Maebius Musing

Unrelated Intro:   Ever have one of those mornings where you get paged to come in night-shift, it’s about 2am, you went to bed at 10:30 or so, and you sit down at your desk with a nice fresh cup of coffee?  You know the one, where you’ve just added the tiniest pinch of sugar, and a touch of actual cream (not those sterilized little flavour-cups)….You set the lid back on the cup, tip it to your lips, and enjoy the warm comfy feeling that spreads through your stomach, your waist, ..your legs?…and your nether-regions!, only to THEN realize you never actually Secured the lid properly to the cup, and you are now a dripping sod of “peed-my-pants-feeling” at work, with no spare clothes?   Yeah, that was my morning….   *grin*

Otherwise, I’m sure most of the people reading this blog have seen various movies, shows, and books where a character partakes in some amazing adventure, only to return, once completed, to the beginning of the story and finds that no (or little) time has past.  It seems to be a staple of sci-fi and fantasy archetype.  Narnia did it, a great episode of “Star Trek:TNG” did it, and there are a myriad of other stories and shows that I can’t quite name right now which had similar endings.  Even popular culture tells of reliving one’s entire life the moment before dying, or the slowing down of time in accidents.

Today’s night-shift work involved a strange lapse in temporal physics, where I would swear a week went by, in the course of about 2 minutes.

I was mentally planning Starwood stuff, like what to pack, thoughts regarding picking up some hand sanitizer for the porta-john trips, and such.   Then, I was out hiking in the woods, at “My place“. (the mental landscape I like to ground and start meditations from)

From there, without going into a huge long post full of rapidly fading details, I’ll summarize the story as me finding my way out of the woods to a nice pseudo-replica of my real life land & house, but not having any furnishings or garden, or other signs of habitation.  I vividly recall having to go BACK to the woods, track down a neighbor a good mile or two away, who could do carpentry, haul logs one by one to the clearings near my house, and carve it up into a proper bed, chairs, and such.   Then, we hand-dug the garden, tilled it under with a pile of well-aged manure compost, and planted seeds and moved some wild herbs from the wooded edge, to a more convenient spot on the land.

A few days passed, and the first sprouts were peeking up (a bit faster than normal reality, obviously) in the garden, and my bed was finally finished, when I laid down to rest, and “woke up” to being at work again in this reality.   Glancing at the clock, about 2 minutes had passed, and the job I was printing was just finishing up.

Throughout the “dream”, the only other person I remember seeing is a strange neighbor with a saw and lathe.  The face I could not describe accurately, and was more an “everyman” figure, more than a specific person.  Otherwise, there was nothing overly unusual to key the experience in as anything ‘dreamlike’, other than a strange, yet normal, life.
It’s odd to think it, but I honestly felt like a few days passed, and even “dreamed” that at least two full nights passed.  I fell asleep, I woke up, did chores, and fell asleep again.   Very disconcerting now that I’m thinking back and writing it all down here for the blog.

I’ve had those epic-feeling semi-lucid dreams when I was actually asleep in bed at home, and always assumed they lasted for a sizable chunk of time (even though I have read that dream-state REM happens in short increments).  Yet this is the first time I could say, unequivocally, thatmy perception of time passing was at such great odds with the usual chronological progression.

Strange, and probably pointless, but it was kinda interesting to think about today, and thus, worth posted Musing here.

Comments are welcome….for now, I’m going to sleep.
…zzzZZZzzz…zzzzZZZzzz….zzzzZZZZzzzzz…

Inspired (if not directly taken from) by this posting from Crafty Crow, and to avoid actual cooking in the house last night, the Everthorn Men made bread-cookies!

(sorry, still can not find Digital camera in the house or under sofas…no photos from us.)

The sprog insisted he was not hungry, and since I was too lazy to whip up something in the oven or grill, and had a huge salad for lunch, we made our rendition of those adorable bear thingies.  I toasted the bread, grabbed a few appropriately sized cookie-cutters in the form of a big Star, a Gingerbread Man, and a Pooh-bear.

Toppings were arranged in those little glass bowls that all cooking shows use for ingredients. Rainbow sprinkles, assorted unsalted nuts, mixed raisins, toasted wheat germ, tiny apple chunks, and mini marshmallows were available as toppings.

