Category: Culture

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Embryo

Embryo Screenshot

Embryo Screenshot

EMBRYO HD from Vladek Zankovsky on Vimeo.

A very powerful clip paralleling the development of one human embryo to that of human civilization

Humans within this planet now are the newest experience of the universe in what, biologically, always seems to come down to cycles: of unity to individuation, through which arises conflict, negotiations happen, cooperation is arrived at; and we go to unity again at the next higher level.

And that’s why the story of evolution is so important today, to help us understand where humanity is, and what is our next step.” 

– Elisabet Sahtouris, taken from Biologist Elisabet Sahtouris Finds Evolutionary Purpose In Crisis

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Clouds in My Coffee

Nature is filled with examples of endlessly repeating patterns, where the whole is built on the balanced interaction of the parts. For generations, man has only looked at his “parts” – individuals. Now, maybe it is time to consider the whole – humanity.

I feel another downhill day coming, and I dread going into work. Will I get a sudden escort out this morning like poor Erika? Our manager, Phil, wouldn’t want us to steal or damage anything, especially staff morale – as if there were any left! I’ve known Phil for 30 years; what’s happened to him? To the whole world?

At least we still have some creature comforts, most notably – a gourmet cup of java to give me some courage. Watching that drop of cream in the coffee, the pattern of swirls within swirls, I can’t help thinking back to that 1972 Carly Simon song, “I had some dreams; they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee…”

Clouds in coffee… swirls within swirls… patterns, unfolding within themselves, over and over, like variations on a theme. Isn’t this the way all of Nature is? Fern leaves, coastlines, clouds – each is composed of a geometric shape that’s repeated at a smaller and smaller scale, each shape nested within its larger counterpart. Isn’t there something to be learned at this time from this property that is so pervasive in Nature? Perhaps the world’s problems and solutions are hidden within these unique, yet universal, patterns. And perhaps we could unlock this universal secret if only we had a master key, the “fractal”!


Patterns of Life

This term, referring to all these pervasive self-similarities, was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot, due to the common element in the recurring patterns – their fractional dimension. The math behind a fractal is a simple repeating formula, yet it can produce awesomely beautiful visuals. Looking into them, one senses a deep, almost frightening, power – a two-way ebb and flow, as though looking into the eyes of Infinity itself.

There really is a dynamic transcending the still image. As pointed out by Robert Shaw, a pioneer in the science of “Chaos”, there’s actual communication reflected up and down the orders of magnitude between the inner and outer patterns. But for us, the consequences are a lot more serious than pretty pictures.

A most important example is our complex heartbeat and circulatory flow. The complexity actually keeps us alive. Because all the components work together in perfect harmony, communicating as though in mutual love, coronary interactions operate smoothly on every scale. Natural fluctuations at any level are corrected by the system as a whole. However, if this “love” breaks down and a part of the system selfishly pulls itself too far away for too long, something ominous begins to happen. The beat pattern grows smoother, at first glance seemingly a sign of stability; that is, until it smoothes down to a simple sine wave, and finally – the straight line of cardiac arrest.

The fractal’s universality makes the above a fundamental law of nature, ruling all systems: mineral, vegetable, animal, and human. But only at the human level is there the freedom to follow a dysfunctional policy of “every man for himself.” Sweet as it may first appear to gifted predators, beneath the surface the system begins an accelerating decay, until the nightmare finally comes out of the woodwork as Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

It’s a bit like an enormous pocket watch over wound to the point of no return. Though it may still be beautiful, gold and shiny on the surface, a look at the inner mechanism will reveal a flaming explosion of snapping teeth and mainspring, leading to the grand finale – the freezing of gears, grinding to a halt. So it is with our business models: systematic doom seals the fate of even the most “successful” individuals along with the rest of the human mechanism. It’s just a question of “who by fire and who by ice.”  And the predator , who was so gifted, sees he now has no prey.

 

Hope for the Future

Humanity’s evolution into a global economy through ever-growing and entwining infrastructures has given it a worldwide heartbeat and circulation. Murphy’s Law has already started to go berserk before our very eyes, yet we continue to proceed mindlessly against Nature, like lemmings treading toward a cliff’s edge. No force can turn the situation around other than every person’s individual, free choice to see others as the greater part of himself, rather than isolated prey to feed upon. Do we not yet realize that the pattern in each of our personal fractals is actually made of all of us?

The clouds in my coffee dissipate on a hopeful note – a song the Youngbloods provided five years before Carly Simon, “Come on people now, smile on your brother. Everybody get together; try to love one another right now.” And when we look into the eyes of Infinity, maybe we’ll be met by an infinite fractal smile. Wouldn’t that be something!

Despite the odds, my cup of java has once again kept its promise to encourage. What message will your favorite brew be giving you?

Elliot Ponderer

 

 

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Global Mind Change

A visualization of a recorded talk given by the late Dr. Willis Harmanon how our problems, and therefore solutions, are al interconnected.
Harman was a social scientist, academic, futurist, writer, and visionary, best known for his work with SRI International, for being President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, and for his work in raising consciousness within the international business community. (Source: Wikipedia.)

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I Am

Any crisis creates an impression that a collapse is imminent, and then it seems that everything is going to be okay. Only through such gradual, step-by-step development do we become aware that we must change.

