I'm Ok, I'm Just Stuck in a Loop.

     This was me on a visit to Mom's in my mid 30's.  A fairly typical example of a person comfortable

with who they are.  Fast forward a little over 10 years, and I hardly recognize myself as having been that guy.  The transition from active participant in the experience of life, to a reclusive observer of life.  Was as gradual as it was inevitable, my own decisions leading inexorably to my  personal oubliette.  As is the usual circumstance, when looking back. The many opportunities to change directions are as obvious, as they are useless in my current experience.  Oft times serving as a rather depressing reminder that my current circumstance is wholly my doing.  That hard truth might just be toughest aspect to accept, and forgive.  Of course that forgiveness of self is high touted as essential in moving past perceived personal failings.  Perhaps that combined with that odd desire to pick at a healing wound is the prompting to write this. So whats put the hitch in my giddy up? In a single word, teeth.
    Just over a year ago, what remained of my rotted, broken top teeth were removed. As this pic

clearly shows, something needed to be done.  Infections in my gums were a normal occurrence.  I could count on the pain, and discomfort being bad enough to completely sideline me for days at a time.  By this point the shame had already stopped me from smiling.  I had learned to hide my top teeth from view in the course of casual interaction.  Most people were only to happy to play along and pretend they didn't notice, with only children being honest to ask questions that made everyone uncomfortable.  So by the time of this pic, my choices were already pretty limited.  Keep the teeth, and be sick, and possibly kill myself through inaction.  Or lose the teeth, and get physically healthy. At this point, I'd have to reserve judgement on the benefit, or detriment of my choice.
    When so many are so happy to get dentures, or implants, some of you might be saying something to effect of "suck it up girly pants", or perhaps "get over it already".  In honesty, there may be some validity to that type of perspective. This is such an obvious get over yourself kind of thing, that even being in it. I am unable to discount the sentiment.  It is this sentiment bumping up against ideas of quality of life being of more import, than just being alive.  When I ask myself having experienced using a top plate denture, is the quality of life granted by this prosthetic enough.  In all honesty no, not for me.  At 46 having experienced 7 or so months of life with dentures.  I found I could not project a future with dentures I had any desire to experience.  So looking at alternatives, there is of course implants.  I'd guess in large part these would be a workable patch, once a couple of hurdles were overcome. Namely they are prohibitively expensive, and far outside my current circumstance. Getting my teeth extracted, and the dentures already has soaked up almost 7k off someone elses currency.  Thank you to my Mom, and Stepfather are in order on that count.  Even with the expense there are other considerations that give pause in regards to implants. It's the state of development of being able to induce natural tooth regrowth. Researchers have already regrown full teeth in rats using stem cells, and laser treatments.  Knowing how close this is, perhaps 5 to 10 years out, perhaps even less.  All manor of other thoughts bounce around.  If I could get implants, knowing they are already obsolete are they are valid choice.  Would getting implants complicate regrowing the teeth when it becomes the mainstream.
   This combination of being a little to late to accept what many still few as perfectly workable solution. A little  early to take advantage of what will become the obvious norm. And me in a wait while loop, of my own devising.  Scrambling around to maintain enough currency flowing through while limiting social interaction to only what is required.  Generally if I do not have to leave the house I won't.  After having at least part-time employment for almost all of my adult life.  I now scramble to even keep up with basic living expenses.  Thanks to my housemate for helping me out when I got behind.  While it may often be my own projection reflected back at me. The effect is the same, an almost complete rejection of social interaction.  This overwhelming self consciousness is due in large part to knowing, I am responsible for it.  Through what has been dubbed mountain dew mouth, though I did mine much slower mainly with cola's. And even though by the time any problems showed, the insides of my teeth were already rotted. It was my own addictive style abuse of soda, I mean I did get to a point of 2 liters a day or more for years on end.  So while the physical aspects are enough to make most a bit self conscious.  The shame and guilt I feel at being the cause might be even worse.  Leaving me a virtual recluse, waiting for the breakthrough I know has already been made to save me from my own trap.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

What IF!!!!!

Please Do Not Read This Post If:

     There has been an idea rolling around in my mind. A different perspective on a story almost everyone on the planet has heard.  The story of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the story of the expulsion from paradise.  That is why if you believe there are lines that there are appropriate boundaries for though experimentation.  Or that words, or ideas should stay within the bounds of good taste, and parsed for political correctness.  Go read something else, the fundamental conception of the Eden story will be toyed with, poked and prodded.  If that is something you would have a problem with, than it is your responsibility to stop reading now, or keeping reading, and don't forget to pray for my salvation. If your religious you might believe I need it.

The Who, What, Where:

      In the traditional conceptions of this story, our characters are easily definable, and laid out clearly.  God, the Serpent, and Adam and Eve.  Eve, and Adam are put forth not as us, but as the parents of Humanity.  We have in the main equated this with them being as we are.  That is not likely the case, these are pre-expulsion, pre fruit of knowledge humans.  A version of humanity that is able to walk in the presence of it's creator.  So while they might the most like us of the characters in the story, it is likely a mistake to equate them to us.  These are beings that exist in a state of pristine grace.

     The Serpent is of course put forth as the deceiver, the corruptor, or villain.   In our story, as it has been presented, The Serpent lies to Eve.  Seemingly in opposition to the wishes of God, Serpent tells Eve, you most assuredly not die, but become like God.  This is a rather odd predicament, it presents so questions not easily resolved.  Questions such as, God is presented as an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient being.  So how would Serpent, a creation of God, act in ways contrary to the wishes of God, as well as it being without God knowing.

    God of course is put forth as the all powerful, loving, creator of all things.  Who is a seemingly irresponsible deity if looked at from a rational perspective.  In our story, God makes all things, at some point making the Garden as a habit for the creation of Adam, and subsequently Eve.  While giving the tour of the habitat, God lays out the ground rules.  Basicly saying anything goes, but don't eat the fruit from the of the knowledge of good and evil.  Making the opposing statement to the serpent, that for they would surely die.  A prime example of irresponsible parenting. This would be akin to making a baby room, and putting a poison plant in it.  Combined with the reverse psychology setting a self reinforcing compulsion to eat the fruit.  So can we really say God did not intend for the fruit to be eaten?