On standby in their respective containers were creamy peanut butter, Nutella, home-grown Elderberry/Grape Jelly, and local organic honey.  Also,  two stainless steel butter knives for spreading the aforementioned sticky stuffs.
Mise en place.

We toasted eight slices of wheat bread, and each picked out choice of shapes.   The individual “cookies” were spread with whatever toppings, with me preferring a PB & Nutella combination, and the sprog trying just about everything (one topping per toast, which surprised me).

All in all, while I could technically answer the question “What did you have for dinner?” with the simple reply of “peanut butter on toast“, it was a helluva lot more fun that that sounds!   Definitely something to do again at parties, or camping, where even the simple ingredients turns into a full 45 minutes worth of “play time”!

And I managed to avoid any actual cooking, (beyond the toaster)!

First, sorry for this being quite a bit late for official New Moonage. Been a busy month, both at work and at home. Sit down, grab a drink, because this is going to be Epic wall O’ text time… I’ll wait…..

We watched a movie “What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole” with friends of ours, and got into a rather enlightening discussion about reality, my concenpt of magic, and such.   The movie and big debate happened at Watkins Glen (briefly mentioned here) with the frineds we are going to Starwood with, and we plan on re-addressing it further there.

Essentially, the movie tries to explain reality in relation to Quantum mechanics, and add a sort-of meta-scientific aspect to the metaphysical/spiritual world.  It seemed (to me) to go out of it’s way to avoid the word GOD, but implied that we are all capable of a vague divinity because we create our world, and are all interconnected.  Not in the sense of our souls or spirits as most neopagan or spiritual religions describe, but by the mere fact that our atoms and molecules are governed by quantum mechanics, where time and space break down.  Of cours,e it is MUCH more complicated, but that’s the summary I took away from it, funneled down to a single short paragraph.

We also discussed the book/movie “The Secret“, which follows similar teachings about creating your world, and altering reality to conform to Will.  …Sounds awefully like Crowley’s definition of Magick, doesn’t it?

The Secret tends to focus more on the “self-help” aspect of conforming reality to your will, and is almost a better “scientific magickal primer” in the fact that it tries to show a method and “ritual” way of viewing the world so that beneficial things happen to you.   Concentrating on the Law of Attraction, whereby one surrounds himself with good people and good places, and good thoughts, so that good things happen, is rather similar to a basic description of spellcasting from a wiccan perspective.  Remove the spiritual cues and concept, and you’ve got The Secret.

The movie “What the Bleep” tends to focus more on a holistic quantum worldview, and is meant (again, to my perception), to shift how the average atheistic person sees the world, and enable reconciliation of scientific paradigms to the social/ethical questions of “why be good to each other”.
While on the surface, and described in such brief and general terms, both of these movies I can agree with, to a point.   However, I feel that they specifically seem to avoid the concept of an Otherworld.   Granted, quantum states and such (almost by definition) point towards alternative dimensions, but this is not what I mean.  Quantum dimensions are still described as scientific “mundane” levels of reality that are too small to see, yet have an affect on reality.  They exist in my personal paradigm, but are still just mathematically relevant structures that comprise the current view of the fabric of reality.

What I think is missing from both of these ideas, is that they avoid questions of Faith, Spirituality, and the like.   It’s wonderful to teach a way to improve your life, by stressing personal accountability, yet it still seems a bit selfish.   God may not be a man in a white robe and flowing beard, nor may she be a naked dancer leaping around ancient bonfires, but in both these visions of divinity, there is the concept of Other.  God/dess exists to the spiritually aware as ’something outside’ your own soul, though often part and parcel of it as well.  The Divine embraces, and is embraced by, reality.  It may only be a vague animism, or a full fledged Creator.  Yet, to me, is an important aspect to consider.

In the discussions regarding these two movies, my friend posed the hypothetical situation of waking up for work, and Knowing there will be no traffic to delay him.  He phrased this idea in terms of The Secret.  Asking the universe there be no traffic,  sending out his energy to prevent traffic from happening, and then driving to work Believing he will not run into traffic, and then Receiving the drive without the hassle of other cars on the road.  Essentially, he cast the spell to prevent traffic, and there was none.

