Brahma Breath: The Cyclical Universe

Both the religious dogma of the biblical Genesis & the scientific dogma of the singular Big Bang always seemed equally absurd to me, in the sense that the entire universe supposedly began at a certain 'discernible' point.

I always struggled with what existed before, which had to be- nothing! Then, the question is how everything came from- nothing! There is really no adequate explanation that our monkey grunts can properly convey. We can say "God did it." or "There was the singularity" but these are just phrases that help us box up The Unimaginable in a comfortably managed package. We try to intellectually deal with the infinite nature of the universe... as long as it's confined inside definite, finite parameters!

The human mind, trying to imagine the state of reality before the beginning of the universe, is easily overwhelmed by this incomprehensible and eternal mystery.

I am definitely of the school of Giordano Bruno who accepted that, as far as human perception is concerned, the infinite worlds inhabiting infinite space. Outside of human perception, however, I am not qualified to speculate - being that I'm only human.

What I find endlessly interesting is the continuing correlation between modern scientific interpretations of the cosmos with ancient metaphysical concepts. I read this Wired interview with physicist Neil Turok in which he makes the following case:

"...the Big Bang represents just one stage
in an infinitely repeated cycle
of universal expansion and contraction.
Turok theorizes that neither time
nor the universe has a beginning or end. "

The further explanation he gave, no matter how scientific, is really just weaving a story around this central concept. Ultimately, Mr. Turok makes yet another excellent point when he says "I feel that the main role for these scenarios of the early universe is to stimulate our thinking. I don't necessarily believe any of them."

Reading these theories about the cyclical nature of reality reminded me of the Hindu idea of the cosmos as going infinite cycle of inward & outward "breaths" that are quite literally the fractal fluctuations of an infinitely complex reality:

Carl Sagan on Hindu Cosmology:

"It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, no doubt, by accident, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the earth or the sun and about half of the time since the big bang. And there are much longer time scales still.

There is the deep and the appealing notion that the universe is but the dream of the god who after a 100 Brahma years… dissolves himself into a dreamless sleep… and the universe dissolves with him… until after another Brahma century… he starts… recomposes himself and begins again the dream… the great cosmic lotus dream."

The Universal Mind

Question: Can you tell what the difference is between these two pictures?










• The picture to the left shows the cosmic structure of galactic clusters.
• The picture on the right shows the neural network of the human brain!

The universe is fractal, holographic, and completely incomprehensible!!!

I found the image of galaxy distribution on the webpage for the Millenium Simulation, in which supercomputers have modeled the known universe in three dimensions. Click on the link to see high-res images... they are awesome visualizations. The picture above is on the scale of 100 million light-years. And that is a relatively close zoom - The cosmic simulation has been carried out and visualized to a scale of over 5 billion light-years (see image below)!!! At this extreme resolution, the universe goes from looking like clustered galactic brain cells to resembling the quantum energy field at the smallest scales of the universe...

I can't help but be amazed at the vast scale and complexity these images represent. To say a human being is nothing but a speck in the universe is an understatement. There's really not much to say when confronted with ideas like this, because the vocal grunts and electrical flashes that make up our consciousness are incapable of handling it. The fact that we can ponder such things at all is perhaps due to the self-similar fractal nature of the universe and, therefore, our mind. The relationship is right there in the two pictures above.

If you really try to wrap your head around what these images mean, human activities such as science, religion, nationalism, and even the fantasy of 'the self' will eventually be revealed as abstract constructs of the human ego. The Universe is God, and vice-versa, and we are like particles within 'It' that blip in and out of existence as fast as an electron zips around a nucleus. That's not to say the human experience is worthless or meaningless - it is what it is...
and it is whatever the human experiencing it makes it out to be!

I think that if people gave more thought to the reality of the infinite scale and complexity of the universe, it would lead to more open-minded contemplation of our tiny, but unique place in the world.


•The microcosm and macrocosm are intimately connected.

"The cycle of Interdependent Origins
takes place in everything, everywhere,
in the infinitely small as in the infinitely great.
Their activity is interconnected,
and they only exist on with the other."
- The Secret Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism

"The development of structures
in what is called microevolution
mirrors the development of structures
in macroevolution and vice versa.
Microstructures and macrostructures
evolve together as a whole."
- Erich Jantsch, Creative Evolution

The Informational Universe

 This PBS article asks the question about the nature of reality:

Is Information Fundamental?

It might seem like a weird question. Our perceptions experience the world as made of matter & energy. However, we now know that there are much more exotic properties to reality at the most basic quantum levels.

How does existence organize itself out of the seeming chaos of the quantum field? How is information preserved throughout all levels, to give rise to atomic order, physical form, forces, and all the other systems that keep the Universe running as it does?

These are deep questions that compel us to dive head-first into infinity, to try and comprehend the unimaginable complexity that we are immersed in.

If the Universe is really made of information, then how much can be stored in a given space? According to the article, the maximum limit is 10^69 bits per square meter, and if you tried to pack information more densely than that, it would collapse into a black hole.