    Eden is the setting of most our story, a paradise created for Adam, and Eve.  With most linking it directly to a location on earth, a sort of preserve, outside of which is referred to as wilderness.  Interestingly it does point to an idea there is not only other places, but other beings already inhabiting those places.  With that idea, Eden might just as well be considered a habit carved out of a larger environment.  Not unlike man altering an environment to be more conducive to the task at hand. Looked at from another perspective, Eden could be seen as the womb of humanity, the thing with a womb is, once in your expulsion is a forgone conclusion.

    The Fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Blech that is for sure a mouthful.  Many places have questioned if it was the widely accepted apple or pomegranate, or whatever. What the physical representation of the fruit is matters little.  What is important is the idea that eating it, causes a change to the nature of a being.  In our story this is put forward as an event, Eve eats the fruit, convinces Adam to do the same, expulsion ensues, and here we are.  The idea being that the fruit was eaten, and the event is over.  Is that accurate?  When we eat just our normal sustenance that is just the beginning. The majority of the story of consumption takes place after the physical act, it's in the processing of.  Might that be the case with our fruit?

What if They are Both Telling the Truth:

      Growing up with Star Wars, there is a line delivered by Ben, in defence of his using perspective, and tricks of language to not lie, but also not admit inconvenient facts.  Ben tells Luke, "your going to find that many of the truths we cling to, rely greatly on our point of view".  Might our Eden story, and it's related lies be hiding a similar lesson?   So in a much abridged, with great creative license.

     Adam, and Eve, have not comprehension of good or evil, actions are actions, experienced in the moment with no attachment, or even understanding.  They are also not as God, but in a state of grace in communion with God.  The connection to their source is always present, so death as we conceptualize it,  pain and pleasure have no meaning. Even if we accept there is physical existence as we would recognize it.  Adam and Eve pre fruit would not have the capacity of ego yet, that sense of I, we use to differentiate what we think of as self from the whole.   So God in saying you will surely die is telling the truth. Pre fruit there is no experience of loss, post fruit, the sense of I creates the sense of mine, loss, and death ensue.  So God in the story is telling truth, as evidenced by us everyday.  So how can Serpent also be truthful?  Perspective, is the short answer.  Serpent says we for sure will not die, and more over we will become like God.  In the story we are told we are created in the image and likeness of God, so the reality is, the only aspect missing is the famous delphic statement of "know thyself".  Adam, and Even in the Garden are already in every respect as God, they are only lacking the knowledge of what they are.  So the change that takes place when Serpent tricks Eve, is not a material change, but one of understanding, and knowledge.  That change is not one of a singular event completed when the last bite of the fruit.  Taking that first bite, set in motion a process of self discovery, that is ongoing.  The expulsion from Eden is not one of punishment, or even a violation of rules.  It is as natural a consequence as we find the development of a fetus in the womb, leading to the birth of a child.  Once the process of gathering the knowledge through experience of good and evil. Eden became a non viable habitat, as Adam, and Eve had become other that what it was created for.  As a parting, thought ideas of a return to Eden being through child like innocence, become more akin to going back to a state before the eating of the fruit.  Though a more likely outcome for this story is a moving through the process, and becoming as we were in the beginning with full knowledge of what we are in the present.

as always make up your own damn mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard 

Pseudo Productivity, or....Filling the Void.

The Setup:

     I grew up an only child, raised by a single mother who worked, and finished her education during most of my childhood.  This means I learned quite early how to be with myself as my only company. A nice match for my natural introvert tendencies. For reasons beyond the scoop of today's posting this proclivity for the avoidance of social interaction has gone from mildly reclusive, to almost full blown hermit over the course of the last year plus.  With freeing of time has come the desire to fill it with something other than movies, games, and maryjane.  So like many I have turned to learning, and as a tech lover, many of learning choices have been in that direction.

The Flourish:

      Once the wallowing in self pity ebbed to a point where the desire for activity could rise through the fog of self medication. What has become a concept of pseudo-productivity began.  An interesting concept in itself, basically meaning structured, goal oriented activity, where the activity is the reward. Video games are great examples of pseudo-productivity, having purpose only within the context of the game, and no real bearing outside itself.  The sense of accomplishment achieved can have profound effects on the psyche both positive, as well as negative.  Leading to a greater healing, or descending into a false sense stability.  So between scrambling to keep enough currency flowing to maintain my meager lifestyle, while avoiding as much face to face social interaction with public. I've had plenty of pseudo productivity, some days even measuring my day in these terms only.  

The Reveal:

     When the student is ready the teacher shall appear, seemingly extends far into abstraction.  Back in December a friend gifted me with a Raspberry Pi b+, and it quickly became a great outlet for my desire for productivity.  Though after running through Kodi(raspbmc),  Retropie, and the basics of Raspbian.  It became abundantly clear how end user oriented my interaction with technology had become.  While this serves me quite nicely in helping other end users, it does little to really give a sense of creative outlet.  It's more about being about to understand and follow directions, with being creative being a hinderance.  Than came some practical use ideas of said Pi, a vpn, personal cloud storage, a local file sharing node(priate box), to name a few.  Of course these all have the same fatal flaw, it's just following directions to setup.  In learning about the Pi, the linux environment, and development.  I became exposed to modern programming languages, having stayed away from the software side since the late 80's.  Exactly as the Pi's creators intended, my inner child responded. With the Pi as my platform, the language of choice was made easy, python. Off to Codecadey for an interactive course. Big ups to the folks over there, the interface is great, being able to code right in the browser, and receive instant feedback makes for an enjoyable experience.  Only issue with that was an odd interaction with the chrome instant translate extension wanting to translate my code as I wrote it.  Six days later, now I need to use it, or like so many things it will be quickly forgotten, but what to make.  If you came upon this blog from twitter, than you likely have already encountered my starter project.  A Pi based Twitter bot, big thanks to Dototot for the basic idea, and a framework to start from.  Thus far it's very limited, only tweeting once roughly an hour. A future post will go more in depth on the bot itself, but given it's rudimentary nature. That would be premature.

