Tuesday, January 13, 2009

My Vietnam Magic Carpet Ride

This is an extract that I pulled from a website that I had back in the mid '90s (how time flies). Not many people were into Chaos Theory back then which this article puts a social spin on, but I thought the message was still good today. The original website played a midi version of Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride , but I added the youtube version below.



Chaos Theory says there is a sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In a dynamic (non-linear) system you can expect different outcomes over the same period of time, if you had different initial conditions.
My realities are rooted in the '60s. In this period of American culture we began to realize that there were more questions than answers. As television changed from black and white to color, so did our perceptions of reality. The "black and white" values and norms that had migrated from the agricultural society and pervaded the industrial age, began to take on different hues and tints.
Most of us young males got drafted into military service. Although a few evaded the draft, you could never be sure of any of our motives. Some of us blindly followed the leaders of our country - some relunctantly and some convincingly, while some of us evaded the draft - as shirkers, out of fear, or on higher moral principles. We were all wounded in the process. If you look closely, you can see the scars.
The scars of the '60s include 50,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial, they include a generation that we vowed to raise differently than we were (we weren't sure how to do this and it shows), and now grandchildren that have inherited more of our sins than our blessings.
We were and are a necessary catalyst in the human experience that introduced our species to the societal dimensions of Chaos Theory. For some aspects of this, I feel that I should apologize. It was mentally and emotionally easier to live in the "black and white" linear domain of the past where answers were absolute. However, I also beleive that the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end to the cold war, the increasing environmental awareness, and the World Wide Web that is creating more global awareness are also the result of the different inital conditions we created in the '60s.


Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!


'Auld Lang Syne' ('Times Long Gone')
By Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

Chorus
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stoup
And surely I'll be mine
And we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes
And pu'd the gowans fine
But we've wander'd mony a weary foot
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl't in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Liminal Time


During liminal times boundaries and limits become vague. An infinite number of new possibilities occur. Liminal times occur around the equinoxes and solstices. The time between the winter solstice and the New Year is a prime liminal time. This is when many people make resolutions for change and express new possibilities for the coming year. Of course the problem becomes the follow through.
On a personal level, we are considering some major changes for the New Year. We need a smaller footprint with less maintenance, so we are considering our first move in more than 30 years. So far we are approaching this very deliberately since it will be a major change for us.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happy Solstice



Today is the Winter Solstice. The Solstices and Equinoxes mark the seasons of the year.They highlight the longest day, longest night and the days of equal night and day. Most ancient peoples planned festivals and ceremonies at or around the Solstices and Equinoxes to celebrate the changing seasons.
In the modern era, we have abandoned our biological roots and tried to insulate ourselves from the natural world. We have artificially constructed calendars around religious, political and economic considerations without regard to the actual lunar or solar cycles. In some instances we have usurped ancient holidays under other guises. In fact, today, many people consider observance of solstices and equinoxes in lieu of their usurped holiday to be heretical. Regardless of how you view our world, none can deny its annual journey around the sun nor the seasons that ensue from the 23.5 degree axial tilt. Thus I celebrate another trip around the sun.
Happy Winter Solstice!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Blogging or Barking?


Often its hard to tell the difference.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Winter Trees


Evergreens are always pretty in the winter when everything is so dull and gray, but my favorite deciduous tree in the winter is a sycamore. Their speckled bark makes them stand out in contrast to all the drab. Below is photo of my last sycamore tree all the other mature ones that I had have died. I heard a quote from an Indiana Jones movie the other day which I think may apply. "We're[I'm] at the age where life stops giving us[me] things and starts taking them away."
--Jim Broadbent, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

 

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