as opposed to screaming at the top of my lungs.

Everything is itself.

I think the human software operates in the physical plane with everything we can see/physically interact with/measure, but the interactions and higher thoughts are all from another plane… this plane of interconnectedness is where nature operates, and most animals are unconsciously aware of it, but humans refuse to believe because they want more power.

I wrote the passage above three years ago at what seems to be a much different time in my life. It came out of a conversation revolving around the possible implications of the wave-particle duality paradox of quantum mechanics. In a nutshell, it was demonstrated that the tiny particles that make up the tiny atoms that make up everything we see could not only exist in two places at once, but also behaved like waves when they weren’t being measured. Elementary particles, then, exhibit a state of “superposition” when they’re not being measured — as in the case of the Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment — essentially meaning they exist in a state of potential. Somehow, the act of measurement “collapses the wavefunction” into the orderly state we find our fridge every time we open the door. It had also been demonstrated that particles with the same “spin” were “entangled”, which meant that if you altered the spin of one, the spin of the other would change instantaneously, even if it was on the other side of universe (“nonlocality”). To make a descriptive leap, since everything in our universe sprang from a single point, all the particle that make it up would be entangled with one another.

The infamous “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear (measure) it, would it make a sound?” paradox comes to mind. With this new information at hand, one might now ponder the very existential potentiality of this tree, let alone it’s capacity to generate a sound. In a sense, the tree would both make a sound and not make a sound at the same time. But I’ve always been skeptical of the new age-ish inclination to assume that human consciousness is the universal measuring tool without which the universe around us would only “exist” in superposition, commensurately “not existing”, and that we are the architects of the material world (think law of attraction taken to the nth degree). Since we know that supernovae are the only things in the universe that can manufacture some of the key elements required in the makeup of the human body, as well as the planet, we can easily assume the supernovae were here first, before human consciousness came about by the very order it now observes. That, and the fact that sight isn’t the only form of measurement.

This is the logic I apply to trees falling in the woods when I’m not around. I think the misunderstanding spawns from an idealization of human consciousness. When we discuss the effect we may have on the material world because it’s made up of things that behave differently when we’re not around, we’re employing the use of millions of neural pathways of which we are completely unaware, so how does that factor into the nonlocal nature of reality? And how does all this tie into the statement above?

I think the human software operates in the physical plane with everything we can see/physically interact with/measure, but the interactions and higher thoughts are all from another plane… this plane of interconnectedness is where nature operates, and most animals are unconsciously aware of it, but humans refuse to believe because they want more power.

The human software, in this case, is the self. Some might refer to this as the soul, but essentially, it’s “you”. Your thoughts, your memories, your senses; your experience. And you experience yourself on a particular human framework, or hardware. The human software and the physical plane in which it operates are what the late physicist David Bohm referred to as the “explicate order”. Breaking things down into parts is a product of the human hardware experienced through the software. That which makes up that illusive whole which is more than the sum of it’s parts is the “implicate order”, the entangled universe existing and not existing depending on the wave function. 

The nonlocal field of potential that everything exists in before it’s measured, being entangled with everything, could theoretically entangle our unconscious as well, being that our unconscious is programmed on some form of physical hardware. So it too exists out of the same potential that produced physical things from atoms to stars. We can understand today that we are the multiverse experiencing itself subjectively the same way that we now understand the world is round and that the earth goes around the sun, or as Carl Sagan so succinctly put it, “we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” Notice he did not choose to say “the way”, which I think is crucial, especially in the context we’re in.

I should have clarified, this is not where nature operates in so much as it is simply nature, but I suppose the way I’m thinking about it is: if the cosmos is everything, then nature would be it’s operating system, while still maintaining that they are both itself. Again, you may recognize these concepts loosely as other terms (multiverse, everything, nature, potential, god, etc)… tomato, tomato. It has long been recognized that life generally has an innate sense for the laws of nature with which it is miraculously (mysteriously) in harmony. This makes sense if you extend this concept of evolution to the rest of the cosmos. One can observe the rings in a tree and glean how many times the earth went around the sun based on their findings. Humans have many of the same qualities when you examine our hardware (for instance, developing on a part of a planet that is showered with uniform light for long intervals via a distinct pattern that is reflected in our circadian rhythm). The tree contains information and cannot skew it with an agenda. Humans can and do.

