User blogs
Top Down & Bottom Up Control of Personal & Collective Consciousness (by Iona Miller)
There is a pre-physical, unobservable domain of potentiality in quantum theory. It is the basis of fundamental interconnectedness and wholeness of Reality. The human body is not an object in space, but seamlessly welded to spacetime. We are not merely a phenomenal body of flesh, but one of awareness, of consciousness, a living interface of inner and outer field phenomena. The brain is not confined to our skull, but permeates our whole being through the intracellular matrix and sensory system, as well as the strong EM fields generated by the beating heart. Archetypes are rooted in or emerge from the holographic source field as attractors, chaotic systems having fractal or reiterative structures that repeat at all levels of observation. They never settle into equilibrium, periodicity, or resonance. Transpersonal experience creates a new interpretation, or perspective on reality. Systems arise from positive feedback and amplification. Thus, archetypes introduce erratic behavior that leads to the emergence of new situations, including creative insight.
Yet, we must have hope in a hopeless situation and try to help even if we feel helpless. So, let us pray GOD for peace in the Middle-East and urge our respective governments to broker said peace - for, GOD willing, peace is attainable even if it appears impossible.
The Possibility of Metaphysics (by Graham P. Smetham)
Although the title is ‘The Possibility of Metaphysics’ the first part has as its focus not only metaphysics in general but Buddhist metaphysics in particular. This is because the motivation for this focus issue was sparked by an email from a colleague who asked for my opinion of a book written by Robert Ellis. The aspect of the ‘experimental metaphysics’ of quantum theory is examined in detail in the first article "The Matter of Mindnature" The Buddhist metaphysical viewpoint tells as the nature of ultimate reality is best understood as a fundamentally interrelated and interpenetrating field of Mind-like energy, or Mindnature, and such a view is clearly supported by the quantum violation of Bell’s inequalities. In this article I examine Ellis’s notion of the impossibility of metaphysics in the light of both philosophical considerations and the implications of the quantum evidence. The next article "Taking the‘Meta’ Out of Physics" is Ellis’s response to my criticisms of his work. I leave it to readers to come to conclusions without further comment from me. It is my hope that there will be feedback concerning the issues raised as I am personally convinced that Ellis’s position is untenable but am curious to know whether my viewpoint is widely held. Certainly the last two articles from James Kowall, ‘What is Reality in a Holographic World?’, and Brian Whitworth, ‘Introducing The Virtual Reality Conjecture’, seem to support my position..
Hollows of Memory: From Individual Consciousness to Panexperientialism & Beyond
The question under discussion is metaphysical and truly elemental. It emerges in two aspects – how did we come to be conscious of our own existence, and, as a deeper corollary, do existence and awareness necessitate each other? I am bold enough to explore these questions and I invite you to come along; I make no claim to have discovered absolute answers. However, I do believe I have created here a compelling interpretation. You’ll have to judge for yourself.
The Role of Revelation in Science
Alexandru C. V. Ceapa suggested in his work posthumously published here that comtemorary physicists deny the role of Divine revelation in the making of modern physics and yet Einstein’s derivation of the Lorentz transformation in his 1905 paper on Special Theory of Relativity (“STR”) and his later disregarding of it were the most striking proof that revelation played an essential role in the making of STR. Ceapa’s work challenges all truth seekers to think deeply about the origin of scientific insight and creativity and examine closely the ontological basis of the pillars of modern physics, e.g., Einstein’s STR. If doing so shall assist us move “toward an exciting rebuilding of modern physics” as Ceapa hoped, he had not fought in vain and his work should not be forgotten.
How Self-Relational Consciousness Produces and Interacts with Reality
In essence, Steven E. Kaufman’s work shows how self-relational Consciousness produces and interacts with reality. But to appreciate the important work done by Kaufman, one needs to read the whole 325 pages of this Focus Issue of JCER covering his work. Our goals with this Focus Issue are: (1) bring broader awareness of Kaufman’s work by scholars and all genuine truth seekers; and (2) promote scholarly discussions of the same through commentaries and responses to commentaries in the future issues of JCER. In so doing, we hope that all of us may benefit in our endeavor to reach higher Consciousness within ourselves and build a genuine Science of Consciousness.
