body uses energy at rest is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR), and it varies from person to person depending on gender, weight, and other characteristics. The rate at which you use energy increases as your activity level increases. The ratio between your active metabolic rate at any given time and your BRM is known as your metabolic scope. The closer to 1 that number is, the closer you are to your resting rate; the higher that number, the more energy you're using. Humans like Usain Bolt generally max out at a metabolic scope of 5, but some animals can scope as high as 7.

Rephrasing the miles-per-gallon question then, how do you find the human body's maximum sustained metabolic scope - the point where the body's rate of energy use over time outweighs its ability to absorb food and turn it into energy. To answer the question researchers studied six runners in the 2015 Race Across the USA, a 20-week, 3,080-mile foot race from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.

In the study published in the journal Science, researchers measured the BMRs of the six runners by having them drink water that was enhanced with harmless but rare isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen - specifically, deuterium and oxygen-18. As the isotopes came out in the runners' sweat, urine, and breath, the researchers could measure how much carbon dioxide they produced and, therefore, how many calories they were burning. The team made these measurements before the race began, during the first week, then during the final week.

What they found was that the runners' metabolic scope went from 1.8 before the race to 3.8 after a week of running. But by week 20, it had leveled off to 2.8. From the data, the researchers could draw the obvious conclusion that the plateau was due to the runners' bodies simply using less energy. Some of that was due to them just losing weight and running fewer miles per day as the race wore on, but the remainder - about 600 calories per day - couldn't be explained by any obvious factors. Their bodies, it seemed, were adjusting to ensure they could cover the long road ahead. If they'd kept at their original energy usage, the researchers write, they would have petered out around 10 weeks. But they didn't.

The researchers analyzed the runners' data alongside data that had been collected from similar long distance endurance events, including the Tour de France, triathlons, shorter ultramarathons, and Arctic expeditions. In all cases, the participants' metabolic scope started high, then plateaued after about 20 days to settle around 2.5. After that plateau, the human body has to turn to other sources of energy besides food - namely, its own fat stores.

After the recent astounding 1:59:40 record marathon time by Eliud Kipchoge in Vienna, many of us are thinking about the limits of performance, not only in the marathon, but in whatever sport we consider. The studies above of metabolic scope serve to remind us that there are indeed physiological limitations to performance. Improvements in athletic performance will necessarily be by thinner and thinner margins. The body, in its wisdom, anticipates need over long endurance events and moderates caloric demand to enable an extended performance. Those of us who are practicing athletes are already aware that the body, like an automobile, has a set capacity that can only fuel so much effort before we either have to resupply calories (food) or begin the less efficient metabolic process of breaking down our own fat reserves. All we can do is hone these limitations and perform within their parameters. We will always only be able to go so far and so fast. After all, we're only human!

Angel Numbers

I continue to encounter sequential numbers serendipitously, usually more than once every day – seeing lots of 1111, 222, 444, and 555. Here is a snapshot of how one might interpret each repeating sequence.

000

You are on a spiritual odyssey recognizing your own potential in taking your first courageous step into the unknown. Your energy in every moment has an impact on what you are creating. Stay positive, think about and focus upon what you want to see and experience, and know that when you open your heart, elevate your vibration, and link with the Divine and with your angels, anything is possible!

111

The angels want you to relax and take a more lighthearted approach to life. You do not have to figure everything out all at once, but let it unfold over time. Pay attention to your thoughts. In every moment your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are playing a huge role in what will manifest in your experience. Stay positive and focus on what you want while releasing doubts, worries, and fear over to your angels and into the light.

222

You may have to make a choice between two ideas, places, or people that you love intensely. Many choices are not obvious or easy, but they are what help you grow spiritually as a person. You're on the right track, in the right place at the right time. Trust and stay focused on what you want rather than on what you don't. Everything is working out according to Divine will for the highest and greatest good.

333

You may be having more spiritual experiences. Could this be a sign that you are ready to start living out your life purpose? This is a reminder that the Divine, the angels, and the ascended masters are working with you on a number of levels to make your dreams a reality. Get clear about what you want, ask for help, and take action to co-create a beautiful life experience.

444

Take a look at the structures in your life. What are your cornerstones and what defines you? Shift these themes into your focus. 444 is a sign that your angels are with you, supporting you, guiding you, and assisting you with unconditional love and frequency. All is well. Remember to listen to your intuition and to ask your angels for help.

