Looking for A new Way fo Educating

Posted on by

American Schools Are Training Kids for a World That Doesn’t Exist

  • By David Edwards

Architect and designer Neri Oxman sits in her “Gemini” chaise, which was 3D-printed by Stratasys using a Connex Multi-Material printer, CNC milled by SITU Fabrication and designed in collaboration Prof. W. Craig Carter (Dept. of Materials Science, MIT). The chaise is part of the interactive creative learning environment at the author’s Le Laboratoire in Cambridge, Mass. It uses cutting-edge materials and technologies to provide an unexpected insight into the experience of being in the womb.

Are Americans getting dumber?

Our math skills are falling. Our reading skills are weakening. Our children have become less literate than children in many developed countries. But the crisis in American education may be more than a matter of sliding rankings on world educational performance scales.

David Edwards is a professor at Harvard University and the founder of Le Laboratoire.

Our kids learn within a system of education devised for a world that increasingly does not exist.

To become a chef, a lawyer, a philosopher or an engineer, has always been a matter of learning what these professionals do, how and why they do it, and some set of general facts that more or less describe our societies and our selves. We pass from kindergarten through twelfth grade, from high school to college, from college to graduate and professional schools, ending our education at some predetermined stage to become the chef, or the engineer, equipped with a fair understanding of what being a chef, or an engineer, actually is and will be for a long time.

We “learn,” and after this we “do.” We go to school and then we go to work.

This approach does not map very well to personal and professional success in America today. Learning and doing have become inseparable in the face of conditions that invite us to discover.

Against this arresting background, an exciting new kind of learning is taking place in America.

Over the next twenty years the earth is predicted to add another two billion people. Having nearly exhausted nature’s ability to feed the planet, we now need to discover a new food system. The global climate will continue to change. To save our coastlines, and maintain acceptable living conditions for more than a billion people, we need to discover new science, engineering, design, and architectural methods, and pioneer economic models that sustain their implementation and maintenance. Microbiological threats will increase as our traditional techniques of anti-microbial defense lead to greater and greater resistances, and to thwart these we must discover new approaches to medical treatment, which we can afford, and implement in ways that incite compliance and good health. The many rich and varied human cultures of the earth will continue to mix, more rapidly than they ever have, through mass population movements and unprecedented information exchange, and to preserve social harmony we need to discover new cultural referents, practices, and environments of cultural exchange. In such conditions the futures of law, medicine, philosophy, engineering, and agriculture – with just about every other field – are to be rediscovered.

Americans need to learn how to discover.

Being dumb in the existing educational system is bad enough. Failing to create a new way of learning adapted to contemporary circumstances might be a national disaster. The good news is, some people are working on it.

Against this arresting background, an exciting new kind of learning is taking place in America. Alternatively framed as maker classes, after-school innovation programs, and innovation prizes, these programs are frequently not framed as learning at all. Discovery environments are showing up as culture and entertainment, from online experiences to contemporary art installations and new kinds of culture labs. Perhaps inevitably, the process of discovery — from our confrontation with challenging ambiguous data, through our imaginative responses, to our iterative and error-prone paths of data synthesis and resolution — has turned into a focus of public fascination.

Discovery has always provoked interest, but how one discovers may today interest us even more. Educators, artists, designers, museum curators, scientists, engineers, entertainment designers and others are creatively responding to this new reality, and, together, they are redefining what it means to learn in America.

At Harvard University, where I teach, Peter Galison, in History of Science, asks his students make films, to understand science; Michael Chu, in business, brings students to low income regions to learn about social entrepreneurship; Michael Brenner, in Engineering and Applied Science, invites master chefs to help students discover the science of cooking; and Doris Sommer, in Romance Languages, teaches aesthetics by inviting students to effect social and political change through cultural agency. Similarly, in the course I teach, How to Create Things and Have Them Matter, students are asked to look, listen, and discover, using their own creative genius, while observing contemporary phenomena that matter today.

Because that’s what discoverers do.

Learning by an original and personal process of discovery is a trend on many US university campuses, like Stanford University, MIT, and Arizona State University. It also shows up in middle school, high school and after school programs, as in the programs supported by the ArtScience Prize, a more curricular intensive version of the plethora of innovation prizes that have sprung up in the last years around the world. Students and participants in these kinds of programs learn something even more valuable than discovering a fact for themselves, a common goal of “learning discovery” programs; they learn the thrill of discovering the undiscovered. Success brings not just a good grade, or the financial reward of a prize. It brings the satisfaction that one can realize dreams, and thrive, in a world framed by major dramatic questions. And this fans the kind of passion that propels an innovator along a long creative career.

Discovery, as intriguing process, has become a powerful theme in contemporary culture and entertainment. In art and design galleries, and many museums, artists and designers, like Olafur Eliasson, Mark Dion, Martin Wattenberg, Neri Oxman and Mathieu Lehanneur, invite the public to explore contemporary complexities, as in artist Mark Dion’s recent collaborative work with the Alaskan SeaLife Center and Anchorage Museum on plastic fragments in the Pacific Ocean. Often they make visitors discovery participants, as in Martin Wattenberg’sApartment, where people enter words that turn into architectural forms, or sorts of memory palaces. In a more popular way, television discovery and reality programs, from Yukon Men to America’s Got Talent, present protagonists who face challenges, encounter failure, and succeed, iteratively and often partially, while online the offer is even more pervasive, with games of discovery and adventure immersing young people in the process of competing against natural and internal constraints.

All this has led to the rise of the culture lab.

Culture labs conduct or invite experiments in art and design to explore contemporary questions that seem hard or even impossible to address in more conventional science and engineering labs. Their history, as public learning forum, dates from the summer of 2007, when the Wellcome Collection opened in King’s Cross London, to invite the incurably curious to probe contemporary questions of body and mind through contemporary art and collected object installations. A few months later, in the fall 2007, Le Laboratoire opened in Paris, France, to explore frontiers of science through experimental projects in contemporary art and design, and translate experimental ideas from educational, through cultural, to social practice. And in the winter 2008 Science Gallery opened in downtown Dublin to bring contemporary science experimentation to the general public (and students of Imperial College) with installations in contemporary art and design. Other culture labs have opened since then, in Amsterdam, Kosovo, Madrid and other European, American, Asian, African and Latin American cities. In the USA, culture labs especially thrive on campuses, like MIT’s famous Media Lab, Harvard’s iLab, and the unique metaLAB, run by Jeffrey Schnapp within Harvard’s Berkman Center. These will now be joined by a public culture lab, Le Laboratoire Cambridge, which opens later this month near MIT and Harvard, bringing to America the European model with a program of public art and design exhibitions, innovation seminars, and future-of-food sensorial experiences.