This idea of the world as information has been discussed by the late Terence McKenna, who said

“The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.” 

By "words", he was referring to information- the idea is that by understanding the way in which the Universe processes information, we can use that knowledge to affect it according to our intentions.

McKenna also was interested in "novelty" or new phenomena, which the article also discusses as an aspect of information theory. Basically the Universe favors surprises & additive or cumulative information.

Nassim Haramein has also been exploring the possibility of unifying our view of physics through the organizational patterns of sacred geometry, and he has proposed the theory that ALL information in the Universe is stored at EVERY point in the field. It is a fractal, holographic storage system built into the fabric of reality itself.

 Resonance Science Foundation:

Spacetime as Information – 

An Ordering Principle for Living Systems?

 Planck-Scale Information Network of Spacetime

Ultimately, these are all just labels and primitive attempts at our monkey mind to grasp the infinite expanse & depth of our world. However, by thinking about these things and better understanding this miraculous existence we inhabit, we actually fulfill our purpose. We ARE the Universe itself, learning & cycling back information into a feedback loop that informs every aspect of reality. We are at the same time a tiny piece, yet an integral part of the whole.

Timeline of the Universe

On Reality Carnival I saw this mind-bending timeline that projects future cosmic events from the year 10,000 until the theoretical end of the Universe as we know it.

Timeline of the Universe

Of course, I don't really care what happens to the universe after I die since I won't experience it.

It's interesting to think about, though, how long into the future mankind will be able to extend our brief cosmic existence. To do so, we have to extend our presence outside the solar system so we're not at the mercy of what happens to this particular planet. At the rate we're going, it may take a looong time to begin traveling between the stars.

However, there's also the possibility that both the ancient gnostics & South Park were right- that Earth is a cosmic prison that human beings are trapped in... FOREVER.

Pinewood Derby
Get More: SOUTH
PARKmore...

There's also a section of the website that outlines the history of the known universe.

History of the Universe

Sacred Geometry and Unified Fields

A single form encompasses
the multitude of dharmas,
all of which are interconnected
Within the Net of Indra.

Layer after layer, 
there is no point 
at which it all ends.
Whether in motion or still,
ALL is fully interpenetrating.

- Zhitong (d.1124) 

Even though my career is in graphic art, I have always been interested in science.

In high school & college I took physics courses because I loved the way it analytically uncovered the mysteries of our Universe. However, I also realized that scientists, like everyone else, are just making up stories.

Yes, science is more self-consistent than other intellectual endeavors. It is fairly obvious though, that scientific theories are only limited cases, that do not describe the totality of happenings within the reality we inhabit. Old theories are replaced with new ones as more information becomes available. "Laws" such as thermodynamics are applied to idealized situations. Even previously immutable physical constants are shown to be not as "constant" as we once believed.

Livescience:

Speed of Light May Not Be Constant, Physicists Say

Scientists can sometimes be like priests when it comes to holding onto questionable premises as dogma. The Big Bang, dark matter, and the use of various constants to make equations do what they are expected to do... these are just some examples of faulty premises that have become doctrine that cannot be questioned without fierce resistance from the scientific community.

Maybe it's because I'm also inclined to a mystical point-of-view, but I tend to look beyond the monkey grunts & crude symbols that we use to try to explain the world. Science & math may be more refined than most ways of thinking, but they are still the products of our limited monkey mind.

The Universe is Infinity. 
All we are doing (with any system of knowledge) is looking at bits & pieces of that Infinity, and trying to connect the few stray pieces we can comprehend at any given time.

All that being said, I recently watched this video by Nassim Haramein about new ways of looking at the atomic realm & how it relates to other scales of Reality. It takes alot to blow my mind these days, but this video really made me think about the world in a new way.

*Disclaimer: I am not claiming to fully believe everything he has to say, or that his theories are without flaws. However, to argue about this stuff would be missing the forest for the trees. What he brings is a new vision for understanding the Universe at different scales.

I think fractals are a key to understanding the nature of Reality.
Nassim very much incorporates a fractal view of nature, which I think is crucial to a unified view of the Universe. I don't think that a "Unified Theory of Everything" is actually possible. However, we can always find ways to integrate more & more aspects of scientific theory into more elegant and useful forms.

Scientifically-minded people may hear "sacred geometry" and be immediately repulsed by the mystical implications. However, symbols like 'The Flower of Life' are simply geometric forms studied in an attempt to find underlying patterns in natural processes. There does not need to be anything about "God" or metaphysics injected into the discussion.

I also feel that there is definitely a "zero point" energy inherent in the quantum field. One day, with sufficient understanding and technology, we will be able to extract this infinite energy source, that exists within us & around us, throughout the Universe. When our energy problems are solved, many other difficulties faced by the human race will also be overcome. We will be able to harvest unlimited energy, bend gravity, & travel to the stars, freeing us from the womb of planet Earth- so we can guarantee our survival as a species.

