Cycles

I'm someone who's always for as long as I can remember been attuned to natural cycles. I have very strong pattern recognition skills, and the strongest patterns I see around me are those occurring in nature: diurnal cycles, seasonal cycles, celestial cycles, circadian cycles.

And I'm particularly observant of the transition points from one cycle to another. Such as the meeting of day and night, night and day, also known as dusk and dawn, the setting and rising of the sun, the setting and rising of the moon and the stars, and the changes from one season to the next. I've always felt those times to be magical, having a special quality in the air that is only present at those times. I didn't have to read about these things to pay attention to them, to value them, it is something that has always intuitively come natural to me.

I've always tried to make an attempt to be outside during those times, to be present, watching, listening, soaking it in, acknowledging the change. I don't always succeed, but whenever I do I walk away feeling blessed by something special, a certain intangible quality, like a subtle inspiration that bathes over my whole being. I walk away feeling inspired, revitalized, in awe of a mystery. Perhaps this too is key to longevity. Making the time to greet the day and the night, to bear witness to the passing of the torch, the points of transition between seasonal and celestial change, and being thankful for its continuity.

Why do people not notice these things? Perhaps because they do not like their surroundings. Maybe they live in an ugly place, where the objects of man distract from the objects of nature, where it is unpleasant to be outside. Where the streets are loud, and the buildings are oppressively large, and people are physically too close together and mentally too far apart. Where there is a feeling of separation and animosity and alienation and apprehension, and the consequential feelings of frustration and boredom. Or maybe the objects of man are architectural wonders, objects d'art, that keep us enthralled, and distracted from nature's own magical moments of artistic wonder. Or maybe you are just really busy, and would rather be inside doing whatever it is you do, paying little attention to nature's holidays, these special moments during the day and night and on certain days of the year that mark changes in the landscape, that whether we notice them or not, subtly effect the quality of our lives, the quality of our moods and frames of mind.

If you've been reading for awhile you've probably noticed that I label each post according to whatever astrological sign it was in during the time it was written. This is an experiment of mine, to see if I notice patterns in my blog posts, to see if I write about certain topics more frequently during different signs. For instance, do all the posts written in Libra share something in common, that sets them apart from other months? Libra is a sign that begins in late September and occupies most of October, pretty much from September 23 to October 23. It's a sign that is closely aligned with the advent of Autumn. Virgo is the end of summer, and Libra is the beginning of fall.

There probably are noticeable changes in my posts at this time, primarily due to the cooler weather, which is especially apparent here in Arizona, where summer lasts much longer than other places, and we are just now finally reaching the end of a long cycle of approximately six months of temperatures in the hundreds. The hot weather puts me to sleep. I become lazier, not just physically but mentally, and I usually complain about the heat and how much I dislike Arizona. I do like warm weather, but when it is in the hundreds it pretty much puts a break on all outdoor physical activity. It is simply not safe to move around much in that kind of heat. You pretty much have to stay indoors for most of the time, or stay in the shade and not move around much. Six months is a long stretch of time to be indoors, especially for someone who is very physically active and who loves the outdoors, and who doesn't drive and must ride a bike or walk for my primary form of transportation. Which means I have to go outside when it is extremely uncomfortable to be outside and is actually dangerous to be outside. Fortunately that cycle is ending, and we are slowly entering a cool down.

The cooler air that correlates with the onset of Libra, is characterized by a more logical influence, my thinking becomes clearer, I'm less likely to complain about things, my sense of humor returns, and I have more of a propensity to post more frequently, to post more pictures, especially fine art, and more likely to explore themes concerning mythology and symbolism, and topics that require a deeper level of concentration and awareness. The writing seems to come more easily too, because it is easier to concentrate when I do not feel like my body is in a vise, and like I'm slowly suffocating to death as I'm being baked alive in this desert oven. That is my experience of six months of 100 degree temperatures. Despite my proclivity for exaggeration and melodrama, the comparison to hell is really not all that far fetched.

I would say that each astrological sign is a reflection of the seasonal changes present at different times of the year, changes that alter not just temperature, but also the qualities of moisture and light. Cool, Warm, Moist, Dry, Light, Dark. There are distinct patterns that are present in each month. The essence of Libra is the essence of October, and the essence of October is most noticeably shaped by the weather patterns, by the unique seasonal changes occurring at this time. But you could say, why not just label each post by its month...September, October, November, etc.? Well the beauty of the astrological signs is that they each contain the transitions between months, they each overlap months, containing the seeds of their opposite, the cusps between one month and the next. So that Libra begins in September and ends in October, and Scorpio begins in October and ends in November. It makes it kind of interesting, I think.

