halfway done

Read something interesting last night at http://www.edge.org/responses/what-is-your-favorite-deep-elegant-or-beautiful-explanation

Hat tip Billy for the above content, and it was Billy, too who recommended A World Without Time which talks about the relationship between Einstein and Godel and which has greatly deepened my thinking on the topic of time.

This is the interesting bit:  General Relativity ala Einstein and Godel says there is no time, in the sense of a linear sequence of events, past and future, all that good stuff.  Which is why in some possible universes, maybe this one, you can zoom off in one direction and arrive back where you were before you started— because it isn’t really the same point in space time.  So no paradox.

Quantum mechanics and its descendant string theory are, however, dependent on linear time according to what I read in the bit by Raphael Bousso at the link above.

My take on his take is that they must both be wrong.  But that’s OK, the scientific method pretty much says that it’s all models, nothing the scientific method generates is absolute truth.

Let all the naysayers of the French and Parisians in particular take note:  While lined up along the street waiting to be let in to a restaurant, a passing Frenchman lightly brushed my father with the paper shroud of a bouquet of flowers and apologized.

And of course, the food at said restaurant was excellent.  Nor did the waiter even flinch when my father ordered his steak well done.

Today I walked into Glastonbury town with many missions, amongst them getting a PDF from a memory stick printed out.  I’ve been here a week and hadn’t seen anywhere.  One likely spot, the tourist info center, had changed its hours and was closed.  I tried the post office and a friendly fellow directed me to an internet cafe he wasn’t sure existed and I was pretty sure it wasn’t there either.  I was heading that way when a wee little alley I hadn’t seen before caught my eye.  I walked past it then decided to see what was down that way just for laughs.  It turned into a residential street, but there was one shop whose sign I couldn’t really read in the distance.  I walked a bit and when I could see the sign it read, to my surprise, Print Services.

Now, this may not seem like a big deal to you upon reading it, but my experience of this was one of shockingly blatant manifestation.  The game has indeed been afoot for me here in Glastonbury and my workshop has not even started yet…

It’s my first day in the UK and as to be expected I’m a bit fried.  Maybe not the best time to write a blog post but a few have built up and I am bound to have some interesting adventures here that will call for more, so let’s get some of these out of the way quick and dirty like!

FLOURIDE:

I’m pretty open to alternative views of things and perhaps sometimes even overly keen to try different ways of doing things, especially if they are counter the status quo view.  I stopped using flouridated toothpaste quite a few years ago, before I moved to New Zealand.  Maybe 10 years ago?

And honestly, the state of actual research in the dental field is shocking.  While it is clear that periodic tooth scraping is good for dental health, that’s not rocket science.  There are all sorts of different theories about what is good for teeth but not a lot of research, as far as I can tell.  Try asking your dental professional next time you see them whether it is better to floss before or after brushing.  I expect they won’t know.  Surely something so basic would have been researched and then taught in dental school?  But no, they already have you on the hook for big bucks, why bother researching anything except cosmetics, the only part of the field where new product development is profitable.

And the number of different formulations of toothpaste out there is shocking.  All these different ingredients and no clear idea what is good and what isn’t.  And don’t swallow.  Do you know why children’s or pet toothpaste costs so much more than regular toothpaste?  It’s because they have to formulate them so that they are safe to swallow according to regulatory guidelines.  Yes that’s right, adult toothpaste contains enough nasty stuff that it is not allowed for human consumption.  As if rubbing stuff all over your gums is not getting it into your system.  One experience with a sublingual B12 will demonstrate that things in your mouth that are not swallowed get into your body quite nicely.

Anyway enough rants and time for some experiential data!  The last couple of years I suddenly have some pretty epic tooth decay.  I thnk also I had my first filling in maybe 30 years a year or two after I stopped using flouridated toothpaste.  But the recent bout of major tooth decay spurred me to try flouride toothpaste again.  As I have mentioned before with all the chi gung and meditation I do I have a fairly high degree of sensitivity to my physical state.  Of course I am not an objective observer, so you can take this data or leave it.

So when I started using flouridated toothpaste again it felt good, somehow.  But get this: on the same day I started with the flouridated toothpaste my desire for tea (regular tea, camelia sinesis, green or black) just vanished, which is quite a change from the 2-3 cups of tea that I drank on a daily basis.  Tea has quite a lot of flouride in it.  So my guess from this is that my body doesn’t want the total flouride impact from both flouridated toothpaste and tea.

It’s a few months after my switch and I recently had my regular dental hygenist appointment.  I had some pretty good gum pocket depth reduction since the last visit.  There are a couple of other possible causative factors I could consider, but I think I am on the right track.

MEDITATION

A while back I wrote a short and concise summary of my meditation technique, and a map of the progress of insight:

http://brucescanlon.tumblr.com/post/28087339113/these-are-my-current-understandings-and-tips

I recently had a session with my meditation instructor that turned everything upside down.  That’s what a good meditation instructor is supposed to do, as far as I can tell, but it’s disconcerting nonetheless.  What he said was as he gains more and more exposure to people that his original thought, which was that the 4 stage model (see previous post) applied for a majority of people, no longer reflects his experience.  What he says now is that the 4 stage model applies to a majority of people who are attracted to that model (like me).  He gave me a number of examples of people that seem to just have one major peak experience event, some that have just 3, etc.  I also recall an example in Kornfield’s After the Exstacy the Laundry where some major luminary was just all smooth and gradual the whole way.