The culture lab is the latest indication that learning is changing in America. It cannot happen too fast.

We may not be getting dumber in America. But we need to get smarter in ways that match the challenges we now face. The time is now to support the role of learning in the pursuit of discovery and to embrace the powerful agency of culture.

from:    http://www.wired.com/2014/10/on-learning-by-doing/

Volcano Report fr/E. Klemetti

Posted on by

Eruption Update: Copahue, Poás, Sinabung, Kilauea, Holuhraun and Italy

Webcam image of Copahue in Chile, seen on October 16, 2014. A small steam-and-ash plume can be seen along with deposits of fresh, dark grey across on the volcanoes slopes. Image: SERNAGEOMIN.

I apologize for being missing for the last week. The big Geological Society of America meeting is next week in Vancouver BC and not only am I giving a talk and co-chairing a session, but two of my students are presenting posters. Needless to say, things have been busy. My talk centers on what zircon can tell us about the storage conditions and source magmas across the Cascade Range. I have zircon data from four Cascade volcanoes: St. Helens, Hood, South Sister and Lassen, it is a great chance to see how the differences in different parts of the Cascade arc might influence the composition of zircon. My two students are both presenting on their pieces of the Lassen Volcanic Center project, so we’ll be presenting over 800,000 years of zircon data.

Not only that, but I also built a volcano on the Denison campus, so if you missed the video of that, check it out.

So, without further ado, here’s some brief updates around the world of volcanoes:

Iceland

The Holuhraun lava field eruption is now one of the largest continuous eruptions in the past few centuries in Iceland here in its second month of activity. Lava flows and fountains are continuing on the plain between Barðarbunga and Askja while the Barðarbunga caldera itself is still subsiding at a rate of 30-40 cm/day. So far, that subsidence is over 0.75 cubic kilometers of lost volume below the caldera floor and large earthquakes are still occurring near the caldera. The biggest danger from this eruption so far has been the copious sulfur dioxide emissions that continue to cause problems for people in Iceland (depending on the winds). If you want to see some stunning images of the eruption, check these out — especially some of the overhead shots of the lava flows. Also, there might be something lost in translation, but Haraldur Sigurðsson make the odd prediction that the eruption would end on March 4, 2015 — a little too specific for my tastes.

Indonesia

Sinabung has entered back into a phase of more intense dome-collapse pyroclastic flows. This crisis at Sinabung has now lasted well over a year and local residents are running into problems with access to food and water. Not only that, but rainfall around the volcano combined with these eruptions has caused the threat of volcanic mudflows (lahars) to increase dramatically. The loose volcanic ash and debris is easily remobilized when heavy rains occur, creating a concrete-like slurry that can be very damaging and dangerous. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some of the pyroclastic flows have also triggered fires in the regions around Sinabung.

Chile/Argentina

Copahue has had a number of moderate explosive eruptions over the last week that prompted some minor evacuations of herders near the volcano. This is the third bout of explosive activity at the volcano since it became restless at the end of 2012. The alert status at Copahue is Orange and if you want to check out what is up there, use the SERNAGEOMIN webcam.

Costa Rica

Poás experienced a number of explosions as well. These mainly steam-driven events closed off the summit of the volcano to tourists for a few days, but access has been reopened after signs of the volcano settling down again – although the overall unrest continues. Be sure to check out the OVSICORI time-lapse video of the explosion as well.

Hawaii

The lava flow headed down the slopes of Kilauea towards Pahoa is still continuing to crawl forward. Now the flows are moving at ~25 meters/day, but the threat still remains for the flows to reach houses and roads if it continues to flow. The current estimate has the flow reaching Apaa Street in Pahoa around November 1. So far, the only damage the flows have caused is to vegetation.

Italy

In case you missed it, be sure to read David Wolman’s coverage of the appeal for the Italian geologists convicted in the aftermath of the L’Aquila earthquake. It still amazes me how much the Italian judicial system is willing to believe in charlatans and find scapegoats for an act of nature.

from:    http://www.wired.com/2014/10/eruption-update-copahue-poas-sinabung-kilauea-holuhraun-italy/#more-1601379

Your Color Vibe for Saturday, 10/18

Posted on by

Saturday, October 18:   Pink Hue

This will start out as one of those Not-Quite days, but will end up just fine. There are conflicts around you that do not belong to you, and if you let yourself fall into that energy you can find yourself being dragged into a situation in which you have to make decisions for people, etc. that are not your to make. Best to step back and involve yourself with your own stuff. There are things to get done today and even though it might feel overwhelming at first, by the end of the day you can be pleasantly surprised by all you have accomplished. This is all about personal power, and it is time to own it. This is a time for exercising it so that it becomes a habit as the year winds down and chaos ramps up.

Your Color Scope for Thursday, 10/16

Posted on by

Thursday, October 16:   Light Tangerine

There is a bit of the exotic in the air today. You can embrace it or feel intimidated by it. You will find that there are certain physical symptoms appearing that are seemingly not related to anything, and while you might find these things unsettling, in fact they are just your physicality responding to the energy that is now hitting at such a a pulse and vibration that those who are not in sync find themselves totally out of whack. It is best to start every day with a grounding and breathing exercise. The breathing can be your Go-To place when things get crazy, while grounding keeps you in alignment with the larger whole. You are moving forward, even as you attempt to remain behind. But then, choices are always there. And, as always, there is neither right nor wrong, merely your choice.

Take Back your Power

Posted on by

10 Ways to Stop Being a Slave and Bring Down the Pyramids of Control

http://themindunleashed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/10-wayss.jpg
Activist Post | There are very real conspiracies in the world, and those conspiracies are always conducted by people “in the know” against those who are ignorant or naive of back-room machinations.Past slavery was largely based on force (thus was much more obvious), but modern-day slavery is actually more widespread because global slave masters use all of the scientific tools at their disposal to win hearts and control minds, convincing us that our hands and feet are free, so we must be living self-directed lives.

