Meditation, Heart, Fear and Morality

Disclosure: I have been meditating on average 15 minutes a day for a year and a half. This has included increasing my sitting skills to include 2 hour meditations which have been very useful. I started to learn it 17 years ago, and while developing a good knowledge of its many techniques from a variety of teachers of different school, have never stuck to it until now. I have learned it within a Buddhist context and see Buddhism as really the manual for Meditation - the two are inseparable. Everything in Buddhism has been discovered via meditation. I was born Christian and have never seen a conflict between Jesus and Buddha. There is however an obvious conflict between Christianity and Buddhism as both groups wish to lock in their congregations and are quite jealous of each other. There are jealousies even between sects of each. These are just human frailties and I shall ignore here. But this initial disclosure digresses from the point of the post.

Meditation simply practices and strengthens concentration and mindfulness. These are distinct. Concentration is focus, as when we read a book in a quiet library or seek solitude to get on with a job. Mindfulness is awareness of what is going on in our senses. What we can hear, see, smell, taste, feel and also what thoughts we are having. When we break out of concentration and become aware of the world around and within us we will find our mindfulness extremely acute. We will Notice a lot of things. The two are intimately linked.

In the past I have focused exclusively on Concentration seeking the insights of Jhana that I once gained by Christian practice as a child. But this time I have included more Mindfulness and Compassion meditation.

Along with Mindfulness practice there is Contemplation meditation. I would classify Compassion meditation as a kind of Contemplation meditation. Here we ignore the senses of mindfulness and use our imagination to contemplate specific things. For compassion we are seeking to discover and strengthen our wish to help people in suffering. Linked to this is Loving Kindness meditation (Metta) where we seek to discover and enhance are feelings of Friendship, Support and Warmth toward all people. We begin with those we naturally love (if any, if we have become particularly hurt, withdrawn, cynical and hateful) and as we get stronger can can expand this toward neutral people and finally the people we dislike and hate (if any).

Buddhism Theory is particularly important in understanding and guiding what these meditations are doing. The theory is that we are Ignorant of our True Nature. This means we have Wrong View. Bold words for something very simple. The point is that we tend to learn how to see the world, and tend to inherit opinions about it from other people. We very rarely actually check whether we can see these things for ourself. This is especially and uniquely important when speaking about ourself. How can we learn about ourself from someone else? The obvious irony is that Buddha appears to Tell us about ourselves. But of central importance he never actually says anything exactly, he only guides us to look for ourself and that is the key point of Meditation. It is a looking at ourselves and the world properly, deeply and accurately to ensure that we see it as it is for us, not for someone else and not via some improperly understood theory from a book. Meditation is Me Time where we take good time to look at the world and ourselves carefully to just see how it Really is. When we do Compassion meditation and Metta meditation we are taking it on faith that we have these qualities in our True Nature and we are looking for them and focusing on them. The reason we cannot see them very well is that they are covered in mental dust and dirt - the analogy for ignorance. We often think and do things knowing they are not quite right but we never actually sat down and sorted it out. For example we may have always washed our clothes at setting 4 on the machine but one day we get the manual out and do a proper investigation and we see we are a bit right but there is more to know. Meditation is like being an Archaeologist digging through layers of dirt and time to uncover what we Really Are. The story doesn't end until Enlightenment however: "I" is an ongoing process of investigation and discovery. The Buddhist belief is that Siddhartha discovered his True Nature which it turns out is just One and the same as for All Beings. So Buddhist believe they are looking for their own buddha just as Siddhartha did. But how we get there is as diverse as there are beings in search so Siddhartha never built a single motorway but only highlighted a few of the bigger tributaries of a universal river. If Buddhism has one criticism of Religion it is that it is often sold to new comers as a single motor way. It doesn't take long for the new comer to realise however they are not quite like other people, don't have quite the same ideas, and even don't have quite the same God or goal. Is God a kind person, a strict person, a punishing person, a unknowable person, a person who visits the world for common people or only saints etc. And the new comer will realise their relationship with God and the Religion changes all the time also. They may go through Dark Nights of the Soul filled with doubt, and then periods of strong conviction and security. Everything is change. There is no single Motor Way but a largely unmapped journey through a single track in the mountains never before walked. Even if that path takes us away from Religion and God we are still walking the path. Buddhism recognises perhaps better than any other religion that our journey to salvation is ours not someone elses. We must walk it, and in Meditation we are taking steps on a path never before walked.

