My last article was about time and the current theories in theoretical physics about the nature of the universe. Time is not well understood on the cosmological scale. We do know that we experience time subjectively. In my next explorations, I hope to write about how time is related to aspects of psychology and how different aspects of the brain process time. This might be a tipping off point for me to do more investigation into consciousness and oscillating microtubules. This is an interesting topic for me, so I hope to have some time to do it.
May your day be filled with curiosity and wonder–we live in a marvelous world.
Here our sunny Southern California is giving us a wind and rain storm. It might even bring up to 4in! That’s a lot for a place that might only see about 12in per year. I’m looking forward to the rain, but not the damage. It will be nice to be cozy in the house! That’s perfect for the current astrological moon (and for a natal Cancer Moon).
First, this blog post is partly inspired by Tiramit at Dhamma Footsteps’s blog post, “Without beginning and without end”. In Tiramit’s post he writes about the now-moment, the present moment–and how its really all there is. Concepts of Past, Present and Future are descriptors and constructs. He writes of personal synchronicities with naming one of his blog categories, “now-moment,” as it aligns with some of some of Meister Eckhart’s 14th century thinking and writing. He quotes David Loy in Insight Journal to express the points that time could be a construct.
“We are not in time because we are time. Our nature is temporal which means we are not things; we are bundles of physical and mental processes. And when we become nondual with those processes, the past is not something that falls away, and the future is not something that’s coming. Then we live “in” what is sometimes called the eternal present. Etymologically the word “eternity” means without beginning and without end. What is without beginning and without end? It’s always now.” [David Loy, qtd. in Dhamma Footsteps]
It is here where I depart and examine instead the concept of time in terms of General Relativity, Quantum Physics, Loop Quantum Gravity, and String Theory.
For Einstein, the father of General Relativity: “the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” (Einstein, 1955, Letter). This is not inconsistent with the idea of mathematical intuitionism.
Introduced by the 20th-century, by the L.E.J. Brouwer, a Dutch mathematician, Mathematical Intuitionism is a school of thought that posits that the main objects of mathematical discourse are mental constructions governed by self-evident laws. However, as a physicist, I doubt that Einstein was a mathematical intuitionist. He was busy using mathematics to describe and understand physics and develop General Relativity.
For Einstein, Time is relative to the frame of reference. The rate at which time passes is based on your speed and acceleration at any moment. With Einstein’s General Relativity, the faster you travel, the slower time appears to pass. I tend to think of aging as ‘time’ defined as a succession of events. The “amount” of time that’s gone by, therefore, would not be measured by a clock, but by the number of events that happened in a time frame. With social media, and information exchange happening faster than we can imagine, I think of how we experience this dual process of aging and increased technology use delivering event information faster, as all leading to a very fast pace of life. We are also ‘producing’ more during these times.
Look at how when we are young children, we have biological clocks that are going absurdly fast compared to adult standards. A child’s brain is 80% grown in size by age 3 and by age 5, 90% in size. This biological clock is going so quickly that the child’s perception of time is likely to be extremely slow in comparison to the adults’. It was also Einstein who said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” From here, we can extrapolate that even in the pace of our own lives, the greater world is moving at an even faster pace, for we are only witnessing and participating in tiny “snap shots” of the whole events that could exist, as we imagine really are existing without our witnessing or participating in them.
Quantum Physics
Wait, put on the breaks! I’m feeling like I’m in a black hole. This is where General Relativity (GR) doesn’t work very well. What Quantum Physics (QP) does is introduce uncertainty. In complete irony for the uncertainty appreciation that Quantum Physics releases is that “time in quantum mechanics is rigid, not bendy and intertwined with the dimensions of space as in relativity” (Wolchover, 2020). Apparently, quantum physics isn’t resolutely deterministic or indeterministic. There is still so much that is unknown about the overall definition of time. This is one of the challenges of merging the theory of GR with the QP.
Loop Quantum Gravity
(MirageC/Getty Images) as seen in ScienceAlert.com
Holy smokes, in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), apparently time does not exist at all! According to Sam Baron who writes for ScienceAlert.com, “while physics might eliminate time, it seems to leave causation intact: the sense in which one thing can bring about another.” Now doesn’t that make us scratch our heads? The best that I can understand LQG is that space-time is woven together as network with hubs. In this type of theory, gravity might exist as quanta or packets. Apparently these loops are connected by nods forming spin networks which create spin foam.