There are signs that the mind-pyramids that technocrats have built to enforce their 21st-century global plantation slave system are crumbling as they press harder upon our cognitive ability to make sense of words and actions.  The owners of the shoulders on which the structure of tyranny is supported are beginning to leave in droves. The pyramids are falling as slaves begin to recognize their unconscious effort, and consciously encourage others to find a different line of work.

Here are 10 ways that you can help collapse all of the pyramids of control.

1. Media and Intelligence – Information is knowledge and knowledge is power — this is where it all starts.  Turn off the TV, stop passively receiving information that turns you into an idiot at the teat of the “idiot box.”  Get creative: start a blog, a neighborhood newsletter, radio show, public access TV or YouTube channel, write encouraging letters to companies you appreciate and nasty ones to those you boycott; DO something; anything to increase awareness.  Homeschooling is another great way to help short circuit the negative influences of systematic programming. Even if you don’t agree with homeschooling, or are not able, there are concepts that you can help introduce into your public school to enhance education. Intelligence – there are technologies to thwart constant surveillance, as well as low-tech solutions to high-tech tyranny. The Internet is being used to surveil the public, but it also provides an opportunity for the public to surveil and report the real criminals. Use the system against itself.

2. Health and Agriculture – Why do tyrannical systems always move to declare methods of independence such as farming, vitamins, raw milk, and natural medication like cannabis as underground contraband systems that threaten the health of society?  Clearly because this is a cornerstone of freedom.  Learn to make your own medicines, trade on the underground, support other states (and countries) who have embraced food freedom, and stand your ground by forming local community resistance against food and health tyranny.  Moreover, simply making your mind and body stronger by pursuing what is natural and healthy will give you more power to challenge the system in every other way.

3. Energy and Technology – Support true economic development and pursue open source solutions to all technological problems that can affect humanity on the widest scale. These are the technologies that have been suppressed in the past, their creators destroyed; but now there are too many people pursuing goals to free humanity.  Embrace innovation and technology, but only as it leads to self-empowerment, self-determination, and genuinely helps the human and environmental condition. There are reportedly many free-energy patents being kept from the public.  These technologies can’t be kept secret forever as long as the Internet remains free and open.  Support all efforts to maintain Internet freedom and the right to pursue innovation.

4. Mobility and Flexibility – Always be willing to adapt and move.  The structure of tyranny might be global, but there are always pockets of freedom that tyranny ignores — normally based on economic interest.  Become adaptable, don’t buy into the “American Dream” of having possessions to define your self-worth.  Once you discard the unimportant things, look for specific towns, states, or countries to escape economic decline and those which promote freedom. It’s a difficult decision to pick up and move, especially when extended family comes into play, but discuss your ideas and the evidence for your concerns openly and honestly, and be the first to pioneer the building of a new future — if things begin to collapse in earnest, you will soon be sought after by those who once doubted your “crazy” reasoning.

5. Prepare for the Worst – Along the same lines as being mobile and flexible, make sure that you store enough supplies to get through a few months or more of tough times.  The current system relies on your dependence and they can easily control those who live just-in-time lifestyles. Most people don’t realize how much they “need” the system until something like a blizzard knocks out their power and wipes out the grocery store shelves.  It’s wise to store back-up food, have the ability to produce food, gather tools and other items needed during power outages or other disasters, and actively pursue any and all other survival prepping and self-sufficiency techniques.

6. Refuse to Pay Unjust Debt – This is a moral decision based on the information that much of what was created to be a “loan” was based on a predatory system.  As they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse, and that is duly noted, but when confronted with an enemy that has deliberately contrived devious ways to steal productivity and the fruits of honest labor, then the principle of justifiable self-defense is invoked.  Forget about your credit score; it is the invisible chain that keeps you in prison.  Refuse to pay debts that you know were fraudulently imposed. Remember, the banks never had the money they “lent” to you in the first place; they created it out of nothing to buy your servitude. If you are hesitant to simply quit paying the criminal banks, then learn how to reduce your exposure to all debts.

7. Create New Banking Systems – We have seeneconomic collapse taking down countries like dominoes across the third world, and now the first.  These money junkies cannot and will not stop.  It is up to us to develop systems which permit us to completely withdraw our support for the current system and shield us from manipulated collapses.  This may be the most productive way to break free from modern slavery; whether it’s switching to local credit unions, storing precious metals instead of cash, engaging in barter systems or using alternative currencies, or supporting full-blown monetary reform.

8. Learn a Skill – Learn as many skills outside of your day job as possible.  This can be as simple as giving more attention to your hobbies like fishing, hunting, gardening, painting, blogging, tinkering on cars, building things, sewing, cooking, etc. Whatever useful skill you’re most passionate about, learn more about it, become an expert at it, and acquire the necessary tools to start a side business with it. By doing this, you’ll reduce the dependence on your job and find much more fulfillment in life.  Remember, skills are the only form of wealth that can’t be taken from you. Additionally, form clubs or partnerships with your neighbors and share your skills and tools to form a stronger community that will be resistant to whatever the systems of control throw your way.

9. Boycott – Activists have enjoyed many recent victories through boycott, most notably the rapidremoval of “pink slime” meat from major supermarket chains following public outcry once they became aware of the product.  It goes to show that the public still holds the power over corporations, but the masses must be educated before they’re moved to action.  Not you though.  Readers of this post know exactly what companies to boycott and why. Start living your principles and follow through on your knowledge.  Voting with your dollars DOES work, but not if the aware crowd refuses to do it.

10. Taxes – Taxes are the most controversial of all — the one that catches the most flak, so the one that must be most directly over the target. How do you feel knowing that money is extracted from you by force to be injected into systems around the world that create violence, rip apart cultures, and put us on a path of complete annihilation and self-destruction?  This is slave-like thinking in its highest form of denial.  No Constitution of any country anywhere in the world openly recognizes that it is lawful to forcefully extract money you have earned enslaving you for life to kill others with it, upon penalty of imprisonment. It’s the final chain to be broken, and is admittedly the thickest.  But how can a machine be built without the funding to build it?  The entire prison system we see around us has been built with our own money. Did you authorize it? Did you authorize the preemptive wars, bank bailouts, corporate subsidies, the high-tech surveillance grid that enslaves you?