Share, Flame, Whatever

Just make up your own damn mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Once there was a Country

          All through my childhood I learned about a country.  The most amazing nation ever conceived, founded on principals of individual liberty.  Where justice was blind, and color was known properly as fiction having no foundation in reality.  A land where accidents of birth did not define a life, with people being judged on their own merits.  Where self claims of exceptionalism are met with the proper disdain, and understanding of immaturity such exclamations warrant.  A country that protected the rights of those living within it's shores, not because the country had granted any rights, but precisely due to knowing they were always present.  Where people were free, leaders were servants, and we did things not because they were easy, only that they were right.  A nation that understood unrestrained democracy was tantamount to might makes right, with a people firm in their understanding that selecting leaders is as important as electing them.
         A painful glimpse of the America that lives in my heart, and mind.  There is no self deception, if my vision of the land of my birth ever existed, it's name is long lost to the mists of time.  The United States corporate entity, and subsidiaries who control the world I find myself experiencing are another matter entirely.  No longer a nation of people occupying a land mass, but a slick pr machine to backed the might an empire the likes scarcely dreamed of.  Hundreds of bases, millions of assets, every corner of the globe in short reach.  Rome reborn, Alexander's dream come true?  It's plain to see America was slaughtered, or subjected, when The United States were born. The stamp of D.C, clearly lays out the pattern.  Ask yourself a question, If your a free person, and this is a land of freedom, than why are you policed? why are streets patrol'd?  These are words of prison and war, they have no place among the free.  Don't fret, I am not an advocate of anarchy, it is a revolution of mind, a blossoming of understanding gnawing in these guts.  Strip away the legal fictions, that have enslaved the mind and spirit, and is quickly claiming the body.  Peace is not enforced, it is disturbed, and than restored.  Officers upholding the peace respond to complaints and disturbances, not enforce statutes, codes, and regulations.  A government derives it's authority from the consent of the governed, it can hold no powers not granted by the people.  Now our politicians ask not what is right, but what is legal,   Where hatred is protected, yet openness is shunned.  Artificial shared experience engendered through the superficial connection of technology.   Trauma based mass mind manipulation, sorcery of the highest order, turned to mathematical certainty.
         Many will dismiss these words as paranoid delusional, or misguided. Perhaps they even deserve such a label, though there no sense of being personally persecuted.  Only a profound sense of a sadness as perception replaces projection.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard
         

Endowed by His Creator

           Hello again folks, today I'm gonna talk a bit about the concepts of rights, privileges, and where these are derived from.  I'd like to start by stating clearly I am not a constitutionalist. The constitution while a wonderful document was not written to set out my rights. It was to outline, and limit the powers being granted to the created nation.  When it comes to an actual free people their rights can in no way be limited, or by definition it would make them not free. The rights of free people are not even laid out by the bill of rights. These are limitations being placed on government and it's agents to ensure the protection of the individual.   Before I continue I must say these are thought experiments, I in no way advocate or endorse any actions or behaviors.
         So what is a right? According to legal dictionary in constitutional law rights are broken into three categories natural, civil, and political. Natural rights, this is an interesting concept. It's a continuation of the idea, there are rights inherent to each that derive from a source beyond all human influence.  So what does this mean practically, and why is it important?  When it comes to being in a society this may be one of the most important concepts ever put forth.  Through this idea is an acknowledgement that you as a natural person have rights that can not be taken or surrendered as they are inborn. So the constitution, and bill of rights had no intention of laying out those rights, but in limiting, and laying out what we the people empower government to do on our behalf.
        Has this worked? Are you free?  The founders of the USA understood that any authority would become entrenched and move to consolidate its grip on power. That in absence of rule of law applied equally to all, those in power will abuse those not in power. Try this thought experiment, imagine there were never any speed limits signs, or speedometers. Each person would drive the speed they felt comfortable driving at that moment.  As seemingly meaningless as a speed limit might seem when talking about intrinsic rights, it points to a larger context of how these ideas are viewed by the government. So obviously we are not completely free, we have freedom within boundaries, of course it must be pointed out this is all that can ever be said. Even if the boundaries are only set by nature, or physics our freedom will always have it's limits.
        Many of you many heard of that our governments have become corporations, and wonder what if any effect this has on you?  It is through this legal fiction that the justifications for the curbing of your freedoms is carried out. When you apply or register for anything with a corporate entity you are entering into contract, the terms and conditions of that contract lay out responsibilities, and privileges imposed, or granted to each party.  So when you go get a drivers licence you enter into a contract with the state binding you to conditions set forth in that contract.  Does that mean you do not need a license to operate a motor vehicle on public streets?  That is something being pushed by many, just look up the traveller vrs driver concept. What I will say is we empowered government to regulate commerce, and most use of the public roads has little to do with commerce.
        To wrap this up as I get bored typing the same ideas in different ways,  Truly free people do not ask permission, there is no authority over them to ask. They make choices, and accept consequences.
Ask yourself this, what is the purpose of government, and is yours serving that purpose?.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Creating Space, Creating Maya