I kind of wish I didn’t use the word power. It was appropriate at the time, but now I see that word in a whole new light. To single out “power” leaves too much ambiguity, for me at least. I know many who see “power” in this context will immediately take the whole quote as applying only to the socially, politically, and economically powerful elite of the day, and that’s understandable as those individuals inflict such intense influence or our society, but my intention was to be more general because in one way or another, our egos will get in the way. “Control” or “attention” would have worked as well. But I don’t think the society-at-large is as excited about the scientific method as it should be (might have something to do with the ever decreasing NASA and education budgets and the continued strength and influence of religiously minded people and the minion factories behind them). We’re still trying to exist on this planet as if it was made just for us and every generation gets a new one. We forget, or actively ignore, the fact that we are the result of 14.7 billion years of ordered-chaos, 4.5 billion years of life on this particular little, watery speck. We build cities on fault lines. There are even plans to colonize the moon with, wait for it…. a strip mall. And still, even now, I want to hold the powers that be accountable for having the audacity to take a leadership position while operating on truths of an untrue world. But it’s not like those psychopaths aren’t backed up by coalitions and supporters. And some of them want to inform me on their so called truth as much as I want to inform them of mine because somewhere deep down we both know that at the end of the day, “it’s” going to require everyone. But all sorts of ideologically-opposed individuals believe fantastic things to be true. And that’s why I think it’s so important to recognize the power dynamics that exist and how they got there as well as what sort of egocentric qualities do WE have as products of not just this insane society, but the development of the universe, life, the brain, and our mind/body’s relationship to this vibrational frequency. I don’t mean egocentric in a pejorative way, but just as we eventually had to move from the geocentric model of the universe to a heliocentric model of solar systems, we must now take steps away from an egocentric theory of the universe to a symbiotic one.

So what is the point in understanding all of this when the most influential characters in that which we alone cannot change 1) cannot even access the parts of their brain that would allow them to constructively conceive of these realities and apply them accordingly to their areas of influence, 2) use the information to spread malice and perpetuate power dynamics, or 3) even if they could, don’t give a fuuuck. I don’t have the answer to that question. However, this topic and the notion that “perfect information being available is the solution to soceities problems” came up recently in a conversation with some friends. The only problem is that the dawn of reason was only 400 years ago and it didn’t have a very easy start. The depth of manipulation by the church over such a greater length of time than 400 years shows even today, on top of generations of incorrect theories of psychology and life and  cultural values that prioritize selfishness, distrust, and competition/domination, so to say that because the information is there and it hasn’t moved more people to act means we should toss out the big appeal for objectivity is evidence of a misunderstanding of information (I’m speaking generally now) as it exists. Perfect information (perfectionism aside) may exist because information is there (it’s in formation) whether we believe it or not, but we don’t have a scientifically literate ruling class (if it isn’t profitable that is) and a lot of that information hasn’t made its way into conventional wisdom/common sense so that it may inform better decisions. We have to reinvigorate a new dawn of reason, which IMHO transcends political theater.

I have no conclusion for this piece. It’s actually been sitting in my draft folder for quite sometime because of that. I don’t know what to do about the political theater and the powers that be other than what I’ve been doing, speaking truth to power, and sometimes that gets hairy, not just with authority figures or the state, but with friends and fellow organizers and activists. I understand, but it’s frustrating when I’m perceived as invalidating someone’s experience because I’m pointing out the correlation between rings in a tree stump and the path of the earth around the sun. The abstract world of experience and meaning is beautiful, it’s the attachment part that I’m not interested in. It’s as Jiddu Krishnamurti said, “truth is a pathless land.” and when you get attached to an idea or a belief, it’s like taking a pole, jamming it in the ground and chaining yourself to it. I dunno where I’m going with this.. I’m just going to post it and maybe add to it later or something.

swan

RE: James Holmes’ being a ‘black bloc group member - I’m calling BS

I read an article on Examiner.com the other day linking the shooting in Aurora, CO with not only black bloc tactics, but to OWS and terrorism. This didn’t come as much of a surprise, as Examiner has proven itself to be a space for sensationalist, right-winged “reporting” (or as us learned folk call it, conjecture) and clearly intentional misinformation to smear the left in anyway possible. They do this by relying on their viewership to never look into anything and to be ignorant enough to simply write a comment contributing to the destruction of anything to the left of them. I allowed myself to let this slide until I saw an “updated” article on the same site, as well as numerous other articles with this “information” copy and pasted. I could no longer laugh it off. And this post is probably just self-gratifying, but it really irks me when unchecked conventional wisdom spreads so widely and quickly and I don’t see what I think would be the right amount of clarification being put out.. most likely because most of the intelligent folks that read a headline like “Radical Left-Wing & Registered Democrat, Obama Supporter, Occupy Black Bloc Member James E. Holmes Shoots Up Aurora Co Movie Theater:” and know anything about the radical left and Black Bloc just write it off, as I intended to do. But this needs to be addressed.

