The Meaning of Life

07Jul09

 

 

     If the similarities evidenced in the two pictures above don’t startle you, then you’re not looking closely enough.

     The bright blobs you can see at the left in the picture of the brain cell are neuron cells. The ones shown in the picture on the right are clusters of galaxies. By any measure, the similarities between the two are staggering. Each appear to be nested within a vast “web”, one of brain matter and the other of “dark” matter. In the first, electrons are orbiting a nucleus. In the second, planets are orbiting a Sun.

     The icing on the cake perhaps is the discovery by physicists in 2005 that the structure of a brain cell is the same as that of the universe.

     So let us consider this following proposition.

     We are living within one enormous cosmic brain cell. One could say, within the mind of God. God could simply be the universe at large. It may even be a ”He” or a “She”. But for the sake of this theory, I want you to think of God as nothing more than a Process.

     Deep within this cell, amongst what we call “star systems” and “galaxies” is our little earth. Just a tiny speck orbiting around this grand cell. As we move around hurridly on our tiny planet, anyone holding a giant microscope up to it would observe us like a scientist observes an atom, or molecule – nesting billions of busy electrons.

     As we go about our daily lives we forget what we are – pure energy encased in flesh and bone. Our mind the map and our heart the engine, and each of us sharing a collective subconscious. We dream, create and inspire, bouncing off each other’s energy. Assuming that we are in fact living inside God’s brain cell, whatever it is that collectively concentrate on, we are drawing ourselves to it, because we are his conscience, collectively influencing God’s will. We’re the influence God is under, thus creating our own reality – and as our minds expand, so does Gods, and therefore so does our universe. Do you follow?

     That is the big picture. So let us look at our individual picture.

     We are welcomed into this process from the very moment of conception. The act of love by man and woman. The passion. The orgasm. The impregnation, nature’s most wonderful process. And the beginning of your new life. You’re floating, at total peace. Everything is calm and tranquil. You’re bathing in a divine warmth. There is a light that you find yourself moving towards. As you reach this light, you move out of the warmth, out of the peaceful floating, and before you know it, you’re in a new world altogether.

     You gradually reach the growth process, the observation and learning process. Human interaction. Interaction with the wild earth and its creatures. The discovery of our amazing creativity and warmth. Our experience of life and love and pain. Teaching others of our lessons learned. Our discovery of self and purpose. Our passing of the spiritual torch as we find our own love and procreate. Our beautiful seed grows, blooming into a miniature version of ourselves, soon becoming their own master with time. We glide into old age as time seems to speed up.

     When we’re reflecting on it all in the short time before we pass, we hope that our legacy honours this truly amazing experience we’ve shared with our fellow sparks of unique energy in human form. Our friends. Our family. Our species. All Things we observe and appreciate. When we try to think of a solitary unified “meaning” to our lives, a part of us chuckles. There never was any meaning. Life was simply a process (albeit a fascinating and eventful one!)

      Now we accept our the arrival of our departure from the physical world. Our breathing slows. The heart stops beating, and gives the go-ahead for the real you, that flicker, that spark, that energy to transfer from our shells, our bodies into the quiet realm of tranquility and peace.

     Once again, you feel like you’re floating, and once again, you are. Everything is warm. And there, you wait. You wait and re-energize. Then when you are ready for the next human experience, so is your conduit. At once, it happens… a cry of ecstacy from so far away it may as well be another world. And technically speaking, it is. The mission of two lovers complete. Your conduit prepared, as you appear in the womb of your conduit, a new life with a new heartbeat. Slowly, you grow. Surely enough, you soon see that light again. This is the strange and familiar invitation into the new world.

     The tunnel is the womb. The light is its opening.

     You’re being born.

     And just as new life is blooming in the outer reaches of space in the form of star systems and planets, a baby’s life begins to bloom within the world. Worlds within worlds. It goes down to the most minute and microscopic of levels. You only have to look at an atom through a high-power lens to see proof of this. There is life, movement and energy inside everything at every conceivable level. One thing dies, and passes into something else. It is simply one continuous transfer of energy.