All revolutionary ways of thinking are at first ridiculed by those who have fooled themselves to think they know how things really are. The truth is, we know relatively nothing! However, I think Nassim's talk opens doors to new ways of approaching the way we look at the Universe.

We must keep our mind open and realize that everything, including "truth" & scientific understanding, is subject to change.

 

Many years ago, I had found a web page with quotes & insights from an esoteric Buddhist text, along with those by some of the greatest scientific minds of modern times.  It was an astounding collection of ideas.

I have studied most of the world's religions in depth, have read countless works of philosophy, & studied the many mysteries of the Universe that science has discovered so far. However, this single page contained the most profound, penetrating wisdom I had ever seen.

One day, when trying to re-visit the page, I found that the site had been taken down!!! I was alarmed that this amazing wisdom had vanished from the Web. Some time later, after searching the Internet for some keywords that I had remembered from the text, I finally found another site that had posted the content in its entirety.

Determined not to lose this information again, I bookmarked it, downloaded all of the page's contents on my own computer, & I'm now also going to mirror it here on my blog. This way, there's a better chance that people will see it & it will be available in the future. So, here it is... read these mind-shattering insights carefully & perhaps bookmark it for later contemplation, or share it, to open the eyes of others.

The Secret Doctrine

The primary source for this document is The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects by Alexandra David-Neel & Lama Yongden. Alan Watts calls this work "a wonderfully lucid account of the Madhyamika (or 'middle-way') School of Buddhism, a method of meditation and enlightenment which was worked out sometime between 150 and 250 AD by the great Indian sage and pundit, Nagarjuna." 

Holomovement

The world is movement.

"The tangible world is movement, say the Masters, not a collection of moving objects, but movement itself. There are no objects 'in movements', it is the movement which constitutes the objects which appear to us: they are nothing but movement."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Wholeness is flowing movement. With the hologram, the movement of interference patterns of coherent light enfolds a subtle range of structures and orders. In a similar, but unthinkably vaster, way, the whole movement or "holomovement" of the universe carries the implicate order and allows us to see and experience our four-dimensional space-time world."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


Movement arises from flashes of energy.

"This movement is a continued and infinitely rapid succession of flashes of energy (in Tibetan tsal or shoug). All objects perceptible to our senses, all phenomena of whatever kind and whatever aspect they assume, are constituted by a rapid succession of instantaneous events."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Mind, I believe, exists as fleeting energy in parallel universes. The universe we perceive consists of the overlap of these fleeting flashes of energy. The patterns create mind as surely as they create matter. Both the existence of matter and the perception of it are the same thing."
- Fred Allen Wolf, Parallel Universes


A single result arises from many causes.

"Nothing is produced by one single cause; the combination of several causes is always necessary to bring about a result. The seed without the co-operation of earth, dampness, light, etc. will never become a tree."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Though the universe is in some sense determined, it is in another more important sense multidimensional, creative, and indeterminate, constantly unfolding new 'forms' or subtotalities which are expressions of the whole. The galaxy, the city, the corporation, even the very cells of a human's body are in a ceaseless energy exchange like water flowing through a vortex."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


The microcosm and macrocosm are intimately connected.

"The cycle of Interdependent Origins thus takes place in everything, everywhere, in the infinitely small as in the infinitely great. Its development does not take place progressively in time; the twelve causes...are always present, co-existent and interdependent, their activity is interconnected, and they only exist on with the other."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"The development of structures in what is called microevolution mirrors the development of structures in macroevolution and vice versa. Microstructures and macrostructures evolve together as a whole."
- Erich Jantsch, Creative Evolution


The World as Mental Projection

"Mind" is a description not a thing.

"During his meditations, while watching his mind with close attention, he [the student studying the Secret Teachings] has attained Lhag Thong and 'seeing more' than most men, he has contemplated the continual arising and disappearance of ideas, of volitions, of memories, and so on, which pass like a procession of short-lived bubbles floating down a river. He has realized for himself that 'mind' is only a word indicating a series of mental phenomena."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"For the operation of the nervous system, there is no inside or outside, but only maintenance of correlations that continuously change (like the indicator instruments in a submarine)."
"Self-consciousness, awareness, mind - these are phenomena that take place in language.."
"'Mind' is not an entity but can be ascribed to a system exhibiting regular behavior."
- Humberto Maturana, The Tree of Knowledge


The apparent world is a creation of the observer.

"It is this world which we watch like a play which unfolds outside of ourselves while, in fact, there is nothing there but a canvas bearing many colored patterns, which we have woven and printed in ourselves according to the indications of our erroneous knowledge."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"The apparent world, the one which is perceived, with its figures, its brightness, its colors, is a psychical product, a creation of the observer. The figures seen on the vault of heaven are neither the celestial bodies, nor the true clouds or the falling stars, but are only effigies which the observer's psyche has created and localized how and where it can."
- Vasco Ronchi, Optics, The Science of Vision


All that we perceive are our own projections.