Significantly, these are all things you can do on your own.  You don’t need to influence politicians, or ignite a mass protest, or wait for an uprising.  There is no cavalry coming. You are the change you seek. Get out there and become more self-reliant and the system will lose its grip on you.  If enough of us do this, the system will fall apart by its own unsustainable making.  Refuse to be a slave today and unchain others by sharing this article and implementing the tips on this list.

from:    http://themindunleashed.org/2014/10/10-ways-stop-slave-bring-pyramids-control.html

Miracles, Synchronicity, & Scientific American

Posted on by

A Miracle in Scientific American

Charles Eisenstein

The following originally appeared on The New and Ancient Story.

In the latest issue of Scientific American, Michael Shermer describes an amazing and beautiful synchronicity that happened the day of his wedding, just this summer. I hope you read the article, but to summarize, an old non-functioning radio that had belonged to his bride’s beloved grandfather mysteriously started playing a love song as the ceremony was about to commence, only to go silent again the next day.

The miracle I refer to is not the event itself, but rather the fact that it is recounted in the pages of a top science magazine by Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and a long-time upholder of scientific orthodoxy. His humility and courage in publicly revealing an experience that has, in his words, shaken his core beliefs is exemplary. That this revelation seems to contradict his aggressively argued position of many years makes it little short of miraculous.

Let me be clear what I mean by scientific orthodoxy. It consists of three beliefs: (1) that the dominant institutions of science, and the consensus of scientists, offer a description of reality that is basically correct; (2) that the implicit metaphysical assumptions underpinning the Scientific Method are true, and (3) that the Scientific Method should enjoy a privileged status among all ways to knowledge; that it is the royal road to truth.

The event that Michael Shermer describes would, to most people, indicate that belief #1 above is faulty: that science offers nowhere near a complete description of reality. One might easily conclude that people can communicate from beyond the grave by influencing electronics, or that in moments of heightened emotion meaningful coincidences occur that reflect a layer of causality that is normally invisible to us. But I would like to focus on another element of Shermer’s piece.

As Shermer is abundantly aware, the stunning synchronicity he experienced on his wedding proves nothing about the nature of reality. He says that if anyone else had reported this event to him, he would have explained it away as a random electrical anomaly that, because of its timing, took on emotional significance. By the Law of Large numbers, he says, one would expect occasional coincidences like this, which, because they are preferentially remembered and reported, seem more common than they are. One might easily say, as some of the commenters did, that it was nothing more than perhaps some wires expanding on what might have been a hot, humid day, completing a circuit.

Only this and nothing more.

But as Michael Shermer perceptively notes, the existence of such explanations is irrelevant to the feeling quality of the experience. It “rocked me back on my heels,” he said; it brought him and his bride into a state of awe and gratitude. In the moment, his bride, also a firm nonbeliever in anything supernatural, knew, “My grandfather is here with us. I am not alone.”

How did she know it, and why was he rocked back on his heels? It wasn’t because they, in the moment, reevaluated a data set and, in light of a single piece of evidence, came to a rational decision to change their beliefs. They were following another way of knowing, one that is quite different from the evidentiary reasoning and hypothesis testing of the Scientific Method. In that moment, they knew something. That kind of knowing is inherently subjective, impossible to translate into objective evidence, because it depends on the totality of the circumstances surrounding it.

Revealingly, Shermer says the experience has shaken his skepticism to the core. But as one of the commenters observed, skepticism isn’t a belief system, it is a process of, as skeptic.com puts it, “employing or calling for statements of fact to prove or disprove claims.” Is it, though? Critics of self-described skeptics point out that what they accept as evidence encodes their own hidden biases as well as their faith in the integrity of the institutions of knowledge production, and that they unwittingly practice the same credulity and closed-mindedness of which they accuse their targets. But these criticisms do not reach to the heart of skepticism: they say, merely, that skeptics practice it imperfectly. When Shermer says his skepticism has been shaken to the core, perhaps he doesn’t mean that his doubts about the usual targets of self-described skeptics – supernatural and paranormal claims – have been shaken. Perhaps what was shaken is his faith in the primacy of a way of knowing: the one that underlies skepticism and the Scientific Method.

It wasn’t a testable hypothesis proven through replicable experiments that rocked Michael Shermer’s world. It was an experience, immediate, subjective, and unreproducible by any normal means.

Certainly, Michael Shermer would not discard scientific reasoning in light of his experience. Nor would I. The challenge is to hold different paths to knowledge alongside each other, to stand in paradox, until one day, perhaps, a hidden unity is revealed. Some of the commenters on line, admonishing the author via various mechanistic explanations, seemed not to understand that the significance of the experience had nothing to do with the absence of a physical mechanism to explain the radio turning on. It was the synchronicity of the event, the timing, the circumstances.

One might think it marvelous if any physical explanation (per accepted physics) could be eliminated, proving that consciousness after death, or perhaps telekinesis, exists after all. One might think it marvelous to expand the realm of known forces and the entities that can wield them. But for me, there is a possibility far more marvelous, beyond a mere extension of the existing catalog of physical phenomena. It is that the causal mechanism – whether a departed spirit or a heat-and-humidity-induced completion of a circuit – is merely the means through which a deeper truth becomes manifest: that the universe, and the events of our lives, possess intelligence, consciousness, purpose. We are not the sole repositories of these qualities, surveying an alien universe of force and mass. We are at home in the universe.

Note that I am not proclaiming here a divinity external to matter that is the source of this aforesaid intelligence, purpose, etc. The usual critique of Cartesian dualism would then apply: if spirit interacts with matter, it isn’t external to matter; it is, rather, an extension of physics that leaves its key metaphysical assumptions intact. I am saying, rather, that these qualities are inherent in the world. Shermer doesn’t say out loud that his experience causes him to doubt that the universe is an impersonal jumble of generic particles governed by mathematical laws, in which there is no meaning except what we project and no intelligence except what we impose, nor does his experience “prove” anything to the contrary; however, his account bears unto the reader a quality of awe, that comes primarily from the experience itself, and only secondarily, if at all, from any reconsideration of physics it might inspire. Properly, he relegates the implications for scientific inquiry to the last paragraph: “We need to keep an open mind,” is basically what he says.

