Things I Cannot Read Aloud

I hear middle aged whites shouting “i want my country back” and “follow the Constitoootion!” at tea party rallies. Why are they saying this? I want to ask them: “who took your country and which constitution?”. I think they are referring to the original version of the Constitution which did not prevent restrictions on voting rights or ownership of slaves. Furthermore, I think these folks look around, see a black president, lots of brown faces and unfamiliar religious symbols and say to themselves: “this is not America because America should be run by white, Christians.”

I cannot read some things aloud. There are some ideas so sacred that my voice quavers and tears fill my eyes to the point I cannot see to read. I have tried so many times to read certain passages to my children and students but to no avail. One verse comes to mind:

“- - - Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" *

This has always been my vision of America. It stands in stark contrast to much of our history; especially today when so many demonize so called “illegal immigration”. However to me this is the essence of America.


* Poet Emma Lazarus "The New Colossus" engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty

Kandinsky & Physics

Still trying to find words to help me conceptualize Vasily Kandinsky's paintings. I believe his abstract vision of reality helped physicists conceive of quantum mechanics. I was amazed when I realized his work was a progression from real to abstract.

Early in his career he begins with the familiar portrayal of nature that our senses perceive and gradually moves to the world our senses can never perceive: a vision of the actual world: one which we can never grasp with our senses and can only partially imagine. A world only artists and dreamers can see.

Burn all "holy" books!

Big flutter over burning Korans. I think we should burn all holy books! All the bible, koran, book of mormon, bhagavad gita, etc. have ever done is create divisions among us. We would be healthier and happier without any of them.

Let us seek god, if one exists, in spirit, without books or idols.

What is a Dog?

I didn't understand dogs until I met Lucy. Now I am realizing how complex and beautiful dogs are. They sense human emotion faster than another human can. Their presence can help us heal. Their love for us is steadfast. They are like guardian angels.

What am I?

Doesn't seem possible that I will die. I have been with me so long and I feel real, permanent, enduring. It doesn't seem right that I will disappear forever – I exist right now, I feel so real – just as real as the universe.

How can I feel so real and yet be disappearing, dying? Maybe that's because I AM REAL! Maybe I am the only real thing because I AM NOT A PHYSICAL THING.

Speaking of the physical world Heisenberg said: “There's nothing there.” Whatever I am, I am not physical. I am not matter – I'm pretty sure at this time, that, whatever I am, I am not the stuff my body is made of.*

* I must give Steve Grand credit for my thinking on this concept. I ran across his blog when I was in New Zealand last fall and have followed him ever since.

Is Order a Conserved Quantity?

The Second Law of Thermodynamics implies that the universe moves from an ordered state to disorder: sometimes referred to as the “heat death of the universe" A nuclear physicist (I can't recall his name) once gave a talk about his findings on disordered nuclear states actually being a new form of order and suggested that ordered systems may not deteriorate into disorder but rather change into a different form of order. Could the second law be all wrong and "Order"actually be one of the conserved quantities in nature? That could have implications for the human spirit which seems to me to be a Chaotic "Strange Attractor" and not only an Ordered System but an ultimate "Orderer". Perhaps death is changing ones state of order.

Second Amendment Solutions

The woman who tried to leave Sharon Angle's GOP/Tea Party rally was punched in the face by an angry, male, Angle supporter. This is a preview of what our society will be like if that crowd is given political power. Sharon Angle's call for “Second Amendment Solutions” to our country's problems means armed coercion. These folks who call for freedom from government will be the most repressive leaders once they control government. Those who claim that “government is the problem” quickly prove their point once they become the government.