Anyway, the astrological signs mirror the changes of the seasons, embody the qualities of a particular time of the season, which may be warmer or cooler, wetter or dryer, or darker or lighter. The weather effects our mood. But of the course, the weather varies from place to place. A desert Libra will differ from a tropical Libra. A northern Libra will differ from a southern Libra. But the changes will be more similar than different for those living in the same hemisphere. For instance, although the Arizona desert is still warmer in Libra than it is in Wisconsin, there is still a noticeable cool down at this time effecting both places, which gives it its unique Libra "vibe".

If you get nothing else from this post, get this: Pay attention to nature's cycles. Be present to the transition from one natural cycle to the next, between day and night and night and day, sunrise and sunset, moon rise and moon set, star rise and star set, the changes between one month and one season and the next. And just to make it more interesting how about paying attention to the transition between zodiac signs, between Virgo and Libra, Libra and Scorpio, etc., or how about Chinese astrology, commemorating the twelve year intervals between the year of the snake, the year of the dragon, etc. If you don't like astrology, don't worry about it, but do pay attention to the natural cycles around you, and within you, that influence the rhythms of your life.

These are special times. I can feel it. They have special lessons to impart. I've been studying them all my life. They are lessons of transformation, wordless teachings that get etched into the tapestry of our experience as a sort of unspoken wisdom. I don't know why or how, but there is magic during these times of transition. They are good times to meditate with your eyes wide open, or to simply be outside, being mindful of the experience of being outside and aware of the natural landscape and aware of the subtle changes of light and moisture and heat that are especially visible during these times.

The Difference Between Thinking and Reading, Realizing and Repeating

Our creative faculties are all too often stunted from living in noisy overdeveloped urban environments, and spending too much time indoors watching television and looking at computer screens, but did you know that even reading too much can also be detrimental to your creative faculties?

How so? Well as someone who absolutely loves books, spends a lot of time reading books, and whose life would be significantly diminished without books, what the hell do I mean?

It's not that reading in itself is detrimental. Of course not. Reading is good. Reading is the surest way of rapidly improving your education. But reading too much, without regularly taking time out for personal contemplation, to process what you've read, to think for yourself, to directly listen and observe and ask yourself questions and form your own answers, without doing that, both reading and watching television, or doing anything that becomes a substitute for thinking, can become detrimental to your intellect.

It is possible to be an avid "well read" reader without being a thinker, without being much of a creative, independent, or innovative thinker.

There are a lot of repeaters in this world, many who are overpaid and overrated, people who dutifully repeat whatever the experts say, without really understanding or verifying the facts independently for themselves.

It is possible to appear quite learned and intelligent by merely memorizing what you have read or what you are told by others, to be a walking encyclopedia, a human computer regurgitating assorted facts and trivia, while at the same time being little more than a thoughtless repeater, a programmed robot parroting other peoples ideas without having any actual experiential grasp or understanding of those ideas independent of books or words, or without even having any original thoughts and ideas of your own.

Well maybe you'd counter that there are no original ideas, that there is really nothing new under the sun, everything is borrowed, recycled, rediscovered, and re-exchanged. That all ideas are a collaborative affair, and that nothing is truly independent or original. Maybe so, but in this case, when I speak of an original idea, I mean it in the sense of the idea arising from the quiet contemplation of your own mind. It doesn't matter if that idea was partially shaped and influenced by other ideas not uniquely your own, nor does it matter if you are not the only one, or are only one among thousands receiving the same insight or realization. What matters is the experience of the idea arising seemingly independently within your own mind, rather than being feed a prepackaged version that requires little to no thinking or experiential knowledge.

I hope I inspire you, but ultimately your inspiration is your own, is a personal relationship between the inner you and the outer world. You may feel as if the inspiration comes from outside of yourself, but actually inspiration always originates from within each person. Or rather, it is an experiential connection between the microscopic and macroscopic, between self and the cosmos.

Inspiration is like a radio frequency that's always on, but is only received if you are tuned to the right channel. When you are inspired by someone or something, it's not that they are the source of inspiration, but that all that is happening is that they've helped you turn the channel within yourself in alignment with the frequency of inspiration, that they too are tuned into, but it is up to you how long you maintain the connection, whether you raise or lower the volume, or whether you change to a different channel completely.