Every site I can find with this association cites Bill Warner, a so-called “private eye” as their source. And what is Warner’s evidence to the claims made about James Holmes? His own speculations and “analysis of OWS members and violent black bloc tactics”. So put another way, there is no evidence. But that’s not as important to the people who hate the left so much, they’ll bend facts to fit their truth. It’s not like the left isn’t guilty of this as well, but that’s the issue with collectivizing individuals - each individual takes on the assumed qualities of the group, regardless of what that individual says. And of course, the assumed qualities of a group depend on who you ask. So, to someone like Bill Warner, black bloc tactics only consist of violence and the desire to kill cops. He says nothing about anonymity, solidarity, diversity of tactics, defense against the “legal” violence of the state, etc…. As the basis for his analysis, since James Holmes was clearly very organized (with himself), wore black, used violence, and rigged his apartment as to potentially kill or injure first responding police, this makes him a “black bloc participant”, like the “terrorist anarchists” “thwarted” by the FBI in Chicago leading up to NATO and in Cleveland on May Day 2012. He completely fails to mention that both of these scenarios were almost completely carried out on behalf of the FBI itself. They provoked and pushed increasing levels of violence, found insecure, angry people, advocated for escalation, supplied information and resources (transportation, “bomb”), and a plan, and then charged the people with terrorism as if they had come up with the planning and attempted execution all on their own.

You can tell when someone doesn’t know what they’re talking about when they refer to someone as a “black bloc group member”. I’m going to stay clear of the debates within different sects of what people on the left call themselves and how they feel about each other, but I think it’s important to know that black bloc is a tactic, not a group. And the tactic is not solely based on property destruction, which is often confused with violence, nor is it solely based on actual violence. People dressed in all black have attacked other people, store fronts, cop cars, etc, but to say that destruction is the only means within the black bloc tactic is disingenuous. To keep it short, I’ll quote wiki: “mainly consists of defensive tactics like misleading the authorities, assisting in the escape of people arrested by the police (“un-arrests’ or “de-arrests”), administering first aid to persons affected by tear gas, rubber bullets and other riot control measures in areas where protesters are barred from entering, building barricades, resisting the police, and practicing jail solidarity.” I personally think that it is the anonymity that is the double-edged sword…

Somehow, an article that didn’t make me throw up was posted on Examiner pointing out how unfounded Warner’s claims are. She even interviews him and confirms that he has no evidence (and that the evidence presented thus far would actually distance Holmes from Occupy San Diego). Read the article/listen to the interview here. And thank you, Kali Katt, for being on top of it. She goes on to point out what seems to be a growing trend of assassinating the “occupy” idea by any means necessary, from linking it to terrorism, to linking it to both past and recent murders.

Below is a picture of black bloc in action during the Oakland Commune’s Move-In Day to illustrate how black bloc is oftentimes organized to fulfill what the police are supposed to be doing: protecting peaceful protesters… in this case, it’s from the State. It’s difficult for some to swallow since it challenges the ideas that the black bloc tactic (and anarchism in general) is violent and that the police (the enforcement arm of the State) are there to protect your rights as a citizen, but more importantly, as a human being. Denial is a big part of the acceptance process, and while I know that many won’t be able to understand, more and more folks are starting to realize that it is most commonly the State that brings the ruckus, subsequently scapegoating the voices of dissent and justifying it’s violence through the political and judicial systems. Each one of us must challenge ourselves with this perspective; we must encourage ourselves and others to call out ideologies that perpetuate the dominate culture of ignorance and capitulation to authority… One doesn’t have to be an anarchist or an academic to see something so obvious.

