time2

"So, I want to make a point, but I can’t. No one can. Points are all an illusion--only possible in static systems, and those are only theoretical... I presume. But anytime an equation is stated without change, be suspicious... be very suspicious. And if someone tries to isolate a point out of a continuum... ‘bop them on the head’. CT! That’s when you need to start asking questions... ‘like what time is the train to Topeka.’ C.T. ‘Well, I want to go to Topeka.’ Why. ‘Because.’

“This all makes no sense, thank goodness, because sense is a point but meaning is a continuum. It’s about concepts, not reality; for somewhere every concept is a reality. I mean, would an ancient Roman think frozen pizza is a reality or a concept? I rest my case.” (5/24/2007 - B#70)

"Grrrrrrrr. As she slept, a nagging suspicion gnawed at her... grrrrrrr. What? O them! Hi. Alarm dog. Without time, clocks don’t mean shit... grrr ARF. Good boy. And I do not sleep, I am just absent, spirit shutdown. Because without time, what is sleep? But a quick momentary spirit blip can be awesome! Whoa. It’s juvenating--nothing re about it; takes you forward, not back. Same with physical sleep: You don’t sleep to get ready for yesterday.

“So juvenate. Sleeping to recover would mean you would be tired only from tiring days. It is prep, not recovery. No babies are born asleep; they arrive awake, prepped by sleep. ‘But what about the Einstein effect.’ CT, there is no Einstein effect. ‘O.’ Go back to sleep and prepare to be intelligent. Some life it may happen.” (8/28/2007 - B#71)

"Ponder this: Without time, there are either no interrupting cows, or all of them are. Ponder that.

“Can’t interrupt without time, but then everything is an interruption. Cosmic pith... with maple butter.” (9/18/2007 - B#72)

"I’m atoning. I’m attuning. And here is the atonal dog... ARF. He’s been so good this year, that he needs not atone... wooooof.

“Now here’s a ponderable: Each year, the living make amends so they can be ascribed in the Book of Life for one more renewal period with options. But then they die and enter the timelessness. What then? You see, Yom Kippur is about a recognition--not of time, but of timelessness. It is the moment in time when eternity is real in the finite world. It’s not about getting another year; it’s about touching eternity for that sacred day.

“That’s how it started, as one day on which time did not matter: No food to prepare or eat, no work to do, just a glimpse of the eternal. But somebody said ‘What’s the point,’ so they added the atonement crap, with the bonus prize of another year and your name written out... plus 6 Ginsu knives and your own plot of desert. But that was not the start.

“One day of timelessness, connecting from there to here. But could you get them to cut out the damn shofars. Doesn’t add squat. I know, custom, and I respect that. But don’t think it’s about shofars and torahs and break-the-fast meals. It’s about eternity and the infinite imbedded in the temporal and physical.

“Like it can’t be just an experience. ‘O boy, have I had experiences.’ CT, we don’t want to know. ‘O.’ Being informed is not enough, we want to get something out of it. It’s about this level, which is about moving through differentiation to connection. Some wise Jew said ‘You have to lose your life to find it,’ but he got reduced to Welch’s and wafers. And again, I mean no harm and respect customs, but don’t let customs obscure the meaning. Ok, that’s good.

“So, have a meaningful atonement, but don’t let it be vicarious. Be at one with yourself... and, ok, your elf.” (9/21/2007 - B#73)

"So, a wish: May you receive more than you know, and understand it all. And it is not what you wish for, but what comes without wishing, that really matters. Those who are waiting for gifts will always be disappointed, but those who are open for and to gifts are never disappointed.

“The spirit you’ve talked with reminds you that his birthday is in March, but he accepts gifts any time. And I have asked why people make a spirit so open and wide into an object of narrow devotion, and he says nothing, but points to Papa, who says ‘Go figure.’

“Many like to say that everything is created but God is what is not created but is. Whoa, got that backwards. All the pieces are what are, and God is what is created. Hmmm... ponder.

“And now, a great Christmas gift: our own fruitcake... ‘Hey-a.’ I didn’t say nut case. ‘O.’ CT. From all of us (who are also all of you, hehehe), Happy Holidays.” (12/20/2007 - B#74)

"That’s me in the corner, losing my religion. Look closer. O, I see, a tad of pith. Just enough to spice things up.