     Take Dr Duncan MacDougall’s controversial experiment back in 1907. MacDougall weighed six patients while they were in the process of dying. He took his results to support his hypothesis that the soul had mass, and when the soul departed the body, so did this mass. In each and every case, it weighed an exact 21 grams. 

     We’re eternal and unique spirits of pure energy on a universal carousel. Our brilliance recycled as infinately as it is deliberately, working in a beautiful sequence with nature itself. All is as it should be, however chaotic, colourful and crazy.

     After all, that’s the nature of our minds, and as we are slowly finding out, of the entire universe.

     And that is by no means coincidence.

     -BJH


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Those Aren’t Butterflies In Your Stomach

26Jun09

 

 

     Think back to when you first met someone you fell for.

     I remember my experience vividly.

     On the first few occasions we met, I was a right mess. My heart was racing. My mouth was dry. I was nervous, excited and bewildered all at once, a feeling as profound as it was indescribable. When I was in her company a certain orb would form around us, and everything outside that orb paled into a strange insignificance. I’d wake up smiling. Come home dancing. I’d get intoxicated from her scent on my clothes. I’d go to sleep singing. Happiness was swimming through my veins.

     When the initial butterflies settled and the dating started in earnest, other more curious things started happening. I lost my appetite, for food and my normal social life. I didn’t care much for sleep, preferring instead to lay on my back under the covers at night just thinking about her. I spent most of my waking hours daydreaming about her. I had become a zombie, bitten by Cupid.

     This is the stage at which my much neglected friends shook their heads and laughed, preferring to bite their tongue and not use the famous metaphor involving a feline and a whip when in my presence, because the next stage of my relatioship with this girl was perhaps the most hard to drag me away from - Tarzan Grip attachment.

     This is something that we’re all familiar with. The overwhelming desire to spend as much of our time as possible with our significant other. I was wholeheartedly devoted to her, and found that I developed strong protective instincts such as possessiveness and jealousy, which were more curses upon me than anything, but served to demonstrate just how crazy I really was about her.

     Well…there’s actually quite a sane explanation for all this madness that straps us into the emotional rollercoaster ride we call being “in love”, and what’s more – it’s staggeringly logical.

     Perhaps the first thing worth looking at is the very hormones that act as neurotransmitters in our brain and cause all of these feelings, which in turn lead to all these kinds of behaviour. This is extremely important, because it shows us what is chemically happening inside us during these first meetings, dates, first kisses, etc.

     The three stages usually involved are lust, attraction and attachment, and each have corresponding hormones working away rigorously during each stage. 

     The first stage (lust) is induced primarily by testosterone in men and oestrogen in women. This is when we’re “scoping” our prospective partner. We like what we see, and our neurotransmitters seek to emotionally make a good link to that person, and if the connection is made then usually some flirting is in good order and the sparks start flying. But the rest certainly isn’t history yet.

     The second phenomenon (attraction) is kicked off by a trio of adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin. This is when your heart starts racing, your hands might shake a little and your mouth will get dry. Sound familar? The metaphor of ‘butterflies in the stomach’ often sums it up pretty well. This is all a result of our “stress responses” triggered by the combination of these hormones coming into play, which ultimately affect the way we act around the person we’re attracted to. The adrenaline is what makes the heart race, hands shake, the “butterflies”, etc. The dopamine is the culprit that’s to blame for our enhanced energy and lack of sleep and appetite during our “puppy love” phase, and finally the serotonin is to thank for all those lovely feelings of euphoria and obsession while we’re thinking of nothing but their smile, voice, laugh, etc.

     The third and perhaps most important stage (attachment) is ensured by two very curious hormones, being oxytocin and vasopressin. Oxytocin is what gives us the intense and deep feelings of emotional attachment, and thus we form a strong bond with our partner. Oxytocin is often called ”the cuddle hormone”, because it inspires the desire for regular intimacy with our mate. We find ourselves preferring to spend a night under the covers with our other half rather than out on the town with our friends. The vasopressin hormone activates our protective/possessive instincts, especially when a newborn is involved. Interesting studies on the male prairie vole have revealed that vasopressin is definitely a key part of the ‘devotion’ factor. For example, when scientists gave male prairie voles a drug which suppresses the effect of vasopressin, the prairie vole’s bond with their partner deteriorated immediately and they lost their protective instincts completely when around their mate. Reading this kind of thing breaks my heart, but is still a very interesting thing to learn when juxtaposed with vasopressin’s effects on the human brain.