So where to begin? Concentration is the key and this is typically built by Anapanasati or Breathing Meditation. We have been breathing from the moment we were born but despite so many breaths we are almost never aware of it. Focus on the breathing, noting each in breath and then out breath and being sure that we are aware that these are happening. Usually we start by counting breaths in groups of 10 going back to 1 if we find we missed a breath when the mind wanders. Each time we bring the mind back we are growing stronger. Even now it can take 30 minutes for the mind to calm down and for me to be able to watch the stream of breathing quietly and for the most part undistracted. Locked On is the mental state of mind where we feel very calm and are inside the bubble of concentration that contains the breath. We don't feel like responding to distractions, we can go out and listen to a sound, or even change our body posture if we feel pain, but we want to come back inside the bubble and sit with our breathing. There is no suffering in this state of mind. THIS IS THE CRITICAL FIRST MIND STAGE OF CONCENTRATION. Get here often.

Once we have concentration then we can do Mindfulness to examine deeply the world and our feelings and thoughts. Or we can do Metta to clean our Hearts and enhance our feelings and relationships with people and the world. As one meditation teacher said Metta is probably the most important meditation because it includes all the others. It requires concentration to focus on the feelings of love, kindness and helpfulness but it also cleans the Heart. We can do Mindfulness and Metta at any moment in our lives, sitting meditation is just to get this process onto a strong start.

Heart has a special meaning in Buddhism. In English we force Heart into two quite separate thoughts. There is mind which is intellectual and there is heart which is emotional. But what do we call an intelligent heart? Someone who gives alcohol to an alcoholic may feel generous but they lack a deeper reflection on the situation. An Intelligent Heart is both kind and perceptive rolled into one. Enlightenment does not occur to the mind and the brain nor does it occur to the emotions and the body it occurs to the Intelligent Heart. In Meditation we removing the dirt that hides the intelligent heart so we need to both clear our Views of incorrect things and we need to clear our emotions of negativity and obstructive feelings. Metta meditation does both.

Intelligent Heart as we start to discover it has strength. It is the thing in Christianity which fights the Devil. When we stand there and we deep down know that something is wrong and we resist it, investigate it and try to throw it off. That is Intelligent Heart. The key to Intelligent Heart is the presence of wise force. When we are angry or fearful we have lots of energy but we use it very unwisely saying hurtful things to people or getting into a panic. These things achieve nothing and often make the situation worse. If we look closely they are also suffering and so are actually telling us that this is not the correct path and also pointing out which issues to examine and solve next. When we have the strength of Intelligent Heart we can see with resilience and clarity the path and we can walk through the storm that has blown up. It takes some force but it is kind and intelligent force that leads us in the right direction. I have certainly been confused out the use of force. I used to be a tutor and was always reluctant to force the children to study as I thought this would create resentment and dislike of the subjects. I wanted to encourage them and bring out their good qualities. This is half intelligent. After years I discovered there is a right time to push and I regret not pushing much more than I did. One very difficult student even said to me once when he realised that he could have done better in his exams, why didn't I push him more! Intelligent Heart uses kind force to get through struggles. Before in meditation I have called it "firmtle". When our mind is being a badly behaved child and will not focus we need to be firm with it, but we must not punish it and make it feel bad at not "meditating well". The generating of negative feelings in meditation can build up toward hating and avoiding it. Obviously if we are strong we can just meditate on those negative feelings but for beginners (like me!) they can upset the process of meditation.

There is no devil in Buddhism, or the one that is, is actually the form of our most important teacher. How else to do learn without tests? Wrong views about the world, dislikes, quarrels, hatreds, hurdles, obstacles, struggles, depressions, loss, anxiety, fears are all the tests thrown at us by the devil. Usually we will fail, but the tests are always exactly what we need to point us down the path. As we get stronger the tests often get more fierce. So being faced by what seems an unsurmountable obstacle is testament to our ambition and the strength our as yet undiscovered True Self believes we can gain.

Once we have Locked In meditation we will feel secure and we will have the mental strength to investigate deeply the tests that we have been set. There is no test that we cannot succeed at. However some may take large parts of our life to solve. But in solving them we become cleaner, purer and closer to our True Nature. What is the point of taking a test that will waste our whole life? This is thought is actually just a test. Remember "thoughts" and "questions" are also the objects of meditation just as sights, sounds, tastes, touches and feelings. It is actually Wrong View but to undo it will take a long time. Buddhism believes in reincarnation. It is a helpful thought because it points us toward understanding that we do not just get born, live and die pointlessly but are more like leaves on a river flowing with no beginning and no end, or a leaf stuck on a wheel turning round again and again. The world keeps flowing forever and without beginning (people might think Big Bang was the start, but then we think what caused Big Bang there is no initial thought or beginning). But while the world keeps flowing we come and go like leaves in this bigger picture of which we are a part. No trees no leaves, no leaves no trees. Correct View involves the slow breaking down of lots of wrong views about ourselves and our relationship with the world and gradually integrating ourselves again to see the whole process. My Intelligent Heart as I become more aware of it and it shines brighter will see clearly the Correct View. Cleaning it up is a long but fascinating path.