“People’s religions are not expressions of revelations they have received, but are the patterns for the revelations which they will receive. We attach to religions, not to express what we have come to know, but in hope of what we will come to know. People affiliate about the future, but most religions peddle the past or the super-future... ‘but not the pluperfect imperative.’ CT! I should have already eliminated you. How’s that for a pluperfect imperative. Go! ‘Ouch!’

“So, people keep going to mosque to get somewhere, and all they get is a travelogue--a spiritual travelogue. Do you think Mohammed came so that people could talk about him? Let’s ask. ‘No, I didn’t!’ Buddha was not teaching about Buddha, he was teaching about a possible future state of humanity.

“So the Church thinks its power is in its relics of the past, while the spirits yearn for the future. Those poor Israelites didn’t wander for 40 years just to be annually reminded they wandered for 40 years. There was a point to it! If religions could just get to the point, they would thrive without the need for guilt, threats, submission. But those are the only tools if you only have old stories.

“Notice the Gospels and the stories of Moses and of Mohammed all talk about what is to come, not what has already come. See, I am in the corner, losing my religion... and finding it. A shard of vision is more powerful than a warehouse of memories... ‘unless that warehouse belongs to Michael C. Fina, silver master to the stars.’ CT, go!

“It’s all part of the equation about not getting to a future worth having by facing backwards. And that’s all I have to say about that! Ponder.” (4/21/2008 - B#75)

“And today’s question: Can a future entity experience many lives separately, without any seeming connection, by doing so in parallel lives? Sure, why not. But it won’t be a first-degree complexity shift (that’s when you go to the next complexity), but it could be a third, or more. Not a second or a first because the parallel realities don’t converge until at least three complexity shifts. Huh?

“Because what appears parallel is not. It is only parallel as long as the myth of time. And that collapses two or three shifts out.

“But here’s a strange notion: At two or three shifts back, there was another mythical construct--like time is at this level, but it was a different dimension. And we overcame its limitations to get here and have time. It was that elastic property of being. You don’t have a word for it, because now it does not exist, just as in greater complexity they don’t have a name for time because it doesn’t exist... but they still have a name for Twinkies because they defy time. Some constructive elements that got us here are no longer realities, and have no analogies or metaphors... a few similes, yes. It would like, you know, not be that, like, accurate. As if.

“You get a notion of the problem in Casablanca when the emigrés say ‘What watch. 9 watch. Such watch.’ And they’ll get along perfectly in the next level. Right, sure.

“Ponder that!” (5/13/2008 - B#76)

“If a person were to look at a cricket match, it would either appear as the most rational and organized game, or as chaos.

“Chaos is a matter of perception and expectation, as much as of order. Every series of events has its own order, but we can’t always see the order. In retrospect, yes we can, but in prospect, we can’t.

“I give you another example: The baseball game is over and it all can be explained, but before it starts, you can’t predict any of it... except for salty peanuts being sold in inning 1 and 2, then in 4 comes the beer. Even if you have seen a thousand games, you can’t know in advance how it will proceed. In fact, games of all types follow this pattern: You know the rules but not the events, so often you end up thinking ‘Who’d'a thunk it.’

“But is anything outside of rules? Not that you can perceive. So chaos is just the name for incipient understanding that awaits your recognition of your new perception, awakened by experience." (8/18/2008 - B#77)

“May we be not so sure of anything... and make no mistake about that. I want liberal dogmatism and conservative openness, and I want to end the beginning and start the ending. And I am waiting for a time to wait. Half across a crowded nation, a broken bridge stops the flow of commerce, but not the commerce of flowing ideas, and so the continent is breached whilst the notion is broached. And I think the eggs of desire are poached by hungry shepherds of tomorrow. For is not the vision just another name for the foregone conclusion. I demand an answer, but ask myself the question, ‘Does life require any more of us than this?’ I don’t know, but every hair on my head is aware, and so could speak the truth to me if only a mouth were opened.” (8/24/2008 - B#78)

“Here’s a Christmas wish: that people in general look beyond the normal and familiar, and see through new frames and lenses to what possibility surrounds them every moment and everywhere. Simple. Let go of hate and presumptions and all forms of dogma and... grrrr... ok, doctrine... woof. See what there is that will be filled and filling with wonder. Without wonder, you get the same old same old. Ponder wonder. That’s all.” (12/25/2008 - B#79)

“Things change. Can’t have development without change. The longest period of time without much change was the Dark Ages. Don’t want that again! So, rest unassured, but hopeful. Vision takes you better places than security. My pith for the day.” (3/27/2009 - B#80)

“Ponder this: Time drops out of the equation as a variable, but the entities have many forms, so some other dimension must take up the role of time.