A Great Triumph in 21st Century Particle Physics: the Discovery of a New Particle & the Aftermath (by Huping Hu, Maoxin Wu)
On July 4, 2012, CERRN announced discovery of a new particle. Congratulations to CERN, Fermilab, people at LHC, people at Tevatron and all the theoretical and experimental physicists who made this discovery possible over the last 50 years! In the meantime, let us all be cautious and open-minded about the new discovery since there are still unsettling issues. After introductions of Higgs discovery related articles in this issue, we shall focus our attentions on some of the phobic, allergic or even hostile but important issues related to the new discovery. The topics covered includes: Antidote to 20th Century phobia; “higgson” as the name of the new particle; quantum gravity & table top experiments; higgson as the shadow of a fundamental entity; and the 2012 phenomena & and Dawn of a Brave New World. This Editorial ends with a “mathematical” poem entitled “The Real ‘God Particle’ Please Stand Up.”
1. “I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details.” (Einstein, as cited in Ronald Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times, London, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1973, 33).
2. “We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books, but doesn’t know what it is.
That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see a Universe marvellously arranged and obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations.” (Einstein, as cited in Denis Brian, Einstein: A Life, New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1996, 186).
3. “If one purges the Judaism of the Prophets and Christianity as Jesus Christ taught it of all subsequent additions, especially those of the priests, one is left with a teaching which is capable of curing all the social ills of humanity. It is the duty of every man of good will to strive steadfastly in his own little world to make this teaching of pure humanity a living force, so far as he can.” (Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, New York, Bonanza Books, 1954, 184-185).
4. “After all, haven’t the differences between Jew and Christian been overexaggerated by fanatics on both sides? We both are living under God’s approval, and nurture almost identical spiritual capacities. Jew or Gentile, bond or free, all are God’s own.” (Einstein, as cited in H.G. Garbedian, Albert Einstein: Maker of Universes, New York, Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1939, 267).
5. “Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a Spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a Spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.” (Einstein 1936, as cited in Dukas and Hoffmann, Albert Einstein: The Human Side, Princeton University Press, 1979, 33).
6. “The deeper one penetrates into nature’s secrets, the greater becomes one’s respect for God.” (Einstein, as cited in Brian 1996, 119).
7. “The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior Reasoning Power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God.” (Einstein, as cited in Libby Anfinsen 1995).
8. “My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior Spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality.” (Einstein 1936, as cited in Dukas and Hoffmann 1979, 66).
9. “The more I study science the more I believe in God.” (Einstein, as cited in Holt 1997).
10. Max Jammer (Professor Emeritus of Physics and author of the biographical book Einstein and Religion, 2002) claims that Einstein’s well-known dictum, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” can serve as an epitome and quintessence of Einstein’s religious philosophy. (Jammer 2002; Einstein 1967, 30).
11. “The highest principles for our aspirations and judgments are given to us in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition. It is a very high goal which, with our weak powers, we can reach only very inadequately, but which gives a sure foundation to our aspirations and valuations.” (Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years, New Jersey, Littlefield, Adams and Co., 1967, 27).
12. “In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views.” (Einstein, as cited in Clark 1973, 400; and Jammer 2002, 97).
13. Concerning the fanatical atheists Einstein pointed out:
“Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source. They are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who – in their grudge against the traditional ‘opium for the people’ – cannot bear the music of the spheres. The Wonder of nature does not become smaller because one cannot measure it by the standards of human moral and human aims.” (Einstein, as cited in Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion: Physics and Theology, Princeton University Press, 2002, 97).
14. “True religion is real living – living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness” (Einstein, as cited in Garbedian 1939, 267).
15. “Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order.
… This firm belief, a belief bound up with deep feeling, in a superior Mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God.” (Einstein 1973, 255).
16. “Strenuous intellectual work and the study of God’s Nature are the angels that will lead me through all the troubles of this life with consolation, strength, and uncompromising rigor.” (Einstein, as cited in Calaprice 2000, ch. 1).
17. Einstein’s attitude towards Jesus Christ was expressed in an interview, which the great scientist gave to the American magazine The Saturday Evening Post (26 October 1929):
“- To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?
- As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.
- Have you read Emil Ludwig’s book on Jesus?
- Emil Ludwig’s Jesus is shallow. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot.
- You accept the historical Jesus?
- Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” (Einstein, as cited in Viereck 1929; see also Einstein, as cited in the German magazine Geisteskampf der Gegenwart, Guetersloh, 1930, S. 235).
1. 子曰：「為政以德，譬如北辰，居其所而眾星共之。」
The Master said, He that rules by mind is like the north star, steady in his seat, whilst the stars all bend to him.
2. 子曰：「詩三百，一言以蔽之，曰：思無邪。」
The Master said, The three hundred poems are summed up in the one line, Think no evil.
