The Human Entropy

What makes us who we are, as individuals? Our perceptions of the world, caused by our surrounding environment and the people who have influenced us, and continue to do so since our births, through their ideas and creations, are the reason why we think and act the way we do. This is our culture. Our memories are just stored information based on our perceptions and restricted by the limits of the human brain. There is no escaping from this foundational story, built upon choices made by others, without going through some sort of life-changing, or rather life-shattering experience. And even if one does have such an experience, some form of that old perception will always exist in your mind, just below the surface.

How far does this inherent perception, or ancestral memory, go back in time? How many of your ancestors, and what influenced them, ended up affecting your biological outcome? The more we learn about our DNA and how our very decisions and surrounding environment affect it, the more bewildering life becomes. My paternal grandfather, born in Italy, ran away from home and stowed away on a ship to America because he did not want to be associated with a corrupt religious order and institution that his family was slowly, but surely, being pulled into. If it weren't for the leaders of that church, my great uncle's desire to be a monk, and the captain of that ship, I would not be alive. Even more fascinating is that I was compared to my grandfather in regard to how I acted, or should I say reacted, and I have never met him; in fact he died before my father was even five years old. I hope this brief story gives you some perceptive on what I am attempting to communicate. Just imagine the seemingly infinite amount of choices that had to be made for any one of us to be doing what we are doing and to exist at this point in time.

We are all so different but are so much alike at the same time. The difference is just a sequence of occurrences built upon a previous sequence of occurrences, and so on and so forth. Human and cultural evolution is just like the thermodynamic law of entropy, except that as it complexifies, it seems to be heading towards a collective state of utter disorder. Who knows how many paths crossed in the past, but one thing we know for sure is that as time goes on, paths will be crossing at an even greater rate. There are more and more people everyday. We are all learning and experiencing new things all of the time, all of which are somehow connected to someone else's thoughts. This greater rate of occurrences is creating an eventuality of something. But what?

Looking back to the past, some people stick out more than others, just like some events were more major than others. These people and events were caused by a sequence of occurrences while they also caused a completely new set of occurrences. Let's look at one of the most influential people in human history, Jesus. He was the eventuality of a series of events and influences, the ultimate manifestation of a series of accumulating and overlapping circumstances. The Roman government present in those days, the people that made his birth possible (strictly speaking biologically), his friends and followers and the environment of that day allowed Jesus to understand the world the way he did, and therefore gave him the reasoning to be able to change the world in the ways that he did.

These circumstances hold true for everyone in the world, but it's a matter of being influenced and allowing yourself to be influenced that will ultimately cause you react. Your reaction may be to start a company that invents the first AI, design the first interstellar spaceship, create a new philosophy or even assassinate a world leader. You are a product of your environment and the future environment is an ever-evolving product of yourself and your fellow humans.

We are part of something major and most people do not realize it yet. We all contribute to some future eventuality that will change the world as we know it. There will be major milestones, positive crests that are considered beneficial, and negative troughs that still further push the world but in a corrupt way. The Singularity is the culmination of both of these and everything in between. Everything that happens has to be balanced out in some fashion and at some point. It is obvious that our world is out of balance, so while events unfold unequally, remainders are created in the system. The unbalanced portions, the remainders, have an accumulating affect and eventually something monumental has to happen to balance and reset the system to generate a state of temporary non-remainder, which is the Wholeness, God, the Universe in all of its infinite magnificence. This will be the dawn of a new age, which will eventually, again, succumb to an unbalanced mess.

I am still a very young man, learning more and more everyday. Experience coexists with time, so while time progresses and I experience, my old thoughts evolve into new ones, finding connections to other ideas. Since I first found myself in this state that most of you also seem to be in or recognize, I quickly and unconditionally adopted the idea of freewill. It makes perfect sense. There is no point in debating about the future or fate, because we have not yet experienced all of the connections that lead up to it, right? But what doesn't make sense is that all of my experiences and connections, seem to be specifically leading towards something fateful.

It's just like what Haruki Murakami's character, Nutmeg, in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, says:

All these inexplicable events that have occurred in my life so far, it's as though they were all ingeniously programmed from the start for the very purpose of bringing me here, where I am today. It's a thought I can't seem to shake off. I feel as if my every move is being controlled by some kind of incredibly long arm that's reaching out from somewhere far away, and that my life has been nothing more than a convenient passageway for all these things moving through it.

How can freewill coexist with fate!?