Comcast and “Occupy”

On November 2, 2011, I joined a group of semi-like minded individuals under the inexact label “Occupy Philadelphia” in a day of action in response to and in solidarity with a call made by “Occupy Oakland” (later to be referred to as the “Oakland Commune”) for a “99 Minute General Strike” (in reference to the “99%” motif). The call was made because an Iraq veteran, Scott Olsen, was deliberately shot in the head by a police projectile during “Occupy” demonstrations in Oakland (the deliberation may not have been to strike him in the dome, but it was certainly aimed at him and the group he was with) and lists of other “Occupy” encampments answered the call to speak out in solidarity with Oakland against police brutality, qualified immunity, and abuse of police power. And not just against the “Occupy” movement, but against dissent in general, as well as the overarching normality of the quasi-military occupation police and legislation force on communities of color on a regular basis. Essentially, as I attributed to most things “Occupy”, we were standing up against and bringing awareness to man made perpetual motion machines of oppression of which we are all simultaneously victims as well as participants. I understand when people don’t “get” “Occupy”.

Other than marching, something that honestly has little effect more than preaching to the choir you’re already singing with (save a few who can actually comprehend the web of associations common to the lunatics screaming at them from the streets and themselves), we wanted to do something that would command the attention of the “public”, and possibly, albeit improbably, set off some indeterminate chain of events that could somehow lead to some sort of accountability from the plutocratic nobility seated comfortably atop their thrones. Talks of possible ideas began the night before and when Comcast was suggested, I lacked the appropriate information (other then that Comcast is a very powerful corporation and thus, most like has some (golden) skeletons in their closet) to agree or disagree, so I consented to the action. We agreed to do something useful with our first amendment rights and call Comcast out on their crimes against the city from the their own beastly belly.

As it turns out, I was right in my assumption. While Comcast does practice monetary philanthropy to the sum of some millions every year, I view that as the humanitarian equivalent to eating cake and ice cream all day, but justifying your gluttony because you also take vitamin supplements. From the court solidarity event page:

We the people find Comcast guilty of the following crimes:

1. Monopolizing Media - Comcast is the largest cable provider in the country, the largest internet service provider, and the third largest telephone service provider. There is currently a class action lawsuit moving to trial in Philadelphia brought forward by consumers. The lawsuit claims Comcast robbed Philadelphians of almost a billion dollars by violating anti-trust laws to prevent competition.

In 2011 Comcast bought NBCUniversal in a highly controversial deal that turned the company into a 30 billion dollar behemoth that controls not only media distribution, but also media production. Through this process Comcast also bought an FCC commissioner, Meredith Atwell Baker, who sped up the merger process and then resigned early from her post as government regulator to take a job lobbying for Comcast, in an egregious example of the revolving door between corporations and the government agencies tasked with regulating them.
http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/
http://www.topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/1769-comcast-monopoly-class-action-lawsuit-heads-to-trial

2. Not Paying Taxes - Comcast avoids paying millions in property taxes in Philadelphia as a result of a 10 year tax abatement, even though they earn billions in profits from having their headquarters here. Meanwhile, 67 public schools are proposed to be closed in the city over the next five years because “there’s not enough money” for education.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Comcast-Wal-Mart-Exxon-owe-PA-tax-reformers-say.html

3. Attacking Net Neutrality - Net Neutrality is the principle that allows information to flow freely over the internet, preventing corporate and government censorship. Comcast’s attacks on net neutrality seriously threaten the internet as an open and free flowing source of information and space for democratic engagement. Comcast is currently involved in a fight against Netflix, as they seek to monopolize production and distribution of media.
http://centerformediajustice.org/2011/12/07/5335/

4. Attacking Public Access TV - Comcast is forced to fund public access television, but have been undermining the service. On the TV Guide channel, public access shows are only listed as Public Access Television, instead of actually naming what shows are playing, like most other channels. This decreases viewership and builds Comcasts crooked case that no one watches public access TV.
Support https://phillycam.org/

5. Corporate Greed - Comcast’s CEO, Brian L. Roberts, earned more than $18 million in 2012, earning him a spot as one of the most highly paid CEO’s in the country. On the day of this demonstration Comcast posted 3rd quarter profits of over $900 million, up 5% from the previous year. Monopolizing media markets, ripping off consumers, and undermining the democratic potential of communications is a lucrative business.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2012/12/ceo-compensation-12_Brian-L-Roberts_1BLX.html

Recent news: 50 protestors disrupt Comcast’s shareholder’s meeting http://articles.philly.com/2012-06-02/business/31960337_1_comcast-executive-vice-president-meredith-attwell-baker-tax-loopholes

Each one these points can be expanded upon ad infinitum (including the amount of local, state, and federal lobbying and political campaign fund raising Comcast utilizes to buy city citizen’s home team advantage - rendering them voiceless, unless, of course, they can somehow rake in millions of personal profit each year), but if I’m to stay true to my reasons for participating in the demonstration, I have to say, although Comcast should be held accountable for these crimes and conflicts of interest, I viewed them as par for the course we, as a people, as a species, are on.