Generally, it is necessary to understand that the collapse must be internal. It has to occur in our consciousness, in our awareness of how wrongly we treat ourselves and the world. It’s not in the fact that I was hit by a painful event, a disease, even death…

All of this is necessary solely in order to pull us out of our own swamp of egoism, elevate us, and force us to start thinking. As a matter of fact, these particularly consistent acts—a sudden blow and its retreat until the next blow hits, then another blow and retreat—gradually pull a person out of himself.

With each new step, we think it is all the same, but in fact, it is not so. Each new time, we process another type of egoism, its greater part. One blow to the ego, the second, and the third one, but we don’t feel the difference and don’t realize that each time, our egoism processes completely new states of understanding and existence.

Egoism is diverse, and until it reaches its culmination, nothing will change. This is why we need to pass through so many small blows.  There is nothing accidental; nothing can happen out of the blue, by leaping over the states of internal development. We have to swallow every pill, which is the only way to learn. There is no other option.

 

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The Farmer’s Story

Sometimes we feel that we’ve had enough and it’s time to make a revolution: change the environment and society. But it is not the same this time around. This time it is about evolution rather than revolution.

We have been living in societies for thousands of years and had a social life because we were unable to provide everything we needed on our own. In fact, everyone wants a better life for himself, confident and peaceful. Everyone wants to be more successful than others. Envy and ambition rule, and push us to develop.

Yet, while a person develops within society, his personal life changes through the society. One depends on the other. Today we depend on thousands of people around the world because of what we wear, eat, and generally consume; there is no country which did not participate in providing us with everything we have.

And when it does not happen directly, it happens through another several countries: one country supplies materials, another supplies machine parts, and another produces the goods we buy.  Studies show that everyone in the world depends on everyone else. And in order for us to live well, we have to make sure that everybody around us also lives well, be it a neighbor’s family or another country.

 

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Connected

Have you ever faked a restroom trip to check your email? Slept with your laptop? Or become so overwhelmed that you just unplugged from it all? In this funny, eye-opening, and inspiring film, director Tiffany Shlain takes audiences on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride to discover what it means to be connected in the 21st century. From founding The Webby Awards to being a passionate advocate for The National Day of Unplugging, Shlain’s love/hate relationship with technology serves as the springboard for a thrilling exploration of modern life…and our interconnected future. Equal parts documentary and memoir, the film unfolds during a year in which technology and science literally become a matter of life and death for the director. As Shlain’s father battles brain cancer and she confronts a high-risk pregnancy, her very understanding of connection is challenged. Using a brilliant mix of animation, archival footage, and home movies, Shlain reveals the surprising ties that link us not only to the people we love but also to the world at large. A personal film with universal relevance, Connected explores how, after centuries of declaring our independence, it may be time for us to declare our interdependence instead.

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Living Systems – Nature Is Calling for Love: Part 3

Fortunately for us, there are a few foresighted individuals that are already planning and building living systems based on ecological strategy. For instance, Living Systems breaks their plan down into five concepts and offers their information to all via the website. Examining their ideas for sustainable living, we see the same composition as an ecosystem.

  • Mutually empowering communication skills – networks. Conflict is necessary in order for human beings to learn, grow, and advance; but it must be handled delicately and intelligently. It then becomes an asset rather than a liability because it is based on mutual responsibility. Each person searches for a way that the society can benefit from.
  • Permaculture/biodynamics – nested systems. A garden is the foremost environment to nurture both humanity and the planet: living systems within living systems.
  • Eco-villages/Eco-cities – development. With a super efficient infrastructure, mutually empowering communication skills, and a social environment, where we know most of the people we deal with regularly, the community is set up as a meta-organism ( in the place of a microorganism).
  • Environmentally beneficial manufacturing – dynamic balance. Currently, our manufacturing technology is environmentally damaging and depletes our non-renewable resources. Buckminster Fuller’s idea of a mobile factory is only one of many new models being explored.
  • Internal economies – cycles and flows. With our own economy, we can control what is considered valuable, such as mutually empowering communication skills. By holding this skill in high esteem, it could become enormously useful and therefore more valuable. Combining this with the Local Exchange and Trading System (LETS) would create an internal economy, which could be easily exchanged for local currency, until such time as currency exchange is no longer required.

The benefits of clean air and water, renewable fuel sources, and fresh food will be immediately felt by a population that is weary of fighting to maintain a meager existence. Because eco-living environments are not conducive to the practice of using others for personal gain, huge income disparity will become obsolete. By investing our time and effort to create such systems, we will assure a level playing field for all and encourage sustainable, universal, and reasonable prosperity.

As as result, much of the animosity that pervades society today will disappear, and a sense of mutual responsibility and a concern for the whole will appear in its place. We can rest and recuperate in the loving boughs of Mother Nature that will no longer wreak havoc across the land. ‘I’ has to be replaced by ‘we,’ and the entire system will feel less stress.  This will allow human nature and Mother Nature to evolve harmoniously together.

After all, mankind’s ultimate goal is to reach its highest internal potential, and as we study and learn to navigate an integrated world, we must cooperate with the laws of nature.

If we do not,  we will have to face undesirable consequences. Mother Nature cannot be fooled; nor can it be compromised a compromise with her. Inevitably, the truth will be unveiled in cooperation with her laws. Mankind must adjust. Then, our great-great-grandchildren will look back and proudly say, “Our ancestors were intelligent enough to transform the world”.