What really sparked me choosing to write this was my most recent viewing of The Matrix trilogy. I've seen it countless times, but I still seem to learn something new each time. A light bulb went off during The Architect's speech:

Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

This behooves me to question whether or not there is an underlying trend that governs the world; is there a mathematical formula or algorithm that accounts for the subsequent occurrences that ultimately lead up to something world-changing, or more precisely, someone or some event world changing? A way for humans to not only know the up and downs of their personal futures, but for the future of the entire human race? Of course we won't know if someone is world-changing until after the fact. But if something could be construed, could it be a gift of foresight to all humanity?

Any thoughts?

Fri, Mar 12, 2010  Permanent link

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As It Was, so It Shall Be, Forever

Throughout human history, people have been asking the same questions about the nature of the Universe and being. Why do we exist? Where do we come from? Is there a God(s)? What is the meaning of life? Many people have tried answering these questions, some with more success than others.


For the past few thousand years, people have clung to the ideas of monotheism: the idea of one eternal, omnipotent and omniscient God. These ideas still remain — though some beliefs and concepts in certain religions have drastically changed — and are found throughout the majority of the world. These religions, most notably Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and some sects of Hinduism, to some extent, all believe in a moment, or ongoing moment of infinite bliss, knowledge, peace and awe. This Union, beautifully described by St. John of the Cross in his "The Dark Night," exists in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I will classify these types of religions as Type 1.

While most people believed in one God, many other people, primarily in Asia, have adopted another kind of religion, or philosophy, in the forms of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Jainism. The common idea behind these religions/philosophies is that everyone is on a path of awakening, which they realize or not, and the final stage of this path is liberation from ignorance (Buddhism), realization that atman, your soul, is indistinct from the supreme soul (Hinduism), that the way to live is by way of the Tao, or the force behind the natural order of the Universe (Taoism) and the shedding the soul of karmic bonds so one attains divine consciousness (Jainism). I will classify these as Type 2 religions.

Type 1 finds themselves believing that there is a single God who is all-powerful, and that there had been extremely gifted people in the past who were able to attain a deep connection to God. He created them and the rest of the Universe. Type 2 believes that there is a state of perpetual awesomeness which anyone with the right dedication, intention and mindset can attain. Also, the Universe is usually thought of as eternal; there was no beginning and there will be no end.

Union with God is this state of perpetual awesomeness! Well, almost… Aside from Jesus, I am not too sure about anyone else from Type 1 who was thought to have been in a state of everlasting peace and love. The many people spoken about throughout the Bible and other texts, who have had mystical encounters, did so for some reason I will get into shortly but never lasted because they didn't understand what was happening to them. This understanding is a key part of the Asian-born philosophies and is necessary to obtain perpetual happiness.

There are many reasons why people had mystical experiences without understanding what they were feeling, but rather just attributed it to God for the sake of simplicity and out of ignorance. Many of these mystical experiences could be attributed to the consumption of drugs, such as psilocybin mushrooms and various other plants that contained mind-altering alkaloids. Other logical reasons could be from more naturally induced experiences, namely the release of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an extremely potent and powerful psychedelic substance, from the pineal gland into the body. DMT release is thought to occur during birth, death, sex, extreme fasting and excessive physical activity.

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For thousands of years our current culture has been shaped by these philosophies and religions intermixing. So what do we have now? Conservation biologist and author E.O. Wilson said that there are three categories: the myth of Marxism, the religious myth of Creation and the myth of scientific materialism (or is analog, spiritual naturalism). Marxists believe in the redistribution of wealth and power while maintaining that Man owns the world. Many religions believe in a Creation myth, an old story that told of the creation of the Universe, Earth and/or Man. These religions speak of a world that was given to Man, but unlike Marxism it fully deistic, in a royal way, i.e., popes, kings, lordship, etc. Scientific materialism, the myth that Wilson believed to be the only way to restore the Earth to a healthy state, assumes nothing about the story of the Universe and only uses science to prove what we can observe through trial and error. Spiritual naturalism is how humans were before their "fall," the eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We were like the animals, plants and even the planets: instinctive, nonjudgemental, and natural. We were subjected to the power of the gods, or the natural flow of the Universe, living and dying dependent upon the natural flow of climate/weather patterns, other animals, natural disasters, etc.

Our current problems lie with the dawn of Man. There is no definitive proof of whether or not we have evolved from monkeys, dolphins or from some involvement with an advanced alien civilization. It seems that we follow the myth of spiritual naturalism until Man arrives, which is when we decide to take over the world and use it all for ourselves in the name of God or for our own excessive well-being.