"The greatest saint, even if he has sacrificed a thousand times all that he held most dear, even his life itself, for love of others, for that of a God or for a noble ideal, remains a prisoner of samsara if he has not understood that all that is a childish game, empty of reality, a useless phantasmagoria of shadows which his own mind projects on the infinite screen of the Void"
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"...All sensation will be the reconstruction of objects in space and time from apparent or virtual images of those objects recorded in the cortex. All that we sense as 'out there' is projected from our 'witness' of the recorded virtual images."
- Fred Alan Wolf, Parallel Universes


Memories are painted over our screen of perception.

"This root originally free from any admixture, origin of the illusory world in which we live is a fleeting contact with some unknowable instant of Reality, some indefinable force which the vasanas [memories] obscure at once, superimposing on it the screen on which the images which we see, are painted."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Consciousness unfolds like a computer displaying its contents on a screen. A considerable part of that display comes from the past and is confused with the self."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


Our Illusory Self

Thought encloses itself in its own world.

"What then is this activity from which one ought to abstain? It is the disordered activity of the mind which, unceasingly, devotes itself to the work of a builder erecting ideas, creating an imaginary world in which it shuts itself like a chrysalis in its cocoon."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Thought forms a world of its own in which it is everything. It rectifies itself and imagines there's nothing else but what it...thinks about."
- David Bohm, in RE-VISION 1


We are the many fragments of others.

"The Secret Teachings lead the pupil further. They teach him to look, with the same serene indifference at the incessant working of his mind and the physical activity displayed by the body. He ought to succeed in understanding, in noting that nothing of all that is from him, is him. He, physically and mentally, is the multitude of others.
"This 'multitude of others' includes the material elements - the ground, one might say - which he owes to his heredity, to his atavism, then those which he has ingested, which he has inhaled from before his birth, by the help of which his body was formed, and which, assimilated by him, have become with the complex forces inherent in them, constituent parts of his being.
"On the mental plane, this 'multitude of others' includes many beings who are his contemporaries: people he consorts with, with whom he chats, whose actions he watches. Thus a continual inhibition is at work while the individual absorbs a part of the various energies given off by those with whom he is in contact, and these incongruous energies, installing themselves in that which he considers his 'I', form there a swarming throng."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"The origin of chaos is in our fragmented, atomistic thought. Only when thought is not there would it be possible to perceive what is beyond thought."
- David Bohm, in RE-VISION 1


We do not exist as a soul or individual self.

"The answer to those that imagine that Buddhist salvation consists in the annihilation of the 'ego', at the death of the 'person', is that, as Buddhism denies the existence of an 'ego' or a soul, whatever be the name given to it, there cannot be any question of the annihilation of that which is held to be non-existent.
"In reality there is annihilation but it is that of false views, of ignorance, and more exactly of the belief in the existence of an 'ego' which is independent, homogeneous and permanent, a belief which deforms our understanding of the world in deforming our mental vision."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects 

"Humans come to think of the individual self as a fundamentally separate 'thing' which persists despite an immensity of changes that take place in one's life."
- Briggs and Peat, Looking Glass Universe


Beyond Thought

The void is an absence of anything we can conceive of.

"Void is understood as a state in which the elements do not produce any combination, give rise to no phenomenon, a state in which only forces, latent and non-manifest, exist. Being the sphere of complete absence of manifestation, the Void is inconceivable."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Nothingness' is not the vacuum of physics, loaded with geometry and field fluctuations; it is a nothingness devoid of structure, law or plan..."
- John Wheeler, "Frontiers of Time"


Insight is a process that bypasses thought.

"To go beyond virtue and vice, opinions and beliefs is to go beyond the mental constructions which are built up by the mind, unceasingly, and to recognize, by transcendent insight, that they are void of reality. It is also to recognize, by transcendent insight, that which has been imagined as practicing virtue, surrendering to vice, as holding opinions and elaborating theories, as traveling towards a goal and reaching the goal, is nothing but an inconsistent phantom, devoid of reality."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Insight is an intelligence beyond any of the energies that could be defined in thought. Insight directly transforms matter; it sort of by-passes thought as of little consequence."
- David Bohm, in RE-VISION 1


Consciousness continually creates the universe.

"According to the Secret Teachings the origin of things is not situated in any place or moment of past time; it is produced now, at each instant, in our minds. At every moment the subjective image which is the world, arises in our mind only to sink back and dissolve in it the moment after, like the 'waves which arise from the sea and fall back into it'.
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"Not in the dim past but continuously by conscious mind is the miracle of creation wrought."
- Sir Arthur Eddington