This is the best video I found on the above topics, but I didn’t get any closer to understanding time! It really lays out all of these theories about understanding the nature of everything. The main issue is why are there two separate laws and rules for the very large and the very small. Therefore, it is clear that general relativity is not the explanation of everything! Quantum theories arose because classical physics didn’t explain the nature of physics fully, under all circumstances. The smallest unit of time is the Planck time. It is the time it takes light to traverse one Planck length, the smallest duration of time that has physical meaning.
String Theory
LQG does not try to form a unified theory of everything as does String Theory (ST). ST requires that space-time have 10 spacial dimensions for it to exist as it has been hypothesized. However, so far there is no evidence for these extra dimensions. Here is a short, non-comprehensive list of things that we need to have evidence for in order for ST to be true/accurate and not just theoretically attractive:
2). That time did not have a beginning and will not have an end (existence before the big-bang)
3). Super-symmetry (a partner particle for each standard particle)
(mini black holes have not been created in labs)
4). There are questions about whether or not String Theory can even be put to the experimental test.
Does it matter that Time does or does not exist?
For as long as there is a practical application for space-time, such as planning a family outing or vacation, agreeing with a friend on where to meet for tea or coffee, and deciding when to hold a wedding, I think that time will always be needed. What theoretical physics says about time with regard to the nature of reality, well, that’s still undecided by the physicists–for the most part. Also, we still don’t have a theory of everything that would make us feel confident for how time fits in neatly with all the things. How our understanding of time affects god/goddess and beingness? I’m not so sure. In moments of meditation, I don’t need time, because I already put that ‘time aside’ for either another investigation or an open process to experience energy without any constructs but potentially being in my body. Time is not needed then.
I like that I can have a ‘take it or leave it’ idea about time–use it when it’s necessary, and ditch it when it gets in the way of connecting within my imagination and potentially other dimensions. I feel like science backs my approach to time with our lack of understanding as species towards the nature of the universe. The theories exist, unsupported, but I am delighted that we still have so much to discover! I wonder if I would get so tired at night if it weren’t for the biological processes related to events taking place throughout the day, the use of ATP by my cells, the melatonin response to the calendar of the sky’s lights, and the biological clock-work of my cells measuring my movements, and lulling me into the end of my day. Or maybe my body wisens to the non-existence of time, and rests in it–in dream space, freed from it for a while.
I hope you enjoyed this exploration! Please leave a comment in the box below and let me know that you were here. Let me know if you read the whole thing, or only parts. Let me know if you visited any of the links below, or the video above. I know that i am enriched due to my exercise and exploration through time and physics, taking a small foray into a big, endless subject (finite or infinite, who knows?!).
Until next time we shall meet here… I wish you a wonderful day full of wonder 🙂 I might tackle microtubules for another time.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how powerful we can be when we overcome our own thinking that distracts us from our purpose. We have the force and power to harmonize our thoughts with total support and appreciation for our life force.
Keeping the mind poised on the hopeful possibilities that exist can be an exercise. As with any exercise, this requires a bit of devotion and a bit of faith. You have to believe you are building the muscle and you can measure and test this, too! Some of the faith part is based on the practiced realization that it does get easier, and if you don’t have the past experience to draw from, you might benefit from a measure of faith that you can improve at this with practice. So it does get easier. But that, too, can become a pitfall. We can get lazy as is natural for us humans.
The inertia and momentum gained from the work is nice to coast along. However, I do find that, like with any other practice, what is required is the on-going effort and not to sink into the easier moments when we coast along. If we sink into them we once again get distracted from the fact that our efforts are what make us happy.
We want life to be easy. Yet it is not. That right there is our most immediate problem, if we allow one to be there. This is human nature and one where we have an awareness of pain as a function of our consciousness. However as many researchers have found, “Pain can be described in neurological terms but cognitive awareness, interpretation, behavioral dispositions, as well as cultural and educational factors have a decisive influence on pain perception (Bueno-Gómez, 2017). All of these aspects of our pain are movable and can change with sincere work and devotion.
Like with devotion, what is required is a certain level of belief. Belief in order for it to become a practice, and then with practical experience, it becomes a conviction: that we can overcome our doubting and tragic minds that distract us from our purpose, and cause us suffering. We can learn from the process and become truly compassionate.