So on the one hand, hmmm, here I am being “attached” to a model, and maybe it would be best if I became unattached.  So that’s some serious work given this is my vehicle for getting unattached from everything else.  On the other hand it’s good news— I could become enlightened tomorrow, no need to go through a couple more years of meditation.

So now I am using a new technique which interestingly enough goes back to some of the content from my Ayahuasca sessions— the key word being “devotion.”  I never really had a handle on it, now I am learning.

SYNCHRONICITY

Special bonus.  So here I am in Glastonbury, which is kind of a magical place.  If you want to be all scientific you can say it’s the same as any other place, but wait, there are lots of magical type people here, so even if you are only talking about personality types and shopping opportunities, it’s something that differentiates Glastonbury from most other places in the world.

I’m staying in the spare room of a magical type person, and we have had some nice chats.  Very affordable, very nice, highly recommended if you are in this part of the world.  PM me for details.

Anyway this morning I wake up and unlock the back door to check the weather before going out.  Dot, the owner, is not at home.  It’s a door that locks with key from the inside, which is code-OK here in the UK despite it being some horrible life threatening nono in the USA.  I can’t unlock the door.  I do a bit of experimenting and it seems like there is a deadbolt wiggle when I move the key in one direction, so I apply a bit of force.  Which breaks the key off in the lock.  I am paying little enough for this place that the cost of lock repair might exceed my financial contribution to the household.  Bummer.

Dot breaks out a toolbox when she gets home but no needle nose pliers.  I give it a go with what she has but no luck.  Dot cleans the house of a woman in town that has a shamanic object manufacture studio just a couple of blocks away, so we go borrow a pair of needle nose pliers.  Those don’t cut the mustard either, unfortunately.  

While I am working on the problem Dot gives me her magical or symbolic or archetypal interpretation of this event, which is that the energies of the workshop I will be attending in a week are already at work and the thing with the door symbolizes, or is another expression of the archetype I am dealing with, of something in me which has been locked away but the door cannot be locked anymore, whether I like it or not.  It’s gonna be open.  This fits well enough with some of my other experiences and what I think is going on with me right now, and what I know about the content of the workshop, so cool.

But get this.  That same woman that lent us the pliers, Dot was doing some work for her in the woman’s house today by herself.  Dot got a call from the woman a bit later after the woman returned home, and guess what?  Dot left the door of the woman’s house unlocked when Dot left.

Dot and I talked about the common perception that when people have done some healing or self improvement or made progress on the enlightenment thing or what have you that the idea is that crummy stuff doesn’t happen to them anymore.  We agreed that crummy stuff still happens.  The difference is, it’s not a bother so much.  It’s all lighter.  Less frustration, less anger, easier to deal with stuff.

Ah yeah and her brother is named Stuart, same as mine.  Not a big deal, just another brick in the synchronicity wall.

I’m stoked to be in Glastonbury for a week.  Gonna have some interesting times :-)

FIRST WORLD PROBLEM

Those who have spent some time with me may recall that I have used the phrase “high quality problem” for several years now.  I am both pleased and dismayed that this concept is reaching wider circulation.  Pleased because it’s a good concept to be out there, dismayed that it is somehow not my personal property to share with others any more, and a wee bit jealous that my idea has been “stolen.”

And I gotta say, my formulation is better.  Because first world problem is a bit nasty— it’s an accusation that the problem is trivial, and the whole first world third world thing is a bit of a guilt invoker.  No more guilt needed on this planet, sorry, it’s not productive.  

A high quality problem is a good thing to have.  The phrase carries with it a bit of humility, which is something to be encouraged, unlike grief.  And it’s also satisfying, a mark of achievement, and an easeful way of letting go some of the stress over the problem, rather than being bashed over the head with an accusation of excess priveledge.  Nor does it make broad sweeping statements about entire groups of people.  It can be just as offensive to a “3rd world person” in a discriminatory fashion as it is to complain about an excessively foamy latte (you know it makes me gassy).  Obey my dog!

(photo Matt Bird)

At Kiwiburn during my talk about the Temple and sacred geometry (SG), someone asked, “Is it practical?”

Good question!  I was caught a bit flatfooted and could only respond that I had used SG to come up with the final cabinet dimensions for our kitchen remodel, and it had turned out well.  Aside from that, no, not practical. Now that I have had more time to mull this over, I want to explore the question further, and perhaps retract my former answer.

So first let me ask, what is “practical?”  And let me answer by introducing you to my friend Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs:

Based on his research Maslow thought that people try to meet the needs at the base of this pyramid first (food and shelter) and only when those are satisfied will they be concerned with “higher” needs like creativity, or, dare I say it, “spirituality.”

I am guessing my questioner (sorry I forgot who you were, but look at the impression you made on me!) would put practical things near the bottom of the pyramid.

So will SG help me satisfy my need to feed myself?  At first glance no, but a quick spin around the internet will show you that there are lots of people making money from it, or at least trying to.  And I was once offered money to make a SG ancestry chart for someone.  That’s pretty darn practical.

But for me SG is part of my program for satisfying my higher needs, because I have the great good fortune that my lower needs are pretty well sorted and I have time to noodle around with self actualization.

Let me tell you a little secret though.  The pyramid is not the best shape to chart out the needs.  Maybe something more like a mobius strip, that connects beginning to end but goes through a twist in between:

Because I am finding as I make progress on satisfying my higher needs I gain greater facility in solving my lower need problems more quickly and painlessly and with greater ease and pleasure for the other humans who are part of my life.

So, mystery questioner, is that practical enough for you?