The Great Liberation

"...The well-informed dreamer may cease taking pleasure in dreaming. He may stop imitating those dreamers who, enjoying the phantasmagoria which they watch and in which they play a part, persist in wishing to remain asleep. In truth, why do the dreamers fear awakening, why do they imagine in advance other dreams of hells and heavens which await them after death? It is because they fear that with the disappearance of the 'images seen in dreams', the illusory 'Ego' which is an integral part of them will disappear. They have not yet perceived that the real face of this chimerical 'Ego' is the face of Death. As long as the idea of this impermanent Ego lasts, this simple mass of elements which various causes have brought together and which other causes will separate, death also subsists. The Dhammapada alludes to the disappearance of this phantom from the field of our mental activity when it refers to whom 'death does not see', that is, he for whom death does not exist.
"To wake up...The Buddhas have done nothing else than this, and it is this awakening which has made them become Buddhas."
- The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects

"History is the nightmare from which I am trying to awaken."
- James Joyce, Ulysses

"There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being."
- Albert Einstein

"Subtle, sparkling, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations... That is the radiance of thine own true nature."
- Bardo Thodol

Secrets of Da Vinci's Challenge

As a designer, I feel that all my work can be considered art - regardless of whether it's a package graphics, art for stationery products, or toy/game design. "Da Vinci's Challenge" is a special case for me, though, because it carries more of a classic sense of what art is; a creation that can evoke intellectual and emotional response, holds symbolic meaning, and has a unique aesthetic value.

The most amazing thing about "Da Vinci's Challenge" as a piece of functional art is its timeless heritage. The pattern of interlocking circles that defines the playing surface of the gameboard is an ancient symbol known throughout history by various names; The Flower of Life, the Language of Light, and the Language of Silence... all of which hint at the transcendental and mysterious essence of this beautiful design.

Flower of Life Carving at Osirian Temple in Egypt

The oldest known physical example of this symbol is in the 6,000 year old Osirian Temple in Abydos, Egypt. The temple was a subterranean complex dedicated to Osiris, the god symbolizing death and regeneration... the afterlife and resurrection. The once-underground chambers are the most ancient of all the ancient Egyptian ruins. "The Flower of Life" symbol is carved with laser-like accuracy on huge granite blocks in the temple walls.

In the context of ancient Egyptian mystery religions, "The Flower of Life" represented the infinite, yet structured matrix that subtly forms the reality we experience. This underlying order can be called God, the Universe, the Quantum Field, the Tao, or whatever you prefer to call it. It is the complete, all-encompassing flux of the world- from the smallest electron fields to the largest scales of the cosmos.



This symbol was used by ancient priests and spiritual initiates as a mandala, a geometric or symbolic pattern that is used to focus on a particular state of mind or experience. "The Flower of Life" was used as a meditation on Unity and Interconnectedness. This is not some metaphysical, abstract mumbo-jumbo, but reflects the basic nature of the world we live in.

Every aspect of the universe is connected and meshed at a base level. Science has firmly demonstrated the mystical concept that the cosmos is nothing but patterns of energy vibration interacting at different levels. The real Mystery is how this seemingly random quantum soup organizes itself into recognizable forms and a mind that can perceive these forms. It's easy to say, "God does it all." God IS the mystery, though, so in order to really understand this statement, one has to really investigate the Mystery!

When you look into ideas such as sacred geometry, divine proportion, fractals, physics, cosmology, and other such disciplines, you gain a greater appreciation for the beauty and unexplainable complexity of the universe. The greater your awareness of the structure and nature of reality, the better prepared you will be to utilize it to the benefit of yourself and others. Because of the connective neural structure of the human brain, our mental perceptions of the entire universe are based on our perceived patterns of causal or physical connection. "The Flower of Life" perfectly illustrates this ordered intricate web of scale, structure, and vibration that defines the world. "The Flower of Life" represents the face of God more ideally than any anthropomorphic painting by Michelangelo.

Besides the philosophical meaning that can be drawn from "The Flower of Life" symbol, there is also rich mathematical knowledge that can be found within the perfectly symmetrical form of interlocking circles. Leonardo da Vinci used his keen intellect and sense of observation to study the geometries found within the Flower of Life.

Flower of Life Studies 
by Leonardo da Vinci

  

The pattern is deceptively easy to create. It is begun by simply overlapping 2 identical circles, so the edge of each circle touches the midpoint of the other.



This symbol itself is one of the most ancient and universal symbols known to man. The intersecting circles form a central shape called the 'Vesica Pisces' which, in Christian art, is the basis for the 'Jesus fish' and also the symbol of the womb that the Virgin Mary is often portrayed within. This is a symbol more widely used and much older than Christianity, though. It is a symbol of life, creation, vision, and birth. Incidentally, the Vesica Pisces also defines the energy patterns that lead cells to organize into vital human forms such as the eye, the urethra, the womb, and the mouth. When you start to see such patterns in nature, it is almost as if you are looking into the programming code of reality and the mind.

The third circle is added by placing its midpoint on one of the places where the first two circles intersect. Now the pattern has been establish and it becomes a self-replicating pattern. This step in the pattern can be seen to symbolize the Trinity where a third-dimension of Spirit and Space define the Creation pattern so it becomes a self-regulating phenomenon. From now on, a circle can be placed with its midpoint centered anywhere that the edges of two other circles intersect. The pattern can continue to be repeated and extended endlessly.