And finally morality. How to behave and what to do we usually copy from other people. But lots of times in life we must make our own choices from our sexual orientation to who to marry to what job to do, to where to live, what styles to wear and what pass-time we like. Much is chosen for us: our parents may push us into a particular career or way of feeling about ourselves. At some stage we need to look closely and decide. I became vegetarian, stopped smoking and am tackling recurrent anxiety are three personal choices that required and require a lot of personal investigation. Meditation obviously is the perfect method to achieve personalised moral choices. By looking closely at what is going on within ourselves, seeing suffering as the guide and with the strength of Intelligent Heart we can see a better path and a better life for our bodies and our minds.

The Illuminati & Conspiracy

Illuminati are an 18th Century European club whose goal was to improve the world. The European Enlightenment movement was in full swing then too with similar aims.

“It was not my intention to doubt that, the doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am." [G.W.]

It's interesting that George Washington decided that the Illuminati were a threat to American independence and freedom. He also saw other groups as threats to US like the Jacobians. Since its violent break from the controlling force of Britain the US has always been suspicious of private groups from Europe trying to take over the US. Even as late at 1815 Britain was fighting American Independence. The split between Commonwealth Canada and aggressively independent USA is the result of that war. The Star Spangled Banner is an old British tune with the words of a poem penned as the US withstood a British onslaught. Even as late as 1974 the US was prepared for a British attack through Canada to continue that 150 year old war. It was code named War Plan Red. This history of independence and opposing the Old World very much lives on in Conspiracy Theory and these days the principle is symolised by the Illuminati.

Ironically the New World Order can be seen as either a New "World Order" or a "New World" Order. As someone from the Old World with a Queen still in place and long traditions I see it as the "New World" Order with the US seeking to control the world. New American Century clearly had this aim. With the fall of the USSR the US saw the opportunity to take over the world and spread its values and control. Thus began the push for military supremacy (Joint Vision 2020) and expansion into regions that had previously resisted US control Afghanistan, Iran, Syria. Iraq was a stepping stone with Hussein only recently fallen out of favour. As the drive expanded Gadaffi mysteriously fell out of favour along with others. Russia remains the US main opponent. This is all "New World" Order to me.

But the recent win by Trump flying the banner of US control by Elites suggests that even in the US they are not benefiting from the "New World" Order. Perhaps indeed it is a New "World Order" that benefits neither Old World nor New World but rather an international elite class. Certainly Capitalism has generated this, and globalisations has meant that with money people now have the ability to influence all regions of the world. Obviously Russia and China are more controlling and close their borders to this Global Elite which would be why the Western News, which one can assume is owned by these Elites, hates these countries. To be powerful the first thing to do is control the media! Then you have the support of the people. Then control the banks!

 I said in a previous post that there is a mystic and religious dimension to this type of thinking. In the absence, or rejection of mass religions, the suspicious have formed their own religions. Aliens is prominent as a "other worldly" source of influence on Earth. I have clearly seen a flying saucer with friends who confirm it so I am not speculating on alien craft and aliens. I am speculating on the beliefs that surround them which are all unfounded and chosen because people like the beliefs. "Other worldly" forces then spiral up and down into angels and demons respectively and masonic and other esoteric occult rituals. Certainly all this happens. The only question is how significant it is and whether it makes any difference to our daily lives.

What is without question is that people have varying levels of power. As much in the "free" West as anywhere else in space and time. Once there were Kings and Dictators now there are Capitalists and Bankers who have more influence on our lives than even the worst dictators. But we are also always free as while people can influence us they can never tell us what to do. So in many ways all talk of Illuminatis and Conspiracy even by George Washington is rather irrelevant. The sun rises and falls regardless who is in power. Some say this is the work of God but actually even that doesn't matter. One day the sun won't rise any more and there is nothing we can do about it. Power is just a perspective on the way the world already is.

Mandelbrot fixed systems… Some questions.

Within the set functions of the form Z=Z^2+C decay to a limited number of repeating values. The starting value for these interations was Z0 = 0+0i and the system was run for 1E5 iterations before testing for repetition.

Here Fixed-Points are white (a single value). Binary systems with each value mapped to the other value by the function in Red. Triple systems in Blue and Quaternary systems in Green.

Are there any values of C forming systems that never repeat?

Looking at the arrangement of “dusts” there is a definite pattern. It appears to involve some level of reflection and rotation. The sense I formed is like walking into a hallof mirrors with the object image being broken up and distorted by the function. Is this pattern fractal and exist at lower scales?