3. 子曰：「道之以政，齊之以刑，民免而無恥；道之以德，齊之以禮，有恥且格。」
The Master said, Guide the people by law, aline them by punishment; they may shun crime, but they will want shame. Guide them by mind, aline them by courtesy; they will learn shame and grow good.
4. 子曰：「吾十有五而志于學，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳順，七 十而從心所欲，不踰矩。」
The Master said, At fifteen, I had the will to learn; at thirty, I could stand; at forty, I had no doubts; at fifty, I understood the heavenly Bidding; at sixty, my ears were opened; at seventy, I could do as my heart lusted without trespassing from the square.
5. 孟懿子問孝。子曰：「無違。」樊遲御，子告之曰：「孟孫問孝於我，我對曰，『無 違。』」樊遲曰：「何謂也？」子曰：「生，事之以禮；死，葬之以禮，祭之以禮。」
Meng Yi asked the duty of a son. The Master said, Not to transgress. As Fan Chi'ih was driving him, the Master said, Meng-sun asked me the duty of a son; I answered, Not to transgress. What did ye mean? said Fan Chi'ih. To serve our father and mother with courtesy whilst they live; to bury them with courtesy when they die, and to worship them with courtesy.
6. 孟武伯問孝。子曰：「父母唯其疾之憂。」
Meng Wu asked the duty of a son. The Master said, He should not grieve his father and mother by anything but illness.
7. 子游問孝。子曰：「今之孝者，是謂能養。至於犬馬，皆能有養；不敬，何以別乎。」
Tzu-yu asked the duty of a son. The Master said, He that can feed his parents is now called a good son. But both dogs and horses are fed, and unless we honour our parents, what is the difference?
8. 子夏問孝。子曰：「色難。有事，弟子服其勞；有酒食，先生饌，曾是以為孝乎？」
Tzu-hsia asked the duty of a son. The Master said, Our manner is the hard part. For the young to be a stay in toil and leave the wine and food to their elders, is this to fulfill their duty?
9. 子曰：「吾與回言終日，不違如愚。退而省其私，亦足以發，回也不愚。」
The Master said, If I talk all day to Hui, like a dullard, he never differs from me. But when he is gone, if I watch him when alone, he can carry out what I taught. No, Hui is no dullard!
10. 子曰：「視其所以，觀其所由，察其所安。人焉廋哉？人焉廋哉？」 The Master said, See what he does; watch what moves him; search what pleases him: can the man lie hidden? Can the man lie hidden?
11. 子曰：「溫故而知新，可以為師矣。」 The Master said, To keep old knowledge warm and get new makes the teacher.
12. 子曰：「君子不器。」
The Master said, A gentleman is not a vessel.
13. 子貢問君子。子曰：「先行其言，而後從之。」
Tzu-kung asked, What is a gentleman? The Master said, He puts words into deeds first, and follows these up with words.
14. 子曰：「君子周而不比，小人比而不周。」
The Master said, A gentleman is broad and fair; the small man takes sides and is narrow.
15. 子曰：「學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。」
The Master said, Learning without thought is naught; thought without learning is dangerous.
16. 子曰：「攻乎異端，斯害也己。」
The Master said, To fight strange doctrines does harm.
17. 子曰：「由！誨女知之乎！知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也。」
The Master said, Yu, shall I teach thee what is wisdom? To know what we know, and know what we do not know, is wisdom.
18. 子張學干祿。子曰：「多聞闕疑，慎言其餘，則寡尤。多見闕殆，慎行其餘，則寡 悔。言寡尤，行寡悔，祿在其中矣。」
Tsu-chang learned with an eye to pay. The Master said, Hear much, leave all that is doubtful alone, speak warily of everything else, and few will be offended. See much, leave all that is dangerous alone, deal warily with everything else, and thou wilt have little to rue. If thy words seldom give offence, and thy deeds leave little to rue, pay will follow.
19. 哀公問曰：「何為則民服？」孔子對曰：「舉直錯諸枉，則民服；舉枉錯諸直，則民 不 服。」
Duke Ai asked, What should I do to win the people? Confucius answered, Lift up the straight, put away the crooked; and the people will be won. Lift up the crooked, put away the straight; and the people will not be won.
20. 季康子問：「使民敬忠以勸，如之何？」子曰：「臨之以莊則敬，孝慈則忠，舉善而 教不能則勸。」
Chi K'ang asked how to make the people lowly, faithful and painstaking. The Master said, Meet them with dignity, they will be lowly; be a good son and merciful, they will be faithful; lift up the good and teach the unskilled, and they will take pains.