A circle is considered rightly to be the perfect form. It represents 'oneness' and 'completeness' its edge has no beginning and no end, but a definite form. This is the fundamental shape that represents the planets, the stars, the moon, the eye, bubbles, water drops. It is the most efficient and sound way to structure matter.

A circle is also the most pleasing to the eye, because of the structural self-similarity. This is easy to prove through understanding human nature. When we are first born, our mind is programmed to search for circles!!! We are automatically drawn to the circular eyes of our mother for recognition, and the round nipples of our mother for nourishment.

This is truly the universal form, and has become the optimal natural shape to guide the survival instincts of human life. Even when we grow older, we are entranced by the circle and compelled to reproduce and continue our species through such mechanisms as our attraction to the 'round' parts of the anatomy. This is part of the wonder of the process of nature and how it is organized in such a fascinating, yet effective way.


The symbol made from the seven circles at the center of "The Flower of Life" is called "The Seed of Life". It can be seen as a metaphor for the 7 days of Genesis from which all Creation expands out of the One, the single center circle. From this basis, the pattern of Creation can expand indefinitely and can contain endless number and types of forms. "The Flower of Life" is a representation of the infinite, yet orderly, matrix that describes both the interconnected structure of the mind and of the Universe that it perceives.


The shapes and colors of the game pieces in "Da Vinci's Challenge" represent the duality that seems to be ingrained in our mental experiences and perceptions. The patterns that are made using these shapes on the game board can be seen as a representation of the infinite forms that can arise from the underlying matrix of order in the Universe and in our brains. The dual black and white colors, as well as the triangle and long oval shapes can be thought of as representations of yin and yang, male and female, active and passive, 0 and 1 binary characteristics that our duality-based consciousness is trained to experience.

By contemplating the overall, random pattern these shapes make when they are all placed on the the underlying matrix of the game board by the end of the game- you can draw comparisons to the structure and nature of the universe and the infinite forms that also arise from basic elements and principles.

All good art and symbolism packs the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of space. "The Flower of Life" has been recognized throughout history as a symbol of prime importance because of the infinite amount of geometric, spiritual, and symbolic information that it can represent.


I encourage you to explore the concepts I've talked about here to help deepen your understanding of your own mind and the world we experience through the limiting filter of the mind. From the beginning of its conception, "Da Vinci's Challenge" has always been intended to be a source of insight, inspiration, and a connection to timeless wisdom for everyone who encounters it.

Most of all, I hope it continues to be a source of enjoyment and bonding for those who play it.

The Official Facebook Page: 

Da Vinci's Challenge 

The Universe is Inside the Earth

I'm pretty well-versed in conspiracy theories & outlandish ideas of all kinds.

 "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine; 

but stranger than we CAN imagine."

-J. B. S. Haldane 

Although all kinds of strange things may be possible, we still have to use our senses and critical thinking to understand our world as accurately as possible.

That is why ideas like the "flat earth" movement drive me nuts. It's just stupid. There's nothing about the reality that we experience that would make it probable that the Earth is a flat disc. Matter naturally accumulates into a sphere, as gravity pulls mass toward all other mass. Look at water droplets, bubbles, etc.

When looking at other celestial bodies it's clear that they have to be spherical in nature. This is self-evident, unless you believe that there is a massive conspiracy involving literally every space agency, astronomer, & anyone who's ever looked through a telescope.

As with so many things in today's interconnected world of limitless digital media, it's tough to tell who is a troll and who really believes this stuff. "The Flat Earth Society" is as ridiculous as a "Moon is Made of Green Cheese" society. Yeah ok, there is a infinitesimal chance it's true, & we've been fed a vast web of lies, but it's so unlikely & defies common sense that it's really just silly.

Then, there is a whole new level of craziness people take their theories to, whether or not it's something they truly believe or are making a joke.

I saw this funny approach to out-doing conspiracy theorists using the Moon, & the comments led me to the amazing image at the top of this post. The 'flat earth' theory seems plausible compared to that configuration. It illustrates the absurd notion that the Universe & the cosmos are actually inside the Earth.

It's a hysterically bizarre & unlikely view of the world. I refuse to accept that someone could actually believe that reality is organized as depicted in that image. It has to be a joke, right???

Oh, I guess not...

Flat Earth Must Decrease, LSC Concave Earth Must Increase 

Lord Steven Christ

However, the same the question arises in this model, as in the accepted scientific view of the Universe- What is 'outside' of the boundaries? The image at top depicts a hard boundary between the crust of the earth and... blackness? In actuality, the idea of cosmic boundaries may not even apply. I think the Universe is a fractal pattern, infinitely self-enclosed with no discernible edge. Our brain cannot formulate the idea of something without edges or definition.

That is why people come up with simple explanations of the way the world works- because the truth is so complex & unimaginable that the mind is powerless to truly envision it all.

3D Comparison of Sizes in The Universe

In my opinion, one of the most important uses of digital media is to visualize concepts that would otherwise be difficult (if not impossible) for our minds to comprehend.