All knowledge and insight emerges from a receptive state of mind, but there is a difference between receiving ideas from others in their finished product already translated into words, and having the same ideas emerge independently in your own mind. There is a difference between experiential knowledge obtained on your own, and theoretical knowledge obtained from others. Theoretical knowledge can be experienced if the abstract ideas can be applied to the real world, as theoretical principles visualized affecting objects in space, or otherwise conceptualized having some real world application. And of course experiential knowledge can be translated into theoretical knowledge the very moment it is articulated into words.

If you get most of your ideas from books, from other people, without actually experiencing the insights yourself or applying them to the real world in your own way, how many ideas in your head are actually your own? Not only that, but to what extent do you truly understand and have personally tested what you are reading, and to what extent are you merely repeating?

That's the primary danger of reading too much, that of thinking too little. When reading and absorbing other people's ideas becomes a substitute for thinking, that's what I mean when I say that reading too much can potentially be detrimental to your capacity for independent creative thought.

Read to enhance your mind, not to completely erase your mind and replace it with somebody else's. The goal should be the expansion of consciousness, not the annihilation of consciousness. So by all means don't stop reading, but do consider turning off the television and going outside more.

Just make sure to also spend some time thinking, questioning, contemplating, realizing, and better yet reading the wordless wisdom written in the tapestry of the earth and the sky, and listening to nature's wordless sounds circulating all around, within and without, above and below, and beyond the written word of pseudo experts, thoughtless repeaters, and other overrated clowns.

The Meaning of 'Dissent is Patriotic'

Earlier last month I wrote a post called Dissent is Patriotic. Well, it's been getting some traffic lately, but it was really nothing more than a rambling rant, that didn't really do either the title or the subject justice. 

In fact, I see now that I didn't even explain in that post exactly what that slogan means, because I took it for granted that it was self-evident. 

Well, I'm sure the phrase 'dissent is patriotic' has probably been used by many people, but it is officially attributed to the historian Howard Zinn. That is where I got it from. But what does it mean? I'll tell you what I think it means.

To say that dissent is patriotic does not mean that all dissent is patriotic, or that dissent in and of itself is patriotic. What it does mean is that dissent, which generally means the opposition to official policy, can be patriotic in certain circumstances. And not only that, but the right to disagree with official policy, or the freedom to have a dissenting opinion without fear of suffering unreasonable punishment for disagreeing, is built into the very fabric of a free and democratic society.

For instance, if your country is founded on a specific set of rules and principles, and the people in charge institute actions and policies that violate, undermine, or subvert those rules and principles, dissent (meaning rebellion, opposition, protest, the failure to comply or support the people in charge and their polices), would in such circumstances be considered patriotic.

Patriotism simply means love and support of country. By country we mean not only the land and its people, but our collective society, our culture, our government, and the founding principles and laws of our nation.

But laws can and do change. Just because something is lawful, doesn't necessarily mean that it is true, or just, or morally sound. For instance, slavery was once legal. At the time of legalized slavery, would you say it is patriotic to support the institution of slavery? If the founding principles of your country support slavery, than perhaps you could. However, if you believe that the institution of slavery violates what your country stands for, than supporting slavery would in fact be quite unpatriotic.

If you believe that all men and women are created equal, and that all human beings have a natural born right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and such a belief is written into the very laws and principles that your country was founded on, support for slavery, or anything else that opposes those principles, would be inimical to not only patriotism, but the ideals of truth, justice, and democracy.

So in such a circumstance those opposing the legalized institution of slavery, would be a good example of dissent being patriotic.

In a society based on democracy and the rule of law, patriotism does not mean uncritically supporting your country, right or wrong, no matter what. Country in this sense meaning government, your elected representatives, their official policies, and the military. Patriotism means supporting certain fundamental founding principles, values, and laws inherent to a democratic society, and holding your elected officials accountable to them.

If on the other hand a democratic nation is for instance taken over by a fascist tyrannical coup, that subverts democracy and the rule of law, it would not be patriotic to support such an administration's policies or military engagements.

So in conclusion, to reiterate my points: The phrase 'dissent is patriotic' basically means an opposition to tyranny and evil, corruption and injustice, and the abuse of power in high places, while actively seeking to change the people and policies responsible for subverting democracy and the rule of law.