Pattern Busters
"We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves."
– Norbert Wiener,
I learned today that forty percent of our daily activities are determined by our personal habits. I heard it on TV so it must be true. ha ha
For me, the word 'habit' is synonymous with the word "pattern" ... and patterns are absolutely everything to life. For example ...DNA is a pattern ... a pattern that is repeated in all homogeneous forms of life ... animals, plants and humans.All life is contained in one huge library of patterns. Some patterns are universal ... some global ... some regional ... some local ... and some individual.
What do I mean by the term 'pattern busters'? I likely have the same intent as that behind the familiar term 'ghost busters'. Since, for most people there are no ghosts ... therefore there are no ghost busters ... as individuals that is.
What about emerging technologies? Internet and mobile phones have busted ... shattered ... so many long established social behavioral patterns. Like the story of Humpty Dumpty ... these long established social behavioral patterns will never come back ... at least ... not in their same form.
My appetite for writing has waxed and waned for the past seven months. The first time I wrote anything ... in more than a year ... was on December 14th past ... which I realized some months later was the Feast Day of St John of the Cross ... the author of the treatise on mysticism ... Dark Night of the Soul. Hmmm!
Here is what I wrote that day ....
December 14, 2014
For the record … what prompted me to start writing again? I suppose I am really bored! It’s been about a month since we returned from Beijing. We have been back in Haiyang for about 3 weeks … freezing our butts off! … still no heat in the apartment and it is unusually cold this year … with the mercury dipping below zero many times already.
My boredom appears to have provided the impetus for me to check the discussion forums on the “I Love Philosophy” website. I have never had much luck with these discussion forums … from time to time posting topics and responding to topics posted by other participants.
I should also note that I haven’t written anything for more than a year now … the last time I wrote was just before moving to Beijing in November 2013. I think the year in Beijing was one of the most difficult years of my life. Why? … who knows eh! I’m not in the mood today to document any of the trials experienced during our year in Beijing. Though, I should note that it wasn’t all bleak … the ‘light’ in the ‘darkness’ was getting to know Li Maddou better … Matteo Ricci.
Today I read a posting in the philosophy forum that asked the question “How complex are Human Beings?”
There was only one reply … not a serious reply either … yet my mind didn’t want to let go of the question.
I almost immediately thought of the paragraph from St Augustine’s book “Confessions”… a paragraph that has been slipping in and out of my consciousness many times in the past few years … hmmm? Maybe it’s time to give this paragraph some serious contemplation.
Let’s start with the words from St Augustine:
“I myself cannot grasp the totality of what I am. Is the mind, then, too restricted to compass itself, so that we have to ask, what is that element of itself which it fails to grasp? Surely that cannot be external to itself, it must be within the mind. How than can it fail to grasp it? This question moves me to great astonishment. Amazement grips me. People are moved to wonder by mountain peaks, by vast waves of the sea, by broad waterfalls on rivers, by the all-embracing extent of the ocean, by the revolutions of the stars. But in themselves they are uninterested.”
How are St Augustine’s comments relevant to the question posed? … “How complex is the Human Being?”
His opening words … “I myself cannot grasp the totality of what I am”
St Augustine was a genius … an intellectual giant in the landscape of Western history … yet … he failed to understand the ‘totality’ of himself. He couldn’t find the boundary where his personal ‘being’ stopped … he assumed it had to be somewhere within his biological self … his brain.
From St Augustine’s enigma, we might suppose that individual ‘being’ stretches into infinity … eternity?
Let’s fast forward about 1,500 years … to the time of Carl Jung and Teilhard de Chardin. The notions of ‘collective unconscious, ‘synchronicity’ ‘noosphere’ and ‘Omega Point’ were introduced by Jung and Teilhard de Chardin.
Seems to me the above ‘notions’ suggest the human mind has an individual and personal conduit to somewhere … way out there. This expression … ‘way out there’ … infers a long distance in space and perhaps time … yet the truth is our reality is more likely enveloped by what is referred to as ‘way out there’… who knows eh!
While poking around I came across the ‘Global Consciousness Project’ … a significant and contemporary investigation of the capabilities of the individual and collective human mind. In an article written by Roger Nelson I found the question “Is there a sense in which mind is present in the world beyond the brain?”