          As said many times, quite famously in the Matrix, "there is something wrong with the world, what it is you can not say".  So many of us feel it, looking out at the world at large it seems obvious that something is just not quite right. Well buckle up put on your tin foil hats do not suspend your disbelief, take what follows with a grain of salt. When that natural desire to reject the very possibility that any of this may be true, follow it, you'll sleep better I promise.  There has been, and is now a systematic organizing structure. The prize no less than the mass consciousness of humanity, dominance of virtually every aspect of the macro interactions.  This might a good time to listen to that little voice that says I'm crazy.  This is not new information, many others have exposed portions of the mechanisms as they understand them.  There are as many ways to see this web of half truth as there are people experiencing it.  I am not even certain all the obvious deception are not for humanities ultimate benefit.  This is just a commentary on information, and possible ramifications.
         Creation is a symphony, or said another way in the beginning there was the word.  All is frequency, cycles of change, pulsations of energy, the creation and equalization of pressure. So there is a complex harmony of creation we are a part of. I care not what you call it, intelligent design, cosmic accident, that the ebbs and flows are in patterns is in little doubt from even the most hardened skeptic.  So what does this have to do with a hijacking of consciousness?  The same energetic frequency harmonics that are at play in humanity have their resonances present in the greater harmonic structure of creation.  In our natural state we can feel our connection to the greater creation, we are in harmony with our environment.  We have been shifted slightly in subtle and not so subtle ways. This evident from our calendars, music, food, social structures, the manipulation is as varied as as can be imagined.
       The Calendar, some have called this the original mechanical mind control. How accurate this statement is obviously debatable. It is tough to argue how fundamental our experience of the flow of time from one day to the next is to being in or out of rhythm with creation.  This is not a new idea. Now I'm not advocating we ditch the idea of a calendar, just how about we use one that is an accurate reflection of our relation to the greater cycles.  Many will say so what it's just a way to plan future events like a watch. If this is your feelings I'm surprised you've gotten this far. Being out of step, or tune on such a foundational level disconnects us from physicality. We lose sensation our connection to each other, nature, and creation at large becomes fuzzy.
      The Music , few would argue the amazing power of music. It's wondrous ability to engender emotion, trigger memory, shape matter. It's little surprise given the primacy of sound in pretty much every spiritual tradition.  So is there a magic frequency we are tuned to? Of course there is, it's widely known, has been used for as long as we can find music, A=432. So far so good, only the modern western tuning is A=440, just close enough to have desired effects, and just far enough away to force us out of tune with creation.  So where did 440 tuning come from? Would you be surprised to learn it may have been nazi germany?  There is a massive amount of information on the relation of music to the structure of creation, a little research is amazing.
        With only these two examples we created the space, or separation needed to allow for the hijacking of the consciousness of humanity.  If as so many of our ancient teachings tell us, what we experience here is illusion, or maya a shadowy reflection of reality, the space created by just these two shifts are all the cracks needed to add a new layer of maya.  For those of you with a more elastic view of reality, this would amount to pushing our world into a sub pocket dimension. We would literally no longer be able to interact with aspects of creation.  Signals once clear guides become fuzzy and distant as we move out of vibrational relation to them. I could go on and on about differing aspects of how this control structure is created and maintained, but I will wrap this posting up with a how it's kept in place. The five monkeys experiment , never forget we are talking about macro level controls. Using our own tendency to group and follow the dictates of the group without thinking. The mob mentality at it's finest.

As always, do not trust this, find out for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard  

Inside out, Upside Down

            So much has been said lately about the rise of materialism recently any search will give plenty of background information, there is far more there then I have any desire to remember.  That being said for me this question boils down the seat of the consciousness, that spark that makes us, well us. The traditional western scientific view has been of consciousness arising with the matter, as the matter has recombined in new more complex structures, so to has the expression of consciousness. Relatively new research has led to questions on how valid a model this is.
           I as anyone who has ever give thought toward the ideas have my view.  I am quite uncertain we have our own consciousness at all, even though I see the perception that we do essential the experience we are sharing.  I have come to call it the subjective collective/objective approximation.  That through taking all the subjective perception of an event or idea you get a the trick of an objective idea, or event.  This planet is conscious in and of itself, we are manifestations of this consciousness,  each playing it's part in the feedback loop, a vast infinitely scaleable fractal information system.  We are literally full fractal representations of the whole shaped by the very nature of space/time/energy.
          This leads to a wonderful platform for experience, with the ability to experience discovery, and relative firsts infinitely. While it also opens it up to being hijacked so to speak. This is evident in ideas like manufactured consent, propaganda, advertising, and indoctrination. All these forms of mass mind manipulation have creative impact using the built in feedback loop.  Setting up mutually reinforcing mental constructs that act almost like a virus, invading any healthy host simply through sympathetic resonance.

as always these are just my ponderings, use your own powers of perception.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

$15/hr Minimum Wage, and Automation

          So many of you may have heard, or read about the fast food workers push for higher minimum wages, and unionization.  Many reports have come out showing this movement as being pushed from unions, not by the workers themselves.  If your not up on these connections here are a few links to get you up to speed.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140514/OPINION01/305140001

http://laborpains.org/2014/04/09/worker-committees-a-15-million-seiu-project/

        This as I stated when the push began, raising the minimum wage would lead to adoption of automation for many low wage service positions.  I envisioned fully automated fast food joints, with an AI tied into huge data bases allowing for greatly increased efficiency, and profit margins.  I could never have realized how fast this innovation would progress, so fast it's left me wondering.  Could it be that this is a push instigated by the fast food companies themselves, to lend legitimacy to automation of public sector service jobs.  When I look at the idea of greater automation one of the sticking points is the majority still believe people need jobs, while I agree people need to be productive, and contribute, that isn't the same as jobs.  This belief will lead people to protest more machines taking more jobs, unless their is a situation that can be used to justify the automation.  So what makes me see these connections, a few related articles.

http://www.cnet.com/news/mcdonalds-hires-7000-touch-screen-cashiers/

As you can see, cashiers are already obsolete, what has been keeping the change over at bay has been the cost benefit,  potential doubling of the cost of each cashier has for sure altered that equation.

So how about the back end? they will still need people to cook the food right?

Well, not so much

check out http://momentummachines.com/, if you are honest with yourself you can more then likely already see a fast food place with no visible employees.

while innovation and automation have been shown to create more jobs then they replace, these jobs are of a different skill set, with few if any of the current employees having the education to fill these positions.

I called this year to be when smart machines would make their presence known, this is a step in that direction


Jack
aka
PanseyBard

    

Who Do You Think You Are?