     In summary, the process of falling in love is purely scientific, which may be a plain truism for many, but the reward of understanding (and remembering) it can sometimes mean the difference between happiness and heartbreak.

     Above all else, this intriguing little science lesson serves to remind us that there are forces at play inside our bodies, creative and mischievous little Gods, if you like. Forever seeking to wrap around our emotions like strong vines, twisting and contorting what we feel and percieve. We become slaves, starry-eyed and willing. We fall, swim, come ashore, get back up on to our feet, brush ourselves off and then do it all over again. And most curiously, we ask ourselves why.

     Well here’s your answer :-)  

     -BJH


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The Internet: Revolution’s Not-So-Secret Weapon

18Jun09

 

 

     Logging on to social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter in this part of the world is usually a very casual novelty. We check our inbox, scroll around to see what witty remarks our friends or co-workers have made, then log off and end our little sojourn into cyberspace to return to our more tangible lives.

     But while we here in the West facebook and ”twitter” for our creative and communicative kicks, others elsewhere are using these social networking sites to mobilize for national upheaval and revolution.

     Such is the case currently with hundreds of thousands of Iranians who are rallying across their country to protest the recent re-election of their ”pariah president” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and demand a recount due to allegations of electoral fraud. Since the result of the election was announced, an international chorus of protest has swept the media, beginning (in part) with the apparently disenfranchised Iranian voters who logged on, said their piece and spread the word - with the click of a button.

     Within hours, every major news source had galvanized around the first-hand accounts that poured into twitter from the voters, and the headlines began appearing everywhere. CNN, Fox, BBC, you name it, the headlines screamed the banners and picket signs of the Iranian people.

     Consider the following article, which provides a good example of how the Iranian demonstrators bypassed blocked satellite channels and certain websites to get the word out:

     Online Networking Tools ‘Beat Iran Censorship – Link http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/19/2009061900687.html

     The most amazing thing perhaps was the speed at which their voices reached the world, and this exemplifies the power and influence that the internet wields in mainstream media. In addition, it exposes Iran as a certain society in paradox; a state ruled by a religious order under a Supreme Leader who enforces a rigid Islamic law and also a democratic republic wherein its citizens can surf the internet, vote and freely protest. A very different Iran from the one portrayed by the Bush Administration as the Axis of Evil slave-state.

     Never could this kind of popular revolt be possible in a regime like North Korea.

     It is interesting to note that unlike Iran, the other remaining “Axis of Evil” nation strictly forbids its people access to free information, and with it the rest of the world. In this sense it is exposing the myth that the Iran is not a democracy. As this historic event takes place across the country, it is clear that the tools of democracy are being put to amazing use in the pursuit of justice. By the people, for the people.

     Another important thing that is being demonstrated is that the information monopoly exercised by mainstream news broadcasters is making way for an even more dynamic and omnipresent media force, that is the very people who are making history, spreading the word to the outside world and actually making a physical change to the circumstances they’re in.

     There must be no mistake about this. As is being evidenced while you read this, the internet is proving to be a powerful tool in mobilizing a war cry into action. This kind of resourcefulness being witnessed by the Iranian people may create an interesting precedent for disgruntled voters elsewhere. Below is an excerpt from an interview with an Iranian professor that I read in a CNN article today.

     “I am absolutely convinced that what we are witnessing is a turning point in the history of the Islamic Republic,” said Dr. Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.

     “Even if the Islamic Republic survives this crisis, it will no longer be as it used to be,” added Dabashi.

     Indeed.

     What is intriguing to me is this. With the rapid global spread of online resources will too, logically at least, come the rapid global spread of change.

     -BJH


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Beware The “False Flag”

16Jun09

          

 

     The above photo depicts two British SAS operatives in Iraq who were arrested on conspiracy charges in September of 2005. The photo was taken whilst they were in the custody of Basra police who had detained them after the two men, dressed in Arab garb and head dress, drove toward a group of Iraqi police and began firing. One police officer was killed in the attack, which was obviously made out to look like an act of sectarian violence (not uncommon in Iraq). But when they were stopped and subdued, their true identities were discovered to be that of two British SAS operatives – undercover in Basra on a “false flag” mission to stoke the flames of religious hatred in Iraq. In their car, explosives were found along with assault rifles and an anti-tank weapon.

