Send me to Vegas now. On someone else’s dime. Let me forget, there on the red carpet among the bells and whistles. And when my glass falls to the floor and I stumble in, broke and broken, it will be fine, because my head will be spinning.

Last night I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by Nicole Daedone, the founder of OneTaste. I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time hanging around OT lately, so I was very interested to see what the founder was like.

During the first half of the lecture, Nicole explained the vision of OneTaste. Here is my take on what she said:

By being receptive to all that life has to offer and fully experiencing every moment, good or bad, we can be fully alive. As individual points of consciousness, we are the bridge between source and the material realm. The evolutionary drive of consciousness is to know itself. The more we explore and embrace life, the closer we come to reunification with source and thus, ultimate freedom. If I can delve deeply into fear, anger or hatred and know it fully, it no longer has control over me. You may be able to keep the lowest lows at bay by maintaining a constricted sphere of experience, but in doing so you also reject the highest highs. Every time I expand my circle of experience to encompass more aspects of life, I get that much closer to the Universal or God.

Furthermore, by being fully open and embracing what is I allow the Universe to work through me. Rather than constantly swimming upstream, thinking I am going to become this or that, go here or there, I can embrace my true essence and go with the flow. With the entire stream of Tao propelling me, how can I truly be hurt, alone or afraid? The Universe will do what it wishes with me regardless of my overt cooperation or awareness. I can struggle against that flow with all my might, but it will not change the course. Why not embrace it and love every minute of the ride?

Nicole also noted that there are two types of people on the path, those who hope they have found the way to enlightenment and those who know they have no choice but to persevere no matter what the cost. I almost laughed out loud because I am firmly planted in the latter camp and fully hate it. Thanks, Universe.

If you are interested in OneTaste’s philosophy, practice, or community and you live near San Francisco or New York City, I highly encourage you to stop by and check it out. I am happy to to chaperon anyone near SF. Drop me a line and let’s connect!

(If you are in the Bay Area and between the ages of 18 and 29, check out YNow, the youth division of OneTaste.)

Quantum Physics may seem complicated to understand. It is. The reason is not because of the math or science involved (even though that could be hard to grasp), it’s because of the unbelievable philosophical implications that arise out of understanding it. Niels Bohr, a renowned physicist and author of Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics once said, “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.”

One of the basic premises of the quantum theory of light, is that it is dual in nature. Light sometimes behaves as a wave and sometimes as a particle (or photon).

What does this mean and why is it important?

Before quantum theory, the understanding of the universe was that it was made of both solid particles and waves. The particles were the building blocks of solid objects; the very smallest units of matter (like electrons) were particles. Waves, on the other hand, were not solid. Waves were what “sound” and “light” consisted of.
Scientists then discovered subatomic particles. Subatomic particles were known to be part of a wave packet. A wave packet looks like a wave, but it is more concentrated, like a little ball of energy. Then physicists tried to ask questions about the wave packet or wave-particle.

They wanted to know:

• Where is it?
• What is its momentum?

They realized they could not ask both questions at once.

A Wave

A Wave-Particle

So, when they measured the wave-particle’s location, it became a particle in a fixed place. When they measured the wave-particle’s momentum, it became a wave moving through space, with no fixed location. Light is an example of a phenomenon that behaves this way.

This confused the scientists and they did many experiments to learn more. They found that until someone decides to measure a wave particle, it is both a wave and a particle simultaneously.

A famous thought experiment, created by physicist Erwin Schroedinger, illustrates the point. Imagine you have a closed box. The box contains a cat, a bottle of cyanide held by a lever, and a wave-particle. If the wave-particle becomes a wave, nothing hits the lever and the cat is fine. If the wave-particle becomes a particle, then the particle will hit the lever and knock the cyanide bottle over, where the hungry cat will eat it and die. Quantum physics tells us that before we look in the box to see what happens, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive. It is the observation alone that causes one or the other possibility into reality.

Time and Space

Quantum physics tells us that two events in separate locations, may actually be the same event. Einstein was concerned by the implications of the wave-particle theory of quantum physics. He devised his own thought experiment (which has now been confirmed mathematically and experimentally). It should be noted that Einstein was so disturbed by the implications of his thought experiment, he concluded that quantum theory must be incomplete.

Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox

Imagine that two identical wave-particles are sent off in opposite directions. What will happen if we try to measure the location of the first wave-particle and the momentum of the second? Remember, the wave-particles are identical, so the measurement for one wave-particle will be the same for the other. If we measure the location for the first wave-particle, it immediately collapses the second into a particle as well.

Ok, why is this amazing?

If observing wave-particle 1 (measuring it’s location) affects wave-particle 2, then there is some communication or connection between the particles. This communication is occurring faster than the speed of light and without any energy transfer. This is goes against all common sense views of the world. Even Einstein couldn’t believe it.

The Spiritual Connection

Quantum physics shows that there is “something more” than what we can see and touch. It shows that the reality we can perceive with our five sense is incomplete. There is something more at work.

Man is a product of his thoughts. Thoughts grow well in silence. Thoughts mature in silence. Thoughts become creative in silence. Clarity and brevity of thoughts are attained through silence. Unhealthy and unwanted thoughts are flushed out in silence like a drainage. “They never taste who always drink. They always talk who never think.
- Matthew Prior

The words on this screen are merely signposts for what lies deep within you. It seems that we have abused words by making them all there is in this world. They are not the message, they simply point to the message. The message itself can only be heard by spirit/stillness.
- Laura

Finding Silence

Prompted by this science post I referenced before and by my recent silent meditation retreat, I feel moved to write about silence.