That this spontaneous and numinous experience happened to one of the world’s most prominent debunkers of such experiences may, like the dot of yin in the fullness of yang, portend a fundamental transition. Perhaps it signals the unraveling of the epistemologic hegemony of science, not to be soon replaced with another knowledge system that merely extends its explanatory devices, but leading, rather, to a time of unknowing, a time of paradox and contradiction. As Shermer concludes, “We should not shut the doors of perception when they may be opened to us to marvel in the mysterious.”

from:    http://realitysandwich.com/223907/a-miracle-in-scientific-american/

On the Merkaba

Posted on by

Understanding the Merkabah – Inter-Dimensional Travel

Free Spirit
guest writer for In5D.com

The Merkabah Vehicle is the means for traveling to higher dimensional planes and for ascending the physical body out of the 3rd dimension. Our Merkabah Vehicle is in essence our own inter-dimensional star-craft – similar to the structure in the Contact movie, albeit far more complex. The degree to which we have assembled our Merkabah Vehicle, will determine how far we can progress through the Astral Planes and whether we are able to use the interstellar and intergalactic wormholes.

As we awaken to our higher dimensional selves and engage in conscious astral travel, we begin to ‘build’ our Merkabah. This process is also greatly assisted by vibratory cleansing, emotional healing, karmic trans-mutation and the detoxification of harmful substances from our bodies. This then activates dormant DNA strands within our Being and our Light Body is activated. The fully activated Light Body has the means to build around itself a geometric structure out of etheric particles that facilitates movement between different dimensional spheres.

Our light body is often depicted in art as being within a Metatron’s Cube or some other similar geometric structure. Some of Dali’s paintings of the Last Supper of Christ depict this meal taking place within a dodecahedral structure.

Our light body is often depicted in art as being within a Metatron’s Cube or some other similar geometric structure. Some of Dali’s paintings of the Last Supper of Christ depict this meal taking place within a dodecahedral structure.

Activating the Merkabah Vehicle – The Architecture of the Universe

Merkabah geometry primarily uses the geometry of the Archimedean Solids and the Platonic Solids, which appear to be Universal structures and are embedded in the multi-dimensional fabric of the Universe – from which the manifestation of all life within this dimension comes forth.

Many times I have often contemplated if there is some Master-Structure that represents the geometry of the entire Universe and incorporates all of the others within in a 12th dimensional spatial field – and it seems that there is one unifying structure in 12 dimensions that gives rise to the manifestation of all lower-dimensional geometries.

The diagram below shows the Platonic Solids (P1 – P5) and the Archimedean Solids (P6, A2-A13).

Merkabah geometry primarily uses the geometry of the Archimedean Solids and the Platonic Solids, which appear to be Universal structures and are embedded in the multi-dimensional fabric of the Universe – from which the manifestation of all life within this dimension comes forth.

The Dodecahedron and Icosahedron – (P3 and P2 respectively), are of particular interest when it comes to the geometry of the Merkabah. The Dodecahedron has 12 sides and 20 vertices – and the Icosahedron has 20 faces and 12 vertices. It may be more than coincidence that the energies of these structures are very relevant for the year 2012 that has now passed.

The Dodecahedron served as the vehicle in the Contact movie – see here:-

Through my own work as a Merkabah Artist – have discovered that these structures have the power to instigate dimensional journeying. They appear to amplify the energies of the cosmos into this dimension, opening up portals within space-time that are accessible to those of a high enough vibration. I have had many experiences akin to the Contact movie, albeit far more profound and far out – and am able to repeat the experience many times by using the Merkabahs.

Through my own work as a Merkabah Artist – have discovered that these structures have the power to instigate dimensional journeying. They appear to amplify the energies of the cosmos into this dimension, opening up portals within space-time that are accessible to those of a high enough vibration. I have had many experiences akin to the Contact movie, albeit far more profound and far out – and am able to repeat the experience many times by using the Merkabahs.

In the same vein as the movie, the whole process happens in a different temporal reality – and I return a second later having travelled half the galaxy and spending a considerable amount of time there.

Contemplation and the meditation upon such Merkabah Geometries allow one’s consciousness to connect with our higher dimensional energy and can create powerful conscious gateways into other spheres. They also can be extremely purgative energetically and some people find it impossible to be around the larger Merkabahs that I create, because of this cleansing intensity. Once our light body is fully activated, there are no places for denser energies to remain – and many of my Merkabahs represent the light body in a rarefied and pure state.

Meditation on the Icosahedron and variations of the Icosahedron can be very helpful in order to become more conscious of one’s relationship with Source, and those receptive to the energy will be able to access the vibration of Christ Consciousness through the power of the Icosahedron. The Icosahedron is the main structure of energetic amplification and the dodecahedron has the effect of instigating dimensional transport.

I then found by moving from the simple dodecahedron to the geometry of the small rhombicosidodecahedron (A5) it was possible to create more elaborate structures (such as the Stellar Gateway below) with more powerful effect. Here I was able to create an inner and outer dodecahedral shell within the same structure – and this increased the intensity. The incorporation of 5-pointed stars on the pentagonal faces amplified the energies of our own Sun (which is predominantly a 5th dimensional Star). Much larger stars have an energetic wake extending across more dimensions (more in Keys to Immortality).

I then found by moving from the simple dodecahedron to the geometry of the small rhombicosidodecahedron (A5) it was possible to create more elaborate structures (such as the Stellar Gateway below) with more powerful effect. Here I was able to create an inner and outer dodecahedral shell within the same structure – and this increased the intensity. The incorporation of 5-pointed stars on the pentagonal faces amplified the energies of our own Sun (which is predominantly a 5th dimensional Star). Much larger stars have an energetic wake extending across more dimensions

Each star and planet will have its own unique Merkabah vibrating at its core. The planets generally contain the Platonic Solids or compounds of them – and the stars contain variations of the Archimedean Solids – but in multiple dimensions.

The Earth Merkabah is a compound of two tetrahedra (AKA The Stellated Octahedra), depicted below.