Seems to me Rogers is posing the same question St Augustine posed 1,600 years ago ... “Surely that cannot be external to itself, it must be within the mind. How than can it fail to grasp it?” … Hmmm!
When patterns are shattered!
Maintaining the library of patterns in our mind is absolutely essential to maintaining our sanity. The immensity and complexity of this ‘library of patterns’ is referred to as ‘consciousness’. We continue to investigate the realm of ‘human consciousness’ … it’s boundaries remain beyond our understanding.
The children’s nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty is a profound illustration of the significance of patterns. When mental patterns are shattered nothing can put them back together again the same way they existed before the fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again … after he fell off the wall i.e. was shattered.
The time between the ‘fall’ … the shattering of our library of patterns … and the establishment of new patterns is referred to as ‘liminal space’ ... the in between. More on this notion of liminal space later.
What are these patterns?
Sound patterns are the foundation of language. Image patterns enable us to differentiate between an apple and a potato ... between beautiful and ugly. Images are more powerful than sound … a picture is worth a thousand words.
A simple example is a pair of matching slippers. When we observe an individual wearing a mismatched pair of slippers our mind instantly reacts … we want the individual wearing the mismatched slippers to correct the pattern. Looking at mismatched slippers makes our mind uncomfortable.
Here’s another simple example. We have a small motor bike and I have always refused to use a wheel lock or bring the motor bike inside our apartment building at night. Some of our neighbours react to my behavior the same way people react to the mismatched slippers noted above. A motor bike without a wheel lock is not in their ‘library of patterns’ and they have on several occasions explained to my wife that it is important that I put a wheel lock on our motor bike and bring it inside the building at night … in other words it is important to them that my ‘patterns of consciousness’ conform to their ‘patterns of consciousness’ … seems logical enough.
Relationships are ‘patterns’ and we all know what happens when an important relationship shatters. Daily routines are patterns and we have all heard how important ‘routine’ is in a healthy lifestyle. The old expression … idle hands is the devils’ playground speaks to the same phenomenon. Our mind is a powerful entity … it needs to be active … even during the sleeping state … REM dreaming. When our mind is active it only functions smoothly when operating in its world of established patterns. Thus “idle hands” infers an absence of functioning within the boundaries of the mind’s library of patterns … the mind doesn’t know what to do … it loses its grounding so to speak and the result is ‘devilish’ behavior … unacceptable behavior … behavior outside acceptable human behavior.
Reminds me of St Augustine’s words … “Woe to you … you torrent of human custom! Who can stand against you?”
I’m back again! Once again I am amazed how much can happen during such a short time. I stopped writing to eat breakfast … and have a smoke. While I was smoking it suddenly occurred to me that there may be a substantial relationship between the sudden memory of St Augustine’s words “Woe to you … you torrent of human custom! Who can stand against you? and the topic I am currently writing about … “library of patterns”. This relationship never occurred to me a few minutes ago. Hmmm.
St Augustine’s words “torrent of human custom” is simply another way of expressing the notion of a “library of patterns”.
Regional cultures … regional ‘libraries of patterns’ … are converging. The slogan for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was “One World … One Dream. Perhaps humanity is well on it’s way to the fulfillment of this slogan … ie Global Human Consciousness.
Another issue … I have always been intrigued by St Augustine’s use of the word “you”. Seems to me he intentionally personalizes this “torrent of human custom” … he does not see it as some abstract inanimate object or notion. Rather he sees it as a living entity. Reminds me of St Francis … who often spoke of “Brother Moon” … Sister Sun … Sister Death etc. Hmmm
What happens when a significant portion … or perhaps even a single ‘link’ in our library of patterns is shattered … broken … disconnected? We lose our connection to the reality we know … we lose ourselves … we become mentally ‘ill’. How so?
Perhaps todays’ personal computers provide a helpful metaphor. When the Microsoft Windows operating software loses a link … a single line of code out of the millions of lines of code … the entire program shuts down. On occasion the Microsoft “Restore” program will repair the corrupted file and our computer functions properly again.
Seems to me our mind functions in much the same way … after all it is the human mind that developed the Windows software … likely modeled … intentionally or otherwise … on the human mind.