“And it may not be the usual suspects. And since, in any representational form, an entity could be represented by any different set of dimensions as variables, then the potential different dimensions--as they change their roles from dependent to independent to stable--create waves of information about the entity. And our sense of the form of the entity is based on the information waves which are coming forth, and higher frequency just means more info per second. Not better, just more. ‘Sir Thomas More?’ No no no no... unless it’s about him. ‘O. Dudley Moore?’ Yes. Go! ‘Demi?’ Go! Go. ‘Roger?’ Over and done.

“So, ponder that fragment of LD’s lecture.” (7/20/2009 - B#81)

“Ok, I put time back in the equation but take out height. So now we can do things in linear sequence, but very flat. It’s the paper roll version of reality.

“Ok, I give you one. You hear a piece of music, and the waves of sound give you the experience of the music. So far, so good. But later, you recall the music and hear it in your head, but there’s no waves involved, just the wave form of the music. Best example we could come up with... but wait, there’s more.

“You have a dream, and in the dream you hear a tune. It’s one you can recall later. And when fully orchestrated, it becomes the theme from Somewhere in Time... no no no. But you can recall the tune just as vividly as one heard from live waves. But this wave form didn’t have any waves; so if the waves are the test and proof and origin of effect, then the second tune couldn’t exist, but we all know it does.

“Waves can point us to forms, but the waves are not essential.

“With information, some wave in and others just appear. And if you only accept the waves, and the info built out of waves, you will miss one hell of a lot of stuff. Origin does not determine essence, nor importance.

“In fact, you are better off with many sources. Because it is at the intersection of the many modes that information gains its dimensionality. Whoa, I will leave it at that.” (7/26/2009 - B#82)

“And a shout-out to Don and Papa and all their friends who served, and especially to those who served, came home, told their stories once and then got on with it. The world would be better off without war, but it would be even better without the VFW and American Legion. If you gave it up, then stop giving it up! Oy. CT, he never speaks of it. Just once. But he’s CT. They glamorize it. The Best Years of Our Lives, geez. Better than middle school maybe, but.... Ok, enough. 11/11 stuff done.

“Now, on another front, remember... no no, never forget... that principles are more important than personalities, and that principles are only genuine when they are visionary–when following them leads one toward a better future.

“Principles never take you back! Because back is always incomplete, but forward holds the possibility of fulfillment. And if your recent path has led you astray, it is better to envision the right way than to retrace your steps. If a monster has you pinned down in a box canyon, don’t try to run out the way you came in, but scale the heights toward the potential freedom.

“Any discussion that focuses on people more than principles is just a form of masturbation, and who wants to be jerked around. ‘I do!’ Shut up.

“Just keep that in mind. If you want to talk about injustices, you have to open and close speaking of justice. If you would opine (that’s a crossword puzzle word I always wanted to use) about folly, begin and end with wisdom. Begin and end with principals... no, principles, oops.” (11/11/2009 - B#83)

“Sometimes the wind of change is the past waving goodbye.” (11/18/2009 - B#84)

“We remember being in spirit, but without the language symbols which are meaningful there but meaningless here. Then it remains as apprehensions, rather than memories. Language serves to retain what is not able to be incorporated.

“You use language that expresses what you do not embody. Language is a transitional tool.

“When you remember what you learned, you no longer need language to remind you. It’s a little like travel. First time you commute from Roslyn to Penn Station, you read all the signs and follow all the arrows and pay attention. Eventually, you do the same trip without noticing or needing them. Language is just the set of directional signs for a journey not yet familiar, and a useful tool when inviting others to your journey. That’s all.” (3/6/2010 - B#85)

“Here’s a semi-pith: that on Mother’s Day we also honor the many planes of connection and connecting planes by which our entities ever-more complex become. I like Yoda speak, do I. Because while the linearity of mom and kids is evident, the complexity of the journey of being is not. We are such a mess... no no no no no no... such a complex product of relationships and connections.

“For example, through you, mom, I’m related to Jo March. Go figure. Which means what? That it’s more complex than linear. Even in acknowledging moms, we praise a whole web of pre-being. And that’s just physical. How about the spiritual? Don’t ask.

“You are even spiritually related to those entities which are made of spirit that didn’t make it permanently into complexities--that weren’t stable. All those attempted but disassembled thingies--all them parts. And now the big question: You’re part of a lineage of a disassembled try, so which part was the unsuccessful part, them or you? And the answer is yes. Ponder that and that’s it.” (5/9/2010 - B#86)

“I want you should remember what I said long ago (in your time): A ruler only measures itself. Ultimate closed system. And to impose it on other things is not to measure them, but to impose that system.

“Picture a ruler made out of stretchy rubber. What fun! That would be open. I submit to the court that it is an open and shut case.” (9/21/2010 - B#87)

“So, those parallel non-linear non-flat plaines (which are just uppity planes with big egos). And suddenly, one breaks loose and intersects and all bets are off.

“What fun living in a non-mechanical existence–and the bane of every religion. I think the word above the altar should be Ambiguity, because until all that is is one with All That Is, it’s all ambiguous; nothing settled, chaos, anarchy, rise of the populace storm and barricades... ooops, slipped into Marius. Just one more, but no one on this side had one more day. And so maybe we don’t remember this side, but we should. And no it’s not about one more day but about today, now.

“No equation of the future can be accurate. And all accounts of the past are skewed. So, Tolle is right: The Now, but he invests too much in it. It just is... ooops, now it isn’t. There it goes. ARF... snap. Good boy.” (10/26/2010 - B#88)

“So, out of seeming nothing comes something. And everybody asks 'why' and 'how', and I just say 'Why not'. If existence is an expression of infinite potential, then the potential is there even without an expression.

“And when the potential is finally expressed, why jump onto the causal train. Might not be a reason why, just might be.” (11/11/2010 - B#89)

“So, time to distill another great myth. I wish I knew how. O well, I guess it will just go on being mythic.

“We spirits don’t get it all together; we just get some pieces better. I still can’t make rugula worth shit (a lack of hands!). I think about it and that should make it realize itself, but I guess I use too low frequencies. What crap. Hell, let me mince my words... *chop chop*.

“Once again, I remind all that physical properties have nothing to do with spirit... but if you want to leave a $50 out on the dresser, I might be impressed enough to materialize a new sweater for myself.

“Just consider this: that all prayers are answered and fulfilled–just not always for the people praying. In existence, with an abundance of possibility, this would be true. The Lexus you are praying for may not be at a nexus in your matrix. But the matrix might be in the backseat of a Lexus parked at the Matrix store in Berlin. See. We get it done, but not always right! Because in the long run it doesn’t matter. Ponder that.

“Just because your personal stuff seems so important, doesn’t mean that it ultimately matters as to details. Agonize over red car or blue car, do you think it matters? Figure out what matters and focus on that. And life is not one of them. Huh? Meaning, yes; integrity, yes; growth, yes; life per se, no.” (11/28/2010 - B#90)

“It is interesting how we use markers in life, because in fact there are none. We impose them. What’s that about? It’s the preliminary step to moving beyond time. Being oblivious to time’s passage is not understanding it, but marking it and finally seeing how inconsequential all markers become is to begin to understand. You can’t move beyond time until you have dwelt with it and discovered it has no dominion.

“A person who has never seen a clock does not understand as well as one who has lived by the clock and then said ‘Enough’. Because the naïve one could be seduced by the pressures of time folk, while the person freed through experience is unlikely to be seduced.” (12/11/2010 - B#91)

“Well, I have been thinking about non-concentric parallel planes of existence. You say 'That’s impossible because they have to be concentric to be parallel,' and I say ‘When?’ Hmmm.

“Maybe they are parallel and concentric some of the time, but not always. Because their centers are in time motion, but there is no time. So, then they are both concentric and not. Confusing? Then it becomes a matter of perception. If they are parallel, but both concentric and not, then the centers must be variables... or vegetables... it’s one of those.

“Can a plane of existence have a center outside itself. Hmmm, then it could be parallel. I must work on this.” (12/16/2010 - B#92)

Question from Matt: Is there a way to 'pinch ourselves awake?' Is there a way for us to focus more directly on these intersections and connect a little more? Or do we have to live out the framework of our living minds and continue to decay? What would a spirit suggest is the best thing a physical being can pay attention to in order to awaken itself?

“Ok, advice for Matt. Cheap beer is not good. Pay attention to traffic lights or else join me.

“Seriously, I remember Our Town and the theme of paying attention, noticing. That’s the clue. Don’t get so busy you don’t notice, and don’t assume you know so you miss new insights. The intersections are there whether you notice or not, but your cognition of them opens new paths. Always be asking ‘What could happen differently here and what other outcomes could there be and what would it take to have their possibility rise,’ keeping an open mind--which is not the same as being without decisiveness.

“Here’s a magic mantra: ‘I thought otherwise. I was mistaken.’ See, it means living with faithful assumptions, but open to being wrong. In fact, it is being courageously certain and honestly unsure. Always live where the planes of knowing and the planes of doubt intersect. But don’t live where R18 and L45 intersect. That’s for Papa (runway designations).

“Act as if life is linear, but believe as if it’s not and see what happens. Prepare to say ‘O’ a lot. Three great small words: O, aha, wow. If your usual vocabulary is lacking in these, then change. At the end of every day, you should feel like saying one or more of those. And if you don’t, I’ll come and pinch you on your cute little tush. O, aha, wow!

“Did you know there’s a whole gazillion dead here. We tried counting them. They didn’t like being counted. I wouldn’t like it. ‘Ok, you’re number 8 bazillion, 18,734,549,782.’ Geez, and I wanted to be 3.

“Ok, here’s a conundrum, a puzzlement, a quandry: There is no time here, so counting a gazillion.... See, there was a reason I mentioned counting spirits. But without time, there should be no problem counting. But the number keeps changing. How can the number keep changing in a timeless existence? Then wouldn’t the counts become a frame of time, so to speak? But they don’t. It’s the geometry thingie again. But this time it’s ‘A train leaves NY at 2pm’ (algebra). Ok, linear algebra, then calculus. But what’s beyond calculus. I am giving yous glimpses in which variables exist outside of variables. It’s like the center of a concentric plane being outside itself. There’s an elf outside! He’s waving. ‘Hi hi hi hi hi.’ Roderick, ignore the elf. ‘Why why why.’ O dear.

“Sequence beyond time. This is not a question of understanding, it’s a question of meaning, hehehe. You will feel your way into the answer more than think your way.

“And remember, only linear thinking can lead to dead ends.” (12/23/2010 - B#93)

Question from Glenda: So... you are here when we expect? Are you simply a part of our living mind and when we die, you are gone too?

“I am not part of your mind, I am part of your mind. I have an existence because you read these words, and I have an existence even if you don’t read these words. And you are and you will be even when you aren’t. Give up the linearity of life and death and being.

“Things can be in many states of being. And the end of one is not the end of others, and sometimes the end of one is the start of another.

“Don’t ever treat spirit like a possession. It’s not an artifact. ‘I object!’ No, you’re not an object. ‘O.’ There, I’ve said it!” (12/26/2010 - B#94)

Chris writes: Cowardice can hide behind acceptance of what is. But it can also take strength to accept what is. Isn't that the basis of so much spirituality?

“Accepting what is is often accepting what others have decided to create or impose. Sure, it is a wise thing not to waste energy tilting at windmills, but it can also be cowardice not to try. What you need to be able to differentiate is what is you and yours, and what is not. Accept what is yours. But to accept what is not is cowardice.

“Creation always takes courage. But I must add that sometimes the first step to creation is acceptance--as a foundation to build upon. If acceptance is the final goal, forgetaboutit. But if it is laying the cornerstone, then ok, but only for awhile. If we all get into accepting the here and now, there will never be a tomorrow or a better place. True, where you are is the right place for now, but don’t mistake now for then.

“A trip to Stock Island is occasionally good, even when living in Paradise. Do I need to repeat that story about Eden? 'Eve! Run for your life!' Could have stayed, accepted, obeyed, and thus endeth the story--no free will; no creativity; no moral discernment, so no learning and no remembering; dead end, or really live end; stuck forever; no death; no moving on; no fulfillment; no development; no complexity; all of Creation stuck and stopped; constipation of Creation.

“Remember, the adage. It doesn’t say ‘Accept everything,’ it says ‘Accept what you cannot change.’ Anybody got change for a 50? Ok, I can’t change it, so I’ll accept it. Just send $50 in cash to Box 1719, Radio City Station, New York, New York, and mark it Mooooo. That’s right, Mooooola. Grass to eat.” (2/10/2011 - B#95)

“Ok, let’s talk about a New World Order. I’d like to order a new world, please, with extra oceans... no no no no.

“People keep trying to talk about an NWO, but what they should talk about is an NSO (New Spiritual Order). The world is just the venue, not the maker and shaper of orders. It is the warehouse of supplies but not the design room of ideas. We could suddenly have every country democratic, and that would not usher in the great new era. Here we go, right down here, two seats on the aisle... oops, they’re taken, so I can’t usher you to them.

“I am not saying that we should not strive for freedom, but rather that don’t expect that freedom creates fulfillment; it just allows it. And as we know from TripAdvisor, you can stay at a 5-star resort and still kvetch. ‘The sheets were only 600-count, not 1,000.’ Get a grip. I am reminded-- because I lost my mind--of the novice writers who wait for the perfect moment to write. Usually, all they pen is ‘I’m dead!’

“But an NSO would mean that people would shape their resources toward their visions of spirit, as opposed to away from their feelings of limitation. Ask for genuine death, accept no imitations... like living in Peoria.

“Ain’t gonna gits noswhere best if youen gonna be worryin’ about what yous don’t be liking. ‘She said it!’ ARF ARF. ‘She said, “You don’t get anywhere worth going by planning on what to avoid.” ‘ Just because you are not in Cleveland, doesn’t mean you are anyplace great. And most NWOs are based on getting away from something--bad king, bad tsar, bad breath. Hey, Listerine breath is not better than bad breath.

“The genius of the American escapade was that it wanted to go somewhere, and not just away from England. Thanks, TJ. ‘You’re welcome. Want some nice claret?’ Thanks. He’s so good to us. So, there’s enough pith.” (2/17/2011 - B#96)

Little Jennifer writes: Rikkity, do you script and rehearse your phone calls?

"No, I don’t have time. Every performance is its own rehearsal, echoing across the corridors of existence... except for the soundproofed ones. Sure. I think CT should be sent to one of those. Yes, the one with rubber walls.” (3/3/2011 - B#97)

“There is a zero, but not a nothing. Zero implies a total balance. In the end, it all balances out to slightly more than zero. Zero implies that there is the possibility of as much on one side as the other. And in the anti-universe, that point where nothing begins for you is the point that everything begins.

“Just the other side of the Hudson from the city, where there is no NYC, New Jersey starts to occur, manifest, begin to be, transition from possible to probable... ‘stink’. CT, I see you’ve been there. ‘Yep, down by Uncle Freddy’s chicken shit pile.’ So, I will say no more while you ponder.” (3/13/2011 - B#98)

“Labor Day, is it about making things? No, it’s about building complexity--which in some ages meant things, and others meant journeys, and others meant daring... ‘and others meant couches.’ CT. Just because you were a potato, don’t assume an age for people like yous.

“The building takes many forms, and to accomplish the tasks of the past is to do fruitless work. ‘Look, I can saddle the horse quickly.’ O boy. ‘I turn chariot wheels to make them true.’ Whoopee. ‘I polish the brass doorknob on the admiral’s door.’ What a feat! See, labor once, becomes nothing. So, choose well the tasks you engage.

“And if they seem sustaining more than visionary, ask yourself some questions... ‘like, what the hell am I doing.’ CT, that’s right! Just because a job seems to need to be done, does not mean it needs to be done.” (9/5/2011 - B#99)

“Ah, we have passed 9/11 and the world didn’t end. There’s a lesson in that. Why invest in dates... ‘because they’re yummy?’ CT... when one could invest in values. Dates can only be honored periodically, but values, every day.” (9/12/2011 - B#100)

“You live in existence of dimensions. That’s way it is the. See, you like linear order. But just because you function best in that scheme, does not mean it is the basis for all existence. But it is your be-and-end-all, and then to contemplate what is beyond, you project that outward and see what fits that pattern. If you encountered a really novel expression of existence, you wouldn’t recognize it.

“All your probes of the universe are based on the known. And here’s a little tidbit: The most amazing potential discovery may come back on a space probe, but not in the data chamber but on the fourth flange of the secondary drive wheel. In other words, where you wouldn’t even think to look... grrrr. What? Grr. Ok, fifth drive wheel. Just like Earth travelers who go to another country, looking for a good local Beaujolais. So there!

“Even this, as you notice, uses letters of the past, while I am communicating to everyone all the time in many other modes. Moooo à la mode.

“We only give out metaphors so y’all won’t be totally clueless. And then what do you do? Take them literally. Because in your existence, precise reality is more comfortable. You ought to see our equivalent of roads. Lanes? I think not. And what works for us here wouldn’t work for you there, and vice versa, and these two ways of being are just 2 out of all. Ponder that!” (9/19/2011 - B#101)

“So, if the edge of a plane shifts, one would expect that the opposite edge would shift in a similar and parallel manner so the planar surface is maintained in proportion, but noooo. Just try to be on one cutting edge. (By the way, both edges are cutting, but the one you’re on will be the one you think is the only cutting edge... but I digress.)

“So, you’re on the one cutting edge that you can see, and you shift the edge. But what you can’t see is that the opposite edge shifts–not with you, but opposite to you, so the whole plane gets larger while the center stays the same. You get an illusion of movement and change, but it’s only an illusion because the center has not shifted. But, if you are at the center, the core, the essence of the plane, and you shift the center, then the two edges shift as well. Actually, they both shift toward the center–contract to stabilize. The plane becomes more intense, but centered on a new locus of meaning.

“This is contrary to the usual notion that shifting the end point of a continuum... continuum, ah, continuum... woof... means that the center shifts towards the edgeshift (cousin of the hedgehog; short, bristly, usually clueless; Republican and radical alike; nearsighted; thinks it’s working on big things when it is just tinkering and causing small ripples of canceling edge changes). You want to change planes? ‘Don’t do it at O’Hare.’ CT. Go to the center, not the edge. And that’s why Occupy is primally felt as threatening, because it’s not about organic sprouts or veganism, or about libertarianism or about ‘real’ American values, but about questioning and shifting the core. It’s not a fringe expression.

“Shift the center and the rest will follow, and even more tightly focus. A bit of whack job does nothing in the long run, but even a tiny shift of the core sends seismic shocks to everywhere. Ok to be liberal or even radical, but bring it home at the center of the system. Don’t revel in being a stalwart conservative or a progressive rebel, but know how to get to the roots and the center bole. Don’t be the flaky leaves, but get to know the core sap. Just as, in a person, you can try to change their habits, but get them to have a change of heart or a change of mind or a spiritual 'aha' and then real transformations occur.

“A plane is defined by its center more than by its edges. Ok, pith over. Pass the hot fudge... grrrr.

“If you focus on the edge without a view of the center, you could just fall off the plane. Bye-bye. Get so far out you can’t (metaphorically) see the center, and ooops. You can work on the edge, but it is only an edge if you know where the center is. And you want to do edge work such that it moves the center, but not invoke the reaction of the other edges. So, at the bottom line, we can all make it if we focus on connections. If your edge work is about being as far as possible from the other edge, you will be disappointed. But if your edge work is about trying to get your edge closer to the center, that will take knowing and moving the center.

“Abolition was not about pushing the limits ever farther, but about getting the core to see slavery as wrong. If the focus had been pushed to include the chattel status of women and children and wage slaves, and working conditions and predatory lending and the misuse of social welfare, etc., the core could not have been moved as it was. King knew to keep it about black civil rights, and the center moved while all kinds of edges shouted, ‘Me, too!’

“Got to know the core shift wanted, more than the particular gains desired. It never was about quartering of troops; it was about unalienable rights. And the details could be worked out over centuries. We are still at it. Ok, enough.” (10/17/2011 - B#102)

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