     Those last two sentences beg many questions in the rational brain, among them, why would British troops be dressing up like Arabs with the intent of inciting religious hatred between Iraq’s ethnic groups? Some of you who are familiar with the well-known British and US policy of “divide and conquer” in the Middle East are probably not surprised that this incident happened.

     But anyone who needs to ask why these things happen should first learn what a “false flag” attack really is. 

     False Flag:  Operations that are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one’s own.

     To give a historically recent (and compelling) government sanctioned example, take the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the pretext for much of the Western world’s armies becoming involved in the Vietnam War, initially an internal and localized Vietnamese conflict.

     On the 2nd August 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox engaged three North Vietnamese P-4 patrol boats, resulting in damage to the three boats. Two days later, on 4th August, the Maddox (having been joined by the USS Turner Joy) reported a second engagement with North Vietnamese vessels.

     The only thing wrong with that is that there was no second engagement - and, after nearly 2 million deaths later, the entire report was eventually claimed to be in error. 

     Below is a more specific description of this “error”.

     The outcome of the incident was the passage by the United States Congress of the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution), which granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian government considered to be jeopardized by “communist aggression,” including the commitment of US forces without a declaration of war. The resolution served as Johnson’s legal justification for escalating US involvement in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). It gave the US president the exclusive right to use military force without consulting the US Senate. It was based on a false pretext, as Johnson later admitted.

     Now we’re talking about nearly 2 million lives having been taken as a result of a deliberate false flag operation - by the US government.

     Initially the conflict involved only Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, but drew in six other countries. Now I’m not one of those one-sided yankee-bashers who ark up about a wrongdoing here and there whilst ignoring those done by other governments, but speaking as an Australian citizen who’s country is perhaps the most stalwart ally of the United States, it concerns me deeply that such blatantly reckless and deceitful acts could, in the current political environment, easily provoke a war so large and widespread that World War Two would pale in comparison.

     As bluntly proven in the first two examples, these government-sanctioned terrorist attacks do actually happen. Perhaps the most chilling element of these false flag attacks is that upon learning about such inconcievable acts of betrayal, public opinion can quickly swing against the government (and with dramatic effect). 

     The September 11 2001 attacks on New York and Washington are widely believed to have been false flag attacks following the release of information attained by the New York firefighting teams who were at Ground Zero which cited evidence of thermite (residue from plastic explosives used in controlled demolitions) that was found in dust samples taken during the clean up effort in the days after the attack. A renowned architect recently appeared on mainstream Fox News and spoke openly about this disturbing find, challenging the authorities to investigate further (something they’ve flatly refused to do).

     The famous quote “Truth does not fear investigation” comes to mind here, especially when considering this in conjunction with the above false flag revelations. This is important because it involves peoples lives.

     Not just the lives that were taken, but also the ones that are yet to be as the more sinister elements within these governments work to decieve, stir and provoke; and although we cannot initially ascertain whether or not an incident is a false flag, we must remain cautious and forever keep opened minds.

     After all, these are increasingly decieving times.

     -BJH


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To My Poets, Artists, Romantics

05Jun09

Think with me.

From the warm little universe where we used to float, through the mystical jet black darkness of the birth canal and out into this world, we entered life. As strangers. Brought into it suddenly, and without a say in the matter.

We’re cold, and terrified.

Our cries, separation anxiety from the sacred womb of our mother, echo through delivery rooms and ring out into the air, tingling with energy. We hear the distant cries of  the other babies in the other rooms who have just had the same bizarre and traumatic experience. What a curious, terrifying and awe-inspiring world around us! It is insanity. Alien. Intimidating.

Like dying and going to Heaven to find that upon opening your eyes it’s an infinitely nightmarish circus of surrealism. Rampant with unconcieved creatures, colours and bewildering noises.

