Quote of the Day

"The aim of knowledge is to divest the objective world of its strangeness and to make us more at home in it"
~Hegel

Quote of the Day

"Not to demand intimate relations with the Universe, and not to wish them satisfactory, should be accounted signs of something wrong."
~William James

Quote of the Day

"No eternal reward will ever forgive us for wasting the dawn"
~J.M.

Stuff

I watched this video entitled The Story of Stuff the other day, and it has changed my perspective on a few things. It talks about the consumerism our society is based upon and consequences we face from living the way we do. We often talk of ‘green’ technology, so much so that it has become hackneyed. Green tech has the intended purpose of reducing the stress we humans place upon our world, and while this is obviously a noble cause, is it enough? Hybrid cars may use less gasoline, but the production of their batteries creates enormous amounts of pollution. Ethanol seems like a great alternative fuel, but its production expends as much energy as it creates.

One particular facet that drives our consumer society is fashion. I realize from a marketing standpoint that the purpose of commercials is to sell things. However, the Moloch driving this thing demands we constantly sacrifice for the sake of progress. So fashion is simply a force that drives us to consume more, to throw out the ‘old’ (but still functional) and buy something new because everybody else has or will.

As a student in business school I constantly hear creeds such as “Cash is the ONLY thing that matters to the entrepreneur,” and I am faced with sound advice everyday that encourages a mission of exploitation; the exploitation of resources, the exploitation of opportunities, or the exploitation of anything in order to make profit.

So what is important? - It’s not fashion or monetary profit or even the survival of our social standard. Life (not just yours, but all Life), humanity, the survival of this precious planet Earth is what is universally important. What holds meaning for you?

My question to you is what can we do to work towards a truly sustainable way of life?

On the Nature of the Universe and the "Creator"

A friend of mine with whom I regularly discuss some of the deeper philosophical questions of life posed this to me:

"On the Nature of the Universe and the "Creator"

Many religions, including the recent Abrahamic philosophies, conclude that
(a) God created everything and, also, that (b) God is a part of everything.

Just as many creation myths speak of an aqueous origin of life, this widespread idea of the nature of the creator and it's infinite presence may hold some remote truth when placed in the proper context. Just as the answer to everything is 7, with the proper units affixed, the following short essay will attempt to prove how one can believe in a thing that both creates everything and is a part of everything while maintaining a logical and scientific point of view.

My understanding, thus far, is that the universe is in a constant pattern of motion.
The big bang was not the beginning of the universe, but rather a part of the never-ending cyclical process that is the universe.

Assuming the infinity of time stretches forever in both directions, rather than a beginning the big bang would have to have been simply one of many big bangs, both before it and still to come.

This would imply that the universe can expand only so far, at which point everything will be spread as thin as possible.

This will lead to a reversal of the motion, as the universe begins to shrink back into itself, like a rubber band snapping back.

Just as the universe reaches a point at which it can stretch no further,
it will also reach a point when it can condense no further.

When all that is completes this inward motion, everything will be one.
Everything will squeeze together until it becomes one thing, and just as the matter or energy [one finds these two are interchangeable] reaches this point of ultimate contraction, a "Big Bang" occurs, beginning the expansion phase all over again.

Everything spreads and stretches out, only seemingly endlessly, until the universe can expand no further and once again snaps back on itself.

The parallel can thus be drawn between the moment of complete contraction and the creator of all that is. This moment when all things are one, after all, is responsible for the creation of the universe. It marks the moment when all things become one and, in essence, become the creator.

From this one sees how, according to this representation of the universe, the "creator" is indeed a part of everything that is, has ever been, and ever will be. More specifically, everything that is, has ever been, and ever will be is the creator- in which case one comes to the conclusion that there is no true and single creator but rather a collection of equal contributors. So maybe we can call that moment between the contraction and the expansion god and god can be everywhere and be everything and be everyone and we can thank god for being here.

I don’t know, what do you think?" ~A.M.

Collaborative Art

So this is a mural I started on a wall in my home several months ago. I would like some input on this piece, so post your ideas and we can see this thing evolve around the communal input.