Modern psychology and psychiatry have developed many ‘restore’ programs for the human mind. Today’s pharmaceutical companies have likewise developed many ‘restore’ chemical compounds that perhaps don’t restore the mind to normalcy but at least restore some functionality. As I write this I am reminded of the Windows “Safe Mode”.
Pattern busters! Ghost busters! Seems to me some people are born to be pattern busters … it’s encoded in their DNA. It’s bloody hard work. The examples that pop into my mind are Jesus Christ, St Joan D’Arc and Galileo. All prophets were/are pattern busters.
Today it’s hard to imagine how the masses in the West were convinced the world was flat for such a long time. The notion that the world was flat was simply an acceptable “pattern” in their collective consciousness ... endorsed by the prevailing religion of the day … Roman Catholic. Eliminating that particular pattern was very hard work indeed.
Perhaps humanity’s evolution depends solely on these pattern busters. If these people didn’t come along regularly throughout history we would still live in caves.
Wireless communication … specifically wireless telephony … is a current ‘pattern buster’. Imagine trying to explain wireless communication to Christopher Columbus. Yet equally unimaginable is how human beings discover the technology that enables wireless communication and these same people don’t believe the universe has the same capability. The universe has the capability to transmit intelligence to the human mind without a known or understood conduit such as wire o electromagnetic waves. Likewise, the human mind has a conduit to universal intelligence. Our DNA is our ‘password’ and ‘security clearance’ … with different individuals having a higher security clearance.
July 14, 2015
Seems it is becoming increasingly obvious that I am a "wannabe spiritual person". I want my thoughts, decisions, actions and experiences to be grounded in spiritual energy ... spiritual habits ... spiritual patterns.
Versus
Human conventions, man-made patterns ... in a word ... cultural or societal.
Yet ... it is equally obvious that I'm still very much a person of the world ... a worldly individual ... still unable to transcend the fierce magnetic force that keeps me tethered to the 'world'.
I read a few words recently that I found "awesome" ... something to the effect ... "the language of God is spoken through the experiences of our lives" The author of the above quote must be a 'spiritual" person. ha ha
The quote suggests God doesn't speak to us in our native language ... be it English, Chinese or Greek. Likewise, God doesn't whisper in our ear or shout from from the top of a mountain. God simply doesn't 'speak' within the conventional intention of the verb "to speak". Reminds me of the rather vulgar expression ... "I see said the blind man"
Yet ... the above quote maintains that God does in fact communicate with us ... sends us 'messages' that He wants us to understand. Hmmm! Sounds all too cryptic ... these 'messages' from God are so easily misunderstood ... misinterpreted ... by even the most well intentioned person ... the most wannabe spiritualist.
I have two examples I would like to share.
1) Yesterday my scooter fell over ... I failed to properly set the mechanism that holds it upright. My scooter has a storage compartment under the seat and I keep a few RMBs in it. This storage compartment opened when the scooter hit the ground ... and my few RMBs were being scattered about by the wind.
My first ... my instinctive response ... was to retrieve my RMB ... I ran around trying to pick up each individual RMB note. Most of them were 1 RMB notes ... worth about $0.15 Canadian each.
As I reflect on this "experience" this morning, I am convinced it is a simple reminder ... from God ... that I am still very much attached to the "world". Yuk!!
2) This morning I watched Huang Hui trying to get our 2 geese back into their enclosure ... a pleasant and comical experience for me ... perhaps not for Huang Hui. The geese obviously understood what Huang Hui was asking them to do ... yet this morning they were mildly rebellious ... never running too far away but persistently avoiding the entrance to their enclosure.At this point there doesn't seem to be much of a story ... much of a "message from God" here!
We need some background information. About a week ago Huang Hui had to chase the same 2 geese out of their enclosure ... they resisted their opportunity for 'freedom'. Since then these 2 geese went out ... and back into ... their enclosure several times in the past week. Only this morning did they demonstrate any resistance in returning to their enclosure. Only this morning did they indicate a preference for 'freedom'. Hmmm!
Reminds me of the movie Schindlers List. Seems to me the same 'message' is conveyed in this movie. When the prisoners first entered the prison they reacted bitterly to their confinement ... to their lack of freedom. After a while they learned to accept it ... after a while longer they learned to like it ... and in the end they found they couldn't live without it ... they couldn't tolerate personal freedom any longer. Hmmm!