Regarding fixed points. So the repetative use of the function gradually removes information from the system until the path collapses into a repeating system. Reversing the function now cannot retrace the path. The information is lost.

Given a fixed point how many points in the set collapse to this point? Is there a method to reverse it?

The existence of dynamic systems with more than 1 state suggests that the SRH should not be concerned with the point itself, but rather the system of values/terms which provide something like a “hermaneutic circle”. Given 1 point we can travel to all the others, but we cannot leave the system. In Russel’s Principia rather than just a single statement which maps to itself via Godel Numbering we can have any number of closed loops. A contradiction can be sort in any of these loops by creating a mirror image of the loop using negation. Because the system is defined by the logic of the loop, the negative mirror image can be easily constructed to contradict the logic. I am provable/I am not provable.

 

Julia Sets

For the function Z = Z^2+(0.4 + 0.6i) the fixed point Zf occurs where Zn+1 == Zn. There are always 2 solutions for every function.

Zf1 = 0.983976  - 0.619865 i

Zf2 = 0.0160238 +0.619865 i

Plotted on the Julia set:

Interestingly the symetrical points in the other 2 quadrants iterate immediately to these 2 fixed points.

Clearly fixed points are integral to the set, marking here the centre of the cross and the end of the long branch. However unclear what special position they hold in the structure.

The original guess was that fixed points are strange attractors. They determine the anchors for the structures. Perhaps this is still partly true.

Logistic Equation

This is much simpler to explore. The question is why does repeated application of a function decay it. The suggestion is decrease of entropy and loss of information when we apply a function. To process of mapping increases the order but uses energy. And under what conditions does it decay to a fixed, binary etc system. Is a chaotic system “really” chaotic does it not increase order at all, or is it just very slow.

Remember the system bouncing between the Quadratic and the y=x line as a way to visualise the process. Why do only certain curves create bifurcation.

SRH revisited (Dynamic Systems, Affine transformation & Mandelbrot)

 

All affine transformations represented by A(r) = p+\[Sigma]Mr. We can use this to explore 2D fixed points of repeating systems. p provides translation, \[Sigma] provides scaling, M provides rotation.

The generals SRH question is: what conditions lead to SRH? i.e. When can you not draw conclusions about a scope. e.g. All statements are false. The scope includes this statement -> repeating system -> SRH

Repeating systems cause Fixed points. But fixed points -> contradictions. Godels Theorem based on a Fixed Point (this statement is provable) which easily turned into a contradiction. Because it is fixed, then it is unconditional, and then a mirror image of this Fixed Point is also unconditional and fixed, but also contradictory. Even Black Holes are fixed points arriving from repeated application of gravitational laws within closed systems.

The SRH states that there can be no unconditional truth.

In this example we see that the translation vector p provides the conditional "data" which is transformed to the Fixed Point F in 1 step  by subtracting the negative rotation from itself. While the forward affine transformation f is an infinite regress (when s < 1) and infinite digress when s > 1 and a loop when s = 1. Thus the fixed point is determined by the transformation conditions {p, \[Sigma], \[Theta]} while the input starting point in the plane is irrelevant. The transformation itself determined the result in the repeated system. i.e. repeated system lose information. This must mean their entropy increases. And the only thing left is the transformation itself which is refreshed in each sycle (by definition of apply a fixed transformation). The "Fixed" here applies to the fixed nature of the transformation.

Check this... perhaps \[Sigma] > 1 and p < 1 can regress also...

Note. in the Mandelbrot a plot of the paths for each starting C produces the Buddhabrot density map. So the map of information being lost is interesting. Buddha & entropy & impermanence. Boltzman must be wrong but subtly.

On the real line the constant Mandelbrot system (z = z^2 + c) loses information to the fixed points {0,1,\[Infinity]}. So cx loses almost all its info.

The famous set is the map of rate the system moves to fixed point \[Infinity] with c. It ignores 0.

But fixed points are just 1 type of fixed systems. Not all points in the map c share common points. Many share common cycles. If a system decaying arrives at a value in one of these cycles it is trapped in the cycle. The Buddhabrot plots the density of points in the these systems i.e. the points in c that are most visited during decay.

As the fixed in fixed point arrives from the fixed nature of the repeating transformation (not the input data) so the fixed loops reflect the fixed nature of the transformation. So we should refer not just to fixed "points" but to the broader class of "fixed system".

2DO
In the Mandelbrot set how many fixed systems are there? As the points decay when they arrive back in their own decay path we form a loop. That loop is recorded and coloured and the starting point gets this colour. The final map will show which loops each point arrive in, and also the diversity of loop systems.

2DO
I believe there are some extraordinary values of p under certain transformations of {\[Theta]} which diverged with \[Sigma] < 1.