The giants surround you with their masks. These towering strangers. You’ve never seen a human being before. You’ve never even seen yourself in a mirror. If you were, you’d probably be just as terrified and confused. All you want is to be back in the place you know. That warm bodily cocoon.

More are born. Cries fill the delivery rooms, villages, houses, huts and tents the world over. Future Kings, Queens, garbage collectors, doctors, fashion critics, philosophers, data entry operators, weapons fanatics, musicians, Popes, gardeners and Presidents. Naked and screaming. Just wanting their mother.

Then time zips by, and you’re 2 years old. You sit and watch a catepillar crawl up the wall. For three hours. You’re amazed. Its microscopic hairy legs…the seemingly infinate array of incredible colours…it’s mysterious movement. Your pupils study it, and follow it on its magical journey up The Bedroom Wall. Your tiny but super-absorbent brain is joyously exploding with millions of wonderful and brilliant fantasies about what universe this arcane creature is from.

Now some of us staple documents for a living.

The portal of time throws you unexpectedly into age 15. You sit at your desk in class and watch a tired middle-aged teacher scrawl words on a blackboard. Today you’re learning how to divide 2/3 by 3/4. Your mind, drained by the mountain of homework from last night, doesn’t want to think. Day in and day out you’re being made to stare at strange algorithms and chaotic equations. Your art and music classes nourish the more beautiful parts of your mind, but they feel fatigued and isolated. They sit in their damp little corner and murmur about how things used to be. When the innocence of childhood flourished and danced in harmony with nature.

You look up from your bland wooden desk. You’re not 15 anymore, you’re 25. You look around yourself but you’re not at school anymore either. You’re in a large lecture room at university, and you’re learning about economics. The atmosphere is so clinical it could be mistaken for a hospital (you feel a bit of deja’vu). Your lecturer is rambling something about “competition and market structures.” Between his quoting Samuel Johnston and the sound of rustling research papers you find yourself lost in nothingness. No catepillar on the wall. Even if there was, you wouldn’t care less.

Again, you’re a fish out of water. Quite literally in a way. You’re traveling through a surreal world that has structured itself around status and materialism. There burns a small flame that represents the amount of faith for the world that you preserve within you, but it seems to be dimming. When you walk the streets to observe society, or observe it as you sit quietly, you feel very alone. There’s you, and there’s the entire hostile world, or so it seems.

It’s not that you consider yourself superior to anyone (or anything for that matter), nor is that you think the rest of the world is wasting its time. You appreciate that your primary school teacher, the university lecturer and the government are doing what they’re doing because they want to help. What you don‘t get is why there’s so little left of what is truly beautiful.

And so you reflect.

The warm little universe of the womb. The magic. The birth. The bewilderment. The strangers, monsters and overwhelming surroundings. The assimilation process into the world. Blocks. Puzzles. Learning. Growth.  Clouds. Flowers. Trees. Animals. The freedom and wonder of innocence. Everything is new and exciting. This is the untamed mind, free and sacred. Like a colourful and blooming patch of untouched flora in an exotic jungle on a tropical island.

What is your mind like now?

From birth, to age 2, to age 15, to age 25, the pattern becomes obvious. The brain, like a sponge, absorbs so much and then begins to wear out with time. But upon reflection you realize that the vast majority of information that manufactured society has insisted your brain should absorb are, quite literally, irrelevant. And wasteful.

Only with the human experience do you truly live. Only with the human experience do we become nourished with inspiration and wonder. Experiences like love, spontaneous laughter, happiness, even the simple joy of appreciating a sunrise or sunset.

And so we think together…this life, this experience. Is it only we poets, artists and romantics who are happy to avoid the shackles of modern society and live freely, smiling warmly among the ruins?

-BJH


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The Price of Fame

04Jun09

 

 

     When we think of fame, fortune and success, to the man on the street those words are normally synonymous with happiness.

     Well, most of the time anyway.

     With the help of media we are seeing an increasingly obvious pattern between those three things and misery. The pressure that fame puts on celebrities (whether they’re accidental celebrities or not) can often be too much to take, and can result in personal tragedy.

     An article I read recently by Helen Martin on news.scotsman.com makes a good point. In it she writes…..