So ... what is God's message here?
Seems to me we talk so much about freedom, free will and human rights ... yet in fact ... almost all people are afraid of individual freedom ... afraid of free will. Just like the 2 geese a week ago ... being afraid to leave their enclosure with the result being they would be forced to make their own decisions ... they were afraid of exercising their own free will.
Most people must be forced out of their "comfort zone" ... few people dare leave this 'space' ... this 'comfort' ... this 'box' ... voluntarily.
Also this morning, I discovered that I still am unable to resist the temptation to speculate on worldly matters. As mentioned above, I strongly prefer to be prompted, inspired, motivated by spiritual energy. I subscribe to the school of thought ... the thought patterns ... that promote worldly matters as "banal' ... not worth any mind time to consider.
Let me share my 'worldly' speculation of this morning.
Perhaps again today, the Greek people are at the epicentre of another massive shift in mankinds' evolution or transformation. Perhaps the Greek people are once again the "flame bearers" for mankind ... much like the Olympic Torch ritual. The Western psyche is imbued with the names Plato, Socrates, Aristotle ... and all that the legacy of these 'giants' represent in human history.
What? What shift?
Over simplified of course ... from human activity being dominated by "winner take all" strategies ... to humanity being dominated by "compromise" strategies. As Pierre Teillard suggested ... I think he was referring to his notion of Omega Point ... "the emergence of a more humane collective consciousness."
This proposition seems to fit nicely with the notion of Yin Yang. The word "compromise" ... and all that this word represents ... is a "Yin" construct.
The expression "winner take all" ... and all that this expression represents is a "Yang" construct.
Perhaps, as I have suggested elsewhere, we are moving from a "Yang" dominated planet to a "Yin" dominated one. Isn't this what Isaiah prophesied about 2,500 years ago ... the lamb will lay down with the lion. Hmmm!
Just read the following quote ... "But a deal could come quickly, as an errant tweet from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested.
It read, "#IranDeal is the victory of diplomacy & mutual respect over the outdated paradigm of exclusion & coercion. And this is a good beginning."
The tweet was later re-posted with the word, "If" at the beginning.
Hmmm!
"We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves."
– Norbert Wiener,
I learned today that forty percent of our daily activities are determined by our personal habits. I heard it on TV so it must be true. ha ha
For me, the word 'habit' is synonymous with the word "pattern" ... and patterns are absolutely everything to life. For example ...DNA is a pattern ... a pattern that is repeated in all homogeneous forms of life ... animals, plants and humans.All life is contained in one huge library of patterns. Some patterns are universal ... some global ... some regional ... some local ... and some individual.
What do I mean by the term 'pattern busters'? I likely have the same intent as that behind the familiar term 'ghost busters'. Since, for most people there are no ghosts ... therefore there are no ghost busters ... as individuals that is.
What about emerging technologies? Internet and mobile phones have busted ... shattered ... so many long established social behavioral patterns. Like the story of Humpty Dumpty ... these long established social behavioral patterns will never come back ... at least ... not in their same form.
My appetite for writing has waxed and waned for the past seven months. The first time I wrote anything ... in more than a year ... was on December 14th past ... which I realized some months later was the Feast Day of St John of the Cross ... the author of the treatise on mysticism ... Dark Night of the Soul. Hmmm!
Here is what I wrote that day ....
December 14, 2014
For the record … what prompted me to start writing again? I suppose I am really bored! It’s been about a month since we returned from Beijing. We have been back in Haiyang for about 3 weeks … freezing our butts off! … still no heat in the apartment and it is unusually cold this year … with the mercury dipping below zero many times already.
My boredom appears to have provided the impetus for me to check the discussion forums on the “I Love Philosophy” website. I have never had much luck with these discussion forums … from time to time posting topics and responding to topics posted by other participants.
I should also note that I haven’t written anything for more than a year now … the last time I wrote was just before moving to Beijing in November 2013. I think the year in Beijing was one of the most difficult years of my life. Why? … who knows eh! I’m not in the mood today to document any of the trials experienced during our year in Beijing. Though, I should note that it wasn’t all bleak … the ‘light’ in the ‘darkness’ was getting to know Li Maddou better … Matteo Ricci.
Today I read a posting in the philosophy forum that asked the question “How complex are Human Beings?”