If we take the unit area (map) i.e. {x,y} | 0<x<1 and 0<y<1 then SRH is particularly interested in those M'=F(M) which fall within M i.e. where M' \[And] M != {}. Altho M' can occupy the whole real plane without issue. Is the unit area of no real interest? Does SRH showing interest in "self" reference actually missing the point. The point (fixed point ;-) .. is SRH seeking a fixed point of Truth -> contradiction!!! i.e. if SRH is true than it provides a universal fixed point -> can construct a contradiction by symettry + negation = reflection) .. the point is that the system takes its own output... that is the self rather than the constraints on the input?  

2DO
1) Also consider chaos. Why is there no chaos in affine real plane? Is this true.
2) How does Mandelbrot transformation differ from affine transformation. z^2 is rotation and scaling and c is translation. Can we recreate Mandelbrot as affine transformation -> thus find chaos.
3) Why do repeating/dynamic system provide so little stability. ONly with \[Sigma] = 1 can we find stability. Is this true?

 

First Contact exposes naked tribes

Amazing program "First Contact: Lost Tribe of the Amazon” screened on Channel 4 on Tuesday 23 Feb 2016. However program totally out of its depth, not really grasping what was going on, nor it appears do the anthropologists and definitely not the kids from the tribes.

Nakedness

"At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness." [Genesis 3:7]

"Nakedness" is a concept that comes from clothes. You need see the body *hidden* by clothes to develop the idea. Amazing they use a word that translates as "shame", Genesis usually translates with "realised"... to look upon one's state from a **superior** place creates realisation, shame and humility. The hidden is superior to the power of the eye, but the eye free to access the body sees inferior. So being hidden by clothes implies conceptually superiority!! Links directly in with porn, celebrity media world too (photos are clothes): an image *hides* the person... a photographed person makes the viewer naked and inferior... but the paparazzi seek to overcome this by humiliating photos (fails/nakedness)... a photographed naked person is both superior and hidden (a porn *star*) but also inferior as no longer hidden... the image of the hidden unhidden... such subtle ideas. Note too shame is no longer used in this confused world of unrealisation.. the media age is the age of clothed/hidden. They come out of hiding (by the forest - that we have destroyed - program missed this completely) so we can realise (and be shameful?) of what we are and they can forget (hide/clothe) what they are!

Synopsis
Regarding the rest of the program it concludes that fear has kept the tribes hidden, and as that fear is waning they are coming forard to contact the world beyond the jungle.

The question is why they would leave the jungle, just as we might ask why would we leave the city to meet them? Isn’t it because the jungle has all been cut down? The entire people that inhabited the whole of the South American forests are now squeezed into an area the size of Wales. The tribe in the program actually started their life in Peru escaping slaughter by logger through the reservation to Brazil. They went through their entire territory to escape! That is how small their trritory now is. It is a hidden version of North America where the natives were driven off the land into reservations.

The program estimates that 90% of the native of the South American forest were massacred by settlers. Rubber plantations used them for slaves and the program suggested that many of the remaining natives escaped from the plantations and hid in the forest. Slaughter continues in Peru by illegal loggers but Brazil seems to have a more legal safer environment that the natives are now being forced to recognise and run to.

Criticism

The program appeared to completely fail to realise that this is the end of the “civilisation”. An entire people and way of life has been destroyed, and we are seeing a few scattered people now living in fear, completely surrounded by hostile “white people” who pen them into a tiny forest. They feel surrounded and overwhelmed. To add to their woes it appears that the forest is now over hunted and they need go for days before finding food. Small groups, under nourished, and afraid now becoming victim to the jungles own terrors like the snakes and jaguars. It is the youth who have only ever known this failing way of life who have given up and sort surrender to the encircled armies.

The anthropologist, Carlos Meirelles, was philosophical arguing that this was evolution and the fitter civilisations were “out competing” the forest tribes. Certainly this is true: on average it is always true that the winner is the stronger in a fight. But do we need to fight and compete? The issue for me lies in our relationship with the forest. Certainly the tribes people can’t live their way of life if we cut down all the forest. Their way of life is at an end since we are determined to cut down all the forest. But their way of life does not exploit and endanger the forest, nor the cities. Ours however exploits and endangers everything. The battle is with a system of civilisation that exploits for profit: what I broadly call Capitalism. The program wholey failed to target the actual reason why the indians are making contact in the 21st Century, wholey failed to identify why they are afraid of “white people”, wholey failed to pin point the causes of the crisis in their communities. If this was a court case not only did the defendant not show up, he wasn’t even on trial and the single expert witness Carlos Meirelles was on oath answering questions about a different case.