          Self, Identity, who am I.  This some would say is the fundamental question people are likely to ask themselves at some point. Personally I'm not certain that an individual we have a self.  Don't get twisted, I'm not saying that left on their own people cease to exist, though that is the effect.  Let me explain a bit of how I see this, our definitions of self depend on the people, and environment to an extent most "humans" would be uncomfortable contemplating. I've variously tried to explain this as the fish don't see the water. There is no place where any one thing starts, and any other thing stops. Drifting over to Jung's idea of collective unconscious, or the 100th monkey theory.  These are all ideas pointing to fact that we can not have existence in absence of all we find around us.  This extends even to our very concepts of identity.
         I don't care what you believe, every structure I've found, all lead to a fundamental unity, be it science, magic, religion, psychology, physics.  For a moment put yourself, physical body with all it's demands, and take them outside what we think of as space/time.  The forces needed to even form basic types of matter will not exist, So let us assume that some form of what we think of as self awareness can exist outside what we think of as time/space.  What would you be like as that being?  If you have individualized awareness what would your focus be?  Our very connection to matter tricks our mind into making judgments however sound, that may not be quite accurate. While it may be perfectly reasonable to not attempt to walk through walls, we have learned that their solid nature is only in relation to our solid nature.  So how far can we take this idea that our sense of identity itself is not our own?  I don't see an ending to chain, starting with the fundamental forces of what we call existence. Right on down to the person that told you could or couldn't do something, that hinder, or inspired.
        In almost every culture there are stories of feral people, raised by wolves, or Tarzan raised by apes.  These stories  remind us how fragile our veneer of civility really is, while showing us our social nature isn't all that different from social groupings of what we think of as animals.  Even these animals man has worked so hard to differentiate itself from are quite closely related to us in a cosmic sense. The forces that have shaped their development are the same as those that shape us.  A minor shift can create seemingly major changes, but how large are these shifts really?  Well they all take place within the realm of being human, so they can't be that major.  Most happen between birth and death, and I must say in cosmic terms a human lifetime is a very small sample indeed.  Even as you struggle to figure out who and what you are, everyone, and everything around you is molding and shaping you to be what it needs you to be.  Even these identities only have meaning within the proper context.  Would an accountant ever come into being before there is something to count, or a concept of tracking?  Does a farmer exist before the idea of cultivation?
     My concept of self is meaningless without the back drop of the history, and culture I have grown up in.
as always take this with a grain of salt.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Ramble On

         Today lets talk eternal, what that actually means.  First off I defer to great thinkers through out time both religious and secular.  So many have reported some sort of continuation beyond what we think of as physical death.  If we are talking a purely energetic transfer, where what we think of as us ceases when our body stops functioning we can end the thoughts right now.  If on the other hand there is a bit more of us that continues on this journey of existence other questions spring forth.  How about even the Idea that energy can not be created or destroyed it can only be transformed.  Taken to an extreme that would mean all things that exist now, have in some form or another always existed, and will always exist.  That there can be no beginning or ending, there would be only transition, one state or phase endlessly shifting to another.  There are so many questions of the why's and how's.
       I want to think a bit about what it means from an individualized portion of self. Not a being that identifies with a single name, but one that has been so many names and is in all likely hood experiencing all these names now.  To a being like this what a gift it must be to have firsts, or a conception of an end.  To forget if only in delusion the infinite self.  What a gift the finite, the present would be to an entity with this conception of self.  Hold in mind this concept, of a self that has ultimately been every name. Now lets twist things around a bit.  From this side we have taken natural time and using computers increased the effective time people live.
I could go into clock cycles, and try to get into ideas of changing the fundamental flow of time. How the pure access to information, and the speed of dissemination changes who we are and how we interact with our world.  Many have talked about how disconnected we have become from each other on a personal level. Even as our world has become infinitely smaller, as people all over the globe instantly communicate real time. How quickly our understanding changes and grows, how difficult it becomes to stay current.  How easy it becomes to be lost in a technological time warp.  If we are to believe that Moore's law will hold true for even the next 20 years the changes from this moment to that moment will be astounding.
    Now for a bit of the inane at least from my perspective.  I have been playing with, and learning about the crypto-currencies. Some Ideas on Bitcoin, what makes this valuable it has no backing.  There is the idea that it currently has the largest distributed network ever created.  This is amazing, and sad. Amazing that it's been created at all. Sad that it's being used to make essentially video game money.  Virtual gold coins to be traded in a virtual world. Who's use creates the value, Just as the value of the U.S. Dollar is in the decline due to losing it's status as the worlds trade currency.  You can argue that last statement, though it would be one of extent.  While yes technically the Dollar remains the worlds reserve currency it is steadily losing it's use as a trade currency.  Bitcoin's use and acceptance as a cross boarder currency in an increasingly globalized world will only hasten the decline.  This doesn't make Bitcoin the answer, as it seems even farther removed from the resources then the traditional fiat currencies we are already using.  If the Dollar is rotten, anything that has it's value tied directly to the dollar has to be rotten as well.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard

The Tower of Babel Undone

         The Tower of Babel, the idea that all people at one time had a common language, but through the arrogance of trying to reach GOD our punishment was confuse our tongues.  For those that would like a bit more in depth look at this story please check here, http://www.omniglot.com/babel/. Honestly I'm not as interested in the exact details, as I am in now.  This is a story that has roots in so many cultures there is more then likely some truth to it, even if it is not in the way we think.  As our use of computers has grown, and the capabilities of those computers has grown, we have intentional or effectively undone this event.

We now have at our finger tips instant translation. My phone can listen for me and speak translations at almost real time.  My browser translates full page texts with improvements ongoing to ensure the most correct translations possible.  There is even bubble translation which can be used both directions. Giving the ability to not only translate portions of text, but also write in your native text and have translated into any number of languages.  We have effectively undone this classical story.  What are the ramifications of this punishment by GOD being undone by man?   Why have the end of the world folks seemingly left this topic alone?  This story is from a GOD that doesn't seem to take kindly to interference, or rules breaking. This is a GOD that endorsed the plagues of Egypt, the destruction of Sodom, and Gomorrah.  How a GOD with this track record reacts to having it's ruling circumvented can only be imagined.
       I am not a religious person, I do not profess, or follow any given religion.  I love studying religions, it's a passion. I guess I'm looking for something greater interacting, and taking an interest in humanity.  So this story in particular is of interest due to it being currently unfolding, a link back to biblical times. I thread of story active in my current reality that has it's roots in a time of wonder when gods walked the earth, and man with all it's flaws wasn't considered the power.  As always these are just random thoughts rattling around my mind, take them as such.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Does Bitcoin Have an Exploitable Binary Futures Component

       I'm gonna take a break for the day on the mystic side of myself.  Today is about something I noticed in the crypto currency Bitcoin.  For those of you who have no understanding of what Bitcoin is please check out this http://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works. Then you will need to understand a bit about how Bitcoins come into being, for that please take a look at this https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining.  Now that you have a bit of the basics, lets talk turkey.  There are at any given time only so many Bitcoins in existence, There is also a limit on how many Bitcoins will ever be made.  This combined with trade volume give you a fairly good picture of how the value of each Bitcoin is either over, or under priced. This is a pretty obvious one to one correlation.
This will give you the supply versus demand portion, this however is only half the picture.  Due to how Bitcoins are created and the rate at which new, and more processing power is added to the network constantly there is another indicator, This is the network hashrate. What this tells you is how hard it will be to create the next bitcoin, as well as how much processing power is being used to create it.  The charts for this can be found on http://bitcoincharts.com/ which has a link to http://bitcoin.sipa.be/ the latter being the charts for the creation, or mining of new Bitcoin.
      Now I do not consider myself to be sophisticated when it comes to finance. From my perspective our currencies have become decoupled from the resources being used to create them.  With Bitcoin the currency has no way to be decoupled.  So as the demand for Bitcoin as a limited edition item goes up, the price for them goes up as well.  By watching the creation side of it you can see how easy new Bitcoins will enter the market place in the next 30 to 90 days.  This will give a clear picture of how over or under valued each bitcoin is currently.  Allowing the savvy trader to predict peaks, and valleys well ahead of there actual appearance.