21. 或謂孔子曰：「子奚不為政？」子曰：「書云：『孝乎惟孝，友于兄弟，施於有 政。』是亦為政，奚其為為政？」
One said to Confucius, Why do ye not govern, Sir? The Master said, What does the Book say of a good son? 'To be a good son and a friend to thy brothers is to show how to govern.' This, too, is to govern. Must one be in office to govern?
22. 子曰：「人而無信，不知其可也。大車無輗，小車無軏，其何以行之哉？」
The Master said, A man without truth, I know not what good he is! A cart without a crosspole, a carriage without a yoke, how can they be moved?
23. 子張問：「十世可知也？」子曰：「殷因於夏禮，所損益可知也；周因於殷禮，所損 益可知也。其或繼周者，雖百世，可知也。」
Tzu-chang asked whether we can know what is to be ten generations hence. The Master said, The Yin took over the manners of the Hsia; the harm and the good that they did them can be known. The Chou took over the manners of the Yin; the harm and the good that they did them can be known. And we may know what shall be, even an hundred generations hence, whoever follows Chou.
24. 子曰：「非其鬼而祭之，諂也。見義不為，無勇也。」
The Master said, To worship the ghosts of men not akin to us is fawning. To see the right and not do it is want of courage.
第十一章:
三十輻共一轂，當其無，有車之用。埏埴以為器，當其無，有器之用。鑿 戶牖以為室，當其無，有室之用。故有之以為利，無之以為用。
Chapter 11
The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
第十二章:
五色令人目盲﹔五音令人耳聾﹔五味令人口爽﹔馳騁畋獵，令人心發狂﹔ 難得之貨，令人行妨。是以聖人為腹不為目，故去彼取此。
Chapter 12
1. Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take; Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make; The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste; The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange, Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.
2. Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and not the (insatiable longing of the) eyes. He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.
第十三章
寵辱若驚，貴大患若身。何謂寵辱若驚？寵為下，得之若驚，失之若驚， 是謂寵辱若驚。何謂貴大患若身？吾所以有大患者，為吾有身，及吾無身 ，吾有何患？故貴以身為天下，若可寄天下﹔愛以身為天下，若可托天下 。
Chapter 13
1. Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind).
2. What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):—this is what is meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared. And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be (similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
3. Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.
第十四章
視之不見，名曰「夷」﹔聽之不聞，名曰「希」﹔搏之不得，名曰「微」 。此三者不可致詰，故混而為一。其上不皦，其下不昧。繩繩不可名，復 歸於無物。是謂無狀之狀，無物之象，是謂惚恍。迎之不見其首，隨之不 見其後。執古之道，以御今之有。能知古始，是謂道紀。
Chapter 14
1. We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the Equable.' We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the Inaudible.' We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it 'the Subtle.' With these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of description; and hence we blend them together and obtain The One.
2. Its upper part is not bright, and its lower part is not obscure. Ceaseless in its action, it yet cannot be named, and then it again returns and becomes nothing. This is called the Form of the Formless, and the Semblance of the Invisible; this is called the Fleeting and Indeterminable.
3. We meet it and do not see its Front; we follow it, and do not see its Back. When we can lay hold of the Tao of old to direct the things of the present day, and are able to know it as it was of old in the beginning, this is called (unwinding) the clue of Tao.
第十五章
古之善為士者，微妙玄通，深不可識。夫唯不可識，故強為之容：豫兮若 冬涉川﹔猶兮若畏四鄰﹔儼兮其若客﹔渙兮若冰之釋﹔敦兮其若朴﹔曠兮 其若谷﹔混兮其若濁。孰能晦以理之徐明？孰能濁以靜之徐清？孰能安以 動之徐生？保此道者不欲盈。夫唯不盈，故能蔽而新成。
Chapter 15
1. The skilful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep (also) so as to elude men's knowledge. As they were thus beyond men's knowledge, I will make an effort to describe of what sort they appeared to be.
2. Shrinking looked they like those who wade through a stream in winter; irresolute like those who are afraid of all around them; grave like a guest (in awe of his host); evanescent like ice that is melting away; unpretentious like wood that has not been fashioned into anything; vacant like a valley, and dull like muddy water.
3. Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear. Who can secure the condition of rest? Let movement go on, and the condition of rest will gradually arise.
4. They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full (of themselves). It is through their not being full of themselves that they can afford to seem worn and not appear new and complete.