Never-the-less fascinating “meeting” people who have survived our wholesale destruction of South America and discovering that they are just like us: easily dazzled and wowed by Vegas lights and the material comforts of post-industrial life. I wonder what they will think though when they realise that our seeking these material comforts is the reason they were massacred and their forest and way of life was destroyed in the first place!

Solidarity with victims of terrorism

Following the appalling terrorist attacks on Paris in November came a great wave of solidarity and support for all those affected. The terrorists were linked to jihadi groups in Syria, and it made we wonder how much more atrocious the terrorist violence in Syria. Clearly the victims of terrorism in Syria, now in excess of 250,000, need our solidarity and support. I made up the make shift image to express this.

There is however one problem with this solidarity and support for Syrian, despite its greart intentions. From the western perspective the violence in Syria is supposed to be the fault of Assad. This is our excuse for funding terrorists and “unauthorised violence” in Syria. It turns out however that the terrorists are the problem, not just for Assad but increasingly ourselves. It is the terrorists it turns out that Assad is fighting, and has enlisted the help of Russia to do this. Unfortunately this points to us ending our support for terrorism in Syria, and supporting the fight against terrorism ourselves. But this raises the problem who will fight Assad when the terrorists are gone. The Syrian people themselves are committed to a peaceful internal solution to this. The point is that no one wants to fight Assad, people want to fighting to end so they can return home. Only the western powers want a repeat of Hussein and Gadaffi… and that is probably because they don’t live there.

Terrorism

This is something of an obession with the NEWS these days. Terrorism is the attempt to gain the upper hand by terrorising the civilian population of the enemy. I thought I’d draw up a graph of significant global terrorist atrocities to illustrate. The area represents the number of people killed in the attack.

Some disputes here. I’ve used the approximate local authority German figures for the allied attacks on German civilians. Wikipedia displays the allied figures. One must ask how the allies determined their figures except via the German emergency service causalty records.

The other dispute is the meaning of “terrorism”. Google currently displays this definition: “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” Hitler would welcome this definition! He never authorised any violence and intimidation against Nazi Germany and so the allies were clearly terrorists. Since politics is the process of challenging and replacing “authorising bodies” this is obviously a bogus definition… shame on you Google (you are definitely under the thumb of your authorising bodies these days.) The tradition definition, and actual meaning of terrorism is given above.

The conclusion here is that violence and intimidation against civilians is a central part of modern warfare and it was pioneered by the Europeans in WW1 and WW2. Ending terrorism will prove to be complex since everyone uses it.

Harm

In India there is the idea of Ahimsa: non violence. While we all aspire to not be violent it isn’t that simple.

Every day we are harmed and we harm. Someone may get annoyed with us and say something hurtful. We may be successful at something and others may be spiteful and wish to harm us. We may innocently eat some meat, but inadvertently rely upon the animal having been harmed. We may watch a film and wish that someone becomes harmed. We may watch the news and support the harming of others. We may buy some cheap clothes knowing that they are cheap because the manufacturer doesn’t pay a good wage thus harming the workers. We may drive dangerously, or eat unhealthy foods, or smoke knowing that these may do some harm to ourselves. We may be unkind to ourself being harsh and critical of what we are or have done. We may deep down have come to not value ourselves and treat ourselves poorly. There may even be moments where we even take pleasure in harming others, moments in films or the Roman colloseum where macabre and voyeristic pleasures arise from the suffering of others. Harm has many guises.

So I’ve classified this into 5 types. (1) Harm that arises by accident e.g. hitting someone while driving carefully (2) Harm that arises through ignorance e.g. eating meat (3) Harm that arises intentionally but for good reasons e.g. the killing of Osama Bin Laden (4) Harm that arises intentionally for bad reasons e.g. shooting a bank guard, self harm (5) Harm that arises for pleasure or for its own sake.

(1) Cannot be avoided. If we respond with the intention of easing the distress this is actually no longer harm. Trying to avoid responsibility or distance ourselves from the situation is not the best response. Making it so that it is lucky we were the person involved turns things around. Harm is bad, our goal is to reduce harm.

(2) If we are genuinely unaware then this is like 1. However if we are sensitive the thought should eventually arise that we are actually causing harm and we should act the reduce distress. Harm is bad, our goal is to reduce harm.

(3) Because we believe we are doing good this type of harm is complex. Great evils have been committed under the belief it was good, for example the allied bombing of innocent civilians in WW2 accounting for the deaths of over half a million men, women and children. Whatever our reasons this is harm. A simple thought is to consider what it would feel like if the Axis powers had killed half a million US civilians. It is harm regardless who it is done to. Irrespective whether such a world is possible, we need be clear that the best world is a world without such harm occurring to any one. If there are evil people who are intent on harming us, we may indeed need to harm them in order to stop them harming, but out intention must be to reduce the harm done. If we don’t understand this, when we are harmed we may become angry and wish to do harm ourself. We are now agents of evil not good and so harm multiplies and spreads. When we do harm to others if they are unwise they will wish to do harm and so on in a chain reaction until it finds wise people who will soak up the harm. Harm is bad, our goal is to reduce harm.