Humanity needs a drastic change. One absent from the detrimental Creationist and Marxist myths, but one in which humans realize that life is meaningful and completely connected. A world where everyone can reach their full potential, free from social and monetary limitations. Unfortunately, this is not where I see our world going. The closest political ideology, in my opinion, that would fit this worldview would be Libertarian. People are completely free to do what they want without any social limitations so long as they are not intruding on the lives of others, i.e., murder. And just as nature is complex, so is the free market in which conservation is key for long-term survival; spending and using as little as possible is the best way to achieve the best results. Georgism, the idea that you own what you create but cannot own land, is a complex system, but one in which I think humans can most easily restore the Earth and break free from any currents limitations to maximize human potential and production of efficient and useful technology.

So how do we get there? We can see all around us the mystical or spiritual nature of the Universe. It is in the very structure of atoms, molecules, organisms, the planets and we are slowly finding it in modern physics and even within ourselves. The golden ratio, Fibonacci sequence, sacred geometry and fractal-like patterns are found in all life. Just recently scientists have found that the golden ratio in the quantum realm! It is the idea of an all-pervading, universal force or law that basically governs how certain (possibly all) organisms — even inanimate objects — behave, grow and even evolve. It's how a caterpillar just knows to start building a chrysalis, how bees somehow know how to communicate with each other through intricate dances, how salmon know how to get back to their birth place so they can lay eggs there, how so many flowers and plants develop in accordance to the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio, how crystals form into the geometric shapes that are the same basic shapes of almost every molecule in the human body and it is what makes the spiral pattern of a sunflower the same spiral pattern of a fly's eye. Science shows that the Universe is expanding, therefore it must have been smaller at some point. There must have been a time when the entire Universe was the size of a pinhead. If everything came out from a single point, then the conditions that that point was subjected to, the conditions that allowed it to exist, must permeate throughout our current Universe. If everything is infinite, outwards and inwards, forward and backward, this force must be everywhere and in everything. The fact that it does exist, must mean that there is some reason for it to exist.

So why do these patterns exist? Where do they come from? They are a part of an inherent method found throughout the Universe that exists to keep the Universe in harmony. It is efficiency at its best. Now this is when we look back to the Type 2 religions and find something oddly similar. They speak of a right path to follow. A path that leads to perpetual happiness, no matter what happens outside of the individual. With this state of mind, anything is possible. It is the human in his most efficient state of being. In Taoism, the phrase wu wei roughly translates to "doing not-doing." In other words, be natural, do things without trying, live in this perfect state and every obstacle will cease to be a hinderance. This natural force governing the Universe is the force we as humans must live by as well. Finding it and knowing it through personal experience is the key to optimal success in life.


He who knows much about others may be learned, but he who understands is more intelligent. He who controls others may be powerful, but he
who mastered himself is mightier still. (Tao Te Ching)

There was something formless and perfect
before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite. Eternally present.
It is the mother of the universe.
For lack of a better name,
I call it the Tao. (Tao Te Ching)

Tue, Jan 12, 2010  Permanent link

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Untitled

At the end of every school semester our teachers ask us to fill in a teacher/course evaluation. I was so inclined to write more than what was optional and will be handing the following in anonymously sometime this week. I thought it would be a good idea to share it here to at least gain some criticism. And to give you a better idea of it all, the course is called "Environmental Policy," and I am an Environmental Science and Geography major.

——

Dr. Rodrigues, overall I enjoyed your class. The topics discussed were, for the most part, relevant and interesting. I also underestimated the value of the student lead discussions, which I thoroughly enjoyed. They clearly contributed to everyone's knowledge and played an important step in a young adult's career.

But there was something that was missing from class all semester long, something so incredibly relevant, and, by far, one of the most significant, global and all-encompassing topics in the scientific, political and economic world: CLIMATE CHANGE. This topic, most frequently if not always, was referred to as "global warming". The idea of anthropomorphic climate change is not proven and therefore should not be taught as so. This is a problem also prevalent in other departmental courses. In doing so, teachers are not only undermining themselves but the students they teach and the very reason why they became teachers: to educate and help young minds learn to develop on their own.

