what came first: maths or matter / observer or particle 24/01/2010

Just read some interesting news in an article written by one of my favorite science journalist, Karin Boys, in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter:

they have found the physical existence of the magically beautiful E8-pattern – displayed in the image here below – one of the most complex mathematical concepts in the world which took weeks for a hall of super-computers to calculate and resulted in 400 000 printed pages. Researchers have been hoping that E8 is connected to the search for the great Theory of Unification, which shall bring together Einstein’s general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics (which is not possible with todays maths). And now symmetries from this pattern was discovered by a group of German and English physicists when they froze cobalt nitrate to the absolute 0-point, which made the electrons arrange themselves in kind of rows or chains. Then they exposed this to magnetic fields, and in the magnetic fluctuations which evolved the strikingly beautiful E8 pattern was spotted.

by Claudio Rocchini (wikipedia)

I mean, if it came down to looks I’d so far wote for this pattern to be the door to open the true Unification theory, it is just really amazing, isn’t it?!

This is not the first time mathematicians has calculated something which physicists did not yet know of, or they even considered impossible. The last time such a discovery was made was in 1974 by Sir Roger Penrose, who I actually made an 1 hour long interview with in the Vienna Riesenrad back in 2004. He calculated something called quasicrystals, a pattern of two shapes which can repeat endlessly without repeating a pattern. This was considered completely impossible, but was later found, for example in a type of stone in Siberia, and has even shown to have quite some practical use to it.

I’ve been refreshing my knowledge on quantum mechanics during the past week, so this discovery came very hand in hand with my thoughts and questions at the moment. Even if I have been warned that Quantum Mechanics does not describe reality, I cannot help but being fascinated by the ontological thoughts connected to this young branch of physic, like the thoughts in the film in my previous post. The fact that human observation decides the outcome of real, physical experiments, no matter on what level, must make anyone ask:

How much of reality do we really create? Does these patterns really exist, or are they created because we expect to find them?

It is like asking:  what comes first, the observer or the particle? And I write “comes” and not “came” but I mean at the beginning of existence, but in Quantum Mechanics time is put out of work, or everything happens at once, or maybe time exists because we imagine that it does, or it is just very much more complex than any of that…

Or really simple – who knows…

What one probably can be quite sure of, is that if the mathematicians had not calculated the E8, the physicists would probably not have found it, since they would not have known what they were looking for.

found: where science and buddhism meet by Gerald Penilla 16/01/2010

Just found this great, simple, to the point summary of the connection between Quantum Science and the basic ideas of classic Asian philosophy and religion like Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism, made by Gerald Penilla

One can of course make many arguments against drawing the sort of conclusions which Gerald present in this film. The most common one argument that I have heard is that mathematics are only abstractions and that they just cannot say anything about reality as it really is. Which brings at least my mind to the question if one can say anything about reality as it is…

No matter what point of view you have, I think that you will find the connections which Gerald presents here at least interesting.

Where Science and Buddhism meet part 1 and 2

I think that the most striking about the conclusions presented above is that we are very likely co- creating not only ourselves, but also each other and our reality with our thoughts and attitudes, in a not only spiritual but also physical sense.

A very good reason to love ourselves, one another and our surroundings:  to love all of existence.

And with loving I do not mean some illusion-based infatuation which is denying the difficult, challenging or “bad” sides of reality, each other, existence;

no, I mean a deep, true feeling of compassion, which results in compassion, and love, streaming out of the body, mind and soul, influencing oneself and the surroundings to do good and feel well. And love.

the answer on the “who am i” – question 14/01/2010

i accept that the answer on the question “who am i” is eternal

the spirit quest – please vote :) 12/01/2010

Please check out The Spirit Quest – Pitch by clicking here or on this thumbnail:

THE SPIRIT QUEST - a pitch for your-big-break

This is my entry in the competition Your-Big-Break.com -
if I win I get to go to New Zealand and make a 3 min film about the country with the people behind Lord of the Rings amongst other things…

I am in love with the idea I have for the film, I hope you like it too:

The Spirit Quest is about two female elves who appear in the middle of a square in Queenstown, New Zealand, right after dawn on a warm summer morning. The younger one of them is on a Spirit Quest – to find the Spirit of New Zealand. Since the Young Elf is reluctant – she would rather have a mission in some distant, cool astral dimension – the older Calm Elf starts to inspire her with tales of New Zealand, its culture and its people.

As she tells her stories we travel over this breathtaking country, getting impressions from its vast variety of realities and places, thus discovering why it can compete with any astral dimension. In the end, the Young Elf finds the Spirit of New Zealand in a very surprising form, which will leave as well her as the spectator happy and warm inside, and the film as a whole will leave anyone thrilled about New Zealand, and Queenstown!

The rest of the script and the video-pitch are under the link above:

please check it out and VOTE

comment of the night 10/01/2010

you are unique: what you do is always groundbreaking

this comment goes for everyone, but it was said to a very nice person at 3.07 in the morning outside of this glorious event where I was dancing all the night away:

http://www.sassvienna.com/cms/calendar/swoon-20100109.html

i just connected my blog to twitter 18/12/2009

wow…

http://twitter.com/susanflorries

save the copenhagen deal!! mail from avaaz 16/12/2009

With three days to go, the crucial Copenhagen summit is failing.

Tomorrow, the world’s leaders arrive for an unprecedented 60 hours of direct negotiations. Experts agree that without a tidal wave of public pressure for a deal, the summit will not stop catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.