As I said I'm not a bitcoin or finance expert, I'm just a crazy person that sees patterns where others see chaos.  Please feel free to correct assumptions  I'm making you know to be incorrect.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Tarot, Kabbalah, Personal Development and You Part 2

      In part 1 I went through the tarot as an external tool, to be used to gain insight into things "external" to self.  There is nothing wrong with this use, for me it's not using the tool to it's full potential to instill change in the self.  I tell you this from my heart, if there is something in your life it is there to teach you about you.
This for me is where the tarot shines, the simplicity of it's design allows it to be applied real time as you go through your day.  At first glance this may seem like an external use, looks are often misleading.  Once you are able to identify the roles your playing in the dramas you find around you on a daily basis. You will be able to take an emotional, and mental step back, and decide if these roles are desired in your experience. Or perhaps you have learned the lessons of this particular morality tale, and are ready to change it.  For me this ties into idea of who you think you are?   I laugh at people who grab their birth chart, and proudly proclaim this is who I am.  At best that was the energetic imprinting of the planets at the moment of your birth, it has relevance just like the visible phases of the moon.  I'm sure we get a slight boost of suns rays under a full moon, but I guarantee the tides are holding out their motion for Gravity.  My point is we are dynamic beings, We evolve and grow and change.  When we figure ourselves out we even start to have a say in who we become.  For me using the tarot as a framework of stories I can see in my life, my mind, my heart, that is the true gift of the tarot.
      As the tarot is a story board version of the Tree of Life, the Tree of life is a subset of the Flower of Life.

 This is the full expression of the sacred pattern, from which all form, shape, and substance can be plucked. Every major religion has versions of this symbol. If your proficient at seeing stereograms use the same vision on that image.  More often then not the Flower of Life image people are accustomed to seeing this.

 This does contain all the same information, what changes is the scale. People would like one system to apply to everything, and that is the case.  You just have to be open enough for that system to be larger then you can comprehend at one time.  That is the nature of being multidimensional, being able to see the same "thing" from varying perspectives while still holding on to yours.
        To tie back to the Kabbalah, here is one way the Tree is shown in the flower.

How many D do you wish to be, the choice has always been ours.
How many points are on any given line?
as many or as few as you want.
That being said people will need to come to grips with there are different number base systems for different purposes. Take modern western music system, it's base 7, I know there are 8 notes, the eighth is always the beginning and the end.  More on the base number systems and how/where they apply in the next episode.

As always, this just my take on years of study, meditation and consciousness alteration with intent.
If you don't like my view don't share it, just leave me to it.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Tarot, Kabbalah, Personal Development and You Part 1

             This is a post that has been clawing it's way through my mind for over twenty years.  In studying the traditions connected to the tarot I've come to see it less as a tool for divination then of personal discovery. That being said, knowing how the cards relate to the system they represent does make that use possible.  So to start this off lets take a look at how the deck is constructed, how this relates to the Tree of Life model of creation, as well as how this can be used to bring a greater clarity and understanding of self.
           

             This image shows the layout of the major arcana on the Tree of Life image.  I show this now to show the first division in the deck. For the purpose of this musing I have pulled out my Rider-Waite tarot deck. This is the standard for English speaking western mystics. I won't go into the history of the organization behind the deck, as the Golden Dawn would be an article on their own. Nor is this even the deck I use most often, truth be told I hardly ever use a tarot deck, or do very many readings.  So lets take our 72 card deck, and pull the 22 major arcana out. For those of you who like the master numbers there is your 2nd 11.  For now lets take a closer look at what these cards represent.  The Tree of Life is a diagram or map showing creation going from the 3 gradations of nothing to the world we see manifest.  Understand this is a micro/macro approach, so when looking at this scale everyone and thing you have known have all physically taken place in the number 10 on the tree, known as Malkuth.  So the major arcana are very much like Jung's archetypes.  These are the main paths that lead between the many mansions in judeo/christian conception of an afterlife.  As such these are generally speaking not personified in our life, they are more akin to aspects of consciousness.  So while you may see aspects of them in the people around you, or yourself, these are concepts that are larger then an individual life. At this point we've gone from a whole deck of 72 which represents the magic of duality, into the duality of 22, and 50 which represents the balance of our own dual natures combined with the strife of the mystery.  Next I'd like ya to take the suit cards, and sort out all the court cards, you should be left with ace through 10 of the four suits. While your holding 40 cards, it actually represents 44 cards as the aces start and finish the numbered cards. there goes the 11, 33, and 44 if you look for them.  The numbered cards like the major arcana are generally not going to be people, these can be likened to natural processes of the elements.  Where Swords is air, and mental, Wands is fire, passion or creativity, Cups is water,  and emotions, Pentacles are earth, and physical.   Once you have that down, and understand what the numbers represent these cards become easy to spot.  The definitions for the numbers are almost everywhere, most people know them even if they don't realize it.  The third part of the deck is of course the court cards, These are the people around you. The other cards are actions, and archetypes being played out through the court cards.  These are known as the 16 hidden paths, they are hidden because they are people in your life.  People are the magic, and the court cards are always who the stories are about. The court cards represent one element behaving as another element, even if that element is itself.
       As always this is my own insane views on my own unique absorption of information. And frankly while I do sometimes throw some cards, I don't really ask questions, just look for guidance.  These ideas are micro/macro kinda of ideas, that tie into a larger pattern of creation of which the tree is a subset. So while these can be applied externally, they may also be applied internally, upside, downside, any which way.