     “Fame leaves people exposed, so that every indiscretion, every mistake, every personal tragedy and even private joys and sorrows become subject to public scrutiny.”

     Enter Susan Boyle.

     When the  first read the article about her mental breakdown on the Sydney Morning Herald site, I must say I wasn’t surprised.

     After all, the media was on her like white on rice – and I think anyone would agree with the opinion that voices like that are usually reserved for sold-out opera halls and packed stadiums when world-famous singers are performing.

     Although Boyle’s father was a singer, she hadn’t been born into a “singing family” per se. Her mother was a shorthand typist and Susan was a trainee cook and often part in government training schemes before she began singing at local venues, including karaoke bars. She’d had singing lessons but had never made any considerable name for herself outside her local community, so when she skyrocketed to instant fame after her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream it’s understandable that she felt overwhelmed. She had internet chatrooms, newspapers and the streets abuzz with talk of her incredible performance. Suddenly her face was on newspapers and televisions everywhere, virtually creating an unexpected cult of personality around the poor modest woman who, despite the insitence of Britain’s Got Talent’s make-up artists, decided to keep her appearance exactly as it was. Human. Not manufactured.

     It’s any wonder how any of those in the public spotlight feel human at all. Every aspect of their essence, from how they dress and talk to how they think and act, is moulded and directed by producers and entertainment industry “advisers”.

     The reason for this is that they, in obvious concert with corporate brands, are selling these individuals to society and in effect using them as walking/talking billboards. However comfortable these “individuals” feel with this, they are inadvertently condemning themselves to the spiritual equivelant of a dispensable product.

     So when I read about Susan Boyle’s collapse, I felt for her.

     As long as the entertainment industry discourages individualism in its participants, the human qualities of those participants will erode. And this is entirely the reason that I believe why a lot of celebrities crack under the pressure.

     It’s not so much that everyone’s watching you. It’s that everyone’s watching you not being you. 

          -BJH

 

Reference -    http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/tv/2009/06/01/1243708385483.html


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What’s at stake with North Korea?

28May09

   

 

     There have been some disturbing things happening this week on the Korean Peninsula.

     Why does that matter to you (or me) personally?

     Well let’s start with a quick history lesson.

     Consider the last time the Korean Peninsula went to war, back in 1950. It began when North Korea invaded South Korea to unite it under communist rule. The war drew in nearly a dozen world powers, concluding when China entered the war on the side of the North Koreans and forced the U.N forces in retreat. It was an embrrassing retreat for many reasons, if not just for the fact that no “peace treaty” was signed by the North Koreans – just a shaky and unreliable Armistice.

     Since the communist North Koreans have been under the a dynastic dictatorship ever since, there have always been fears of another war, mainly because the impoverished North Koreans have used the threat of military force as a bargaining chip for economic aid from the Western world, particularly the United States and South Korea. But there is also an important third player. Japan, who North Korea still considers an imperialist aggressor after its cruel and brutal occupation of the Korean Peninsula during World War Two, is also the regular target of threats. In fact, Japan is North Korea’s number one nemesis.

     So it goes without saying that when North Korea tested an atomic bomb for the first time in October 2006 and again recently, (also test-firing nearly half a dozen missiles off their shores) this sent a shiver down a lot of spines in Japan. In many ways, North Korea’s dictator, Kim-Jong Ill is to Japan what Adolf Hitler was to Poland in 1939.

     I, for one, hope that a war doesn’t materialize and that their differences can be resolved peacefully. I’m going to Japan in November of this year and staying in Tokyo, so I have my fingers crossed that the situation doesn’t escalate any further than it already has. As with many other regions, Korea has a turbulent history to say the least, and the world has witnessesd before how words can lead to actions, and actions can lead to war. 

     Fast-forward to now. It’s May 28th, 2009 and North Korea has announced that it has scrapped the Armistice agreement of 1953 and assumed a war-footing. This morning it declared that it may attack the South Koreans at any time, and has (to rub salt in the wound) warned that it cannot guarantee the safe passage of cargo vessels heading through Korean shipping lanes. In this sense they are ‘calling the world out’.

     Which brings me to my next point: the reaction.