Click below to sign the petition for a real deal in Copenhagen — the campaign already has a staggering 10 million supporters – let’s make it the largest petition in history in the next 72 hours! Every single name is actually being read out at the summit — sign on at the link below and forward this email to everyone!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/97.php?cl_tta_sign=3f5d5bf98074ca5acdcb7bed5a402ea6

An Avaaz team is meeting daily with negotiators inside the summit who will organize a spectacular petition delivery to world leaders as they arrive, building a giant wall of boxes of names and reading out the names of every person who signs. With the largest petition in history, leaders will have no doubt that the whole world is watching.

Millions watched the Avaaz vigil inside the summit on TV yesterday, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu told hundreds of delegates and assembled children:

“We marched in Berlin, and the wall fell.
“We marched for South Africa, and apartheid fell.
“We marched at Copenhagen — and we WILL get a Real Deal.”

Copenhagen is seeking the biggest mandate in history to stop the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. History will be made in the next few days. How will our children remember this moment? Let’s tell them we did all we could.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/97.php?cl_tta_sign=3f5d5bf98074ca5acdcb7bed5a402ea6

With hope,

Ricken, Alice, Ben, Paul, Luis, Iain, Veronique, Graziela, Pascal, Paula, Benjamin, Raj, Raluca, Taren, David, Josh and the whole Avaaz team.

glad lucia! – but where are the tomtar? 13/12/2009

I love watching the pagan/christian celebration of Lucia on national TV, I think most Swedish people do. It’s romantic and very emotional: on an early, dark, cold morning in the midst of December, the 13th, the young members of society come with light, music and beauty to the older members of society, as well as to the newly born. It is an ancient ceremony of rebirth and renewal, and about the existence of magic and blessings in life, even in what seems to be the darkest of times. It is also a celebration of the sun, and the human capacity of handling fire – of bending the elements after our own will, like making light in abundance in the middle of Winter. The ceremony is full of ancient symbols, like the stars (pentacles) on the pointy hats of the so called “stjärngossarna” = the star boys.

Lucia, the saint who is saint celebrated, is a Sicilian martyr who sacrificed her life for her beliefs, and for not having to marry a man she did not love. Traditionally, she is a fairy or a Goddess of light, coming with light and protection for the people after the night between the 12th and the 13th of December, when the dark forces were said to be specially strong.

But pagan traditions around the winter solstice have heavily inspired the current advent traditions in Sweden, as everywhere else. The Lucia procession is a pre-christian, pagan invention, some even say that it has elements from the winter solstice celebration in Scandinavia, being a ceremony which celebrates the return of light and innocence. The winter solstice is on the 21-22 of December, making it too close to the Christian Christmas, and therefor the celebration had to be moved some say.

They might be right, but the 13th of December has for a long time been seen as the as a night when it is easier for evil and and naughty spirits to enter the realm of humans; a night when the doors between the different dimensions where wide open. For this reason it is a tradition to wake during the night between the 12th and the 13th, to be able to avoid the spirits and not come in evils claws in ones dreams. In the morning the children and youth of the society brought light, and there was singing. Probably some bun similar to the “Lussekatt”, a bun with saffran which is served on Lucia, was served already then. The bun is formed like pagan sun symbol:

Lussebullar - an ancient pagan sun symbol (image from Wikipedia

Thinking about this while watching the followers of Lucia and then herself march into the cathedral of Växsjö, the Lucia celebration also becomes a quite interesting, kind of joint celebration of the mix of cultures, beliefs and ideas that we live in.

Here the first part of the very beautiful 2009 Lucia celebration on Swedish national TV, SVT:

But where Are The Tomtar?

Traditionally the Swedish Lucia should be followed by a group of what we call “tomtar”, practically little gnomes who sing songs about how they sneak into the houses of the humans at night, tasting the food and having fun. They are unfortunately missing in this years Lucia celebration on national TV, probably its for the reason that my father pointed out to me: it’s in a church this year, so they skipped the “tomtar”. They probably do not find “tomtar” church-like enough. That is really a shame.

Just like gnomes in other places, Swedish “tomtar” are known to take care of humans, as well as the animals and plants who live on the farms. They also like to play, and love to get attention. It is of course important to show your respect and gratitude to the “tomtar”, especially at winter. Many people for example put out a small portion of the Christmas porridge for the house “tomte”, to show their gratitude and to motivate the “tomtar” to help them in taking care of their home and it’s inhabitants during the coming year as well.

The relationship between the house spirits and their human family is often described as a warm and loving one in the myths and the fairytales of almost all cultures. But they can also play quite some tricks on you, if you don’t watch out and take care of what you have. Without them, life tends to get really hard if you believe in all the legends. Maybe “tomtar” are not everywhere, but I have a feeling that we are really surrounded with beings which we know very little about, who live their own lives, but who often seem to help out. I find it a bit crazy myself, bit there has been so many times when I have experienced concrete proof of such help.  So my advice is, the next time you make some nice, hot food for yourself, share a small portion with the beings or spirits who help you – they will love it!

sharing 12/12/2009

the more you share, the more you have

the more you have, the more you can share

the time has come – the beds are burning 10/12/2009

This truly great song from 1988 is about the faith of the Aborigines and the great debt that there was to pay to them already back then.

Today the Aborigines are once again suffering the consequences of other peoples errors, since Australia already intensely experience the consequences of climate chang , just like we all might do in a not too distant future.

But I think that we will save this planet, and make our world a better place: we just have to remember, that the time has come…

Midnight Oil – Beds are burning
uploaded by kareem93

www.midnightoil.com