(4) This is simpler however most criminals think they are justified in what they do. I robbed the bank because I have a family to feed, or the rich people who put money in the bank can afford to lose it, or the bank will just write it off and no one has been harmed. The guard who I shot should have just backed off, it wasn’t worth his silly wage packet to protect the bank: he is a fool. However whatever the reasons harm has been done. On the flip side people who have had their money stolen may get angry and wish the robber harmed. Perhaps a death penalty in punishment for shooting the guard. This is also increasing the harm. Harm is bad, our goal is to reduce harm.

(5) This is the most complex. De Sade famously wrote about the life of unrestrained pursuit of pleasure. As a pure individual our pleasure is the most important thing even if it results in harm coming to others. This is the Libertine philosophy. We may even enjoy inflicting pain on others, experiencing the power that comes from such position of “superiority” and “dominance”. I wonder what was in the minds of Romans at the colloseum watching half a million people put to death for the crowd. These people were being executed by the state for being bad, so no one had to feel any sympathy for them. It was a pure spectacle of state power and the submission of Rome’s enemies to the sword, fire, dropping from cranes, or wild animal or whatever diverse way of execution. De Sade had justified the harm in that he believed in “himself” as powerful and justified, just as the Roman crowd had done. However again we need only consider what it would be like to be a victim of De Sade’s imagination or the Roman state to know that this predicament is not our first choice.

We may consider being released to the lions as having some sporting value. We would have a chance to prove our strength and perhaps be victorious punching the lions eyes out and strangling it. Perhaps we would gain favour with the crowd. Perhaps we might beat De Sade and prove that we’re actually stronger than the pain he wished to inflict, not giving him the satifaction of beating us. Perhaps we are low in life, hating ourselves, suffering so much ourselves that we welcome the suffering and death as a release from our own torment. Certainly when we are in suffering it makes it very hard to accept peace and love ourself. But at root all these are not comparable to being without suffering and distress. We would always chose freedom from distress. And so likewise we know that other’s (including animals) will always chose freedom from distress.

Now that for a minute plays into De Sade’s and the Roman state’s hands. He knows despite the strength of the captive that they would prefer freedom from distress, and he has the power to deny them this freedom because of his own freedom. However De Sade has a problem. He believes in himself, in his own pleasure beyond that of others. What he doesn’t see is that he isn’t that free because he needs to experience that freedom through oppressing other people and effectively stealing their freedom. The Roman state could only prove its existence and power by oppressing people in the colloseum. Remove the captives and suddenly everything goes empty. Indeed the self depends on others in whatever mode we chose from a mode of harm to a mode of help. Fact for everyone is that we take pleasure and depend upon in others whatever the mode. If we take pleasure in harming others we will find relationships with others very difficult, ard work and complex; if we take pleasure in helping others we will find relationships effortless, automatic and simple. We are, by ourselves, nothing. Looking inside ourself we see that there is nothing there: it is an empty space in which feelings, thoughts, memories arise but we ourself are nothing! Ironically the psychopath sees other people as empty, he’s half way there he only needs to see himself as empty too and then he can see he is the same as others.

So what of troubling feels arising from pleasure at harm. The soldier who experiences exhilaration fighting, or the boxer getting a rush as he crushes his opponent. Such things happen. The point is to realise clearly that such pleasures and out comes are not as good as love, mutuality , equality, cooperation, joy and helping. Harm is bad, our goal is to reduce harm.

So what is Heaven like. The Vikings believe the perfect Heaven was heading into battle every morning, killing and dying again, resurrecting and celebrating every evening at a huge victory feast, getting drunk with an endless supply of beer delievered by voluptuous celestial maidens, sleeping and arising to do it all over again. Quite a busy heaven. I wonder tho what of a heaven where we can seek peace. The Chinese saying goes, “the wise value peace over pleasure”.