On io9, I saw this new video by Reigarw Comparisons that compares the scales of objects & phenomena in 3D.

I have previously posted several different comparisons of scale that look at our reality from the subatomic to the cosmic level. Animations like these help us wrap our head around the practically infinite depth and complexity of The Universe.

• Cosmic Eye: Scale of the Universe

• Scale of the Universe 2 

• Powers of Ten (10)

• The Known Universe

Cosmic Eye: Scale of the Universe

On Reddit's r/space, I saw this animated GIF that is one of the most important things a person can watch to get a glimpse of the nature of reality.

That scale tho...  (keeps going and going...)

It is a journey through the known scales of the Universe, from the farthest cosmic expanse (macrocosm) down to the subatomic quantum level (microcosm). The human being lies somewhere in the middle of this seemingly infinite continuum, the conscious nexus of experience.

Here's a video version in HD:

Cosmic Eye

There have been other attempts to visually represent the vast scales of inner & outer space, some of which I have posted before:

• Scale of the Universe 2

• Powers of Ten (10)

• The Known Universe

All these are tools for our minds to help comprehend the incomprehensible- the very nature of the Universe of which we are an integral part.

Scale of the Universe 2

I posted awhile ago about an interactive animation that allows you to use a slider to visually travel through the spectrum of scale that encompasses the Universe- from the quantum level to the most expansive areas of the cosmos.

The Scale of the Universe has been recently updated with more info & animated graphics.

The Scale of the Universe 2

This is one of the most mind-blowing conceptual tools I've come across on the web.
Unfortunately, even presented in such a simple & accessible format, the vast nature of reality is ultimately impossible for the mind to fully grasp.

I think that studying fractal geometry, and especially how it applies to generative computer art, has helped me develop a better understanding of the Universe. The natural world is full of recursive patterns & self-similarity on all scales.

Scale of the Universe

Significant events of life and death always give me serious pause for thought. Pondering the mysteries of existence should effectively stretch the imagination. The more thoroughly we try to understand reality, the more emergent information seems available to engage the endless fractal recesses of our minds.

This website I saw linked on BoingBoing features an amazing interactive Scale of the Universe. It visualizes the conceptual continuity from the quantum level to the vast cosmic aspects of the Universe. This interactive scale is a fascinating tool that can instill the deep understanding that we have no idea what the hell is going on.

"The Scale of the Universe"


The mind is the center of the Universe.

Exploring the Quantum-Mind-Universe

After yesterdays post about fractal art, the recursive nature of reality must have been on my mind.

I saw this story on Raw Story earlier,

"Quantum Leap in Technology
to Unravel 'Cosmic Web' of Universe"

...Which reminded me of some tech news I saw on Infosthetics a few days ago:

"Brain Model Visualization"

...Both of which reminded me of comparisons I've made before about the structure of reality at different scales, from the quantum to the cosmic.

The Monkey Buddha:
Posts about "Fractal Reality"

All the scientists and data visualization experts are coming to realize that the quantum world, the mind, and the universe are all exactly the same thing. Perhaps a consequence of our perceptive realities expanding into each other will be an infinite interconnection of intelligence that surpasses any form of 'reality' that we can imagine.

What if the mind becomes fused with the light machines known as computers or even with the base energy of the universe itself & one can multi-task one's consciousness at the speed of light?
What will existence be like when you can simultaneously communicate, create, and learn in a virtual space with no limitation of linear input? Modes of thought experience will obviously be much more un-linear and vast than what the sensory-driven mind is currently capable of conjuring.

Ultraviolet Vision

This design can be found at
The Monkey Buddha Bazaar

Random Politics & Science

Decisions, decisions...

Last night I was veggin out switching between watching cable news or History Channel's 'The Universe'.

I opted to avoid the news. The big story was that the Democrats allowed the most obnoxiously two-faced weasel in national politics, Joe Lieberman, to retain his chairmanship of a key committee. I will patiently wait for future outrage over some jerk-off move that Joe the Two-Timing Weasel will inevitably pull against the Obama administration.

Mack-daddy Obama took the waaaay high ground on this one, but maybe his forgiving gesture will pay off. If you're not careful, though, someone like that will do you really dirty. Joe Lieberman looks like Senator Palpatine & it occurs to me that 'Holy Joe's' potential antagonism toward Obama might end up resembling the following scenario:



So anyway.... I watched The Universe instead. The animations on thse kinds of shows are great mental visualization tools. All the talk though of entities such as gravitons, superstrings, parallel universes, higher dimensions, & so on, are just creative labels for the endless manifestations of infinity. Science is, generally speaking, another story or symbol set we manipulate to mainly affect our own consciousness. We may think it somehow describes things "out there", but it is mostly the organization of the perceptions in our own head.

One way to describe what appears to be the physical universe would be "infinites upon infinites nested inside the infinity of countless infinites". Some would say that the universe is a fractal, but it would be more accurate to say that 'Reality' is infinite- with fractal patterns being an aspect of the infinity.