555

Huge changes are unfolding throughout all areas of your life according to Divine will. The message however isn't to sit back and be a passive recipient. It is a call from the universe and the angels to choose to co-create positive change and blessings in your life now. The angels want you to be ready to embrace change in your search for truth and authenticity. This is a number of opportunity. You are being guided to follow your intuition more closely.

666

Are you out of balance or paying too much attention to a certain area of your life over another? You may have developed an over-attachment to something unhealthy through a relationship, substance, or negative thought pattern. Don't be afraid if you see 666, but know this is a sign from the angels that it's time to wake up to your higher spiritual truth. Return to balance, refocus on being present in the moment and take your next step on your spiritual path to heal your mind, body, spirit, and emotions.

777

Major spiritual shifts are about to take place in your life. You're in the flow of Divine magic on the right track towards manifesting your dreams and goals into reality. 777 brings the confirmation that you've been hearing and listening to Divine guidance, and taking steps to heal and improve your life, and it's working!

888

Be ready for changes to unfold, knowing that ultimately they are aligning you with increased prosperity and abundance. 888 is a reminder from your angels that when you embrace the changes, opportunities, and ideas you have now, they will positively improve your life.

999

Embrace the changes happening within and around you so you can get to work on your life purpose. This is also a sign that you are a lightworker and that it is time to take steps to live in alignment with your authentic soul purpose.

11:11

Seeing 11:11 is an invitation to wake to experiencing the bigger picture and to start tuning into the realms of spirit. Take a breath, quiet your mind, and focus within to tune into the messages your guides and angels have for you now.

Foresight of our Founders

Our Founding Fathers, a term coined by President Warren Harding, were very much normal everyday people – very wise, even prescient, but otherwise by and large everyday working stiffs. Benjamin Franklin, for example, was a polymath like Donald Trump; he had a lot of businesses and was involved in a lot of activities. Most of the Founding Fathers were very much opposed to the progressive liberalism of Europe from which most people in the New World had fled, and understood from history that liberal governance generally led to tyranny. They had lived long enough under colonial tyranny where their interests were not fairly represented, and so sought to define a new form of government that would assure certain God-given liberties were preserved for all people at every level of society.

The reason they formed a republic instead of a pure democracy is that they foresaw the dangers of tyranny by government of a majority. Everyone was in agreement about the need for preserving equality of opportunity, but the Founders had the foresight to design a government of representatives chosen by election to be indirect proxies for the interests of the general population. They were frightened by the progressive movement of their own times in France which resulted in the Reign of Terror of Robespierre who ultimately killed Louis XVI to clear the way for the dictator Napolean to rise to power.

The Founders were afraid of progressives the likes of Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler, and would have been pleased with a president who was not a politician, but a regular working stiff with a backbone who was not afraid to stand up to the special interests of the powerful few; one who would fight to preserve the Constitution and restore the primacy of interests of normal everyday people. The Constitution was a document written by men who understood the temptation of all men and women who rise to power, who foresaw the potential for failure if those temptations were not checked. The abuse of power and failure of the majority Democrat caucus of Congress to remove the president from office peremptorily is a testament to the foresight of our Founders.

Build a Happy Ship

"To The Great Unknown"

by the group CLOUD CULT on the album THE SEEKER

Called your name, and you formed out of the emptiness.
Called your name, and I swear this time I’ll be my best.
Called your name, and I felt home sweet home.
May you find grace when overtaken by the tempest.
May you find humor in the cynic and the pessimist.
May you find faith in the Great Unknown.
Lay it all down… in a calm, safe space.
And if the dream doesn’t come… just wait

We were made to walk through fire in our dance shoes.
We were made to sail upon the meteors.
We were made to love the heck out of our bones.
God gave us words, they were “I love you, please, and thank you”.
God gave us thirst, and it’s a hunger for the universe.

Oh, no, no, no. I’ll never let you go.
Sometimes this life’s a lonely road, but you gotta find it on your own.
So build a happy ship, cuz this livin’ is a trip.
You gotta sing the kind of song that you like singing
...to the Great Unknown.

God gave you brains, now don’t go and drown in your own thinkings.
God gave you hands so you could pick up your broken pieces.
God gave you feet so you can find your own way home.
Let’s run away, just know your troubles tend to follow.
Pack your bags, just know that everything here’s borrowed.
The pathmaker is a trickster, so make your own damn road.