Spins, Orbits and Time oh MY

      Today I'm gonna go a little nutty on a concept of how we get apparent passage of time.   Understand I start from an idea that we are more likely then not a simulated reality.  So my conception of it is from an idea of how to make that happen in a simulation.  As a being I have my own natural resonance that is contained within the electromagnetic field of the Earth, which is in turn connected into the field of the Sun.  My vibration my data signature whatever you want to call it, is contained within this larger image.  Though from my perspective I am still we all know this is not true.  As most people are aware time/space are measures of distance, or a rate of change. With that understanding there is a quite simple explanation for how, and why we experience a seemingly predictable passage of a quasi thing.
        First is our rotation, In making one rotation, what we have called our standard day. If we were to stand in one spot on the surface for an entire rotation we would have come pretty close give or take to travelling the circumference of the latitude we were on.  That seems like a mouthful, and it was mildly confusing attempting to get the wording close to what I see in my minds eye.  Second is our orbit around the sun. Completing this trip takes roughly 365 of our rotations, so in making a single rotation we have moved roughly 1/365th of the way in our orbit of the Sun. This journey of an orbit we have decided to call a year.  Third cycle is the voyage of the Sun around the center of the Milky Way. This is a very large cycle, called a Galactic year which is estimated to be 225 million of our years.  These 3 motions through time/space/space/time are always happening everyone on the planet is subjected to them. they are a major portion of explaining time.  The other aspect needed is how to differentiate one moment, or one day, one year from the preceding.
       Thankfully for us we have the Moon. Who's dance closer and farther away from it's lover the earth provides just the nice push, and pull to create tides. These tie into both male and female emotional, and physiological cycles of reproduction.
These roll quite nicely into whats been called the procession of  the equinoxes, and the Milankovitch cycles.

The time on your watch is a lie, it measures other clocks.  Even if it's digital.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard     

Happy Thanksgiving to all

          Being what most people have termed a Grinch when it comes to holidays, I wanted to take a moment to say how thankful I am for each and everyone of you. Without you, I would not be me. You help define me in ways I have trouble communicating clearly.  I cherish and honor all the pieces of self you allow me to discover in you.  When your not around I am diminished, it is the eternal light that shines forth from you that illuminates my soul.  I do not claim to know what did or did not happen back in the early days of the Plymouth colony. Being told the roots of my family run back to those days is humbling, I only hope the stories of sharing, caring, and understanding can radiate into our present moment.

      

      So thank you for your challenges

      Thank you for your rage

      Bless you, for your patience

      Your acceptance of my flaws

      Allowing me my misfortunes

      While not holding me to a past

      I may not be able to recall without tears

Much Love

Jack

aka

PanseyBard   

Who's idea was this Random thing anyway?

        One of my favorite people to learn about has always been Einstein.  He seems such the tragic figure to me, working tirelessly on fundamental questions of existence to the point of only being partially functional here.  There is a quote attributed to him goes something along the lines of "god does not play dice with creation".  This is something that has in the past given me fits, Einstein brilliant enough to give relativity theory, and be instrumental in the bomb. I say the bomb cuz, lets face it once you have that one how many others do you need?  I mean come on the guys name has become a word for smart person.  So of course any halfway intelligent person is gonna use them as a measuring stick.
         Well I always came up short, not on relativity, or energy to matter conversion. I came up short on God. I could not conceive of a "God" that would not just allow for the horrors I saw, but insist on them.  The conception of randomness became a balm for a pain inflicted on my soul by my own creator.  I needed the idea somethings just happened and could not be explained in any meaningful way. Even that stops being randomness when you start to be able to see more and more of the variables.  What is true has always been true. GOD does not play dice with creation, but sure does play with the math.  Even in computers there are no such thing as random numbers, they approximate it.  In the so called "real world" events we tend to call random are anything but. We may or may not understand the totality of an event, that doesn't mean there isn't one.  So when your told you are well loved, and cared for, believe it, or don't.
       For a clearer example of just what I mean, lets take a look at roulette. On the surface this is a sucker game, and I can not deny it is, as a physical game.  Due to so many variables of a physical nature it is almost impossible to predict what numbers will come up next, as well as a skilled croupier will be become proficient enough to influence the outcome intentionally.  That being said take this sucker game into the realm of the almighty 0,1 of the digital verse and blamo suck game becomes potential profit maker.  Once in a place where random is a thing striven for, we can use that with the payouts, and table limits to slowly make steady gains. The idea is very simple, if I bet 1 credit on # 9  and the payout is 36 to 1, then I do not actually lose any money till the 36th spin, as which point instead of 1 credit, you put 2, this gives you an additional 18 spins before you have lost anything.  Of course this is a very simplified version of what I actually set up, as I was starting with the entire game board covered, and would remove them as they hit. Keeping track of the number of spins a current progression had gone, what numbers still needed to be played for the next spin, and how much needed to be bet on each number.  It seems tougher then it is, it's only a few tables to memorize and then keep track of whats hit which the machine does for you, you just take off the last one.  To tie it up, when you start a progression keep track of your credits. If you are over where you started even by a credit or 2, start over.  Believe it or not the first spin of the progression was the best.

Well hope that gives ya pause at least in thinking lol

Jack

Making my childhood a crime, and me a criminal!

        I know that seems a bit overly dramatic, and it is, kinda.  The circumstances surrounding my childhood are the perfect slip through the cracks, that just leaves people wondering.  Whats funny from my perspective is I had no clue till everyone told me.  Did I live the Norman Rockwell painting, not exactly. My father took his own life when I was 3, I was a latchkey kid by 5.  Before I turned 9 and moved across the country to start a new life I had no clue people thought my home was messed up.  I was in gifted classes, my Mom though not around all the time was there when really needed to be the support, or the encouragement, or the hammer.  It wasn't till I was in a place where 2 parents were expected did I even give my own situation a thought.  It still didn't make a dent, as I was by 11 or 12 watching other peoples children, so how bad could my upbringing have been if other people felt I was worthy of taking care of their kids.  Of course this only lasted a few years till I got tired of watching the kids while my friends did other things. By about 15 I was moved on, by 17 I more or less had my own condo.  Mom paid the bills, but she wasn't there very often, sometimes I would avoid her for as long as 2 months.  I was never alone, my house became the place for the lost boys. We became wanna be skater punks, I say wanna be as we were never mean.  Never really wanted to do harm, we just were discovering who we were, and our boundaries were of our own making.
        What most people couldn't believe was where I stopped. Before I turned 18 I had not had intercourse, had only tried pot and didn't care for it, and had taken alcohol to where it already told me it was a nasty drug to be used carefully.  How am I supposed to feel when my childhood is looked upon with a mixture of sadness, sorrow, and sometimes incredulity. When I wouldn't change a thing, my whole life everyone has told me that the physical is fleeting.  I believed them, I went looking for intangible, it finds you.  So maybe if you look at someone as having something to say, maybe you might want to ease up on what they needed to go through to learn it.