The "evidence" for global warming is hardly sufficient to institute worldwide regulations on people and their lives, not to mention the billions of taxpayers' dollars needed to support such a fantastical delusion. It is downright irresponsible. For billions of years the Earth and the rest of our solar system has been shaped by the Sun. It took nearly 1.5 billion years for our atmosphere to be filled with oxygen. To think that humans in a matter of 200 years changed atmospheric chemical composition, reversing the global climate patterns, of such an unfathomable length of time is arrogant and disrespectful to the very Nature we strive to protect. It is out of this respect and human potential that we should help the environment (that includes us humans!) by promoting cheaper, cleaner, alternative resources and high efficiency.

There are over 31,000 scientists, about 9,000 of whom have PhDs in related science fields, that do not support the idea of global warming; many more are coming out as they are sick and tired of the fear imposed on them. More importantly, the recent scandal at the University of East Anglia has completely compromised any "effort to combat global warming". The fact that the original data no longer exists, and in the end was even possibly manipulated and suppressed, completely compromises everything, for that's what the IPCC based much of their conclusions off of. NASA, as well, is to blame for their refusal to release climate data and their repeated alterations of past data.

Man-made global warming is not a fact and therefore only a general consensus. Science is based on facts, not opinions. Consensuses are for politicians who should play NO part in the scientific community. Those that do, do so out of lust for power and money, unfortunately recruiting many scientists for their cause along the way. It's also unfortunate for the biases within the media community, which is largely driven by money and self-interested bureaucrats.

I implore all teachers to make an informed decision about what they tell students, solely for the sake of the students of today because we are the ones that are going to be changing the world tomorrow.

The greatest scientists in history are the ones that broke the consensus... I look forward to being one of them someday.

http://www.ecoworld.com/fuels/how-much-solar-energy-hits-earth.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/03/researcher-says-nasa-hiding-climate-data/
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/
http://www.petitionproject.org/

This in no way expresses my personal feelings about you or anyone else. It is what it is: me showing a great concern for the future of humanity, freedom and the world.

Sun, Dec 6, 2009  Permanent link

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Surprise, surprise

It's a great feeling knowing that you can still surprise yourself. I recently made a comment where I said something that I don't necessarily regret, but something that remains in my shadow of uncertainty. I don't write too often but when I do it's usually a constant flow of ideas, only stopping to try to say something ever so eloquently about something so vague. I find that in this stream of thought of directing my consciousness into a sort of singularity, resulting in an outpour of wild ideas, that I surprise myself.

These "ideas" aren't really mine but all of ours. It's because of my self-association with Space Collective that they ever came about. Actually, it's because of something that happened months ago, even years ago, that any of this ever happened. How remarkable! This hyperconnectedness between all of us has really churned up the Wholy Soul within me. These changes are so amazing that I just wish to share them with everyone so we can all fall in love with this brilliant game that is existence!

But that's where the problem lies. How can we share this…feeling? I can try to explain it, but most of the time jumble comes out, and when I show someone an assortment of Space Collective posts they seem to barely leave a mark.

Wed, Dec 2, 2009  Permanent link

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On Global Awareness

Creating both environmental and technological awareness in our postmodern world is absolutely necessary to ensure the survival of humans on Earth, yet this task is clearly one of the most difficult that we have faced in history. It is obvious that humans and all aspects of nature are affecting each other at an increasing rate. And in the end, it comes down to the struggle between human free will and the natural order that has ruled over Earth since the formation of the planet, and only by finding a way to establish a balance between our growth and the environment, will our future be guaranteed. We must realize that as long as the human race is barreling down its current path, corrupting and demoralizing the natural world and even our fellow man, we take a step closer to an untimely doom.

On one hand there are people that see little or no need to curb human activities, actually desiring more of the aggressive takeover of the world, including the minds of the people; and on the other hand there are some so backward in their visions, that they believe humans need to revert all ideas, beliefs and habits of civilization back to an almost prehistoric state of harmony with nature. The solution to our problems lie in the lesser of both extremes, a middle way, that promotes human advancement while halting environmental degradation. Since every person affects the environment in someway, it is necessary to educate and provide individual people with sufficient and correct knowledge so that they can do their part and spread the word. This bottom-up approach is the only means to a positive end. For example, if everyone understood the inefficiency and harmful effects of the coal industry, then more people would turn to renewable resources, thereby reducing dependence on coal and eventually ridding it from our current energy system.