Oh, no, no, no. You never were alone.
Sometimes this life’s a lonely road, but you gotta find it on your own.
So build a happy ship, cuz this livin’ is a trip.
You gotta sing the kind of song that you like singing
...to the Great Unknown.

Compact Fusion Reactors

In recent years we have begun to see a number of bizarre patents assigned to the U.S. Navy that describe radical new technologies that could revolutionize the aerospace field and perhaps even the way we live our lives day to day. These include high-energy electromagnetic fields used to create force fields and outlandish new methods of aerospace propulsion and vehicle design that basically look and act like UFO technology. Now, the same mysterious Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division engineer behind these patents has produced another one for a compact fusion reactor that could pump out absolutely incredible amounts of power in a small space - maybe even in a small craft.

The form of nuclear power generation employed in nuclear reactors today is fission, in which unstable isotopes of uranium and other radioactive materials are bombarded with particles, splitting them apart and releasing energy. Fusion, on the other hand, involves uniting atoms of hydrogen isotopes like Tritium and Deuterium under extreme pressure and temperature to produce helium isotopes and neutrons, a process that releases large amounts of energy.

If it can be achieved, nuclear fusion would be a massive improvement over fission in that it produces much lower levels of radioactive waste and greenhouse gases, does not require enriched nuclear material that could be used to produce weapons, has a far lower risk of meltdown, and can be powered by more sustainable fuel sources. Fusion has long been hailed as a long-term solution to humanity's energy needs.

While nuclear physicists and engineers have been conducting experiments with fusion reactor designs for decades, it remains challenging, to say the least, to engineer systems that can contain temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees Fahrenheit under extremely high pressures. Most of the world’s successful fusion reactors are currently only able to maintain plasma discharges for periods of time measured in minutes or even seconds.

Even more challenging is designing nuclear fusion reactors that are mobile, such as ones that might fit inside a shipping container or a ship. Currently, most of the world’s experimental fusion reactors are the size of large buildings and so the ultimate goal of much current research is to develop compact fusion reactor systems small enough to work on a ship or possibly even an aircraft.

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has been working to create a game-changing compact fusion reactor. The elite aerospace design unit has been constructing a new and more powerful experimental reactor as recently as July 2019. Aside from Lockheed Martin, several private firms have been developing their own compact fusion reactors (CFR) in recent years, and the government-run Chinese Academy of Sciences has claimed to have made significant progress in developing fusion reactors that could one day be capable of producing revolutionary levels of beneficial energy.

While Lockheed Martin’s CFR designs have garnered quite a bit of media attention and internet buzz in recent years, it appears one of the Skunk Works' major clients is also hard at work in this field. The U.S. Navy has recently filed a potentially revolutionary patent application for a radical new compact fusion reactor that claims to improve upon the shortcomings of the Skunk Works CFR, and judging from the identity of the reactor’s inventor, it's sure to raise eyebrows in the scientific community. This latest design is the brainchild of the elusive Salvatore Cezar Pais, the inventor of the Navy’s bizarre and controversial room temperature superconductors, high energy electromagnetic field generators, and sci-fi sounding propulsion technologies.

Like other bizarre Salvatore Pais patents the extent to which this patent represents an operable, functioning, or even feasible technology isn't clear. The Navy has vouched for some of his designs in the past, however, going so far as to claim these inventions actually exist in an operable form and that they are needed for national security purposes, most notably to keep pace with adversaries like China. But unlike some of Pais’ patents, this application surprisingly sailed through the United States Patent and Trademark Office without rejection and subsequent appeal.

Salvatore Pais is clearly a busy man finding novel applications for high energy electromagnetic fields, and the Navy is patenting some truly science-fiction-like next-generation technologies that if realized, have the potential to change the course of technological development as we know it. Will this be the power source that goes along with his other recent "UFO patents" - the engine needed to complete a seemingly otherworldly craft of some sort? Many believe so. The procession of these patents and their potential relation to one another is certainly intriguing, to say the least.

The Navy remains unwilling to discuss their new and unusual developments, however. Many physicists think these patents are beyond the realm of known physics and are questionable at best in terms of viability. At the same time, all this is occurring as the Navy, and the Navy alone out of all of the branches of the U.S. military, continues to discuss the fact that its pilots are encountering unexplained aerial phenomena at an increasing rate.

