UNCERTAINTY
I find it so fitting that western science came up with an equation that states that uncertainty is constant. It is hard for us to grasp things that do not always come out as we suspect, so we found a funny box to put this "constant" thing into. I do relate as I am a person who thrives on order (they call me a "liver person"). As much as I like to let things flow, I tend to overplan and try to predict all the things that will happen throughout the day. This is a good lesson for me, as life shows me time and time again that you can never be fully "certain" of anything that is going to happen. In fact, if I had to conclude from all my experiences thus far, I can say that I am certain that I never came close to predict all the things that occured in my life thus far. Which means that life, as I know it, is uncertain. I hope to take this to heart more, as I think just this equation could help me lead a life with less expectation. Some things are certain, though. I love my dog. No eastern or western equation can shake that constant.
CAUSALITY
To be honest, I am not 100% sure I understand what causality means. It is defined as everything having a cause. Does cause mean reason? Does it mean that something causes every outcome? For some reason, my brain is confused on this topic. (Which is one reason why I have so much respect for all these scientists that pondered such issues.) We always hear the expression, "things happen for a reason." In fact, people say this when there is a spark of uncertainty to why something in life happened. After a hard break-up, a death, a new love, a strange moment, or whatever the case, many people will argue that all this has a reason, a cause. I think it is yet another way to make us feel more comfortable in this huge life that has so many variables. Religion has taken this on, in both western and eastern. If we do good, than good will happen to us. It is hard to imagine that if I try my whole life to be a kind person, and I am struck with misforturne, there is no reason. But, if I really think about it, in the end, things just happen sometimes. There is another expression that is often used, "shit happens". So if all things happen for a reason, or if shit happens, it is safe to say that we do not have an exact equation for causality. YET.
IS THE UNIVERSE WEIRD
If weird means, "suggesting something supernatural", then yes, the universe is quite weird. When I started figuring out who I really am as a person in this universe (which is an ongoing process) I found myself making things black or white. The older I get and the more that I experience, I realize that things are getting more and more grey, and the only thing I know for sure is that, as they say, the more I try to know, the less I know. Through all the processing, I have found myself concluding that things don't always make sense and in fact sometimes things are just weird. The more I try to understand how love works, the more I believe how weird this universe is.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Meaning of Time
Although last weeks class spent most of the time learning about each person's experience of time (which was great), it left me thinking about different things all week. When we learned about the additional second that was added onto 2005, I right away thought, "yet again, we are trying to control earth." But after thinking about it for the week, I realize that time and space is so huge, much like most things in this life. It is natural for us to try to make things smaller so we can somehow function and feel a bit safer with all the unknowns that we face (or just do not think about because they are too scary). So now I see it as humans, once again, just trying to feel safer in this "chaos", and one way we do that is by keeping a world clock that helps us measure our moments here. Perhaps we should take that extra second and think about the fact that earth is moving slower than us as there are always lessons to be learned from slowness, and a bit of irony that we have done so much damage with our pace.
week one quiz
1. What attracts me to Chinese Medicine?
I left my new york city "western" life when I was 17, and took on many things of a more "Alternative" nature. I started working on organic farms, became very aware of a great life other than the only one way I was taught to live mine. I loved making tinctures and natural medicines, eating healthy and expanding my mind. A chronic illness surfaced more during this time, and became completely debilitating when I moved to California. I tried all things "eastern", including chinese medicine, and unlike most success stories, I had to make the choice to go on western medication. I think it saved my life, in a way, and I will never forget how useful it was to me as I am immersed in eastern medicine. Once I found the strength to be on a healing path, I engaged in heavy doses of acupunture and herbs, and have found an amazing balance between the two spectrums. I am thrilled to be learning chinese medicine, as it is a privledge to force my brain to expand in ways that I never knew possible. I hope to work with a population that may need western medicine, but would like to find more balance with chinese medicine. I look forward to all I have to learn, and know in this path I will be learning for the rest of my life. What a gift!
2. What do I honestly think of physics, really?
I never took it, so I don't really know that much about it. I love math, as numbers comfort me in a world where there are so few answers. I will try to be open to learning physics without too much focus on math, and I think this is another gift as I try to step out of my comfort zone in education. I'll let you know after the semester.
3. Now that I think about it, have I ever experienced time "slowing down"?
Often. The clock seems to go backwards during herbology class ;-). My most vivid thought on this is when I worked in the field on veggie farms. I have managed one farm for three years, and felt much stress from the time crunch of each day. Every plant is very time sensitive, mostly having to do with the sun. On harvest days we had a strict order that things needed to be done in, and it required fast pace and many details. On those days, I would wake up stressed, and head down to the garden. Everytime I kneeled down to touch the earth from where all our crops grew, something would shift in the time. It is hard to explain, but as stressed as I was, the second I touched the moist soil, I was at peace, and a chore that needed to be done in twenty minutes, always got done, but it felt like hours would pass. The earth has a calming effect in so many ways, and soon I learned to trust it as on most mornings in my last year on the farm, the stress was not there. I knew it would all get done, and I would enjoy the slowness of the fast paced day.
I left my new york city "western" life when I was 17, and took on many things of a more "Alternative" nature. I started working on organic farms, became very aware of a great life other than the only one way I was taught to live mine. I loved making tinctures and natural medicines, eating healthy and expanding my mind. A chronic illness surfaced more during this time, and became completely debilitating when I moved to California. I tried all things "eastern", including chinese medicine, and unlike most success stories, I had to make the choice to go on western medication. I think it saved my life, in a way, and I will never forget how useful it was to me as I am immersed in eastern medicine. Once I found the strength to be on a healing path, I engaged in heavy doses of acupunture and herbs, and have found an amazing balance between the two spectrums. I am thrilled to be learning chinese medicine, as it is a privledge to force my brain to expand in ways that I never knew possible. I hope to work with a population that may need western medicine, but would like to find more balance with chinese medicine. I look forward to all I have to learn, and know in this path I will be learning for the rest of my life. What a gift!
2. What do I honestly think of physics, really?
I never took it, so I don't really know that much about it. I love math, as numbers comfort me in a world where there are so few answers. I will try to be open to learning physics without too much focus on math, and I think this is another gift as I try to step out of my comfort zone in education. I'll let you know after the semester.
3. Now that I think about it, have I ever experienced time "slowing down"?
Often. The clock seems to go backwards during herbology class ;-). My most vivid thought on this is when I worked in the field on veggie farms. I have managed one farm for three years, and felt much stress from the time crunch of each day. Every plant is very time sensitive, mostly having to do with the sun. On harvest days we had a strict order that things needed to be done in, and it required fast pace and many details. On those days, I would wake up stressed, and head down to the garden. Everytime I kneeled down to touch the earth from where all our crops grew, something would shift in the time. It is hard to explain, but as stressed as I was, the second I touched the moist soil, I was at peace, and a chore that needed to be done in twenty minutes, always got done, but it felt like hours would pass. The earth has a calming effect in so many ways, and soon I learned to trust it as on most mornings in my last year on the farm, the stress was not there. I knew it would all get done, and I would enjoy the slowness of the fast paced day.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
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