     Only a matter of hours ago, the United States put its armed forces, including its entire nuclear weapons arsenal, on DEFCON-2.

     For those of you who don’t know, DEFCON-2 is the state of US worldwide military preparedness one notch down from “going all out.” Basically, it’s an unprecedented alert level.

     Here is the link purporting to show the US going to this status as of today.

Link – http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/6893/2/

     Now I know I’ve done a few articles on North Korea before, but as is evidenced throughout the media (and ”on the ground” on the Korean Peninsula itself), the stakes are being raised to dramatic and historic levels, and there is a strong and unyeilding belief on both sides of the 38th parallel that this time there is no turning back and that it’s reunification or bust.

     Returning to the earlier point of how that affects us individually, and in closing, consider the following;

     Although North Korea has virtually no allies whatsoever, a war against it would have the potential to draw in Russia and China, who rest on its geographically sensitive border. If such a war were to include these powers, the countries involved (and we would be) would need to initiate the draft.

     And if you’re male and between the age of 18-35, that’s you.

 

     -BJH


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Who/What has been cleaning the Mars Rover?

27May09

    

 

     The last time I checked, we hadn’t put a man on Mars……

     So who’s been cleaning the Mars “Opportunity” rover?

     According to the NASA rover team leader Jim Erickson, “exciting and unexplained cleaning events have kept the Opportunity in really great shape.”

Here is a link to an article about this on MSNBC

Link – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6742718/

     The most bewildering aspect of the mystery is that the “car wash” treatment has been occuring whilst the rover has been shut down.

     *gulp*

     Although this tempts our logical mind to come into the forefront of our thinking, it certainly does entertain the imagination. The thought of an extraterrestrial whistling away as he casually scrubs the panels of the Mars rover with a cloth is as hilarious as it is inexplicable.

     Of course there are also other theories as to how the Opportunity rover has miraculously become clean, for instance the theory put forth in the article itself that “timely wind gusts” cleaned the panels.

     Maybe they did.

     But one thing is for sure. NASA, internet bloggers and the man on the street will be following this one very, very closely.

     -BJH


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Moontown

25May09

The sun went down hours ago.

You’re lying on your bed with your eyes closed. Generally speaking, you’re tired. Physically, you’re relaxed. At times your mind toys with the idea of sleep, but never takes it seriously. It’s like you’re a hospital patient on a drip of Red Bull. Perpetually worn but restless. There’s a high-pitched ringing in the ears, the soundtrack to the bleak silence. You think about putting on some music…maybe turning on the computer or the television, but realize that it would only make you more awake – and you don’t want that. It becomes apparent to you that some kind of activity would be preferable to losing your mind in the stillness of it all.

So you drag yourself out of bed feeling like a zombie and endeavor to do something constructive. Personally, I write or do household chores. Sometimes I study. Other times I’ll go for a walk, though I haven’t done this much lately. Whatever the activity, I try to focus on something productive. It beats lying there thinking about it.

Though it could pay for medical circles to do some more thinking about insomnia itself, and most importantly, what actually causes it.

I recall dozens of trips to the doctor (many different doctors in fact), wherein they’ve have tried to tell me how simple it is to “cure” this atrophy of mine, explaining it all away in a flurry of lectures about diet, meditation, exercise, stress, etc, only for me to tell them that I have taken their advice on board many times over. If problems persist… please see a doctor, right?

Well I’ve sure done that. Thus began the never-ending cycle of Stilnox prescriptions, recommendations for Restavit, contradicting advice on health and lifestyle and my personal favourite – “get more sleep”.

So what lies behind this medical enigma? Some will try to brush aside the term “insomnia” by denying it even exists, while others will theorize as to whether the answer has been under our noses the entire time.

One thing that I find interesting is that it is commonly musicians, writers, artists, etc, that suffer from this problem, and it comes as no surprise, as the very busy minds of these individuals are perpetually active with a plethora of ideas, self-criticisms and solutions for them. I also find it interesting that many of these individuals claim that “a part of their brain is always awake”, because this may actually be the very point that many in the medical community are missing.

As a writer/musician/artist, I can personally relate to those who say that they have a sleepless mind, and I often wonder if doctors ever consider that creative individuals may in fact be stuck with this illness simply because of their natural creativity alone?