Each star and planet will have its own unique Merkabah vibrating at its core. The planets generally contain the Platonic Solids or compounds of them – and the stars contain variations of the Archimedean Solids – but in multiple dimensions.

One tetrahedron points upward and the other points downwards, yet they intersect. This is the Merkabah most commonly depicted in metaphysical literature and this Compound of Two Tetrahedra will fit within the 3D outline of a cube – pointing to the intrinsic 3D aspect that this planet is vibrating in at this time.

Thus the work for ascending beings is to firstly build the 3D Earth Merkabah within their light body, which through meditation, cleansing and the opening of the heart chakra – is not so difficult. All beings vibrating at the level of the heart chakra will automatically achieve this. The next task is to build the 5th dimensional Earth Merkabah (The Metatron’s Cube) within their light body. The Metatrons cube is a compound of all five Platonic Solids combined.

Thus the work for ascending beings is to firstly build the 3D Earth Merkabah within their light body, which through meditation, cleansing and the opening of the heart chakra – is not so difficult. All beings vibrating at the level of the heart chakra will automatically achieve this. The next task is to build the 5th dimensional Earth Merkabah (The Metatron’s Cube) within their light body. The Metatrons cube is a compound of all five Platonic Solids combined.

In the completion of the building of the Metatron’s cube template within one’s light body – achieved through meditation, vibratory purification and reflection upon sacred geometry – one breaks through into 5th dimensional consciousness and one is then returned etherically to the vibration of Eden. For many individuals, their Merkabah Vehicle will self-assemble as they ascend and issues preventing assembly will be automatically resolved in the process. Having visions of the Metatron’s Cube, either in dreams or meditation – is a strong affirmation that one has achieved this level of Merkabah Vehicle activation.

One has then vibrationally aligned their light body with the 5th dimen-sional Earth. The next stage is to be able to access the Central Sun Portal (the wormhole within our own Sun) so as to prepare for the Ascension of the Body into 5D and the Return to Immortality. From here on, one is ready to begin accessing Star Gates.

A star-gate is in essence a Merkabah Portal within a stellar body that permits passage elsewhere. The energetic frequencies of the Merkabahs within stars are aligned to similar Merkabahs within other stars – this alignment creates a wormhole for beings with the vibration to match.

The Stellar Merkabahs are a lower dimensional manifestation of the overall Universal Master Merkabah (a geometric reflection of the Alpha/Omega Particle discussed in my second book) that I believe to exist in a 12th dimensional form, which can embody all other lower-dimensional geometries within. Ascending beings do not need to give attention on being able to decipher the Ultimate Merkabah of Source – but the familiarity with the planetary Merkabahs and some of the stellar ones is useful. Stars throughout the galaxy contain various geometries at their core, creating quantum gateways into higher dimensional spheres and linking different star systems together. Stellar Merkabahs embody the geometry of the Archimedean Solids.

These Merkabahs are vibrationally aligned with star-gates within other stars beyond our own Sun and permit interstellar travel.

Thus, these more complex Merkabahs are tools for facilitating the Star Being (6th dimensional) Ascension within our being.

Thus, these more complex Merkabahs are tools for facilitating the Star Being (6th dimensional) Ascension within our being.

Receptive individuals using these Merkabahs will be able to traverse the galaxy with their higher dimensional body and access multiple star systems, once their light body has assimilated these structures into its blueprint. The Light Body can assimilate all kinds of geometries – and once it has done so, it then retains the ability to travel to that particular Star System and one is then connected with the ET Intelligence of that system. Those that become competent at this will activate their Rainbow Body of Light and in due course, their 7th dimensional Star Body and will become conscious interstellar explorers.

Interstellar travel within the 3rd dimension is impossible because of the time-space limitations, thus do not expect any 3D aliens to show up anytime soon! Interstellar travel is only prevalent within higher dimensional Ascended Races, who have understood the mechanics of wormholes and portals. Advanced ETs create Merkabah Crafts similar to my creations, in order to permit passage to different points in the galaxy.

Interstellar travel within the 3rd dimension is impossible because of the time-space limitations, thus do not expect any 3D aliens to show up anytime soon! Interstellar travel is only prevalent within higher dimensional Ascended Races, who have understood the mechanics of wormholes and portals. Advanced ETs create Merkabah Crafts similar to my creations, in order to permit passage to different points in the galaxy.

The difference between the Merkabah Vehicle and a Merkabah Craft, is that the second is a more advanced technological creation, made by the Star Beings that can carry multiple occupants – whereas the Merkabah Vehicle is our own unique Vehicle only.

However, our own Merkabah Vehicle can ‘dock’ with these advanced multi-dimensional ET crafts in order to go deeper into the Universe. Those who have accessed the deeper dimensions of hyperspace and have the contact with the Beings will undoubtedly come across these crafts and have some very profound experiences within.

A Merkabah Craft usually takes on the appearance of the regular Archimedean Solid – the Great Rhombidodecahedron.

It has 12 decagonal faces, that in the higher dimensions are concave and serve as the ‘docking bays’.

However, our own Merkabah Vehicle can ‘dock’ with these advanced multi-dimensional ET crafts in order to go deeper into the Universe. Those who have accessed the deeper dimensions of hyperspace and have the contact with the

Which inspired the Dreamsphere Merkabahs:-

These crafts also serve as Interstellar Space Stations where numerous groups of Star Beings – and astral travellers in their Merkabah Vehicle – can gather. In the higher dimensional worlds – these Merkabah Crafts can be seen to be orbiting beautiful worlds, spinning, beaming beings to and from the surface and flying through the centre of Stars.

These crafts also serve as Interstellar Space Stations where numerous groups of Star Beings – and astral travellers in their Merkabah Vehicle – can gather. In the higher dimensional worlds – these Merkabah Crafts can be seen to be orbiting beautiful worlds, spinning, beaming beings to and from the surface and flying through the centre of Stars.

These Interstellar Space Stations are located throughout the Galaxy and are places for Beings from many worlds to gather. Intrepid trans-astral travellers are also welcome.