I am constantly trying to find ways to grow. The main course I’ve stuck with is to look within. But relentless, self-absorbed introspection can be unhelpful and certainly tiring. As soon as one begins to look at one’s mind it becomes so clear how noisy and frantic our thoughts are. They’re a constant barrage containing memory wisps, emotion, grasping, imagination, speculation, fear, control and who knows what else. Learning to find space and silence in our mind is just as important as learning to find it in our lives.

Silence is of four kinds. Silence of speech, Silence of the eyes, Silence of the ear and Silence of the mind. Only the last is pure silence and is the most important. Silence is the only Eternal Speech- the one Word, the Heart to Heart talk. Silence is like the even flow of electric current. Speech is like obstructing the current used for lighting and other purposes.
- Maharishi Raman

Silence is a method that helps to free our minds. If practiced thoughtfully, we can make space for reflection before defensively responding to another. We can notice fearful thoughts, actions and words that arise withing ourselves. We can use silence to face situations of mental and physical stress or emotional upheaval. Often our most powerful expressions of anger or hatred come through speech. Silence is a requirement for meditation and mindfulness practice. Silence increases our will power and sharpens our minds.

Silent is the meek, humble, noble, powerful. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.
- Gandhi

Idle chatter may seem harmless enough, but I would recommend we all take a closer look. Often unrestrained talk-fests lead to insults, judgment, ridicule and just general negativity. This isn’t beneficial for anyone involved. Our unruly minds surface and present to us some of the darker aspects of our psyche. By creating space, observing mindfully our silent times (and times when we aren’t silent) we can gain great insights into the workings of our mind and self. How often does random chatting lead to futile arguments, that leave us feeling drained and uneasy? It’s so easy to speak the first thing that we think of and so hard to stop, restrain ourselves and think about what we are saying. Looking within to find where this speech has come from is difficult. Is it an automatic response, an old habit? A societal rule you’ve bought into subconsciously? Something you feel uneasy about? An ego judgment? A justification of past actions? A response to unreleased emotional pain?

Next time you find yourself in the midst of a diatribe, stop and ask yourself what is really going on. Take a few moments during your day to just breathe. Look at the trees. Calm your noisy thoughts. Find your inner silence and enjoy it.

Inner voice is heard in silence. Truth is revealed in silence. Divinity of the Self is unfolded in silence.

I was going to post about Mystery of Existence’s recent use of Byron Katie’s Work in coming to terms with the mainstream rejection of the Big Mind Process. It is a beautiful use of the Work to turn around the assumption that “They shouldn’t reject the Big Mind process”, an assumption that I shared. Then I began exploring Mystery of Existence more in depth and I couldn’t contain my post to that little topic.

I can’t figure out the name or gender of the author of MoE, but he or she is not only very insightful and a gifted writer, but an artist as well.

That is incredible.

MoE also has an eloquent discussion of one of the more bothersome (for me) teachings of Christianity: blessed are the meek.

More great examples of Byron Katie’s Work: on animal abuse, American stupidity, and self doubt.

Plus they blog about spiritual lessons in Star Trek. Can’t beat that.

Hope you enjoy Mystery of Existence as much as I do. I’m always happy to bring good blogs to your attention.

Wired has a great article debunking various tenets of today’s environmentalism. I’m especially excited about the first charge: Live In Cities. I’m a big advocate of high density living and I look forward to San Francisco growing upward, skyline be damned.

There is an ongoing debate in SF about the skyline and new high-rises like One Rincon pushing poor residents out of the city. This puts “progressives” in a rather hilarious predicament, social justice or environmental pragmatism? Gotta love the Green meme.

An Integral approach to this problem would take into account the perspectives of all parties: Green social activists, Orange developers, Green environmentalists, Red/Blue residents of the neighborhoods being redeveloped. By taking each group’s concerns and knowledge into account, a workable and sustainable solution could reached. How nice!

More fun with eco-quandaries:

Slate’s The Green Lantern

Wallet Mouth

In the coming weeks, Considering the Universe will be undergoing a complete redesign. We will be eliminating the static pages currently housed at consideringtheuniverse.com and the blog will likely be moving to that URL. In the meantime, please send us your thoughts and suggestions on features you’d like to see included in the new CTU.

This redesign was spurred by my work on another site, YConnectNow.com. I highly encourage our San Franciscan readers to check it out. I’m happy to answer questions about YNow as well.

Love, Emily

This is classic:

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere? Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ’sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.” - Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory

The Vatican has released a statement regarding the possibility of life on other planets. The official stance is that aliens would also be God’s creations. I know almost nothing about the Bible, but isn’t Genesis explicitly human-centric? I guess this is what happens when you take a 2000 year old faith and try to maintain its relevancy.

I’d like to conclude with a shout-out to all my Martian/Klingon/Gallifreyan/Ewok brothers and sisters across the cosmos. If you’d like to carpool to mass on Sunday, I’m down.

All these fellows were there inside when she entered
utterly naked.
They΄d been drinking and began to spit at her,
recently come from the river, she understood nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way,
the taunts flowed over her glistening flesh
Obscenities drenched her golden breasts.

A stranger to tears, she did not weep,
A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.
They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt corks
And rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter
She did not speak, since speech was unknown to her
Her eyes were the colour of far away love
Her arms were matching topazes
Her lips moved soundlessly in coral light
And ultimately she left by that door
Hardly had she entered the river than she was cleansed
Gleaming once more like a white stone in the rain
And without a backward look, she swam once more
Swam towards nothingness, swam to her dawn.

-Pablo Neruda

Messenger
by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.