Week Thirteen Assignment

1. Would you support the development of a bionic person?

I'm not sure we have much choice in this day and age. Already I read numerous articles where people are building and reattaching inorganic appendages with full control. In any case, I absolutely support the idea of people regaining use of their severed limbs.

2. How would you rate "the control of artificial limbs by thought alone"?

I'm not sure I understand the question. How would I rate it? I guess positively. I mean, we control our limbs by thought alone, obviously some more conscious than others. For example my typing. The thought will run through my head, and it will come up on the screen, pretty much as I think it. Until I make a typo, that is, at which point I'll simply run back and correct it. I've noticed it makes it difficult to multitask while typing, unless I'm simply having a conversation with someone over the internet. It comes fairly easily, then. But even so, if I were to be reading or watching or listening to something with details or something that I was interested in, than I'll have to give quite a bit more thought into what I want to type or tell someone.

Week Twelve Assignment

1. Acupuncture as effective energy medicine

I absolutely believe that it is effective, and that it is on an energetic level that it helps people. It doesn't matter if the affects are placebo or not, because regardless of that possibility, it still helps people. That's the important part of this that people don't seem to realize. It doesn't matter if it's our medicine that's doing the work, or if it's the idea that our medicine works so well that motivates people's subconscious to start their body's defenses back up.

2. What conclusions can you draw from Kirlian photography?

I think the most obvious conclusion to be drawn is that our auras really do exist. I know people who have trained and been successful at viewing others' auras even without the use of Kirlian photography. I learned how to do it probably about 8 years ago and saw my own ever-changing aura, but I couldn't see it all the time and certainly not as large as Kirlian photos depict. What I saw when I could do it was a faint outline of a solid color near the top of someone's head.

3. Human intent as it affects health

It absolutely affects health. Even when I was doing my training for massage therapy, I learned quickly that if your mind wasn't focused on your patient's needs, than they're not going to feel the full benefit of your work, thereby cheating them out of their money, and not giving you the sense of satisfaction that you should have from this kind of healing work. One of the best experiences I had with intent affecting health was when I was working on an older lady toward the end of my training. She told me that her low back had been giving her issues for many years, and that she hadn't even been able to pull her leg up to tie her shoes. I told her that I would do what I could, but given that it's been so long, I'm not sure how much a single session will help her out.

I used every technique I knew to open up her low back, to loosen her quadriceps and biceps femoris muscles. I made sure that while I was working on her, my intent was pinpointed on helping her low back, and helping her tie her shoes.

After the session was over, I went outside of the massage room to give her an evaluation form where she was talking with my professor. She had walked out of the class without her shoes on so that she could sit on one of the benches outside and chat with the other people there for massages.

At this point, she pulled her leg up onto her knee and began tying her shoe. The look on her face was astonishing. She told me after she had crossed her leg up, she hadn't even thought about that she was doing it, it simply worked on it's own. My professor shot a look to me that expressed her sincere pride in my work, which pretty much solidified my goal to keep my intent on the patient.

Week Eleven Assignment

1. I know I'm a living system because...

Because I think. Because I'm conscious. Because I eat, see, smell, touch and taste things. Because I'm able to enjoy or dislike anything I care to. Because I breathe, sweat, bleed, love and hate.

2. Biophysics and Oriental Medicine

I get the distinct sense there may have been a mix up with this part of the blog, so I'm not entirely sure how to answer it. The Biophysics part of the class wasn't until a couple weeks after this one.

Week Ten Assignment

Can you synthesize East and West?

I think east and west are synthesized far more often than we even realize. I think that, especially in California compared to Michigan, we have a lot more Eastern influences. People seem very knowledgeable about their bodies and their actions as opposed to where I'm from.

Week Nine Assignment

1. Newton's Three Laws and Me

I think I can say that I experience Newton's laws pretty much every day. Whether I'm working out or riding on my scooter, everything we do is influenced by Newton's laws. It's amazing to think that someone from so long ago was so brilliant to think of these things. With all our innovations and technological advances, I can't help but wonder how this man from hundreds of years ago came up with something that so impacted our life.

2. Our energy efficient culture

I like that our culture has become aware of the way it uses and expends energy. If you're referring to the "waste" heat that is put off by our bodies constantly, I don't feel that it's wasted at all. This heat is what makes a jacket or sweater so effective. The clothing helps trap in the heat that our body is giving off.

Trust me, the body heat we give off is absolutely necessary when you live in the coldest room of a house. If my body didn't warm up the blankets that I sleep in, I'd likely have died of hypothermia.

3. Descartes has a lot to answer for!

Being that Rene Decartes is the person primarily responsible for thinking that Nature and Humans are separate, I think he does have a lot to answer for. I mean, granted, the theories of evolution and intelligent design may not have been around yet, but it's so easy to see how well nature and humans integrate.

Week Eight Assignment

1. Ordered Chaos - Does this sound familiar?

I'd say it does sound familiar. I think ordered chaos is pretty much how the world works. If it were pure chaos, nothing would exist. If it were pure order, the world would be cold and robotic and boring.

2. Fractal Patterns as patterns of complex systems

As one of my other classmates noted on their blog regarding this question, conscious thought breeds action. The idea that the bits and pieces of what we think (i.e. the beginning equations in a fractal pattern) become the action that we take (the eventual art that makes up a fractal). Though I feel that the math equations of my head the become the fractals of my actions are quite a bit smaller and less complex than the incredibly stunning fractals I've seen online.

3. Consciousness out of chaos?

Absolutely. As the first question about ordered chaos states, I think that consciousness is the result of ordered chaos.

Week Seven Assignment

1. Are All Vibrations Good?

I'd say some are and some aren't. Nikola Tesla invented and built an earthquake machine that was supposed to be able to match the resonating frequency of the earth and cause an actual earthquake. While it never worked, he had apparently tested it on his own building after learning the resonance frequency and it brought the building down in shambles once the machine got going.

But then there's always the song "Good Vibrations" (I'm surprised I even remember it) that mentions how well people vibe together and such.

So in summation, I say there are good vibrations and bad, but I imagine it's more likely that you'll find good ones.

2. Resonance in my World

What I notice about resonance in my world is that it pretty much happens to me with music. Music is what resonates with me the strongest. Obviously different songs at different times, but always with music. Particularly what catches my ear right now are cover songs by The Beatles (I don't actually like The Beatles (For shaaame, I know)) that pop up on my iPod every so often.

Whenever I hear a song that resonates with me, the skin on my arms and the back of my neck stands up. The first time I noticed it was when I was listening to James Blunt's first album, particularly the song No Bravery. The song is about the time he spent in the military in Kosovo when Slobodon Melosivic was doing everything he did.

It's interesting to note that even though I haven't heard the song in quite a while, looking at the lyrics I'll be posting below, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and prickled as I read it because there's just something about the lyrics and his voice that gets that reaction out of me.

Houses burnt beyond repair,
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.
Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another family's turn to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

3. Connections I can make between Energy and Qi

I think the connection between energy and Qi is implied. I don't think there are really any differences between the two, just different types. Kind of like genres of music. Rock and country are completely different sounds, but they're two aspects of the same thing: music.

Week 5 Assignment

My (A)symmetrical world:

As another blogger mentioned, if you took a picture of each side of your face separately and then made a mirror image of it and put them next to eachother, you'd come up with two very different faces, and I have to say I completely agree with him. Things that appear symmetrical, such as people, faces, buildings, nature, etc, certainly aren't symmetrical when things get down to brass tacks.

Just what does this "CP violation" really mean?:

I've been darting back and forth between the Wikipedia article of CP Violation and this blog the past week, hoping that the more times I read it, the more I'll understand it, however, it's definitely not the case. Just as you're asking what it means, I'm afraid I can't really say. I could recite knowledge from the Wiki definition, but that doesn't really help any lay-person trying to understand just what CP violation is.

Are there connections between Sacred Geometry and Physics?:

I believe our class on October first well answered this question. I don't think physics today would be possible without the use of sacred geometry in the past. Although, I think that technology has hindered our actual brain, because as technology gets smarter, we rely on it more, and we seem to lose touch with our brain actually working through these problems.

Week 4 Assignment

Apologies for the lateness of this post. I had meant to do it last week, but was in an accident on my scooter, and once I had gotten home, I needed to study for my upcoming History quiz.

Anyway, on to the questions:

Question 1: How has E=MC^2 affected you?

I'm not entirely sure it has. At least, not in any kind of direct way that I could explain. I guess if all matter is energy, then it would make sense to say that all energy is uniform, and that everything is connected. Saying it like that, one could definitely make sense of synchronicity in my previous post.

Question 2: How would you compare the four "forces"?

I'm don't know if they're entirely comparable. They have things in common, but to me, it's like saying that because I have brown hair, that I have something in common with every single brown-haired person in the world. I think the comparisons to be made for the four forces are on that very, VERY broad scale. But then if you look a little deeper, than you might find that this brown-haired person enjoys these types of movies and so on, and I think you can find more minute things in common between the forces.

Question 3: What is the function of gravity?

I think the biggest function of gravity is to keep us all grounded. I mean that in both the literal and figurative senses. Obviously there would be problems if we all were floating off the planet in a universe sans gravity, and I think it would make life a lot more difficult. I think inertia would have a lot bigger role to play in our lives. For example, my scooter accident: Had there been no gravity, I would've simply kept going after being thrown from my scooter. I think, though, with the way I hit the car, that I'd have been going in an up direction because of how I landed. I think I'd still have the knee pain that I've been in the past week, which is unfortunate, but it's still interesting to wonder where I'd have ended up had gravity not pulled me to the ground after glancing off of the guy's hood.

Week 3 Assignment

1. What evidence can you find for synchronicity?

Well, the example I used in class last week was when I was still living in Michigan (Not many of my stories really have to do with living OUT of Michigan, considering I've only been in Cali for about five weeks now). In any case, it was a few years ago when I was driving my second car (A white 1987 Pontiac Grand Prix, for those curious) home from the mall with my girlfriend at the time, Carolyn. I mentioned her in my first post regarding a recovered memory.

Anyway, for the weeks previous, I'd been trying to tune into myself and how I felt and what I was thinking and how my body reacted before, during, and after seeing a police car. Eventually, it became something like an intuition that I could sense cop cars, and oftentimes where they were in space compared to me.

I'd been trying to hone this skill, and for the better part of that summer (I did a lot of driving of both her car and mine, so it was easy to practice), I could feel when cops were around me. I suppose it could be seen as coincidence, but it's more interesting (and more fun) to see it as something that I controlled, something that could be made sharper or left to become dull.

But I digress...

It was night time (probably about 10-1030pm, so outside of head- and streetlights, you couldn't see much. This particular street only had a few streetlights, so it wasn't as if I could see what was ahead of me. As we passed an intersection, a somewhat familiar feeling washed over me and I turned to Carolyn and said "There's a cop next to us." She was puzzled by the statement, but as I looked in my rearview mirror, a white car with typical Holland P.D. markings pulled out and turned the same direction I was heading.

When I've told this story before, I compared that skill to that of a radar detector but I obviously had far less sensitivity to it than the circuits of something specifically designed for that purpose.

I feel that this is one of my better experiences with synchronicity. I also noticed that as Fall rolled around and school started back up, I was driving less, and the ability to know where cops were feel to the wayside as my homework assignments started picking up.

2. Based on what you know, how would you explain connectivity?




I think the Zits comic above is one of the better examples of connectivity and synchronicity. Jeremy is always able to tell who's calling as the phone is ringing. His mom refers to him as the "Human premium phone package."

Anyway, I believe that some people can take that connectivity and, as I did in my story above, hone it to the point of an ability and use it when they want to. I know people who have been friends so long that, in a moment of complete silence, a simple look to one another can tell them what they're thinking. And once that moment has passed, both of them will burst out laughing because of how their connection works, and because they both fully understand what was going to be said, or what needed to be said.

As for an explanation, I don't really think I can give anything terribly concrete. Or at least, what I believe as my explanation isn't something I can fully put into words. As I mentioned above, I believe that an instance of synchronicity can be isolated and focused upon, and that once a person knows how to utilize it, that they'll be able to use it when they want or need; or in my case with the cop story above, it will just passively happen as long as you're aware of how you feel and what you might be thinking.

I think that's probably as much as I can say, although I fear it may already be too convoluted.

Week 2 Assignment

1. Your reflections on uncertainty.

This poses an interesting question, to me. Let's start it off this way; when I think of the concept of certainty, the thing that comes first to mind is that old, somewhat depressing line: "The only thing certain in life is death and taxes."

I feel like in some ways this is absolutely true, because so much in life is random and, well, uncertain. There are degrees of certainty and uncertainty, I think, though. A good example might be how I came to be in the East Bay.

Two and a half years ago, in my second semester at Baker College, I was in a class that taught energy massage therapy techniques, like Reiki and polarity therapy. The one thing I really remember from the class is how to balance Chakras, but that's neither here nor there.

As I may have told many of you, the midterm for this class was to experience one of the modalities we learned about, and I chose acupuncture. Long story short, I ended up wanting to go to school for acupuncture, and decided on a school in Seattle called Bastyr University. I applied twice, the first time they told me that I didn't have enough, or even the right credits to apply, and that my application was withdrawn. The second time, roughly a year later, I happily resubmitted, two shining letters of recommendation, my resume, and my transcripts.

A few months later, I was called by the director of admissions and told that they'd like to interview me. This was further than I had gotten in my previous attempt, so I was happy. I assumed that because I was in Michigan that they'd simply do it over the phone, but not so. Within two days, I spent roughly $600 on a plane ticket and hotel for a month and a half later (mid-May). The interview went well enough, although my outfit was a little lax for what they seemed to want; lax enough that they felt the need to point it out, which I was slightly annoyed at. I decided afterwards that if a school is going to base who they accept on what they wear, then I don't even want to go there.

Either way, it was a massive shock when I got the letter in the mail telling me to try again next year. Immediately I was freaking out. The rug had basically been pulled out from under me (definitely a good week and a half of uncertainty here, which was NOT a good feeling). Eventually I found AIMC's website, and sent off an email in a hurry, with a quick reply from Roselle telling me that they were still accepting students, that my credits were sufficient, and that they can do the interview over the phone.

I'd use the "long story short" cliche again, but I think we're well past that point. Anyway, I was accepted to AIMC, and a short time later I was buying my train ticket to the Emeryville station. I was full of relief that the feeling of certainty had been returned to me.

Apologies for the long story, especially considering I have two more questions to answer.

2. Your comments on Causality

Let's see..Cause and effect..

I had written a paper once back in my second year of college regarding Causality. Most people picked topics like why people become murders or rapists or alcholics, and then did their research and wrote their paper. I didn't want to do anything that simple or common, so I started writing on topics that came to mind. I went through three before figuring out that this assignment was harder than the professor had made it out to be.

Finally, I realized that my topic was staring straight at me, and I chose: Why I Can't Think of a Topic.

Obviously there's no research to be done there, and I just had to write my paper off of opinions and personal experience, but I figured it was a solid enough topic that I should get the B I needed to pass the class. The paper was written, turned in, and handed back a week later with a perfect grade, with a note telling me that she would like use it as an example in her future classes.

Not entirely sure what that has to do with cause and effect, but it's a good little story.

I'm not sure if I subscribe to the totality of causality (the rhyme was completely unintentional, but makes me laugh regardless) such as the Chaos Theory, in that if a butterfly flaps its wings, there will be a storm on the other side of the planet. I do believe that some things can have that effect, but I don't feel like something on such a small scale could have such a grand impact.

3. Is the Universe weird?

I think I would have to say yes. I'm not sure you'll find many people to answer this question differently. But now that I'm trying to find the words to explain just why I think the universe is weird, they escape me. I think it might be one of those things that people can see in their periphery, but once they look directly at it, it disappears (This analogy brought to you by the TV show, Dead Like Me. If you've seen it, I think you'll know what I'm referring to, hahah)

Assignment for Week 1

Answers to this week's quiz:

1. What attracts me to Chinese medicine?

Well, during the middle of my first year working toward my massage therapy degree, I took an Energy Massage Techniques class. The midterm project for this class was to experience one of the modalities we'd learned about that dealt with energy (Acupuncture, Reiki, polarity therapy, cranio-sacral therapy, etc), and I had chosen acupuncture. I'd always been interested in it, but never had a real reason to find a practitioner and try it out. My professor referred me to a man who was a third generation acupuncturist. His his grandfather, and his father and he had all been acupuncturists.

I made my appointment for late February, and drove over to see him a couple weeks later. I didn't know at all what to expect, but he gave off a surprisingly calm aura, and it immediately settled my nerves. He answered any questions I had, as well as telling me why he was doing what he was doing (looking at my tongue, feeling my wrist, and so on), until he told me he had developed a treatment plan for me. I went in there relatively pain, stress, and disease free, so we settled on trying to fix my seasonal allergies. After the treatment, spring rolled around, as well as fall, with no symptoms. As soon as spring had come and gone, I told my professor that I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what I was going to aim to do with my life.

2. What do I honestly think of physics, really?

Before our first class, I had expected a lot of math, which was unfortunate, because I had left my graphing calculator in Michigan along with my will to do any more math. After the first class, I think I'll have an easy time immersing myself in the material. A friend of mine started out as an astrophysics major at Michigan State University, but because she couldn't justify her brilliant ideas with the math, she fell behind on the material and ended up switching majors within her freshman year. As I mentioned before, I'm glad that this isn't a math class. Numbers and I don't tend to get along well.

3. Now that I think about it, have I ever experienced time "slowing down" or "speeding up"?

One time that comes readily to mind is when my friend suggested I listen to a music track, called Absinthe. It must be listened with stereo headphones, and the nicer, the better. I have a pair of comfortable Sony over-the-ear headphones, and I had 45 minutes (The length of the track) of time to sit and see what happened. She explained to me that she had done it previously and had some rather odd hallucinations on the backs of her eyelids. Bear in mind that she had done this without the use of hallucinogenic drugs or the like.

As I sat down and started to fall into the sound (the sound is of two different, sustained notes. One played in the left ear, one in the right), things started dancing across the back of my eyelids. I was rather shocked, but I decided to keep my eyes closed for the duration. At one point, I found myself back in high school, remembering a memory as vividly as if I were reliving it at that exact moment. I remembered details that, had it not been for this forced-meditative state, I would never have remembered.

When the 45 minutes was up, I could hardly believe it. It took me roughly fifteen minutes to snap completely out of the trance the sound had put me in. I was blown away. And even as I sit here writing this, I can't remember what scene it was that played across the back of my eyelids; I only know that it was from high school, and that I was dating a girl named Carolyn.

This is definitely a better example of time speeding up than I gave in class (simply saying "meditation,"), but I figured that, instead of being rather long winded, I could simply detail my post with details of the example I had originally had in mind.

Post your reflections on this week's class - "The Meaning of Time"

I really enjoyed the discussion for this first week, however, I found it kind of hard to grasp the ideas of P-time and M-time. With only a table to guide us, it felt like it was hard to explain to the other students what exactly the difference between Eastern and Western views on time were.

I particularly enjoyed learning about the seven arrows of time. I didn't know anything like that even existed, but it's neat to know. It may even be what I end up writing my midterm paper about, though I don't want to sell myself short with the myriad topics we'll cover before the paper is due.