I countered why he didn’t jsut do that every day, and thus never encounter too many other cars, since his 45 minute commute would greatly benefit from such a ritual.  He said us humans arent quite perfect yet at “Truly Believing” in such a power, and thus it only works every so often, and sometimes he can’t “raise the energy” properly and convince his brain that “It works”.   The more we practice, the less traffic he will get into.  It’s only a matter of Will.
My take on the situation of waking up Knowing my drive will be quick and care-free is less active and more reactive.  I may go to sleep sending energy out to prevent traffic, but those rare days when I wake up with an honest Knowing, and finding the roads all but empty, are a more complex inter-play of my own energies, and the current State of Reality.   In my worldview, I am tapping more into the subtle energies and ripples of Here/Now so that I leave my house at precicely the right time to avoid traffic.   I have, in some sense, actively nudged probabilities in my favor, but there is still a reactice/receiving aspect of this “magick” so that my life benefits from my wishes, with minimal disruption of the flows around me.

Another metaphor for our different views is a fish in a stream.  Does the fish swim wherever it wants, and leap waterfalls because it’s strong tail allows it, or because the fluid currents allow it to pass through them?
Do we make reality in our own image, or do we make our image into reality?
It’s quite a deep and interesting topic, and one we plan on exploring further during a late-night bonfire and drinks.  I think both answers are correct, and diversity is a wonderful thing.  I can’t change someone’s worldview with my own, just as they can not change mine.  However, compromises and discussion often opens unseen doors to perception which expand our own insights.  I’m sure quite a few spoons will be bent as we exchange concepts and thoughts….We’ll see how much each of us bends as well.

This year, we are returning to the Great Festival that started my love of drumming, and fully cemented, solidified, and otherwise convinced me that this Path of mine was ‘Me’.  Yep, Starwood.  That bastion of revelry and fun, which can be described, as the website so reads: A place where Scientists sit with Shamans and Druids dance with Deadheads. Where African drums jam with bluegrass fiddles, and political activism meets Earth spirituality - where theatre and life meld - where days are spent in exploration of inner and outer space, and nights blaze with laser lights and bonfire flames.

I found this image form the last time we went, in 2002, thus proving my existance there at the opening spiral dance ‘ceremony’.  That guy in the white shirt and black shorts?  Yep, me.  That cute chick in the green shirt and flowery purplish skirt?  Yep, the wife.   (this is pre-sprogling times of course) The guy in the robes and blue scarf?  no clue, but friendly! 

This year we are going with some friends of ours, who generally attend the S.C.A. event known as Pennsic.  While this wonderful festival is over ten times the size of Starwood, and has all sorts of cool costumes, workshops, and such, I am totally looking forward to the more laid back and spiritual festival event this year.   It may not be the most serious spiritual gathering, and have more of a party flair, but I’m really really looking forward to “coming Ohm”.
All night drumming bonfire circles, fireworks one night, and the freedom to go skyclad if one so chooses, is simply indescribable for those who have not attended.  (Heck, even this usually conservative person felt no real hesitation to joining the spontaneous “dance naked in the rain shower” that happened last time.)

There are 18 days left as of this posting, which means our next weeks will be full of meal planning,  double-triple-quadruple checking the packing lists, and otherwise getting things in gear to spend and entire week living out of our tent with a bunch of strange folks, many hours from our land.

Otherwise, there’s no real deeper meaning to this poist, other than to say…I can’t wait!

An interesting pictoral randomness, I discovered over at “Bringing Up Salamanders“.

Here’s my mosaic, organized as you would read text, top left -> -> bottom right.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Type your answer to each question below, into Flickr Search

2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.

3. Copy & paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

THE QUESTIONS:

1. What is your real christian/first name?

2. What is your favourite food - right now?

3. What school did you go to?

4. What is your favourite colour?

5. Who is your latest celebrity crush?

6. What is your favourite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation destination?

8. What is your favourite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you now?

12. What is your Flickr/Blog name?

Here are the image credits:

1. Nathan Fillion @ the Flanvention, 2. frozen taco, 3. Non-Active, 4. Emerald Green Thigh Highs., 5. feliciaday, 6. innocent pure fruit smoothie 3, 7. Dolphin Bay Esperance, 8. Ice cream, 9. This is the forest primeval., 10. Tammy’s bowls of light., 11. a puckish whistle12. Not available

I tag, anyone who reads this…