These stations are described in a brief extract from my first book – 2012 Meeting the Star Beings:-

Huge space stations also appear up here and simply through a boost in our vibration, our consciousness can shift from the Earth plane and we can then awaken in hyperspace in the midst of some technological creation made by the Star Beings. These space stations are often found in orbit within the coronas of stars, and some lie close to the Galactic core itself, and teleportation devices within allow for transit between different stations. Though the intelligences are very benevolent, they are surprised to find human consciousness appearing up here. There is no need for any security or guarding up here, for our consciousness will let us see anything we are attuned to seeing and so it is not possible to hide anything on the higher dimensions – for anyone with the corresponding vibration will be able to see it. Hence these realms are intrinsically open and transparent – being open and transparent on the Earth plane may well contribute to the ability to visit these higher realms.

These orbiting stations pulsate and vibrate with light and there are many luminous panels bearing advanced instrumentation. They all exist within the ethereal realities, having no solid substance. The floors are often decked out with hexagonal panels with patterning similar to honeycombs and marked with varying unintelligible inscriptions and alien writing. There is a strange sound in these places, almost like the sound of metal cymbals vibrating long after they have been struck. The vibration pulsates through the chambers and brings about a sense of familiar recollection as if one had been here many times previously’.

In terms of their dimensional qualities, they have the same characteristics as a ‘tardis’, in that the inside appears to be much larger than the outside. On some occasions, I recall entering these structures to find entire planetary spheres and solar systems within – populated by vast collectives of ETs and many billions of individual Immortals becoming visible. The vibration inside these Interstellar Merkabahs is off the scale in human terms.

Often, to arrive here feels like we have entered the heart of Creation itself, for inside these structures everything is so rarefied and pure – pristine and unblemished, profoundly big and yet so intricately small at the same time. There is a deep vibration of love here – and a return to a Galactic Knowing, a re-awakening to the fact that once one belonged here and that one has travelled here many times in dreams and not realized the fact before. It is a place of extreme power – all beings within, harness the energy of the Universe and direct it outwardly with pure intent.

Individuals coming here will certainly feel as if they have ‘died and been reborn in heaven’. The centres of these structures often contain dazzling Central Cores – where the energies of the structure are amplified to open up a Central Wormhole to the Central Galactic Sun and to Source itself. The entire structure itself appears to be able to fold in multiple dimensions in many indescribable ways. One would need to understand how inside and outside become one, whilst contemplating the inside of the inside of an inside AND the outside of the inside within the inside in order to comprehend these realities.

Higher dimensions appear to be folded up and bound within the smallest aspects of the dimension below – thus giving rise to the possibility of forms that have more than two sides – yet have no sides at all when viewed from the overall unifying dimension that they exist in. Such a contradictory paradox resolves itself only when one is within these dimensions. One can understand how one overall hyper-spatial reality can contain several and distinct realities within – how one reality bubble can hold many nested realities within – separate and distinct, yet unified by the higher-dimensional whole.

In this remarkable unfolding of dimensional reality – one discovers the infinite depth of one’s own consciousness. One looks within and finds one’s entire being is embedded with these remarkable dimensional manifestations. The energies of the macrocosm and the microcosm are combined within one’s being in profoundly intricate and beautiful ways. To perceive and know these realities with a full awareness is to under-stand the eternal nature of being – how there is no death in these dimensions – and how one can continue to be for ever, changing from one expression of being to the next.

To begin to describe how these structures mutate in and out of dimensional bubbles is beyond the language of the 3D world and the conceptual ability of the 3D mind. To fully understand it would almost certainly result in an instantaneous Ascension out of the body…

About the author: Bio Free Spirit is a Spiritual Master and the author of three books including Keys to Immortality. Reproduction of the blog is permitted with the addition of the following text: This blog is reproduced with the permission of Spiritual Master Free Spirit and contains extracts of the book Keys to Immortality. Reproduced with the permission of Spiritual Master and author Free Spirit.
Website www.keystoimmortality.com

from:    http://in5d.com/merkabah-interdimensional-travel.html

Jonathan Goldman on Healing Sounds

Posted on by

 

Eckhart Tolle on Unconsicousness

Posted on by

Ordinary Unconsciousness And Deep Unconsciousness

Eckhart Tolle
a message from Eckhart Tolle

As you probably know, in sleep you constantly move between the phases of dreamless sleep and the dream state. Similarly, in wakefulness most people only shift between ordinary unconsciousness and deep unconsciousness.

What I call ordinary unconsciousness means being identified with your thought processes and emotions, your reactions, desires, and aversions. It is most people’s normal state. In that state, you are run by the egoic mind, and you are unaware of Being. It is a state not of acute pain or unhappiness but of an almost continuous low level of unease, discontent, boredom, or nervousness — a kind of background static. You may not realize this because it is so much a part of “normal” living, just as you are not aware of a continuous low background noise, such as the hum of an air conditioner, until it stops. When it suddenly does stop, there is a sense of relief. Many people use alcohol, drugs, sex, food, work, television, or even shopping as anesthetics in an unconscious attempt to remove the basic unease. When this happens, an activity that might be very enjoyable if used in moderation becomes imbued with a compulsive or addictive quality, and all that is ever achieved through it is extremely short-lived symptom relief.

The unease of ordinary unconsciousness turns into the pain of deep unconsciousness — a state of more acute and more obvious suffering or unhappiness — when things “go wrong,” when the ego is threatened or there is a major challenge, threat, or loss, real or imagined, in your life situation or conflict in a relationship. It is an intensified version of ordinary unconsciousness, different from it not in kind but in degree. In ordinary unconsciousness, habitual resistance to or denial of what is creates the unease and discontent that most people accept as normal living. When this resistance becomes intensified through some challenge or threat to the ego, it brings up intense negativity such as anger, acute fear, aggression, depression, and so on. Deep unconsciousness often means that the pain-body has been triggered and that you have become identified with it. Physical violence would be impossible without deep unconsciousness. It can also occur easily whenever and wherever a crowd of people or even an entire nation generates a negative collective energy field.

The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life’s challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, and a conscious person more intensely conscious. You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep. The dream of ordinary unconsciousness then turns into a nightmare.

If you cannot be present even in normal circumstances, such as when you are sitting alone in a room, walking in the woods, or listening to someone, then you certainly won’t be able to stay conscious when something “goes wrong” or you are faced with difficult people or situations, with loss or the threat of loss. You will be taken over by a reaction, which ultimately is always some form of fear, and pulled into deep unconsciousness. Those challenges are your tests. Only the way in which you deal with them will show you and others where you are at as far as your state of consciousness is concerned, not how long you can sit with your eyes closed or what visions you see.