Either that, or it's all just a dream.

The Universe: Infinities Upon Infinites

Been there, done that... Been there, done that... Been there, done that...

It's very interesting to compare the "discoveries" of current science and their amazing analogs throughout ancient history, whether in philosophy or technology.

"No Big Bang?
Endless Universe Made Possible by New Model"

"Lord Vishnu is said to rest in the coils of Ananta,
the great serpent of Infinity,
while he waits for the universe to recreate itself."

Contract with the Universe

I saw this on Dedroidify & thought it was pretty awesome.

It is a "contract" between The Universe & the 'Life Form' reading it:

click for larger size:

It was originally posted on the Facebook page for Symphony of Science.

Seeing the terms of our existence spelled out like this makes you realize how lucky we are to have such a rare chance at Life.

The whole idea is great - humorous & profound at the same time. I especially like how The Universe's signature is a brushstroke containing a vista of space.

So, are you living up to your end of the agreement?...

The Universe is Brain-Shaped

This is the 1,000th post I've written since I started this blog over 6 years ago, in 2005.

"Intro to the Monkey Buddha"

Although I don't usually have time to post as often as I'd like, this is a great creative outlet for me.

Since I'm usually busy creating visual art, I'm not sure how else I would get to write about all the topics that interest me.

Anyway, for a milestone post such as this, I decided to reveal one of the funda-mental mysteries of the universe, in graphic form:




I've also added this design to my Cafepress shop, The Monkey Buddha Bazaar, featured on different items:

Cafepress:

"The Universe is Brain Shaped"



“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”

-Siddhartha Guatama, The Buddha

The Most Astounding Fact

In my last post, I dismissed the quest to sum up The Universe in a series of scientific theories & formulas. 

Scientific thinking can exist beyond the effort to calculate & quantify. We can also use our reason, paired with imagination, to tell a descriptive story about processes that can connect to people on an experiential level.

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson gave this inspired answer to the question: "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?"

It's a physicist's eloquent answer to the Zen koan-

 "What did your original face look like,

before your parents were born?"

Your original face was all the elemental, molecular, and energetic phenomena scattered throughout the cosmos for the billions of years, before being incorporated into your "person".

Of course, the phenomenon of a living being, and all the elements it contains, continually changes. Eventually, the process we call a "person" will once again be elements scattered into new processes throughout the universe.

Here is a collage of other distinguished men who "just want to watch the world learn"; Bill Nye, Dr. Tyson, Mr. Rogers, Carl Sagan, & Bob Ross.

Also, in light of the recent meteor sightings, here is some cosmic wisdom from Dr. Ed Lu, & tweeted by Dr. Tyson:

"Asteroids are nature's way of saying, 

'How's that space program coming?'"

 

There is No "Theory of Everything"

Whenever I see a reference to a "Theory of Everything" in physics, I can't believe that people seriously discuss such an absurd concept.

I understand that it usually refers to the goal of unifying general relativity & quantum mechanics, but the name gives the false impression that there's some way to mathematically model all the physical systems in The Universe in a formulaic manner.

It's nice to know there are scientists who don't buy into that fantasy.

Lisa Randall in New Scientist:

A Theory of Everything

Won't Provide All The Answers

Even Stephen Hawking came to his senses:

Physics Buzz:

Hawking & Mlodinow: No 'theory of everything'

 

It's been many years since taking any courses on the subject, but I still enjoy learning about physics. The more I learn, though, the more apparent it becomes that Reality is relatively infinite in complexity & cannot be fully defined by any set of man-made symbols.

Equations can calculate (& scientific theories can generalize) many different phenomena in this world. However, despite the modelling power of calculus, fractals, & other mathematical tools, they are still very limited. The Universe has dimensions & properties that we haven't even discovered yet. How can we accurately model something we can't fully comprehend?

Physicists will continue to describe & measure the many fascinating aspects of this world. They will continue to try to simplify & consolidate general theories. In response, The Universe will continue to grow in detail as people peer ever-deeper into its mysteries.

The Known Universe

On the great website Information Aesthetics I saw this mind-bending video by the Amercan Museum of Natural History. It is a virtual tour of The Known Universe. It is only in the macro-scale, however, - going from the Himalayas to the outer reaches of cosmic background radiation. I would recommend watching it in full screen HD if possible.

The Known Universe by AMNH

Anybody familiar with fractal images should recognize the similarity to natural forms on the wide scales shown in the video, especially in earths geography & coastlines.

This kind of visualization should give anyone a profound sense of wonder at our situation in this world.

Giga Galaxy Zoom

Zoomable Cell Sizes

Powers of Ten

To see reality in the proper perspective, we have to give up the idea of human existence being 'significant' versus 'insignificant'. Ideas like "nothing matters" and "life is a miracle" can both be true or false depending on your individual outlook & psyche.

Everything literally just 'is as it is'. Life is an eternal mystery that has no 'answer' or 'purpose' as defined by the human mind.