Top posts
-
Kindred spirits
Certainly, three kindred spirits have here encountered each other; and although the first two missed each other on earth by eight centuries and the last two by twelve months, still in the heart of the survivor lingers the hope that in the life 'sans end'...
-
Inner Infinity
From where do new ideas come? Do they pop out of the aether as some random ashes of inspiration with no obvious precedent? Or do these ideas mostly already exist, but in a completely separate setting. As such, does the creative spark really consists of...
-
A fundamental fear
Outside the one coherent and public spacetime, there is an element of darkness, a field that sets the limits of our reach. Human consciousness stands on the edge staring into oblivion before crossing over the four corners of reality. As it pushes the...
-
Process
I enjoy creative writing, the very first ideas and original sparks that rise from a swirl of images, experiences, and thoughts. Owing to their ability to discriminate what is, scientists can effectively express their thoughts and convey to a larger audience...
-
The Void
To paraphrase what I. M. Pei once said about architecture, the Universe is a form of art whose medium is space. In the pitch-black skies, there are holes and wells of a darker nature. Those are voids. Some are expanding faster than the Universe itself....
-
Waves
... content and process are not two separately existent things, but rather they are two aspects of views of one whole movement There is much to say about building upon the great insights of those who preceded us. I feel that many concepts have been defined...
-
Transcendence
Even for a poet who sees connections between almost everything, connecting dots is a hard thing to do. I ought to step back, look with a broader perspective, and collect my thoughts. The short compilation of Dao De Jing 道德经 has always been a source of...
-
Stories of the Universe
Science in Poetry. Poetry in Science... In a collision between poetry and science, I have a recurring image in my head of the monk Bodhidharma floating in space, facing the arc of the Universe and staring at the horizon. I see him stretching his arm to...
-
Thought is Consciousness
I was pleasantly surprised by the profoundly enlightening comments I received earlier this month. “We are not aware of the conflict within because ego possesses thought and we think it natural,” writes Thomas, “but after thought finds release from ego,...
-
A fool on the hill
The Ghost of a Flea, William Blake Comets have made their appearance in works of art and literature. They left their mark in our collective memory. William Blake's portrayal of the Ghost of a Flea shows the attempt by an artist to capture the eerie moment...
-
Symbolic Reasoning
Certainly, three kindred spirits have here encountered each other; and although the first two missed each other on earth by eight centuries and the last two by twelve months, still in the heart of ... I once stumbled upon The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám...
-
The extension of ourselves
Quantum time dilation in atomic spectra (APS 2021) There is a paradox, an impossible task that may be transcendentally understandable and left for others to figure out. Although what we merely know of nothingness is its absence, when matter eventually...
-
Neptune
Neptune (NASA/JPL) Using predictions made by the French Urbain Le Verrier, Johann Galle at the Berlin Observatory discovered Neptune in 1846. The amateur astronomer William Lassell spotted one of its Moon, Triton, 17 days after Neptune’s discovery. Which...
-
Apophis
The overview presented in the previous post has set the stage for our next inquiry into our part of the Solar system. As we wait for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope to be operational, the vast majority of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are presently discovered...
-
Quantum Ontology
Bottlebrush grass Two theoretical physicists are on death row and have been in the same cell for ten years. One night, the warden comes and says, ‘You’re going to be executed tomorrow. Any last wishes?’ The first theoretical physicist says, ‘Well, I’ve...
-
The Essence of Information
Complex, Nelleke Beltjens Do processes like fractals mirror each other from one end of the Universe to the other? Stars springing out of darkness is a metaphor for ourselves. Complexity tells the continued story of a behavioral trait that spreads from...
-
There is no Consciousness without Gravity
Donaldson Run As I review earlier posts, I hope to mend holes in the original goal I had chosen for myself to imagine what cosmic consciousness is. It is not that there are different levels of consciousness but that there are various degrees of receptivity...
-
There is something that feels
I discover two sides of consciousness: on the first side a constitutive consciousness that is the state of being conscious of the phenomenon, and on the second side, the being or existence of this very consciousness itself. While most of us run out of...
-
On the terrible doubt of appearances
Of the terrible doubt of appearances, Of the uncertainty after all, that we may be deluded, That may-be reliance and hope are but speculations after all, That may-be identity beyond the grave is a beautiful fable only, May-be the things I perceive, the...
-
The emergence of consciousness
We sometimes feel that we have reached an impasse and need a breath of fresh air to keep going. Words are powerless without a final resolution. Our heart measures time; our brain harbors consciousness, and our body moves through space. Weighted down by...
-
Decoding a black hole
Andy Goldsworthy’s Roof at the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in D.C. The installation is composed of nine stacked slate domes as if they were black holes at the center of nine galaxies – tiny cells where matter is kept prisoner and light...
-
Earth Calling
Earthrise Along Champlain Canal The little acrobat scratches its head — it isn’t for the faint of heart. Running back and forth through the Universe helps build its stamina. On the celestial bridge, it listens to the sounds of the Earth and the swishing...
-
A Surrealist Mind
These days and weeks That cannot be found on any calendar, These hours and minutes unknown to the clock, When all those rusting ships of the past, long gone To the bottom of life, guarding the sunken dreams Cast up their sorrows to swell this grief with...
-
Why is the Universe the way it is?
If thinking is hard, how to fight my own bias. If thinking is hard, should I stop my inquiry and throw in the towel? If thinking is hard, should I be afraid to make a mistake? Our view of the Universe is shaped by our perception. Asking why the Universe...
-
Messengers in the dark
Enhanced Image by Gerald Eichstädt and Sean Doran (CC BY-NC-SA) based on images provided Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS The color-enhanced image of Jupiter’s swirling clouds raises questions about the degrees of reality and to what extent processing...