Jack

Off my Rocker

            I know it's been a few since I posted something new, thought I'd give a little explanation as to why.   I share a house with a few friends, and the one that lives in the room with the air exchange for the heating systems figured no one would notice if he started smoking stuff in his room.  Suddenly I'm a addicted to something I don't even know I've ever tried, I could smell it coming through, my vent is next in line, being a cig, and mj smoker it took a bit for it to make it's way through.  my mind is going to fast most of the time anyway, the last I need is boosts I'm not even aware I'm getting.
           So I'm taking a few days clear of everything, and made sure that it wouldn't be done in the house again, and hopefully in a cpl of days I'll be back feeling at least only as crazy as I make myself.


Jack

People Math

          Today I'm gonna talk about people, my feelings about people in the abstract are as varied are their individuals.  Like most of us I guess I swing from utter frustration to utter amazement. Contempt to envy, I revel in their victories, and winch through their defeats.  So while I love them they annoy the crap out of me when it's to much to close for to long.  So as always only keep the parts that stick, the rest isn't for you.

         I've mentioned before that in my twenties I took LSD. It like so many things in existence had it's birth, growth, and death in my physical experience.  At the height I was taking as much as 10 doses per session, and having sessions as often as 3 or 4 times a week. With a few several day in row excursions of doubling dosages.  Many of these events were turned into meditation sessions sometimes lasting 8 to 10 hours straight.  When I would comeback to physical awareness I would scribble like the madman I was.  The following is some of what I remember and have been practicing, or refining since.

I'm going to start off simply here with small groups. I will also be assuming that the individual people involved are all 1 themselves, and their internal lives are balanced.

1 is a multiverse unto itself, since it is always 1 it does not always see itself as such. This is a fully inclusive group, until it isn't. A person alone will drift into their own world, every bit as real to them as the collective world they left.  The longer the apparent separation the more apparent it will be.

2 is a knife edge, it takes focus to maintain a group of 2, each person must be aware of the full range of needs of the other and be able to anticipate them, as well as being willing to play these roles. To be all things to another is no mean feat. This is the essence of duality, it's so personal it's amazingly intense. So much so if we do not understand when to break our gaze we can be lost. This is the idea of star crossed lovers, and twin flames. Groups of 2 will generally attract a 3rd, or split into groups of 1's

3 Everyone knows this one, it's everywhere mother/father/child. this one is so easy to spot and the compromises people make to balance a 2 artificially abound.  Funny thing with trinities when everyone believes we are in a duality is this. One of the 3 is usually not always obvious, this is easily revealed in the ideas of body/mind/spirit each being less apparent to the external.  In people it is shown in situations where a couple will get a dog to replace the need for a child to keep them bound.  There are "darker" aspects this can play out in relationship triangles, and they have been portrayed so many ways I do not think I need to cover them. Three becomes the baseline for all other relationship forms, as it's the first stable shape.  If you look in your life you can find your own trines, see what portion of the trinity you are playing, and what if anything you wish to change about it. These roles are variously titled mind/body/soul, father/son/holy ghost, writer/director/actor.

4 This is the square, and just like in nature it doesn't last.  The energy needed to keep the form cause it to break rather rapidly into smaller groups, or attract more to expand. This is a form only kept through great energy expenditure of all involved. More often then not, and usually sooner rather then later a group of 4 will break into smaller groups. squares are rough. Groups of 4 that work are not a square but a 3 sided pyramid.

5 The pentagon, and it's use in the shape of the building of it's namesake. This is about competition, and defense. Groups of 5 make really good game groups, or us against them. This is the number where you really start playing fort, or any of the team sports, as it takes 5 for a 2v2 game.  This is the idea that an outside part must witness any event for it to have reality beyond the moment. So here we find organized team events.  I see this in the family vrs family game shows always start with 5 per side.

6  this is 2 trinities interlocked and the next group that will be self balancing. Though it's balance will be in interlocking sets of 3, who's connections to the others may not at first discern. This is where you start to see the connection between families through the generations.  This is where time begins to really show up in the grandparents idea. or in the now in the 2 families of 3 on a picnic.
This has been the repeating 6 has been depicted as evil due to the ideas of mirroring being taught here.

7 is the the number of mystery, or luck. In people it's when you can have a balance, or link between independent trinities.  This where you get the illusion, where 2 independent groups find their link. Demonstrated in people in the idea of a mutual friend of 2 families of 3.  This is where most people do not want to get past this is where it all clicks for the first time. You get connected to another complete unit to another complete unit through a center point.

8 groups are where they become self sustaining and strong sense of inclusion, as well as exclusion. Groups of 8 will begin to the illusion of the never ending party, with each member pulling the others to stay till no one can handle it. This is the point where in Families you begin to see yourself into the future. The idea being your grandchild gets married, so your potential great grandchild is just over the horizon.

9 groups are the trinities of trinities, it's the idea of 3 complete units being interconnected.  The interlocking of the trinity's This is a place groups become solidified into families. The bonds have been passed down with the thread still being visible. This is an organization that is ready to be brought to the public attention. The 9 signals to the world the birth of a new thing.

10 I am adding this in to show the completion to wholeness not generally shown, and what it means to me.  This is the 1 standing on it's own with the backing of the all and the nothing. Another way of looking at it is the 1 that knows it is both nothing and everything. It's a matter perspective and how you shine the light.

This only a starting point and not entirely accurate. So please use your own discernment as always.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard