The Way It Can Be

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Who to Believe? by Louis Evan Palmer

What do we believe?
Why do we believe it?
Can our beliefs change?

Even as events of the first 5 years of the 21st century make us question who to believe, we can see more clearly how these types of manipulations have occurred not just in our times but throughout history in the various guises appropriate to a given period of time.

The things that drive us to believe or accept a version of events are many and include emotion, logic, intuition, current facts, our beliefs & desires, and our culture & mythology. If an explanation triggers one or more of these internal drivers strongly enough, we end up "believing" it and, more ominously, its associated conclusions and imperatives.

The proffered "logic" is typically not logic at all but a blend of emotion, suppositions, tenuous logic & lies. Why do we believe it?

We are lead to believe statements that are made by people in authority or who enjoy some type of prominence. Among other things, this is a measure of a society's deference (militarism is a form of deference) and also a measure of an authority figure's credibility. Someone's credibility can also derive from their status as an expert, their perceived independence, their integrity, etc. While some may decry the emergence of celebrities as factors in public debates, it is a way to crack the attempts of the more traditional power brokers at monopolizing the discussion and as such should be welcomed.

Unfortunately, we are also seeing a strong movement towards establishing credibility by attacking contending sources of information - Fox News leaps to mind. This is good when it uncovers actual conflicts of interest or misrepresentations but it's increasingly being used to confuse the issue and stifle valid dissent. It is also clearly advancing a political agenda. This is the mark of an intolerant society which is a step towards authoritarian rule. This and other examples of the merging of corporate and state interests is a hallmark of fascism and should be a warning sign to all concerned.

Why do we believe? Sadly, we are often seduced. The seduction can entail any of the following - the charisma of the leader, the appearance of a given group's public forums and media, the battle of the experts as presented by the "major" media, mass media support & perceived momentum and claims regarding secret knowledge or needs. The other more prosaic explanations for public acquiesance are fatigue, laziness, a feeling of helplessness, and the effects of the numerous variations on fear to which we are exposed - much of it deliberately fostered by the parties in power.

The repetoire of those in power appears simple and obvious but since it's subject to many permutations, it can give an impression of baffling variety and texture, more than enough to dupe most of the people most of the time.

Fortunately, there is the internet which so far in many countries is allowing for the expression of ideas and thoughts and reports that would have been easily suppressed in the pre-internet days. Otherwise, we would be back to secret printing presses, backroom meetings and whispered news - much less effective. Of course, this points to a major effort, now and into the future, to gain control of the internet and continuing campaigns to co-op and manipulate it so as to confound, confuse and incapacitate.

Any advice on who and what to believe will probably sound like platitudes but, here goes: read widely, support alternative news & views, distrust overly emotional purveyers of facts, nurture & trust your intuition, distrust appeals to secrecy, reject calls to supremacism in all its forms including rabid jingoism, wars of aggression regardless of the excuses for it, and my god is better than your god rantings.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer

Who to Believe?, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Friday, August 25, 2006

Identification by Louis Evan Palmer

ID cards
will soon
be a thing
of the past

The debates and warnings and fears surrounding ID cards erupt regularly; sometimes triggered by government ruminations about a unique key to be used; sometimes, it's occasioned by an unholy combination of identifying factors - picture, number, description - or, picture, medical data, personal statistics.

The new truly scary kid on the block, the implanted chip, is something which no-one would have imagined as plausible even twenty years ago.

A wave of indignation and trepidation accompanies these speculations or trial balloons but, like the tide, they recede. Thankfully, alot of people are concerned.

There is a positive side to easy & reliable ID - just as many crimes are aided by inadequate ID as are aided by ubitiquous ID.

The privacy requirement continues to be only permitting authorized access to this data and ensuring it is only for authorized purposes. Simple to state and to understand but extremely difficult to implement and safeguard.

Sooner than we think biometrics will become so sophisticated that a Star Trek-like scanner will be available and it will be able to instantly identify us. It will be linkable to other databases that detail various facets of our lives, some more private than others, but all available to the persons who have, or can arrange, access.

Scanners, smart cards, RFIDs, implants and other to-be-determined devices will add to the available means of identifying and tracking individuals. That's a given. The question, as always, will be how to ensure that the information is protected and only used for authorized purposes by authorized persons.

There will, of course, be ways around any new identification techniques which will be increasingly out of the reach of ordinary citizens. These circumventions will be evident more in the realm of criminal syndicates and corporations and secret organizations both inside and outside the government. To the extent those techniques are used, the anticipated benefits of fast identification will be diminished. We could end up worse off - innocent citizens completely exposed and exploitable, offenders with more power and impunity.

However, as with much of what the swirling powers do, it will be used selectively and, in that way, it will create the illusion that things are on the up and up. It's damned effective.

Massive spying operations may not be a thing of the past but the necessary enforcement is on a greatly reduced scale compared to the vast apparatus put in place in the old USSR and its satellites.. unless and until, the resistance becomes so massive that the response must be equally massive. Then the so-called "free world" will be into internment camps and quick, reliable identification.

However, for now, the focus on trying to stop using this or that piece of data ; or, on not calling it a national ID; or, on not using some other card, like a driver's license, as one; is misguided. We must assume that this will all happen and devise ways and means of circumscribing it and controlling it and policing it.

If our whole defense is in stopping it then when it happens whether due to incredible advances in technology or unstoppable events or propaganda (catapulted or otherwise) then we have nothing.. then we are fighting a rear-guard action, then we are setting ourselves up for heavy losses and, potentially, defeat.

Identification, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer

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Monday, August 21, 2006

2nd Hint - You might be in a Holographic Universe if ... by Louis Evan Palmer

How
Do
We
Think,
Perceive,
Remember?

Most explanations of how we think involve the brain. Most explanations of how we perceive involve the brain - in fact, one type of blindness concerns a malfunction in the neo-cortex; the person's eyes see properly but because that part of the brain has been damaged, they're blind. Most explanations of how we remember involve the brain as well.

In Science, a well-founded exception to any given rule invalidates it. The more deeply entrenched the rule or theory is, the more opposition is generated. We then see Science's supposed impartiality and coolness fall away like icebergs from a melting ice sheet.

When John Lorber, a British neurologist, perfomed CAT scans on various individuals for conditions like spina bifuda, he came across several hundred who were missing various percentages of their brains. The most amazing case was that of a young man who not only had above average intelligence but, in fact, was a mathematics scholar although he had almost no brain.

What complicates things is that a certain number of the persons with no brain were impaired in various ways. But the salient point is that according to standard theories the expectation was that they would all be impaired to different degrees. However, a substantial percentage were normal or above normal in intelligence and ability.

This is a stunning finding, and yet, much of the scientific world, just continues on its pre-established way, making comments about how it is "interesting" or how it merits "more study", but not much more than that, at least on the surface.

It's a certainty that secret programs are underway to explore this phenomenon, but when, or if, any new knowledge they discover will be revealed is up for debate. The enormous danger and damage these secret programs entail will be the subject of other articles.

Getting back to the smart young man with no brain, how does he think with no brain? It is vaguely reminescent of the search for the ultimate particle - even candidate turns out to be composed of other more nebulous particles. Now, the search for the seat of intelligence which had supposedly ended with the brain is back on again.

A Holographic Universe allows for brainless thinking because it posits that our entire body and the universe itself are the projection of thoughts of one and many minds. It's almost as if the appearance of our universe, while near perfect, can't account for everything all the time and so these dissonances, as it were, are the cracks and fissures through which the illusion is exposed.

2nd Hint - You might be in a Holographic Universe if, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer

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Saturday, August 19, 2006

Debit, Credit, Karma by Louis Evan Palmer

Continued
Desire
Equals
Continued
Debt &
Credit

What if this existence is something that we entered at some far distant point in the past and it has proved to be so entrancing, engaging & electrifying that we can't seem to get out. In fact, we can't remember entering because part of the process submerges our past memories deep enough that most people can't consciously sense them.

This scenario triggers many other dependencies like the primacy of mind; if mind is the base of this existence then matter and everything else is a product of mind and, even further, it is mind or consciousness.

And whatever exists must emerge out of something, be of something, be sustained by something. This "something" being referred to by various sages as "the Void" or "the Great Beyond" or "God" or "Allah"...

What would be the nature of this ultimate source? Perhaps, a good way to think of it is as a wellspring of potential, where nothing exists and everything exists, where the difference between one apparent aspect of consciousness is indistinguishable from another aspect.

This aspect, our universe and ourselves, being the expression of a potential. Then the question becomes, how is a potential actualized? Is it intent and motivation? Why does a sentient being have intent or motivation? Perhaps, this is the descent mentioned in myth and culture, the original sin?

If we originate from the ultimate source, the great beyond, and we, and everything else, are actually part of god, and, in fact, are god, then, how did we end up here?

Is there really anything for us to learn as offered by the "we're here to learn" school? Is there really anything for us to become or to be as offered by the "we're here to advance" school?

No.

We're here because we and others wanted to be here. Our free will allowed us to enter this existence and it keeps us here because we've allowed ourselves to get immersed in the debit and credit cycle of this universe.

Part of the "rules" of this existence is that you have to "pay" your debts - you can walk away from your "credits" - but if you're hooked on the game and can't see that's it's a game then you'll never walk away. Heaven & Hell are temporary - one is cashing in your chips after a big win, the other is debtor's prison where the payment is your suffering. Either way, you're in deeper.

Meeting others on the other side - more of the game. Everything you can see and feel and think is part of the game. As the sages advise, it is the Great Beyond to which we should strive.

It's amusing that we strive for something we have. Maybe that's why the seekers who experience the breakthrough into the Great Beyond frequently let out the most enormous of laughs.

Debit, Credit, Karma, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer

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Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Division by Louis Evan Palmer

When
you
go
back
all
the
way...

The thing about creation the way we see it now is that we're looking at the end result of a massive, possibly infinite, amount of prior creation. Or that is what it appears to be.

Physics is the only realm of science where we seem to be seeking the original cause or the original creation. However, even that arduous search is only focused on the universe in which we appear to exist. It does not venture into what might have existed before. Or other potential universes.

Mathematics and Philosophy are the endeavors which seem to apply the most in this pursuit. The primal source usually being cast as a single fabric, a single emanation, a single something out of which everything else derived. The single something being either out of nothing or always existing.

The question being - if you have only one single something out of which to create, how can you create anything which is not made of that something. This is above what it might be made of, if anything. This is, can one single thing ever end up being more than that one single something?

If the answer is no, which aligns with what every mystic from time immemorial has stated, then everything that we perceive as separate and different is some kind of contrivance and that, in fact, it is all the same something and always has been. Time is as much a contrivance as anything else and could not exist in an undivided universe.

The question then morphs again into exactly how does creation take place? Creation in the sense of creating something new. How does one thing which is everything ever produce anything which is different from itself. Especially, when all it has with which to create is its own single something.

Then we have to wonder, if that's true, if everything is the one something then why do we seem to see a world of separate somethings set in motion through time and space? Or, how do you make a single something appear to be many somethings?

By limiting perception and memory. Somehow you allow parts of yourself to shield and buffer themselves from the rest of yourself and experience and live in what appears to be a world of multiplicity. Why do you do that?
Is it an experiment in free will gone bad? Is it a way to differentiate experiences through myriad creations?

If it's a disguise then why do we wear it? How did we apparently split off from the original single something?

Maybe this is what Parmenides was getting at when he said, it was an error to think that "things exist at one time and not another" or "at one place and not another" or "to a greater or lesser degree" and that Time and Space were illusions.

And what his pupil Zeno was trying to manifest in his paradoxes. That you could not divide your way into understanding this existence. That the greatest insight was that no division was possible - no space, no time, no movement, no separate entities.

Division, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer

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Sunday, July 23, 2006

No Imagination by Louis Evan Palmer

What
if
Imagination
doesn't
exist?

Imagination is always presented as something that essentially comes out of nothing. There is a time before our imagination when the result of our imagination doesn't exist and then this new thought, idea, feeling exists.

But what change would be wrought on the universe if, in fact, there was no such thing as imagination? What if every single thing we conceive is based on perceptions or remembrances, however faulty, of other realities, or reflect components of this reality that usually are hidden.

What if the First Law of Thermodynamics applies to all non-physical forms and energies - nothing is created or destroyed, it is merely transformed. In this context, imagination cannot create anything new and the transformation consists of perceiving, evaluating, remembering and judging.

Therefore, we might think that ancient peoples do not talk in metaphors, or "imagine" anything, but rather try to describe phenomena that are beyond their understanding. Spaceships, alien lifeforms, collisions with space objects - all events, all described by them in language that might be interpreted thousands of years later through the prism of several translations and worldview transformations as myths or leaps of imagination.

Imagination could never, in any case, be completely new or we wouldn't understand it or even recognize it. Yet, if it is all there already and one is seeing an existant object or possibility for the first time, although it might appear that the perceiver is creating something via imagination, maybe instead they're discerning something.

It might seem like a word game at this point, imagination is now defined as creative, or superior, discernment. But the key idea is that nothing new is being brought forth, it is an uncloaking, or a clearing away, that allows one to discern this thing and speak about it. If so, then imagination becomes concerned with transformations of existing orders, the solidification of ephemeral mental darts and dashes, and the shaping of the potential for good and bad.

It might be reformulated as "discernment shaped by intent" - which then makes it our duty to have the best possible "intent" so that our power, which ultimately is all power, is directed towards truth and not towards illusion.

No imagination, no excuses.

Louis Evan Palmer, No Imagination, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
Copyright Louis Evan Palmer

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One Substance, Many Appearances by Louis Evan Palmer

How
does
god
do
it ...?

I'm convinced that the search for a single explanation for the universe, be it a unified field theory or super strings or branes, reflects a deeper, almost unconscious, knowledge on our part. And that knowledge is that there is one underlying substance out of which everything is made.

In the tradition of the ancient Greeks, we must ask: "How can anyone or anything create something that is different from itself, from the substance it has available to use?"

We can argue that whatever is created must perforce be less than what created it? It is something that is hived off from the source. It is something that is appears the way it is due to a limitation on the perceiver, on the perception of it.

We can then find ourselves directed to how the encumberance is constructed and how might it constitute a new "substance".

Awareness of any kind including perceiving and remembering must be part of the creator and therefore part of the creation. This would extend to every single object including stones and stars and "space". However, this also opens the question as to where does one thing begin and end versus any other "thing"?

Some have said that each and every thing is "god" experiencing different modes of being and exulting in them.

And where does "free will" and "choice" fit in with this act of creation? How is that ability to decide created? Since the creator has it and each of the creations is a part of the creator then each creation must have it. But why? Why does "god" feel this impulse to create? And, why does "god" put limitations on his creations which seem to generate the enormous suffering that we see and feel around us?

Or so it seems..

Maybe it's better to go back the first assertion - we are made of "god". Does the substance of "god" have extent or limitation? - No!

Therefore, any other conclusion is wrong and now our task is to figure out why.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
One Substance, Many Appearances, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Guiding Principles by Louis Evan Palmer

Be
Know
Do

BE - You come into existence, you don't know how, you don't remember; you try to understand, you act (and inaction IS an action).

At certain points, you seek an explicit statement from yourself or from someone as to what it is exactly that guides you and informs your decisions. Of course, this has been going on the whole time but behind the scenes, under the horizon, unbeknowest to your conscious self - which seems to be the bulk of your "knowing" anyway.

KNOW - Principle One emerges as "Know" - "Know Thyself", "Know Life", "Know Everything". This encompasses going into how you came to be a "knowing" being in the first place. You hope to find the step-by-step progression in "knowing-ness" if it exists.

DO - Principle Two emerges as "Do Good" which includes not doing "not Good" and, in fact, will surely lead to actively avoiding evil, its enablers, its environs, and its precursors. "Know" is part of "Do Good" but precedes it because that knowledge or Wisdom is required to know that Good is a correct goal and what Good might be and what not-Good might be.

"Do Good" also includes thinking and constantly re-thinking in every possible way (including non-thinking thinking like some forms of meditation or mindfulness) about the constituents of Good, its precursors, its characteristics; explorations into what makes Good expand; what makes Good endure; what makes Good "good".

All this feeding into the idea that our consciousness is the small light that shines into a vast ocean of knowing and while we think we know only that illuminated section, we actually know more - if only we could remember and by remembering "know" even as we feel that the best knowing is that which does not remember and cannot be remembered but can be experienced.

BE. KNOW. DO.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Guiding Principles, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, July 08, 2006

A Surfeit of Jurisdictions by Louis Evan Palmer

Verticals
Horizontals
Functionals
Geographics

When do the layers of organizations become dysfunctional? Is it partly a result of perceptions? Is there an optimal number and mix of jurisdictions?

Discussions of jurisdictions quickly become esoteric. Theories across many disciplines emerge - economic, psychologic, management. Implicit are philosophies and cultures and beliefs.

We have political governance - for many, this occurs at the city or town level, then at a county or regional level, then at a state or province level, then at a national level then at an international or supranational level.

We have various specialized oversight - for medicine, for standards, for food and health, for public hygiene. We have a body that jointly manages an international waterway, the St. Laurence seaway. Bodies that operate and manage airports or ports or bridges.

We have religious and spiritual organizations which themselves operate at different levels - within their denomination, across denominations within the same faith, acoss other faiths, within countries, within political systems.

We have bodies for every kind of sport and cultural activity. We have specific bodies for special events like the Olympics or the the World Cup.

Some of the jurisdictions apply to everyone, while others only to members. Some people are very conscious of these numerous jurisdictions while others are almost completely unaware.

Of course, this does not touch on secret organizations and jurisdictions. They affect their members but they can also affect non-members.

Because we prize organizations and the power they can bestow, we have a built-in drive towards every possible type of organization which will then lay claim to jurisdiction in various areas.

It can be in fashion, in art, in music; or more specifically, in women's fashion, in abstract art, in jazz music.

The voluntary self-organizing organizations are the natural outcome of a democratic society and their jurisdictions can be fleeting and dynamic.

Military jurisdictions loom over and behind all. And, intelligence agencies and special bureaus.

Having a great number of jurisdictions and organizations fighting over them and creating new ones may not be the height of the civil society. Turning it over to private organizations is merely pretending that the need doesn't exist or that it can be better managed out-of-sight.

Where is the in-depth study of how a democracy is best organized? Not the very many pieceworks that we seem to fund and ignore all the time but serious fundamental ongoing research on how best to organize a society.

It's bad enough to have a glut of rules and rule-makers and rule-enforcers but it's worse to not know what we've got, what we need to operate optimally and, perhaps most urgently, why we need to expose and extirpate all hidden agents, levers and forces. No secret groups, courts, jails, laws, regulations, orders.

Adaptability is only useful if it prunes as well as grows. We can't keep adding and not removing. But we don't want hidden agendas being implemented in the guise of efficiencies. So we need maximum openess. Monolithicism is to be avoided but so too is undue multiplicity.

It's time to go back to the basics - definitions, purposes, plans.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
A Surfeit of Jurisdictions, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Monday, July 03, 2006

Lower the Voting Age by Louis Evan Palmer

A simple,
fair, fast way to
make things
better

At different points in time, even today in some cases, you couldn't (or can't) vote if you were not a land owner; if you were a slave; if you were coloured; if you were an Indian;
if you were a Woman; if you are/were a prisoner; if you weren't 25 or older; 21 or older; 18 or older. Etc. Etc.

Some of the voting restrictions strike modern citizens as being unbelieveable and yet, they each had their proponents who sallied forth with their fusty logic with the sterness and pomposity of olden day flat-earth advocates or the learned men of medieval times who elaborated on how the four elements interacted for a number of common phenomenon like a pile of logs burning.

One effort towards more equity in the voting process is a movement, varying in strength, in several countries like the USA and Canada, which is trying to get the voting age lowered to 16 years of age.

Reasons abound but a list put out by one of the groups listed the following top reasons for granting 16 year olds the right to vote.

Youth have adult responsibilities but not rights
Youth pay taxes and live under the law and therefore, should have the vote
Politicians will represent youth when youth can vote
Youth have a unique perspective
16 is a better age to introduce voting than 18 as they're more stationary
Youth will vote well
Lowering the voting age will provide an intrinsic benefit to the lives of youth
There are no wrong votes

This appears to be obvious and yet, lowering the voting age isn't on anyone's agenda. The only agenda for youth is aimed at trying them as adults in court, put them into strict supervision jails, enticing them to join the armed forces so they can be betrayed into fighting in illegal wars, etc. etc.

Anyone who can speak and think sufficiently to understand the issues should be entitled to vote. The movement is talking 16 but really where is that line? 15? 12? It remains to be determined by people who aren't biased or afraid. However, 16 is an excellent first step.

Having youth involved in voting will invigorate and elevate the voting process. Issues will have to be simplified and explained to their satisafaction. The obfuscation and lying and appeals to base emotions will be exposed and rejected by today's youth.

If any persons, and it's not been apparent in any of the too few discussions on this issue to date, are afraid of subjecting youth to propaganda, they should know that they already subjected to it but with no recourse and no call to critical thought. Having the vote would give a powerful impetus towards that and could save our societies before the sociopaths in power put it out of reach for a very long time.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Lower the Voting Age, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Mongols by Louis Evan Palmer

The Face
of
Destruction

Might wins battles & wars. It has no connection as to whether the aftermath is better than what preceded it.

By almost every measure, the Mongol invasions were a catastophe. All the subjected cities and nations went back in time and capability. One can look at a map at countries that even now are considered backwards and see the blood-soaked imprint of the hordes.

Russia, the former Soviet republics, China, Korea, the Middle East, the Near East - all devastated by the lethal, fast-moving horsemen from cold Far Eastern plateaus and mountains. Baghdad destroyed. Herat destroyed. Europe only saved by the timely deaths of Jinghis, the Great Khan and then later, his son Batu.

Perhaps it's unfair to castigate the Mongols for using what turned out to be an unstoppable military force. After all, what nations could restrain themselves from using such an advantage - irresistible power. Even today when we've supposedly progressed.

And the Mongols, while primitive in their cultural customs & aspirations, were very advanced in their military prowess. They had total mobility in the context of the world at that time - two of their small tough horses per soldier, powerful bows and arrows that could be delivered accurately from galloping horses, the latest in seige equipment and techniques appropriated from conquered armies. They could advance at a terrifyingly fast pace, if needed on a 24 hour basis - switching horses as required, sleeping & eating while astride.

It would be difficult to find a positive contribution made by the Mongols in any of their conquered territories. They took prodigously, in many cases for hundreds of years, but aside from the sterile peace of a cowed populace gave nothing back except death, fear and sorrow.

The Mongols were good at one thing - making war - and that pestilent excellence gave them dominion. And that starkly highlights our eternal vexing problem - how to prepare for war, to stop noxious Mongol-like invaders and their ilk, and yet, not to turn into pale imitations of that which we fear.

To be clear, the advocated study & preparation does not refer to specious contrivances like "al-Qaeda" and the nebulous "war on terror". This refers to the real thing from wherever it comes.

Even today, at this very minute, there are Mongols venerating the image & spirit of Jinghis.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Mongols, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Sunday, July 02, 2006

1st Hint - You might be in a Holographic Universe if ... by Louis Evan Palmer

Anomalies
are the first
clues pointing
to a mind-boogling
possibility

Various spiritual masters, especially of the Buddhist persuasion, have stated
words to the effect that what we think, perceive & feel is an illusion. That the world we live in is "maya".

This is usually interpreted as "it's like an illusion" or "it's real but not what we think" or "it's somewhat illusory".

But what if it is exactly as it's stated - an illusion from start to finish. Something that's been contrived by a vast array of entities including oneself.

One astounding version of this "maya" has come to us in the last half-century
from illusion-cutting-edge science and it's most often referred to as the "holographic universe" proposition.

In some guises, it involves itself with string theory or membrane theory (also called "branes") and with the multiverse theory and with Bohm's dissertations on Order - implicate, superimplicate and explicate.

One way to tackle this type of proposition is to take it as true and ask what clues might you expect to see that are revelatory.

1st Hint - entangled pairs... this is the experimental confirmation of the theoretical assertion that pairs of elementary particles that have become
"entangled" exhibit behaviour that indicates they have communicated instantaneously regardless of the distance separating them. In a holographic universe, this type of information would be available throughout its domain.

More to follow...

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
1st Hint - You might be in a Holographic Universe if, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

Erasing Borders by Louis Evan Palmer

Establishing
"Embassy"
Cities

Embassies are generally small - the size of the Embassy itself and some acreage around it. (excepting the obscene American Embassy now under construction in Baghdad)

One of the key characteristics of an Embassy being that its land is ceded to
the foreign country so that it is in effect that country extended into the host
country.

Naturally, that allowance presupposes a number of things including that the foreign country is to behave peacefully and in good faith.

The proposal is to extend the notion of an Embassy into full-fledged cities
or towns, typically, on a reciprocal basis.

So that, you might see something like a regular, likely showcase, Canadian town of, say, 20,000 Canadians somewhere in Japan and a similar showcase town of 20,000 Japanese somewhere in Canada.

Think positively about the possibilities!

Increased understanding, interaction and cooperation. Increased trade and cultural & educational exchanges. More chance for the host country to learn the language of a given foreign nation.

On a Realpolitic side, more pressure for peaceful relations with a large number of potential hostages at hand - hence, the reciprocal aspect will be more important in some agreements versus others.

And this hostage factor would be a driving rationale for doing this with putative enemies.

War is failure. Even the threat of war is failure for it inevitably goes from being invoked rarely to being invoked often; from being used rarely to being used often. The United States is the glaring example of that although there might be some debate on the "rarely" part of that equation.

Creating Embassy cities around the world would create a tremendous force for peace for all the reasons outlined above.

To truly succeed, however, it will be incumbent on the richer nations to finance some cities for poorer countries. Treaties would be in order along with limitations on certain rights & laws - gun ownership leaps to mind,
and requirements regarding health & environmental regulations.

Think of Canada with 20 to 30 Embassy cities around the world and their impact. Say, A Canadian town in Russia, a Russian town in Canada. Similarly, in China, in Eqypt, in France, Poland, Austrailia, Indonesia, Brazil.

Then think of the USA doing this - although converting their military bases into civilian cities would be a better approach.

Think of Germany doing this, Sweden, the UK.

A relatively simple thing, it's already being done for military purposes, but with the potential for an enormous positive impact.

Ask your government to consider it!

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Erasing Borders, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

Drawing Lots by Louis Evan Palmer

When Rulers
are not
representative

There have been numerous studies as to the make-up of various legislative bodies and they tend to reflect the same issues: not many women, not many minorities, not a range of ages, not a range of cultures, not a range of occupations.

There have been reasons offered as to the range of occupations - the main one being that not many jobs allow you to leave for 1-4 years at a time.

One of the occupations where a lengthy absence may not hurt you is the law and since being a lawyer is also a good background when making laws we have a goodly number of lawyers as Members of Parliament.

One way to make broader representation a reality is to go back to what the ancient Greeks, the founders of democracy, used as a means of broadening the roles of rulers and ruled. They drew lots, you then served for a year.

Canada could use the Senate as its place for these members. We could appoint the senate each year by lot to a one year term. They would get the same pay they would have received in their current job or a set minimum if unemployed. Provisions would be made to take care of various requirements such as child care, transportation, running households, running businesses.

But then we would quickly get a modicum of representation. Senators appointed in this fashion could run for Parliament later if they wanted to and could get sufficient support. So this approach would also draw new blood into the system and provide training and exposure.

Forget about electing Senators or the current system of appointing, use a lottery to give Canada a true mix of Canadians examining, discussing and voting on the laws of the land.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Drawing Lots, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Canada at 100 by Louis Evan Palmer

Internal
Economy
Right-sized
at 100+ Million

An internal economy that could sustain itself has been pegged in the past at 100+ million. It may have edged up to 110 or 120 million persons but whatever it is it should be near-term target for Canada.

By near-term, I'm suggesting within 10 years. Eyes may be rolling at the prospect of bringing in 9 million people a year for the next 10 years but it can be done given the will and the focus.

Could Canada build 6 cities of 1.5 million persons in one year? Yes - an effort but it can be done.

Could Canada absorb 9 million persons into its culture and society? Yes - again, a bigger effort but given the right mix of immigrants: age, gender, skills & attitudes, it can also be done.

Most likely, such an effort would get diluted but there should be a conscious
acknowledgement that speed is a factor in protecting the Canadian Confederation.

As Canada's population increases, it will affect the power equation in the world and things being what they are, counter forces would come into play.

A national program of this magnitude would encourage innovation in terms of cost and speed of construction across the entire gamut of requirements from roads and pipes and wires to houses, transportation and services. It could open up numerous oportunities for Canadian companies.

It probably needs a catchy slogan so how about "10 for 10" as in, 10 million
persons a year for 10 years. Or "9 for 10" or whatever, but it must be rapid.

This would be a strategic step towards the preservation of the Confederation and its prosperity and peace.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Canada at 100, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, June 17, 2006

Waves by Louis Evan Palmer

The message
is not the medium

It's a safe bet that most people don't really know what a wave is.

Some definitions of waves are quite certain when they talk about distortions propagated through a medium. These expositions then go on to describe how the distortion agitates the medium and this passes to the nearby part of the medium and so on. The medium itself does not travel - only the distortion - which is often called the vibration or oscillation.

But then you might ask - what about light waves? This will lead you into the realm of photons and electromagnetic radiation. But now we're told that a medium is not required. It is referred to as a self-propagating wave. Since there is no medium, we must presume that the energy itself is traveling but in this undulating manner. On top of that, it seems to be acting like it is composed of particles.

It is a wonderful maze we're in now. Some advise that waves are not the correct focus, that we should be focusing on fields - the mathematical variety. They and their matrices and vectors and different types of theoretical spaces contain the waves and their associated phenomena.

It does seem significant whether a wave propagates through a medium or not. Is it possible that waves that progagate through a medium are substantively different from waves that propagate through a vacuum; or, is there some type of medium through which the electromagnetic radiation propagates?

This will drag us into the ether debate which was mainstream a long time ago but is now no longer accepted as an explanation.

So we're back to - a wave is a particle, is a wave, is both. A wave propagates through a medium or is self-propagating. A wave exists only as part of a field. Waves are everywhere and everything.

The only safe prediction is that we will have a different view of waves in ten years - probably dramatically different.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Waves, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Gods by Louis Evan Palmer

Why One?
Why Two?
Why Any?

It's not difficult to believe that there are beings as far "above" us, in power or understanding at least, as we feel we are "above", say, ants. Beings who for all intents and purposes are "gods" to us.

If there is an underlying unity to things, as in one God, at what level does it apply?

Are there layers of unity? - where there is a unity (i.e. one God) at layer one which differs from the unity (one God) that exists at layer two and so on to infinity.

And, if there is a multiverse where even an entire universe like the one we believe ourselves to be in is but a grain of sand on an infinite beach of other universes, could there not be "gods" or a "God" for each of them.

Unless we then travel to the substrate for the mutliverse, wherein the God of Gods dwells. If that is even possible?

Why is a hierarchy of gods such an odious concept when we have it for everything else?

It is possible that we can only ever "talk" to our designated god and the superior beings between us and our local "god" are who we can appeal to and no-one else.

Just as it is possible that there are no gods or God because there is no "us" and we are all part of the godhood and for some unfathonable reason are not able to see or understand that.

In fact, the most odious concept is that there would be a single entity who was "God" but it would only be known to selected persons and then only to other persons who received this information (about the single "God") and believed it and followed it because of faith or coercion or custom. And that people would be killed because of it even though these "faiths" would condemn killing.

The ancient idea that religions were different to express different facets of godliness seems remarkably tolerant and profound. Their candid fluidity of movement between physical and spiritual and past and future is invigorating and calming. There is no necessity for aggression or defensiveness. No need for trials for crimes of impiety or crusades or jihads.

God can be gods, can be this or that, can be physical or spiritual or both or neither.

A god becomes false through the machinations of people: people who imagine things, people who commune with evil spirits, people who want to control other people.

Maybe in a very real way, we make the gods ourselves - our belief, our obesiance, our memory and rituals.

Whether a small local god is a small local god or a manifestation of the one god should be irrelevant.

One big God can be just as evil and blood-thirsty as many small gods. And isn't it really - God is as God does.

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
The Gods, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Sustenance by Louis Evan Palmer

Everything
is
Sustenance

Until fairly recently, it was posited that all life on Earth was sustained ultimately by the sun's heat & light. Only the Sun.

Then the mysterious heat vents in the Ocean were found to be teaming with life - but, a somewhat alien kind of life - one that was nourished by the heat and chemicals from the vent. No Sun.

Now there's even talk that perhaps the life at the vents preceded other life on Earth.

It seems that every time we look we seem to find more complexity and diversity - Life finding every possible means to manifest and express itself.

And, in that regard, it shouldn't surprise us later if we find creatures or entities that feed on energy including types of energy that we don't know about or that we don't recognize or measure as such. Or specific components of energy.

For example, strong emotions. Who can deny the feeling that strong emotions
have power and can be projected and resonate and can be amplified? That would seem to make them an ideal candidate for consumption.

To a more limited extent , we humans, feed on emotions right now, but we could find entities that only or primarily feed on human emotion, or perhaps, more generally, on mammalian emotions.

The implications of this one conjecture are huge. But, think of the myriad other sources of sustenance for properly endowed creatures.

Might it all be one vast eating gallery!?

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
Sustenance, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

You by Louis Evan Palmer

Projection
Absorption
Fusion
Fission

Often the answer you give quickly is smarter and more revelatory than a more reasoned reply.

Is your voice you? Is the image and sound that is received by your eyes & ears & body you? Is your memory you? Is your body you? Your feelings? Your thoughts? Is your child you? Are your clothes or house or car you?

It's likely you answered "Yes" to at least one of these questions.

Is a tape recording of your voice you? Is a picture of your body you? Is what you write or type you? Is the music you compose or play you?

Is it only partly you? What part of it, what part of you? If part of it is not you, what or who is it?

Are your intentions and motivations you? If they change, is it you? Scientists report that subatomic particles are exchanged within an atom at a rate of millions per second. What if your thoughts, feelings, memories made, life processes and everything else were changing and exchanging at the same kind of rate? Would that be you?

How can you be something that you seem to have no knowledge of? How can there be an unconscious? Is there a soul? Is your soul you? What is your soul? Where is it? Is there a spirit? Is your spirit separate from your soul? Is there a spirit and a soul?

Are you you alone or are you mixed in with other You-s?

Who are you really? What is real?

Copyright Louis Evan Palmer
You, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

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