So it is essential to bring more consciousness into your life in ordinary situations when everything is going relatively smoothly. In this way, you grow in presence power. It generates an energy field in you and around you of a high vibrational frequency. No unconsciousness, no negativity, no discord or violence can enter that field and survive, just as darkness cannot survive in the presence of light.

from:    http://spiritlibrary.com/eckhart-tolle/ordinary-unconsciousness-and-deep-unconsciousness

Somethings to Consider

Posted on by

6 Thoughts That Will Make You Instantly Happier

by .
happier

Our thoughts are everywhere. Sometimes they can be handy in figuring things out, or sometimes they can overcomplicate things when they don’t need to and many times they just can’t help but be there, including now as you read this article. The bottom line is: your mind always has something to say.

Although practices such as meditation can be great tools in quieting the mind from its rampant chatter, the greatest tool we can ever develop is to regain control of the roller coaster that our mind takes us on. No matter how often it has something to say, it’s ultimately always up to us in how we choose to react to what it has to say. Just like at an amusement park where we have the choice of which roller coaster we would like to ride, we also have the choice as to whether we let our life’s roller coaster be the 5 out of 5 intensity of the BEHEMOTH, or the 1 out of 5 Jolly Taxi.

Rather than always trying to quiet the mind, here are 6 thoughts that we can all implement right now to throw our mind for a loop and make us all instantly happier:

1) When Has Laziness Ever Gotten Me Anywhere?

We all have a lazy bone within us, and many times succumbing to that laziness can be a great experience and an awesome opportunity to unwind. The issue arises when that lazy bone holds us back from doing something that either needs to be done or involves something that we are passionate about. All of the world’s greatest thinkers, athletes, artists, builders, etc., all became that way because they refused to let laziness control their life.

“I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.” – Kobe Bryant

The bottom line is, in this life you are never going to be younger than you are right now, so if not now, when?

What to do if your mind objects: Rather than basking in the idea of how nice laziness can feel at times, and ultimately letting “I don’t feel like it” dictate your decision, choose to look at the other option. Think of how great it feels to accomplish or be a part of something once you get yourself engaged in it. Let that guide you to say “yes,” with the icing on the cake being how much better the relaxation will feel afterwards with the added incentive of having done something.

2) I Already Have Everything I Need

How many of you have ever heard someone say something like this to you? I’m going to start eating healthy and taking care of myself once I finish this project at work, break-up with the girl I’m dating and get my own place. This thought series -or any other one similar to it -I like to call the ultimate creator of being stuck in a limbo state. We identify a change we would like to make, something we are passionate about, but we choose to hold off on incorporating it until a handful of other cards all fall into place. The all too common end result? Those cards never line-up as we expect them to and years go by without us ever exploring the healthy life that we’ve always wanted to.

What to do if your mind objects: Remember that no matter how full our plate currently is, we can always make time to incorporate something that is important to us (think of how we always manage to make time to deal with emergencies.) Even if just in small doses at first -such as making one homemade lunch a week in the example above -these steps show our mind that we are choosing to take control and gets ourselves on a path to a happier version of our self.

3) I Choose To Focus On The Journey, Not The End Result

The world is a vast place with over 7 billion people. Rather than seeing this as a cool fact, many of us see it as a justification as to why we cannot do anything that will have a significant impact. Since our mind will obsess and compare with things of great magnitude, we will often choose to not even bother partaking in or initiating something that we are passionate about -something that if we did, would make us happier.

What to do if your mind objects: Keep two rebuttals in mind: (1) even the grandest things started small, (2) even the smallest thing has an impact on the entire world at a conscious level. We still have plenty of room to grow, but even Collective Evolution started as just 3 guys with an idea, an idea that slowly developed into the website, social media platform and film production company that it is today.

4) I Am Exactly Where I Need To Be

Comparison is at the core of many toxic thoughts, whether it be towards another person, a personal expectation or a socially developed norm. That being the case, our mind often loves to dwell upon the idea of being a failure to this point, which for many people can lead to “settling” or “rushing” to try and get themselves “there” as quickly as possible. Why not instead work on selling yourself on the idea that we are always exactly where we need to be?

What to do if your mind objects:  Whether or not your mind chooses to agree with you being exactly where you need to, we can all agree that no matter what, there is nothing we can do to change the past. That being the case, choose to accept your life for what it has been, love yourself for who you are now and be present in the now, with no regard towards regrets. Choose to move forward rather than spend any more time thinking about how things could have gone differently.

5) I Can’t Please Everyone

The mind is a very powerful creator, and speaking from personal experience, one of the areas that it particularly loves to create within is the idea of how others will react to something that you do. It will often create and obsess to the point that many of us choose to hold ourselves back from doing something that we felt pulled to, just to avoid the potential ridicule or friction that may or may not come from others in our life.

What to do if your mind objects: The first thing to note is that more often than not, people are far too consumed with their own lives to ever carry through on the ridicule that your mind expected them to. But even if they do, is it really worth holding yourself back to avoid facing? When you choose to let the potential opinion of others dictate your life you ultimately choose to willingly place yourself in a “safety” box that will likely never expand to explore many of your passions. Does that sound like happiness?

6) I’m Beautiful Just The Way I Am

This is by far the most specific of the thoughts that I chose to put on this list, but I feel its placement is justified because of the superficially obsessed world that we live in. Whether we’re married, chronically single or have never been kissed it’s amazing how many of us regularly inflict the idea of being ugly upon ourselves -myself included. Whether it be focused on particular aspects of ourselves that we feel fall short, or our entire physicality as a whole we seem to love thrusting negative thoughts towards this awesome gift that we have the privilege of inhabiting.

What to do if your mind objects: Choose to opt out of the world’s “idea” of beauty and accept yourself for who you are. Whether or not the rest the world chooses to play along there is nothing more attractive than a person who is comfortable and confident in their own shoes. Be who you are and try throwing some nice comments towards yourself for a change.

from:    http://consciouslifenews.com/6-thoughts-will-make-instantly-happier/1177318/