Arts & Humanities - 25 January 2007

Silencing the storm

Have you ever found yourself looking at the waves in the swimming pool and wondering where they are going? The ripple moves across the surface, seeking an end and a return. The energy seems wasted. Notice how the impulse to move away is countered by a matching impulse to return. We can see the limits to which the wave can move and know the consequences of the action. Each new disturbance causes myriad secondary impulses which spread in ever widening patterns until compelled to return.
Is this not much like our thoughts? We cast our imagination out to what we feel is its farthest edge, and our thoughts rebound. Sometimes these edges are pushed farther out. Sometimes, sadly, they are retracted. N reality, there are no edges to the reach of your thoughts, the fluidity of your mind. The only limits are those you impose on yourself. Fear, distrust, judgment, these are all echoes in the well of forever. Our mind disturbs the surface with the stream of constant thought, aware and dreaming. Our consciousness is contained by our perception of reality, formed by our own creations of “I should” and “I want” and “I need”. We are ripples in the pool, no where to go but to the edge and back, over and over again.

But what if there was no edge?

Look at the waves of the ocean. The power and the majesty as they rise, swell, and crash to the sand. See the wave run up the beach, then retreat quickly, to where it came from. Sometimes, as you watch, you see a reverse wave, crest and all, rise from the shore and rush to greet the on coming flood. This is nothing more than the return of an earlier wave, going back to its source to begin again. While you may perceive the sea as unfathomable, it is still finite, and subject to those same rules which govern the small pool of water. The waves ripple out from their source to find the boundaries of their existence and then redouble on themselves to return. This is the way of all things finite. Our growth (expansion) is limited by the perception of our limitations. Does a ripple in the universe carry on for eternity, or does it ultimately reach an end and return? What of light? Does the beam of light, from your flashlight, pointed at the night sky, if unobstructed continue to travel across the emptiness of space on an eternal path? Because some of this universe appears to be finite, it seems reasonable that all of it is finite. If some of a thing is one way (Yin) , then some of a thing must be the other (Yang). The universe is not the absolute void. It is populated with many physical bodies, responding to laws which are understood and witnessed. The void of space, although vast, is not the perfect nothingness, a condition we know must exist as the opposite to our being. Et that itself becomes a paradox. If not being is opposite to being, it becomes something, the absence of being. Postulate the scientific theory of anti-matter. This imagined property is suggested to contain vast power, where exposed to structures of physical being. This is the Yin to the Yang of our reality. This is a focus for contemplation.

But what is nothingness.
Contemplate the ultimate, unknowable and eternal

To think about it is to become lost in the contemplation. This is the true nature of meditation, the nothingness that is the eternal, the Tao. Not the face of God, as that describes form, and becomes less/more than the totality of the void. E fear the abyss because it is unthinkable. Even the weight of though causes ripples in the surface of the nothingness, changing our perception of it being. If there is a ripple, there is a non-ripple, hence two things, not no-thing. This is the birth of the Yin/Yang, the Father and Son, the God and the Lord. It is the character of action versus in-action, all played on the eternal surface of what exists forever in the spaces between. To think about it is impossible, as it can not be considered. To experience it is impossible, as it would become something thought about and thus become something. It is neither mortal nor immortal, these phrases describing a thing. It can not be felt, or seen, or experienced in any way or it becomes something else and ceases to exist. It is the canvas on which the universe was drawn, or perhaps the place where the canvas came from, or perhaps the space that gave birth to that place. And so onward forever the thoughts must run to no resolve. It is the greatest of mysteries and the most simple of ideas. Nothing. Not a thing. Neither light nor dark, cold nor hot, wet nor dry, now or later. Nothing. Timeless. Not eternal, not finite. Without time; without anything.

Meditate deeply on this nothingness. Stare boldly into the void. Non-think, non-see, non-understand. Discard all of your ideas, all of the structure in which you find security and let your mind wander out and away to a non-place of unthinking. Do not force the connection with false assumptions, but float freely , attaching to nothing. You can not penetrate this nothing, you can not be a part of it or experience it, as you are always with you on this journey. But perhaps, from the smallest corner of your minds eye, you can catch a glimpse of its possibility. Think about the star filled night sky. Have you every experienced the odd and disconcerting phenomena that sometimes happens when you stare directly at a star and have it disappear, only to reappear when you look away? The more you try to see it, the less visible it becomes. Yet it is clearly there, in the corner of your vision. It is only when you try to contemplate its reality directly that it becomes impossible to see. So, too, the nothingness of the perfect void. Do not attempt to study or understand, as this act causes transmutation. You are not looking at the nothingness, but at the opposite of your own reality, the dark mirror.