With all this in mind, is the Navy building some sort of incredible craft based on science that remains foreign to the larger scientific community? Has Pais and his team been successful at reverse-engineering captured alien technology from crashed spacecraft? Even more curiously, did they already re-engineer such alien technology years ago, and are they just slowly lifting the veil now? Are we at the early stages of the biggest expansion of advanced aerospace development programs in decades? Is the Navy finally opening its kimono on a rumored world of advanced technology that has been under development and deployment in space since the early 1950's? The future looks bright indeed if this is the beginning of the imminent disclosure we keep hearing about.

Adapted from B. Tingley and T. Rogoway, Oct 9, 2019, in The WarZone Newsletter

Living Every Moment

"Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the greatest lessons in life I learned in 1978 from a Jesuit priest from Brazil named Castor Cartelle. It was the lesson of never wasting a moment in life. Each of us has 24 hours gifted to us each day to cherish and give back to the world the best that we have to offer.  Anything less is a loss to not only ourselves, but to the Universe.

It was my first year as a public high school teacher in Oak Hill, West Virginia. I was struggling to figure it all out and make a difference. Public speaking and patience were not a skill and attribute that came natural to me, so I made a lot of mistakes. Early in the year a kindly-looking gentleman walked into my classroom unexpectedly during a lecture on some topic of biology. Still being a new teacher I was nervous about anyone observing my methods with all my bad habits, so I was a bit uncomfortable when the tall visitor in the back of the room stayed for a couple more sections of instruction.

At the break for lunch he came forward and introduced himself. Quickly discerning that my visitor spoke no English, we parted after a handshake and smiles with my still not comprehending what he was all about. After school I learned from other members of the faculty that the gentleman was visiting his brother in town and wanted to learn a bit about American education, so he had dropped in on a number of classes to get a feel for our school. All well and good.

The next day he was back in my class in the morning and stayed all day. In fact, he joined my classes for nearly every day for the next 13 weeks. Of all the many classrooms in the school, he chose to spend his time exclusively in mine. In time I would come to find out how meaningful this was.

Once my Portuguese-speaking visitor and I figured out we both spoke enough French to communicate, I learned that Castor Cartelle was a Jesuit priest as well as a world-renowned professor of paleontology at the University of Brasilia in Brazil.  My French has never been great, but it was good enough to begin to help him grasp some words and ideas in English. In the 13 weeks that would follow he became quite conversant in English, and I learned far more than I could ever have imagined.

Each day I would cover topics of general science and found myself answering his questions and addressing his comments as a member of my classes. The students got used to him and got back to their usual antics once the good padre became a regular fixture. We all grew together. I suppose as a professor and a scientist he was more interested in my science instruction than other subjects, and as a priest I like to think he may have had some affinity for my own adventure and spiritual proclivities. For whatever reason he chose to join us, I was glad he became a part of my classes.

Jesuits, characteristically, waste no time. Every moment is an opportunity to experience and grow during this short life we have here. The little town I taught in held few opportunities for cultural exploration, so I imagine the school was the hot spot for discovery while visiting his brother for three months. Father Cartelle was originally from Spain before he settled in Brazil. He had made some famous discoveries in the jungles of South America, readily found on the Internet today. His great pleasure in life was playing pipe organs; he showed me many wonderful pictures of him playing these enormous organs in the great cathedrals of the world. Once his confidence and skills with English improved, we spent more and more time speaking of his travels to these cathedrals and his time doing research in the Amazon jungles.

Before the end of his stay, the padre's English was good enough that I invited him to give instruction in the classroom, tell my students about his adventures, and show slides of capturing giant constrictor snakes and the bones of ancient mammals of the Miocene Epoch that he uncovered in South America. In the end we exchanged addresses and ultimately lost touch.

I am delighted that my friend Castor is still with us, still busy lecturing, and sharing his discoveries and enthusiasm with the world. His lasting impact on me has been immeasurable. Even my daily recordings in this blog are an off-shoot of his shared passion for filling every moment with something productive that adds value to the world. In thinking back and recalling the time we shared in my classroom, I cannot but think that our meeting and time together was no accident. I have thanked this great spirit many times for choosing to be there at the right time in my life to help me grow.