There was only one reply … not a serious reply either … yet my mind didn’t want to let go of the question.
I almost immediately thought of the paragraph from St Augustine’s book “Confessions”… a paragraph that has been slipping in and out of my consciousness many times in the past few years … hmmm? Maybe it’s time to give this paragraph some serious contemplation.
Let’s start with the words from St Augustine:
“I myself cannot grasp the totality of what I am. Is the mind, then, too restricted to compass itself, so that we have to ask, what is that element of itself which it fails to grasp? Surely that cannot be external to itself, it must be within the mind. How than can it fail to grasp it? This question moves me to great astonishment. Amazement grips me. People are moved to wonder by mountain peaks, by vast waves of the sea, by broad waterfalls on rivers, by the all-embracing extent of the ocean, by the revolutions of the stars. But in themselves they are uninterested.”
How are St Augustine’s comments relevant to the question posed? … “How complex is the Human Being?”
His opening words … “I myself cannot grasp the totality of what I am”
St Augustine was a genius … an intellectual giant in the landscape of Western history … yet … he failed to understand the ‘totality’ of himself. He couldn’t find the boundary where his personal ‘being’ stopped … he assumed it had to be somewhere within his biological self … his brain.
From St Augustine’s enigma, we might suppose that individual ‘being’ stretches into infinity … eternity?
Let’s fast forward about 1,500 years … to the time of Carl Jung and Teilhard de Chardin. The notions of ‘collective unconscious, ‘synchronicity’ ‘noosphere’ and ‘Omega Point’ were introduced by Jung and Teilhard de Chardin.
Seems to me the above ‘notions’ suggest the human mind has an individual and personal conduit to somewhere … way out there. This expression … ‘way out there’ … infers a long distance in space and perhaps time … yet the truth is our reality is more likely enveloped by what is referred to as ‘way out there’… who knows eh!
While poking around I came across the ‘Global Consciousness Project’ … a significant and contemporary investigation of the capabilities of the individual and collective human mind. In an article written by Roger Nelson I found the question “Is there a sense in which mind is present in the world beyond the brain?”
Seems to me Rogers is posing the same question St Augustine posed 1,600 years ago ... “Surely that cannot be external to itself, it must be within the mind. How than can it fail to grasp it?” … Hmmm!
When patterns are shattered!
Maintaining the library of patterns in our mind is absolutely essential to maintaining our sanity. The immensity and complexity of this ‘library of patterns’ is referred to as ‘consciousness’. We continue to investigate the realm of ‘human consciousness’ … it’s boundaries remain beyond our understanding.
The children’s nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty is a profound illustration of the significance of patterns. When mental patterns are shattered nothing can put them back together again the same way they existed before the fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again … after he fell off the wall i.e. was shattered.
The time between the ‘fall’ … the shattering of our library of patterns … and the establishment of new patterns is referred to as ‘liminal space’ ... the in between. More on this notion of liminal space later.
What are these patterns?
Sound patterns are the foundation of language. Image patterns enable us to differentiate between an apple and a potato ... between beautiful and ugly. Images are more powerful than sound … a picture is worth a thousand words.
A simple example is a pair of matching slippers. When we observe an individual wearing a mismatched pair of slippers our mind instantly reacts … we want the individual wearing the mismatched slippers to correct the pattern. Looking at mismatched slippers makes our mind uncomfortable.
Here’s another simple example. We have a small motor bike and I have always refused to use a wheel lock or bring the motor bike inside our apartment building at night. Some of our neighbours react to my behavior the same way people react to the mismatched slippers noted above. A motor bike without a wheel lock is not in their ‘library of patterns’ and they have on several occasions explained to my wife that it is important that I put a wheel lock on our motor bike and bring it inside the building at night … in other words it is important to them that my ‘patterns of consciousness’ conform to their ‘patterns of consciousness’ … seems logical enough.
Relationships are ‘patterns’ and we all know what happens when an important relationship shatters. Daily routines are patterns and we have all heard how important ‘routine’ is in a healthy lifestyle. The old expression … idle hands is the devils’ playground speaks to the same phenomenon. Our mind is a powerful entity … it needs to be active … even during the sleeping state … REM dreaming. When our mind is active it only functions smoothly when operating in its world of established patterns. Thus “idle hands” infers an absence of functioning within the boundaries of the mind’s library of patterns … the mind doesn’t know what to do … it loses its grounding so to speak and the result is ‘devilish’ behavior … unacceptable behavior … behavior outside acceptable human behavior.