After all, it does stand to reason that if there is a busy little section of the brain constantly at work whether we like it or not, we’re going to have an up-hill battle in going to sleep. The noisy neighbour scenario immediately stands out when considering it from this angle. A little elderly couple stick their heads under the pillow and grimace while the teenage garage band next door rages on with their amps blaring.

Except in this case there’s no policeman knocking on the door and telling them to keep it down.

So rewind to the first paragraph. We’re the night owls who look up to coffee and No-Doz the way that Buddhists look up to the Dalai Lama. And we who suffer from this mysterious atrophy sometimes wonder if we’d be better going about our professional work whilst the crickets chirp rather than in the chaos and traffic of the day.

Personally, I’d prefer it.

There are some of us who embrace insomnia, considering it a godsend to their creativity. They immerse themselves in their work and thank the heavens that the scourge of sleep is not there to rob them of precious hours. They’ve learned to do without sleep, and simply run on empty. This is strongly advised against by most reasonable people, but lately it’s actually been doing my creativity wonders and I’ve come to believe that the more time one has to accomplish something, the better – but of course, my body hates me for it, and naturally, punishes me for the near-masochistic level of burnout I bequeath it.

So here I sit, at 9:07pm, hoping that I’ll get more than the two or three hours sleep I had last night when my head eventually hits the pillow tonight. And on a finishing note, I read something interesting on The Last Psychiatrist a bit earlier which puts what I’m talking about in perspective. There are two regions in the brain, working at the same time.  A wakefulness promoting region, and a sleep promoting region, battling each other, and your mind, for supremacy.

My question is this 

Who’s side should we really be on? 

 

-BJH


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The Spider and The Fly

13May09

 

 

     Have you ever had the feeling that no matter how painful and frustrating something is to keep, you just cannot stomach leaving it behind?

     If that something happens to be a someone, there’s a good chance you’ve fallen into the world’s most conniving trap -

     Emotional blackmail.

     We’ve all heard of the friend who’s partner treats them with total disrespect and never appreciates anything, always putting them down and telling them they’re “stupid”, “ugly” or “annoying”. In many cases they’re also told that they “cannot do any better”. And strangely, that person stays with their abusive other.

     But is it so strange?

     Whilst this may not come as a newsflash to many, there are three very obvious psychological factors behind a partner’s staying with such a clearly unappreciative slave-driver.

     The first is exclusively to do with the slave-driver themselves.

     It stands to reason that someone who feels the need to so brutally supress someone they (supposedly) love is someone who is lacking compassion and respect. Usually this void is left from some past trauma, either during childhood (due to possible abuse) or in teenage or adult life due to a traumatic experience in a close relationship. It could easily be argued that this lack of compassion and respect can manifest in a universal respect, though this is not always the case. But whatever the case, this kind of attitude towards a loved one begs the question – Why?

     Which leads to the second factor

     This deep-seated inferiority complex can lead to a tendency to “take control” over certain situations and people. More often than not, the situations and people are those whom the slave-driver feels are “manageable”. A gentle and agreeable individual is bound to encounter such a slave-driver more than once in their lifetime. The slave-driver, through the use of belittling their partner and asserting psychological control over them, acquires an emotional edge and uses it to justify their actions. (eg. “go ahead and leave then, it’s not like anyone else would be with you). After enough of this abuse it is a wonder some people go outside to face society at all.  But the point being made is that from the origins of the slave-driver’s own feelings of inadequacy evolves the desire to project that feeling on to others so that they can feel “in control” for once. As incredible as this sounds, such behaviour is mostly subconscious (still that doesn’t justify destroying another’s feeling of self-worth). The “game plan” for these individuals is to be in control once more and never again experience the locked-away trauma of humiliation and loss. Regardless of the cost.

     The third and final factor is that of resolution.

     So what can be done about this? I can hear most of you thinking of the logical solutions (counselling and psychotherapy), but it the most practical solution really does begin with the slave-driver recognizing that their natural desire for acceptance and emotional security must never be at the expense of the person who loves them. The same person who would give them that acceptance and emotional security anyway, without feeling worthless and humiliated.

 

   -BJH


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