When I entered the headquarters of the global conglomerate Comcast, I did so with two intentions: one was to illuminate the crimes committed by Comcast; crimes I view as incentivized behavior in this society. My second intention was more broad. It was to draw more attention to the “Occupy” movement, something I understood as an allegorical concept loosely represented through the enforcement of accountability by conscious individuals to the most powerful corporate leaders and heads of state (a distinction I’m not sure was ever factual). Given that the Comcast Center lobby is marketed to Philadelphians as public space during hours of operation, I was absent of any notion that I would have been “trespassing”… my intention was never to engage in what could later be considered a “criminal” action. In fact, I had every intention of expressing my first amendment rights to highlight what I believe to be a defense against the corporate and government colonization of freedom in this country: the “Occupy” movement.

Comcast is not atypical in a society that blatantly prioritizes the pursuit of profit over the lives of people, and exerts it’s influence to keep them on top. I know a lot of genuinely good people who are employed by Comcast, or any number of centralized corporate or government jobs, and my qualms are not with them. What are people to do in this economy? The same way Comcast has monopolized the media sector so that it’s profits rise even as it’s customer service falls, it’s employees are forced to fit a mold dictated by Comcast in order to survive. This is the basic “work to survive; survive to work” mentality of our current cultural purview, perpetuated and force fed back into society not only by the richest and most powerful people, but the “cogs” in those people’s “machine” as well. We must participate in order for them to maintain control over us, but they (not just Comcast) rather efficiently exploit people’s basic survival instincts, in collusion with the rest of the corporate state, to maintain an economic dictatorship over the citizens of a supposedly free nation.

Comcast is not alone, but the potential I saw in the meaning I chose to apply to the “Occupy” movement gave me hope. Perhaps it’s naive, but I went in thinking the more people who realized the consequences of maintaining a society this way; the more people who started asking questions and demanding answers from those who are responsible, the closer we could get to evolving what could one day be considered our ancient civilization. This hope remains close to my heart regardless of the state of “Occupy” or the consistency of my existential angst. Is it really all that far-fetched to believe that, as a creativity based, problem solving species, we can do better?

Why does Comcast, being the most influential communications and broadcasting nonpareil, not feel morally responsible to make sure that their customers (and those over whom their influence reigns) are not only happy in ways that are not profitable to Comcast, but are also provided with the most up to date, unbiased information? An informed public would be detrimental to corporations like Comcast and the state, so it doesn’t surprise me that Comcast executives, as well as the politicians and lobbyists they’ve bought, are more interested in personal gain, lobbying, and bipartisan campaign fund raising than they are with the physical and psychological health of the public. They are simply playing a rigged game; a zero-sum game of musical chairs in that some must always lose in order for others to win.

I believe “Occupy” represents an inevitable consequence of oppression: resistance. And more than just resistance, potential: the potential to stop competing and start cooperating; the potential for the human species to learn from our past mistakes; the potential to create a world based on the free flow of the most up to date information, critical thinking, and self awareness; a world based on fact as opposed to the highest paying opinion. We simply cannot continue ignoring the truth and, to this end, I believe Comcast has exposed itself as a bad citizen of our shared world.

So Comcast has a choice to make… but it will most likely continue ignoring it’s influence and thus it’s responsibility to the human race. But we CAN do better. The choice is, in fact, ours. Without us, Comcast is nothing. What would happen if the bottom of the pyramid decided, upon it’s own informed volition, to stop upholding the top?

What will you choose to do knowing what you know now? Regardless of how you feel about “Occupy”, corporations, nor the state, can dictate who you are. We are at a point when we must stand up against the cultural status quo or perish. The only way forward is together.

The Swan

???

Defying belief.: The Word "Feminism"

There’s a General Strike in the forecast!

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Three-Quarters Of Money Raised By Top Romney Bundlers Come From Lobbyists For Big Energy, Financial Services