Reminds me of St Augustine’s words … “Woe to you … you torrent of human custom! Who can stand against you?”
I’m back again! Once again I am amazed how much can happen during such a short time. I stopped writing to eat breakfast … and have a smoke. While I was smoking it suddenly occurred to me that there may be a substantial relationship between the sudden memory of St Augustine’s words “Woe to you … you torrent of human custom! Who can stand against you? and the topic I am currently writing about … “library of patterns”. This relationship never occurred to me a few minutes ago. Hmmm.
St Augustine’s words “torrent of human custom” is simply another way of expressing the notion of a “library of patterns”.
Regional cultures … regional ‘libraries of patterns’ … are converging. The slogan for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was “One World … One Dream. Perhaps humanity is well on it’s way to the fulfillment of this slogan … ie Global Human Consciousness.
Another issue … I have always been intrigued by St Augustine’s use of the word “you”. Seems to me he intentionally personalizes this “torrent of human custom” … he does not see it as some abstract inanimate object or notion. Rather he sees it as a living entity. Reminds me of St Francis … who often spoke of “Brother Moon” … Sister Sun … Sister Death etc. Hmmm
What happens when a significant portion … or perhaps even a single ‘link’ in our library of patterns is shattered … broken … disconnected? We lose our connection to the reality we know … we lose ourselves … we become mentally ‘ill’. How so?
Perhaps todays’ personal computers provide a helpful metaphor. When the Microsoft Windows operating software loses a link … a single line of code out of the millions of lines of code … the entire program shuts down. On occasion the Microsoft “Restore” program will repair the corrupted file and our computer functions properly again.
Seems to me our mind functions in much the same way … after all it is the human mind that developed the Windows software … likely modeled … intentionally or otherwise … on the human mind.
Modern psychology and psychiatry have developed many ‘restore’ programs for the human mind. Today’s pharmaceutical companies have likewise developed many ‘restore’ chemical compounds that perhaps don’t restore the mind to normalcy but at least restore some functionality. As I write this I am reminded of the Windows “Safe Mode”.
Pattern busters! Ghost busters! Seems to me some people are born to be pattern busters … it’s encoded in their DNA. It’s bloody hard work. The examples that pop into my mind are Jesus Christ, St Joan D’Arc and Galileo. All prophets were/are pattern busters.
Today it’s hard to imagine how the masses in the West were convinced the world was flat for such a long time. The notion that the world was flat was simply an acceptable “pattern” in their collective consciousness ... endorsed by the prevailing religion of the day … Roman Catholic. Eliminating that particular pattern was very hard work indeed.
Perhaps humanity’s evolution depends solely on these pattern busters. If these people didn’t come along regularly throughout history we would still live in caves.
Wireless communication … specifically wireless telephony … is a current ‘pattern buster’. Imagine trying to explain wireless communication to Christopher Columbus. Yet equally unimaginable is how human beings discover the technology that enables wireless communication and these same people don’t believe the universe has the same capability. The universe has the capability to transmit intelligence to the human mind without a known or understood conduit such as wire o electromagnetic waves. Likewise, the human mind has a conduit to universal intelligence. Our DNA is our ‘password’ and ‘security clearance’ … with different individuals having a higher security clearance.
July 14, 2015
Seems it is becoming increasingly obvious that I am a "wannabe spiritual person". I want my thoughts, decisions, actions and experiences to be grounded in spiritual energy ... spiritual habits ... spiritual patterns.
Versus
Human conventions, man-made patterns ... in a word ... cultural or societal.
Yet ... it is equally obvious that I'm still very much a person of the world ... a worldly individual ... still unable to transcend the fierce magnetic force that keeps me tethered to the 'world'.