This full moon has us in a weird way. Just take a look at the chart above. You’ve got Mars and the Moon forming a conjunction that is less than an orb apart. This is a *very* close conjunction. Mars the planet of fire is heating up the moon in all sorts of ways. Those ways could be Gemini–neighbors, short distance-travel, language, siblings, local community, tools, and mobility or even transportation issues. Mars is in Retrograde–so the planet is in its “inverted position.” This is has zero ‘objective’ meaning in astronomy, but in astrology it has subjective meaning (I argue here that subjective meaning can be shared). The meaning historically is that the planets energies could be blocked externally–with retrograde planets. This could be that the energies and challenges are mostly inward and emotional; there’s extra aggressiveness internally, or sense of urgency that cannot be quelled easily. So, practice your deep breathing!
Look over at Jupiter and Neptune. They are both in an approx 7 degree orb of conjunction (for these transpersonal planets –those that are further away from our personal planets, in astrology), this conjunction has significance–mixing those energies together. A couple of days ago I posted about the sea. These planets have the same ancient (Jupiter) and modern ruler (Neptune) in Pisces. The energies have to do with the flighty depths of the sea–dealing with themes of escape or surrender, emergence into the ineffable and indistinguishable–dissolved, if you will. Jupiter and Neptune planetary themes can also deal with miracles, changes in fortune, and spiritual emergence. The goal is to locate and prevent addiction to illusions and lost causes. However, these planets are in a T-square with the Mars/Moon combination in Gemini and the Sun in Sagittarius.
Mercury is the ruler of Gemini. (which is important because this is a FULL MOON in GEMINI) Mercury is at 1degree 51 min of Capricorn, READ as Capricorn 2. The Sabian Symbol is “Three Stained Glass Windows, One Damaged by Bombardment.” Here is an interesting break down of that on a YouTube channel.
If you have been reading my blog in the last week *and* paying attention. Reflect back to my post red hair. There is the stained-glass. I didn’t plan this, plan on posting these old paintings of mine during this time when the themes are completely in-tune with the astrology. However, here it is. The stained-glass is evident in my work of art. Listen to this link above for the Sabian Symbol’s elucidation. I hope you find all this as interesting as I do. Consciousness–“awarding significance to items of beauty… we find our belonging.” That quote taken from the youtube video about the Sabian Symbol.
I’ve often struggled to find my belonging–to share my true self [and be seen!]. I look back at my old paintings now, and I see tremendous beauty, and I hope that takes me into the inspiration of producing more of them. I “gave up” too may times in my life. I will not give up any more. You will see me again and again. I will not go away. 🙂
This Full Moon connects directly back (by trine) to my natal Mars and Pluto conjunction. I think that this moon is the message for me to keep delving deeply into my own themes and not look for other people to make the connections that I need to make. I am making them. I’m building my voice in order to share them (Gemini).
Questions to think about:
When can we be with art when war is at hand?
How can be protect the art, our energy, and our resources and our values in a way where we can join with community and feel a sense of belonging? What I find beautiful you may not find beautiful. At this point I need to make whatever art comes and is begging to be released…
These are things to think about. I wish you a safe full moon in Gemini. If you are interested in working with me in terms of astrological consultation, I’d be happy to do so. I have been offering my services for years. Please click the link on the contact section of my blog. I am happy to help you.
This is a post about how dogs help us through hard times. It is about understanding that true love comes from a place of freedom, not attachment. And that life remains, simple easy and good, especially when you let go.
I am reposting a blog post from a long time friend on WordPress. Abby is a wonderful writer, and she shares this really poignant piece about her connection with a special dog, named Pirate, who passes away. It includes live footage from when he was alive. There’s so much more in the post, which she weaves together beautifully, sharing about her collection of recent years; and her courage in getting through it is evident. In her own words, “true love comes from a place of freedom, not attachment.”
One of the musical pieces Abby includes in her article is music from Aurora. I’ve been a long time fan of Aurora, but I had not heard this song or the version of it before, that she included. Read the article because its good, and also to find the beautiful song that Aurora sings feat Pomme, that I am writing about. Aurora is a true artist. You can feel it from her singing, her movements, and the way she carries herself. I’ve attached an interview with her below, where she talks about the true meaning of success. She’s sweet and I think a lot of us can relate to her; when asked if she listens to her own music, she says “No, I don’t like to hear my own voice.” She also says that music is her best friend. When asked what she would say to her 12 year old self that wrote the song, “Runaway,” she said “[I]f you share your music with other people, one day that music might even become other peoples’ best friends, too.” Lately I’ve been sharing my favorite music with my best friends offline; so I included this part in this post today to share with you. Aurora is sweet, and I hope you can appreciate her music. The interviewer came to the conclusion about Aurora: “I think you are one of those people who can appreciate the small stuff.”