2007-01-25 07:16:03 · 10 answers · asked by ecol528 1 in Philosophy

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Would it have been successful?
Why or Why not?

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on washroom doors and in pamhlets as well?

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I want to become a cosmetologist but before I buy the $90.00 book I thought I'd ask. Thanks for the help! - ♥ Miss Sporty ♥

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Could anyone help me? I need as many Broadway plays as you can think of. The most wins best answer, but they have to be accurate. :)

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2007-01-25 07:06:14 · 9 answers · asked by spin spin sunshine 4 in Philosophy

what are cool ways of taking Sr. Pics i going to take pic for my friend, like should we take pics at the park? give me good ideas for pretty backrounds Thanks

2007-01-25 07:01:56 · 2 answers · asked by JXSPhoenix 1 in Other - Visual Arts

2007-01-25 07:01:25 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

when they drew land borders up and split up ethnic groups?
It seems its coming to a head in some places.

2007-01-25 07:01:02 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

I'm finding articles at articlebiz.com, findarticles.com , etc.
And i want them all. or at least a few hundreds.. but it would take like an eternity to go through each and copy it to a file

Should i just get a few of them, likesearch for topics that interest me, or should i just browse all and get all?

By the way the reason i want t get lots, is because i want to use them for improving my vocab and reading about different topics, and i can't just afford to buy a ton of books

2007-01-25 06:59:38 · 1 answers · asked by Anonymous in Books & Authors

I need information about the populist party, also know as the people's party, during the 19th century.

2007-01-25 06:57:47 · 9 answers · asked by Wicawango Fan 2 in History

I recently read a young adult book called Bloodline. I usually prefer young adult books because they don't use as much flowery language as adult ones seem to, and they get to their point much more quickly.

Bloodline had some great concepts (though somewhat strange and confusing) and some interesting twists and turns. The problem is that the writing technique itself is AWFUL.

At first I just thought it was typical fantasy-genre flowery nonsense, but then I noticed that the word "trepid" appears in some form on nearly every page. The story is drawn out so long you wonder if the author will ever get to her point.

Towards the end it gets even WORSE. The phrase "though though" appeared, entire words were missing, and some sentences were even lacking in punctuation!

So my question is this: when a story is fairly decent except for grammatical mistakes and repetitive phrasing, who is at fault? The author or the editor?

2007-01-25 06:55:42 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Books & Authors

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who is the old man we keep seeing?

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Click on links for photos.

Any help is appreciated

http://images.andale.com/f2/104/102/14442789/2007/1/25/fab1.jpg
http://images.andale.com/f2/104/102/14442789/2007/1/25/fab2.jpg

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they r white capezio hip hop,sneakers and need to be hot pink

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I know that the Pyramid's walls are completely blank. Anyone have any good ideas to why they are blank or why they should NOT be blank? A web site URL address would be most helpful.

2007-01-25 06:25:33 · 6 answers · asked by Hank Ferris 2 in Other - Arts & Humanities

-Any Washington, D.C art galleries that take homemade work.

2007-01-25 06:25:28 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Visual Arts

Yesterday I was in a antique store. As I browse through bunches of books, I was shocked to see there's few books that was over 50 years old. I'm wondering if anyone know anything about following:

The Arabian Night
Published by "Modern Library"
It say "copyright 1932" It was reworded or something by Cerf bennette.

and

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
by T.E. Lawrence
I'm not too sure of the publisher or publish year, but I believe it is published by Doran New York time or something. The year, I would have to say 1927.

The antqiue store is selling first one for $10 the second one for $22. both are in almost mint condition.

So... Is the antqiue store dumb enough to make a such mistake and assume those books are worthless or what? I recently got "The Arabian Night" with illustrator by Parrish Maxfield that cost me $100 and is said to be worth about 200 to 250.

Hope someone can help me out with this. Thank you.

2007-01-25 06:22:58 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Books & Authors

If God is everywhere and knows everything, then he will know you asked a question here. