Science evolving to art?

Great advances in science come from creative thinking, a creative spirit.

Science aims to help us gain a logical understanding of reality, yet isn't reality non-logical?

Art may be proven to be a better expression of reality, or a greater sum of human experience.

A recent article in SEED Magazine called "The Future of Science....Art?" opens the question.

"This world of human experience is the world of the arts. The novelist and the painter and the poet embrace those ephemeral aspects of the mind that cannot be reduced, or dissected, or translated into the activity of an acronym. They strive to capture life as it's lived. As Virginia Woolf put it, the task of the novelist is to "examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day...[tracing] the pattern, however disconnected and incoherent in appearance, which each sight or incident scores upon the consciousness." She tried to describe the mind from the inside."

Just by observing our experience of reality, with the many states that we experience daily one can see that looking at the world through "empirical" and "logical" lens into "objective" realm of what is "provable" captures only part of the picture.

Reality encompases that which is beyond science as we know it, or at least beyond what the current scientific mindset can currently explain.

Lehrer touches on the realm of physics, which is a realm which is definitely beyond the logical.

"But the surreal nature of physics is precisely why it needs the help of artists. The science has progressed beyond our ability to understand it, at least in any literal sense. As Richard Feynman put it, "Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there." It's a brute fact of psychology that the human mind cannot comprehend the double-digit dimensions of string theory, or the possibility of parallel universes. Our mind evolved in a simplified world, where matter is certain, time flows forward and there are only three dimensions. When we venture beyond these innate intuitions, we are forced to resort to metaphor. This is the irony of modern physics: It seeks reality in its most fundamental form, and yet we are utterly incapable of comprehending these fundaments beyond the math we use to represent them. The only way to know the universe is through analogy."

Yes, metaphor, art and the non-logical expressions are perhaps the best way to convey the subtleties of reality which cannot be understood "literally."

Carey Thompson is a very talented visionary artist who attempts to express realms that science touches with some of his pieces.
He writes about his piece "Omnicentricity" - shown above.

Carey's comments and artwork point to an understanding of reality that comes through non-logical modes of perception.

"Recent discoveries in quantum and astrophysics have completely destroyed the Newtonian/Cartesian notion of ourselves floating around in a fixed three-dimensional space. Astronomers had even thought they had pinpointed the exact center where the infamous Big Bang supposedly occurred. Our universe is multidimensional, its center being everywhere, with all of its manifestations containing within them everything else just as every pixel of a hologram contains within it the image of the completed whole. Thus, modern science is a approaching the conclusion, which ancient peoples had intuitively understood, that all is one in this vast unfolding singularity. The image before you attempts to convey this idea."

Leher continues in his article "The fundamental point is that modern science has made little progress toward any unified understanding of everything. Our unknowns have not dramatically receded. In many instances, the opposite has happened, so that our most fundamental sciences are bracketed by utter mystery. It's not that we don't have all the answers. It's that we don't even know the question."

"This is particularly true for our most fundamental sciences, like physics and neuroscience. Physicists study the fabric of reality, the invisible laws and particles that define the material world. Neuroscientists study our perceptions of this world; they dissect the brain in order to understand the human animal. Together, these two sciences seek to solve the most ancient and epic of unknowns: What is everything? And who are we?"

"Abstract art lets us comprehend, at least a little bit, the incomprehensible."

In his new book, "The Science of Leonardo" , Fritjof Capra writes "Leonardo's [da Vinci] approach to scientific knowledge was visual. It was the approach of a painter. 'Painting,' he declared, "embraces within itself all the formes of nature.' This statement is the key to understanding Leonardo's science."

If science expresses its discoveries with non-logical aspects of consciousness and may be able to evolve to a more artistic form, to convey a more comprehensive view of the reality it aims to grasp.

Leher implies that the scientific mind are unable to completely grasp understand the realms of where science goes. True. We're not. Modern science is born out of the fact that our current thinking process cannot fully understand reality.

Yet it is not only the expression of scientific understanding which needs to evolve, but the perception of the scientific mind itself. It is the "literal" subject, the very scientific mind itself which needs to be questioned, and expanded, or more specifically the consciousness of the scientist.

Naturally, this is the fabric of many contemplative spiritual traditions - to expand the practioner's experience of oneself from limited to universal.

It's not the method of scientific expression, or thinking which holds the greatest limitation, it is the mind of science which needs to be questioned.

Deepak Chopra recently stated "All suffering that we have caused on this planet has been caused because we don't understand who we are...."

It is the very nature of who we perceive ourselves to be, and the corresponding capacities for perception, or lack thereof, which are the very realms to be expanded.

How would we do this?

Perhaps we should fill scientific laboratories with consciousness expanding facilities like meditation rooms, art studios, yoga, floatation tanks? Or rather include disciplines of meditation, cognitive science, parapsychology, healing arts and spirituality in every scientific curriculum. Schools can encourage non-logical days, art expressions, meditation courses.

Then we'd have culture of psycho-spiritual-art-scientists.

Sounds like burning man... didn't someone say that Burning Man is the incubator of the new planetary civilization?

Radical Art - 207 people freeze in Grand Central Station

Check it out, the group Improv Everywhere performed a cool expression video speaks for itself!

Amma's message for the new year.

This just makes sense:

We are all very happy that another New Year is upon us,” Amma said. “Happiness is good for the health of the body and the mind. Our goal is to always be happy. Everyone should always be happy and rejoicing—just like a small child. That is Amma’s desire.

Human beings are most happy in childhood. But the time considered as “childhood” is ever decreasing. Previously, one was considered a child until he was eight or nine. But today the innocence and pleasantness associated with childhood is fading faster and faster. Childhood these days is filled with seriousness and tension. When our desires are fulfilled, when things go according to our plans, we experience happiness—but it is only temporary.

Many people celebrate the New Year by setting off fireworks or celebrating in the ballroom of a beautifully decorated five-star hotel, exchanging New Year greetings and dancing and singing fully intoxicated. A large percentage of people then return to their home or tension-filled office without retaining even the tiniest amount of happiness or peace. What then is the point of the happiness experienced while drinking or sitting at the bar of a five-star hotel? Real happiness is something that can be experienced at any time and in any place—in family life, social life, at work and in the mind. That should be our goal. To attain this, our mind should be full of love.

May this New Year fill our hearts with love and gratitude. When we express a desire and it does not get fulfilled, we start questioning life and why it has not met our expectations. We become depressed. But there is no law that all of our desires should be fulfilled.

We should understand that life gives us what we need and not necessarily what we want. It follows its own wisdom, which is often incomprehensible to our gross minds. We should learn to accept situations in life. This attitude of acceptance is the secret to happiness.

As we enter 2008, let us pray together, “O Paramatman, let there be no wars, violence or natural disasters this year. Let there be no death due to starvation or lack of medical care. Let there be no children who are unable to continue their studies due to poverty. Let the music of peace and harmony be heard everywhere. Just as we decorate our houses and surroundings with lights, let our heart remain effulgent throughout the year with love and compassion."

Amma on Science vs Religion...

Amma stated recently: "The main reason for some of the conflicts in today's world is the separation between science and religion. In reality, religion and science should go hand in hand. Both science without religion and religion without science are incomplete."

"But unfortunately, society is trying to segregate mankind into religious people and scientific people. Scientists say religion and spirituality are based on blind faith. Conversely, they argue that science is fact and has been proved through experimentation. The question is: Which side are you on: faith or proven fact?

"In reality, the foundation of true religion is not blind faith; it is 'sraddha'. Sraddha is enquiry; it is an intense exploration within one's own self."

"What is the nature of the experienced world? How does it function in perfect harmony? From where did it come? Where is it going? Where will it lead? Who am I? Such was their enquiry. Who asks these kinds of questions - people of faith or people of science? Both do."


She's really on to something - duh - it's AMMA after all!

Anyway the work of Nassim Harimein at the Resonance Project demonstrates the absolute connection with spiritual principles, sacred geometry and physics.

Here's how they describe themselves:

"Vision

A unification of all sciences and philosophies emerging from a complete and applied view of the fundamental wheel-works of nature, its ensuing forces, and consciousness.

The Mission (the actualization of the Vision)

* To share the knowledge and implications of The Unification Theory through publication of scientific papers and layman articles including books, videos and DVDs.
* To create a headquarters center where the foundation principles of The Unification Theory are explored for the advancement of humankind.
* To further explore - by means of archaeological and anthropological studies - the history of ancient civilizations, their philosophies, and their understanding of Unification.

Guiding Principles

We are guided by our sense of the interconnectivity of all things and of the spirit of Unification leading us through our individual endeavors to reach our ultimate potential, benefiting both self and humanity as a whole. We are driven by our appreciation, respect and affirmation for all life."

Sri Yantra - another way of saying "It's all Math????"

Discussion of the Sriyantra from surfing the web: http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~mikel/sriyantra/

Sri Yantra is a name for the geometric pattern representing the universal Goddess. The "divine feminine," the Great Mother Archetype, "the beauty of the three worlds - waking, dreaming and deep sleep...", and many other ways of describing the great mystery of the field of beingness that we flow in....

Here's what they're discussing - the implications of the mathematics of the Sri Yantra is that it appears to tie into the Fibonnacci Sequence - the number from the Divinci Code, right? Sacred geometry, the number found all over nature, etc....

Furthermore contemporary Physicist Nassim Harimein refers to this very same number - the Fibonacci sequence, "phi" - as a key mathematical way to understanding the structure of our universe....

Here's what the website said:

"A hymn from Atharavaveda is dedicated to an object that closely resembles this. The sriyantra ('great object') belongs to a class of devices used in meditation, mainly by those belonging to the Hindu tantric tradition. The diagram consists of nine interwoven isosceles triangles four point upwards, representing Sakti, the primordial female essence of dynamic energy, and five point downwards, representing Siva, the primordial male essence of static wisdom The triangles are ananged in such a way that they produce 43 subsidiary triangles, at the centre of the smallest of which there is a big dot (known as the bindu). These smaller triangles are supposed to form the abodes of different gods, whose names are sometimes entered in their respective places. In common with many depictions of the sriyantra, the one shown here has outer rings consisting of an eight-petalled lotus, enclosed by a sixteen petalled lotus, girdled in turn by three circles, all enclosed in a square with four doors, one on each side. The square represents the boundaries within which the deities reside, protected from the chaos and disorder of the outside world."

"Tantric tradition suggests that there are two ways of using the sriyantra for meditation. In the 'outward approach', one begins by contemplating the bindu and proceeds outwards by stages to take in the smallest triangle in which it is enclosed, then the next two triangles, and so on, slowly expanding outwards through a sequence of shapes to the outer shapes in which the whole object is contained. This outward contemplation is associated with an evolutionary view of the development of the universe where, starting with primordial matter represented by the dot, the meditator concentrates on increasingly complex organisms, as indicated by increasingly complex shapes, until reaching the very boundaries of the universe from where escape is possible only through one of the four doors into chaos. The 'inward' approach to meditation, which starts from a circle and then moves inwards, is known in tantric literature as the process of destruction."

"The mathematical interest in the sriyantra lies in the construction of the central nine triangles, which is a more difficult problem than might first appear. A line here may have three, four, five or six intersections with other lines. The problem is to construct a sriyantra in which all the intersections are correct and the vertices of the largest triangles fall on the circumference of the enclosing circle. We shall not go into the details of how the Indians may have achieved accurate constructions of increasingly complex versions of the sriyantra, including spherical ones with spherical triangles. Bolton and Macleod (1977) offer a simple overview of the subject; Kulaichev (1984) goes into the 'higher' mathematics implicit in constructing different types of sriyantra."

There is, however, a curious fact about all the conectly constructed sriyantras, whether enclosed in circles or in squares. In all such cases the base angle of the largest triangles is about 51°. The monument that comes to mind when this angle is mentioned is the Great Pyramid at Gizeh in Egypt, built around 2600 bc. It is without doubt the most massive building ever to have been erected, having at least twice the volume and thirty times the mass of the Empire State Building in New York, and built from individual stones weighing up to 70 tonnes each. The slope of the face to the base (or the angle of inclination) of the Great Pyramid is 51°50'35.

It is possible from the dimensions of the Great Pyramid to derive probably the two most famous inational numbers in mathematics. One is pi, and the other is phi the 'golden ratio' or 'divine proportion', given by (1 + sqr-rt 5)/2 (its value to five decimal places is 1.61803). The golden ratio has figured prominently in the history of mathematics, both as a semi-mystical quantity (Kepler suggested that it should be named the 'divine proportion') and for its practical applications in art and arAhitecture, including the Parthenon at Athens and a number of other buildings of Classical Greece. In the Great Pyramid, the golden ratio is represented by the ratio of the length of the face (the slope height), inclined at an angle theta to the ground, to half the length of the side of the square base, equivalent to the secant of the angle theta. The original dimensions of the Great Pyramid are not known exactly, because later generations removed the outer limestone casing for building material, but as far as we can tell the above two lengths were about 186.4 and 115.2 metres respectively. The ratio of these lengths is, to five decimal places, l.618 06, in very close agreement with phi. The number phi has some remarkable mathematical properties. Its square is equal to itself plus one, while its reciprocal is itself minus one. But the most intriguing feature is its link with what are called the Fibonacci numbers.

The Fibonacci numbers are the sequence

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, ...

where each number equals the sum of its two predecessors. This sequence aops up in a variety of natural phenomena - in pattems of plant growth and in the laws of Mendelian heredity, for example. It is easily shown that the ratio between successive Fibonacci numbers gets closer to phi the hurther up the sequence one goes. In the Fibonacci sequence given above, the ratio of 233 to 144 gives the value of phi calculated from the dimensions of the Great Pyramid.

The quantity pi can also be found in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid. If its height (1466 metres) is taken to be the radius of a circle, the perimeter of its base (4 x 230.4 = 921.6 metres) is almost equal to the circumference of that circle (2pir = 921.6 metres). The product of pi and the square root of phi is close to 4.

The largest isosceles triangle of the sriyantra design is one of the face triangles of the Great Pyramid in miniature, showing almost exactly the same relationship between pi and phi as in its larger counterpart. It would be idle to indulge in any further speculation.

Many of the accurate constructions of sriyantras in India are very old. Some are even more complicated than the one shown. There are those that consist of spherical triangles for which the constructor, to adlieve perfect intersections and vertices falling on the circumference of the circle enclosing the triangles, would require knowledge of 'higher mathematics whidh the medieval and ancient Indian mathematicians did not possess' (Kulaichev, 1984, p. 292). Kulaidhev goes on to suggest that the achievement of such geometrical constructs in Indian mathematics may indicate'the existence of unknown cultural and historical altematives to mathematical knowledge, e.g. the highly developed tradition of special imagination'.

Continuous Creation - Imagine the big bang happening everywhere all the time

Click on the image on the right to see the details.

Got your attention? More on www.meru.org

Blackberry Mystic - Luminoius Omnipresent Radiant Deity

My friend Bengt just sent me an amusing bit of prose written on blackberry while he was on the bus travelling to the city Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

Enjoy!

"What "LORD" Means"

LORD: Luminous Omnipresent Radiant Deity

An identity of supremacy over creation

Deities are theanthropic: both human and divine

In this case radiant light filled bodies

"God" is an identity. It is the attribute of the undefinable unbounded awareness called consciousness or self awareness. It is the particle of the dual wave/particle paradox.

Within us all are both qualities or somethingnesses. We both worship the light within as christ and are that light when we surrender the bonds of selfingness or identification with being a someone or something. Behind all That is the ground of being, where all wave forms, particles, selves, identities have their common essence. Calling it god is to reduce it to a noun when in actuality it is a glorious verb of eternal aliveness. It is the Spirit of that Aliveness that is the Spark of the Divine within us all.

Those that proclaim loudly their faith without the ability to consciously dissolve into the All Silent Radiance and Not Radiance (non-dual awareness) are false prophets. Their energetic fields enslave others to gain power and authority.

The healing of civilization is accomplished by actions big and small performed by persons acting in alignment and empowerment with that which cannot be named. They are the behaviors of the sage, the saint, the mystic, the wizard, the master, the Avatar, the illumed disciple and the Lover of Life and All Beings.

- Bengt

Painting "Sophia: the Thirteenth Aeon" by Vibrata Chromodoris