The duality of our societies and governments of our developed world is one of the main factors preventing a solution. Our leaders from the past several decades have increased the size of our governments, among other things, making the everyday citizen feel a little more left out and undervalued. This has led to apathy and ignorance among the general populace. It is necessary for everyone to realize that protecting and ensuring the future is an individual duty, and only through awakening will we be able to reach humanity's fullest, most beautiful and extraordinary potential. In seeing the Truth that resides in everyone of us, we will be able to reach the Infinite. If we can find a means to express the Truth so that it becomes blatantly apparent, then there is little need for regulations on human free will. The tremendous individual power that will result, will lead to unhindered productivity along an environmentally-sound and technology-driven path.


I think that we should have free energy by now— why can't we tap into Earth's natural electromagnetic field?—, but do to little investment into appropriate concepts and opposition by those benefiting from our current energy solutions, our world continues on a path of greed, warmongering and ignorance, lacking any real competition and efficiency. It is obvious that those with an exorbitant amount of money and power seek to obtain even more (save those that are investing into the well being of humanity and all life), otherwise they wouldn't be those greedy individuals that are running our world behind the scenes, promoting mind-controlling fear.

Their time is up.

Our postmodern generations are realizing the important tasks at hand, and it is undoubtedly up to us to adapt to the consequences that spawned from the actions before our time. Only in adapting will we be able to survive. But this process of adapting is unlike any other that has ever pervaded life. Humans are already altering their very minds and bodies with various forms of technology. It is because of this fact, this new branch of evolution, that light has been shed on why humanity, and Earth, are nestled into the current state of affairs. I cannot, nor want to, imagine the horrid implications of what is to become if the current system of worldwide governmental and corporate affairs continue as they do today. How far can we really expand this imbalance between people, wealth, health, etc? I may sound pessimistic by prophesizing ultimate doom, but I am acting, knowing and thinking only with optimism, for I believe what must be done has already happened.

Evolving and adapting into a new "system" is continually occurring, but each passing day presents new opportunities to jump start individual evolution, thereby increasing the evolution of those people in your lives. I look at my fellow minds and hearts on Space Collective and wonder, what makes us so different in how, why and what we think from the seemingly typical self-loathing person.

How can we promote awareness and the Truth to those that seek outside to find what's really inside?


*Picture by Alex Grey

Mon, Nov 30, 2009  Permanent link

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Mankind's Worst Enemy is Itself

I began writing this as a comment to Chris Arkenberg's recent post, but felt compelled to expand into something that I had been meaning to write about.

I have been asking myself the question, "How should man live?" and not until recently have I come to look specifically at the connectedness between humans and all other life. Much of the world looks at other forms of life as inferior to humans, and though we are intelligent and sentient beings becoming ever-more complex, all life evolved from a single source (as far as we know). Since the begging, everything has followed a set of Laws. Such as the Laws of Physics that keep the solar system in order and the atoms of our bodies' aligned correctly. And since all life is a consequence of the actions done in accordance with these Laws, all life itself must be controlled, or ordered, by some sort of Law, i.e. the Fibonacci sequence. Just like the Laws of Aerodynamics were not apparent to humans until we started to fly, perhaps there is a Law of Life that is not yet apparent to us.

Today, all around us, we are seeing the consequences of mankind trying to exempt itself from this Law. We cut down forests for timber and replace them with more agricultural fields or grasslands for cattle. We pollute the water and air, damaging the Earth at all biological levels. About 80% of species loss is due to human factors, mostly from human-induced habitat loss and the exploitation of natural resources. When a lion needs food he finds a zebra to hunt. Though the lion follows the herd, he neither wants nor needs more than one zebra. Man, though part of the same biological system of population dynamics and overall balance that every other form of life is ordered by, we pretend that it doesn't apply to us and want the whole herd for ourselves.

Why is it that man seems to be the only species that does not have a controlled population? (Most other instances are because of human involvement.) We clear out natural environments to make more food, and our population continually increases. The problem is obvious to us, yet our solution is to grow more food at the cost of exploiting our environment even more. There is a psychological barrier that is preventing us from achieving this balance. Fear of death, perhaps?

We are gifted with the power of the mind, and just as we were able to learn how to fly only when in accordance with the Laws of Aerodynamics, we have to learn to evolve in accordance with the Law of Life. Only then will we be able to direct evolution correctly. We look towards the future and expect technology to save us. But since technology is dependent on resources, we put ourselves in a race. What will come first: humans putting themselves on the endangered list or humans finding game-changing technology that will reverse the destruction that we have wreaked?

It is a massive gamble. Life is not completely random, and therefore shouldn't be left up to chance. As Chris said, "If we can’t evolve willfully, then the system will evolve for us." Don't forget...the system will evolve with or without us.

Wed, Nov 18, 2009  Permanent link

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