I read a few words recently that I found "awesome" ... something to the effect ... "the language of God is spoken through the experiences of our lives" The author of the above quote must be a 'spiritual" person. ha ha
The quote suggests God doesn't speak to us in our native language ... be it English, Chinese or Greek. Likewise, God doesn't whisper in our ear or shout from from the top of a mountain. God simply doesn't 'speak' within the conventional intention of the verb "to speak". Reminds me of the rather vulgar expression ... "I see said the blind man"
Yet ... the above quote maintains that God does in fact communicate with us ... sends us 'messages' that He wants us to understand. Hmmm! Sounds all too cryptic ... these 'messages' from God are so easily misunderstood ... misinterpreted ... by even the most well intentioned person ... the most wannabe spiritualist.
I have two examples I would like to share.
1) Yesterday my scooter fell over ... I failed to properly set the mechanism that holds it upright. My scooter has a storage compartment under the seat and I keep a few RMBs in it. This storage compartment opened when the scooter hit the ground ... and my few RMBs were being scattered about by the wind.
My first ... my instinctive response ... was to retrieve my RMB ... I ran around trying to pick up each individual RMB note. Most of them were 1 RMB notes ... worth about $0.15 Canadian each.
As I reflect on this "experience" this morning, I am convinced it is a simple reminder ... from God ... that I am still very much attached to the "world". Yuk!!
2) This morning I watched Huang Hui trying to get our 2 geese back into their enclosure ... a pleasant and comical experience for me ... perhaps not for Huang Hui. The geese obviously understood what Huang Hui was asking them to do ... yet this morning they were mildly rebellious ... never running too far away but persistently avoiding the entrance to their enclosure.At this point there doesn't seem to be much of a story ... much of a "message from God" here!
We need some background information. About a week ago Huang Hui had to chase the same 2 geese out of their enclosure ... they resisted their opportunity for 'freedom'. Since then these 2 geese went out ... and back into ... their enclosure several times in the past week. Only this morning did they demonstrate any resistance in returning to their enclosure. Only this morning did they indicate a preference for 'freedom'. Hmmm!
Reminds me of the movie Schindlers List. Seems to me the same 'message' is conveyed in this movie. When the prisoners first entered the prison they reacted bitterly to their confinement ... to their lack of freedom. After a while they learned to accept it ... after a while longer they learned to like it ... and in the end they found they couldn't live without it ... they couldn't tolerate personal freedom any longer. Hmmm!
So ... what is God's message here?
Seems to me we talk so much about freedom, free will and human rights ... yet in fact ... almost all people are afraid of individual freedom ... afraid of free will. Just like the 2 geese a week ago ... being afraid to leave their enclosure with the result being they would be forced to make their own decisions ... they were afraid of exercising their own free will.
Most people must be forced out of their "comfort zone" ... few people dare leave this 'space' ... this 'comfort' ... this 'box' ... voluntarily.
Also this morning, I discovered that I still am unable to resist the temptation to speculate on worldly matters. As mentioned above, I strongly prefer to be prompted, inspired, motivated by spiritual energy. I subscribe to the school of thought ... the thought patterns ... that promote worldly matters as "banal' ... not worth any mind time to consider.
Let me share my 'worldly' speculation of this morning.
Perhaps again today, the Greek people are at the epicentre of another massive shift in mankinds' evolution or transformation. Perhaps the Greek people are once again the "flame bearers" for mankind ... much like the Olympic Torch ritual. The Western psyche is imbued with the names Plato, Socrates, Aristotle ... and all that the legacy of these 'giants' represent in human history.
What? What shift?
Over simplified of course ... from human activity being dominated by "winner take all" strategies ... to humanity being dominated by "compromise" strategies. As Pierre Teillard suggested ... I think he was referring to his notion of Omega Point ... "the emergence of a more humane collective consciousness."
This proposition seems to fit nicely with the notion of Yin Yang. The word "compromise" ... and all that this word represents ... is a "Yin" construct.
The expression "winner take all" ... and all that this expression represents is a "Yang" construct.
Perhaps, as I have suggested elsewhere, we are moving from a "Yang" dominated planet to a "Yin" dominated one. Isn't this what Isaiah prophesied about 2,500 years ago ... the lamb will lay down with the lion. Hmmm!
Just read the following quote ... "But a deal could come quickly, as an errant tweet from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested.
It read, "#IranDeal is the victory of diplomacy & mutual respect over the outdated paradigm of exclusion & coercion. And this is a good beginning."
The tweet was later re-posted with the word, "If" at the beginning.
Hmmm!