Aurora says that she feels the most successful when she’s spent her time right. Listen for the rest, to feel her energy.
This sweet little place was getting to be an annual tradition to visit, until it disappeared. I rather like to think it got up on its chicken legs and “baba-yaga’d” itself out to a new place up in the hills, on the cliffs, or up in the canopy above in the sky, or wedged itself deep, back within a thick forest–which is where it probably were it belongs. It was like a little magical oasis out here in the semi-arid desert.
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to share a picture of myself on this blog.
This was a moment with the love of my life, my husband. He’s a special guy who is going to be publishing his book soon, and I will be honored to showcase it here, first, on my blog at Fiestaestrellas.com
As we count down to the new year, it’s easy to get lost in the busyness of the season. I’m doing it; we all are. For some of us it could be too quiet, and we can get lost in that, too.
But I want to say that each day, I am taking a moment here with you, and with myself. I want to wish you a very creative time! May you be inspired today, and every day!
sisters find in each other, the silence a hug they meet and greet, they come and go we light candles for our families and gaze up at the moon let the earth be our messengers who passes on all the real votes, when we are heard by the river and we listen deeply to her. […]
But, I’m not done yet….! I plan on blogging into the New Year, 2023. I plan to publish my next poetry book in 2023–and I’m planning on including more highlights from people in my life and in my community. January 2023 is going to be the start a fun blogging New Year. I have lots of content to share; and I hope you all will be there! 🙂
The above poem I wrote in February of 2017. My favorite part of this poem is its ending.
My heart is touched by the sisters I meet in my life. I’m dedicating this poem’s reblog, and final Nano Poblano post, to blogger who I have met through blogging named Christy Birmingham-Reyes. She manages and writes a beautiful blog called When Women Inspire. Her blog is an excellent resource for women. She writes daily on issues that affect women, daily. Her blog has pertinent topics like single motherhood and addiction–signs to look out for and where to get help, blog posts about exercise and health, about how to become a successful entrepreneur/ business woman with practical articles about taxes. Her topics demonstrate a wide array of supports and inclusivity, such as family planning for LGBTQ+, while she also showcases and spotlights women who are serving through leadership, and making waves. One of my favorite recent articles is from guest blogger, Esther A. Armah, who writes about Unlearning Emotional Currency. Her blog provides hope and inspiration.
I hope you enjoyed my version of Nano Poblano, which is a version of NaBloPoMo, which is a National blog posting Month challenge. My theme for this year’s challenge was reBLOGathon, and I teamed up with Cheer Peppers year after year for Nano Poblano. You will see the logo again below. Click on it to see other team member’s posts. Thank you for those who stuck with me this whole long posting month, and I hope you are ready to see more of me in the days to come!
Psst… One of my inside reasons for doing the Nano Poblano challenge, started by Ra Avis, a truly AMAZING poet, it the tagline for the challenge: “Official Home of the World’s Least-Official November Blog Challenge” I’m very attracted to “unofficial-ness.” It appeals to my sensibilities and my desire to enjoy myself on the planet. I hope you join us next year.
Give me honey Any day And I’ll find a place for Sweet to counter the bitter. We move through our days Trying to keep our stories On the margin of our memories Trying to be present to What we encounter in the moment. Then… As I have, We just move on. Or is it that […]
I chose this post and image for my reblog. The choice for today might have been inspired by my blogging friend Janet Weight Reed at the same time as I was reviewing my past poetry to begin my next publication. This drawing is linked together with my poem “Honey is Home“ that appeared in my publication of Art for Art, 2017.
The drawing above is my own; I probably should have signed my art when I was in my teens and making it, circa 1995. This is a portrait of one of my best friends, Jana. I did it in a cubist style, inspired by Picasso and Paul Cézanne. In the 20th early century, Cubism was a new movement in art where subjects were depicted with multiple perspectives, and nature was often interpreted through a geometric shapes. I didn’t know it at the time, but Picasso was not only inspired by Cézanne but he was inspired by African art. African art appealed to my soul from a very young age, all forms of African art, including music and drum signatures. This was a theme that continued for me well past the time I visited S. Africa, and into the present as I enjoy playing djembe in the local Women’s Drum Circle.