We are in a bright space with gentle music, it is warm and a faint fragrance of meadows and flowers is in the air. We are lying down at ease, comfortable with our head in the lap of our celestial guardian. She/He is wise and infinitely kind and wishes us no harm, but only wishes the best for us. They know our thoughts, our deeds, our feelings: they know that all things are well now and no harm can arise within us or around us. We can relax and know that all things are good. It is safe to feel love for them, to feel affectionate, to enjoy their company, they are feeling infinite kindness and love for us. We may have some anxieties arise: maybe we think we will be punished for something, maybe it is too good to be true and we don’t deserve this, maybe we think we will get lazy and lose the strength to be independent, maybe we will feel guilty for things we have not done, or feel an urgency to get on with things we must do or assist people we are responsible for, maybe we will become anxious about it ending, perhaps we may feel bored, or feel afraid, or hateful… there are many forms that disturbance and distress take. Our celestial guardian knows all these things and assures us that everythink is well and is being taken care of, there is nothing for us to do. We are free from distress, discomfort, worries, suffering; we are safe, we are healthy, we are at ease, we are loved, we are valuable, we are happy, we are content, we are at peace like the surface of a still pool of water in the deep emerald forest.

Now while thoughts may arise like “how long can this peace last” or “this is not practical, how can I eat or pay y mortgage” or “my guardian is wasting their time with me”, these are simply example of distrurbance, distress and harm. Nothing wrong is them, we just let them come and go. Peace means to let things come and go by themselves and experience just the simple joy of the present moment.

Now compared with the Viking in Valhalla this Heaven is boring. But we have an advantage over the Viking: we are not running away from boredom. Boredom is just one of those things that disturb us and keeps us from peace. Are the Vikings really that afraid of being bored?

Once we know peace for ourself and are clear that it is the best state of mind, we are in no doubt that harm is never good. Harm is not something that can benefit ourselves, and it is not something that can benefit other people either. Maybe when our celestial guardian sees the time to return us to our usual world we see that there is no one out there who has that patience and love for us. Indeed very few people do. But what we can do is, now we know the deep value of Peace, we can take the place of that celestial guardian and try and at least make a Heaven for someone else. And we should be careful not to criticise ourselves and feel down or bad when we fail as this is simply more harm. Anything done to reduce harm is the goal of Heaven. And we can always return to our own celestial guardian when ever we want: that peace is always there inside us when we want it once we give up harm. And the more we experience and know Peace the stronger and easier to find it becomes for us. Harm is bad, our goal is to reduce harm. May all being be free from harm. Ahimsa.

The eye, SRH and Fractals

 

The image on the retina of an eye is upside-down and leftside-right compared with the object.

So which do we see: the object or the image? If we put on red spectacles the world becomes red. Clearly we don’t see the object--which is unaffected by the spectacles--but the red image that occurs on the retina. So likewise we actually see an upside down and leftside right world.

To test that things are the wrong way around , carefully press the bottom right of our eye ball. We will see a black spot appear on the top left of our vision. Think about this with the picture above. If we press the bottom of the retina the black spot will occur near the head of the person, in other words at what we call the top.

But we have two worlds at our disposal. There is the physical tactile world where we can lift our arm up and feel the motion against gravity in our stretch receptors. This is the same world that tells us when we move our eye ball upwards. Conventionally this the movie watcher. Then we have the other world within the image of our eyes: the conventional movie screen. The conventional view is that the movie watcher is correct and the brain “turns” the movie screen upside down and leftside right so that what we “see” corresponds to what we feel. You look at the top of the movie screen and you see the heads of actors, and the bottom the feet of actors.

However does the idea of flipping the movie screen actually achieve anything?

If we take the picture above and press at the bottom of the eye the black spot appears above the head of the person. If we now look DOWN at the feet of the person in reality the image on the retina moves DOWN so that the feet become centre on the retina. The subject actually see the person move up to move the feet into centre place of the image. If we touch the bottom of the eye ball the black spot now appears near the middle of the person. Everything works without any flipping of images.

I admit I need to consider this further to check, but so far I see no need to introduce “flipping” operation in a brain that doesn’t need them, or where they actually mean nothing. Up and Down are relative.

It has an interesting implication. If we try and work out whether things are “really” Up or Down we get into a problem. The very picture above is flipped on our retina. So what is UP becomes DOWN and vice versa. The “retina man” picture is the real UP as shown in Fig 2. However when we look at Fig 2 the “object man” is the real UP. When ever we try to represent what is happening in the eye we will get things the wrong way around compared with “reality”. This is because of SRH. The eye cannot represent its own functionality, unless that function is identity. We are using the eye in the system that is processing the eye. This is doomed to problems and fractals. Obviously we can keep duplicating, scaling a flipping these images infinitely to generate a fractal. Much like pointing a video camera at the video screen showing its image. This simply scales the image. Our lens also flips it!

 

So how do we answer it? We just have the accept that the “real” up looks down in our world. But since everything else is down, that as good as to say things are the right way around. So when a person stands on their head, their image on our retina is actually the right way around to a researcher looking at our eye. But someone should remind him that this image is upside down on his retina before he draws any conclusions about what the real “up” and “down” are!