Due to apartheid, townships were places that could be very dangerous for white people to go. It’s understandable why. Because white people created and enforced apartheid, and destroyed homes and lives in the process. White people destroyed a whole people. Since my educational trip was focused on service and expanding the minds of Westerners, I was admitted into these exclusive spaces which, as I said, existed as a direct result of heinous racism which drove blacks from their homes and communities.
“The Apartheid (1948 to 1994) in South Africa was the racial segregation under the all-white government of South Africa which dictated that non-white South Africans (a majority of the population) were required to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities, and contact between the two groups would be limited. The different racial group were physically separated according to their location, public facilities and social life.”
I was an anthropology student at the time of this visit to a township in Capetown, S. Africa. As an artist, photographer, and a person devoted to the mission of sharing the beauty of these communities with my then very small reach, I took pictures of these children with permission. The following is one of the many images I photographed of some of the township children. These children were so cute. I was in love with them. Interestingly, the people in the township often had designer clothes, but lived in very, very poor conditions–without electricity, and even lived in shacks that were put together with reclaimed materials. Why did they have designer clothes? Well, just ask yourself what all the wealthy of the Western world do with their designer clothes? It’s increasingly happening among the extreme wealth of the whole world, not just the West. The clothing is expendable and tossed down the line through donation. See this post for my short discussion on disposable goods and consumerism. So this is how you can have designer clothing and can be extremely poor. Kind of changes the status of designer clothing, doesn’t it? These old neighborhoods, before apartheid, these communities had street signs and livelihood. They had roads, and owned their own land. “
Quick Facts
Between 1960 and 1994 over three and a half million people were forcibly removed to the homelands.Their land was taken away from them and sold to white farmers at very low prices.People were unable to make a living in the homelands, and many had to work as migrant labourers in the cities of South Africa. (source)
I was there in 2001, and sadly, by 2014 (see article linked below), not much has changed. Racism is cruel.
From 2014 article, a resident explained, “When it rains, the public toilets overflow into my living room,” she says. “Water comes in through the ceiling and the electricity stops working (Guardian)” See links below for more information.
In an age of fast development: technology, tv screens, constant-upgrades, new designs, “better,” “more connected,” webbed, and “seamless” living, I am amazed, and I Am inspired by those who commit to their goals. Now, life will throw us off track, time and time again – especially if you have a very strong relationship – for […]
This ReBLOG came up on its own on another social media feed. It’s so cool to read these old posts—> I’m still going strong and living my truth. I know that for a fact. The evidence is here. 🙂 I’m also posting this because we have some strong Mars transits coming up. A message like this can be handy.
In this life, we might be terrified. we might feel alone, though we are not. we must work every day to give ourselves enough space, to be who we are. however we are, “dark” or “light” or the huge gamut spanning between even if not one single person feels that what we offer is valuable, […]
Today’s reblog links back to a poem I wrote, about not being afraid to stand alone. I think this is a good reminder for all of us while the season is all about “coming together.” For so many this season bring a lot of pressure, loneliness, and oftentimes tremendous grief. However for others it’s a time to really express our happiness and our love with our friends, families and everyone in our lives. Truly the holidays are days when most people have off work–even though not all do.
Yesterday I took time for myself to really appreciate the moments in my life. There’s this beautiful quiet descending upon me. It’s far from depression and it feels like inner peace. I’m not even chasing after it either. It’s there when all the chasing runs its course. 🙂
the focus, the point of any moment’s contentment is the delicate reality of right here, now playful ~ cross crawl, ipsilateral, in a ball: when hands touch soles of feet, and reach to touch toes! this pose – is made for giggles, and wiggles. the sacrum is flat, and the body is a bowl nimble […]
Howdy! I didn’t make it to the blog yesterday. Mr. Ka ended up getting a gnarly case of shingles 😦 and well, I spent the day having so much fun with my daughter! Please send him good, quick-healing vibes.
I chose the above post as my “make up” post for yesterday’s reBLOGathon Day 27 and Cheer Peppers Nano Poblano because its about yoga, and embracing the moment. 🙂 The World Tree is consistent in my previous images with my adventure tree so I thought it also connects up well, there, too. I’m planning on collecting my poems that I wrote since my last publication and gather them up, do some editing and publish another book. This is a very exciting project, indeed 🙂
Fiesta Estrellas 
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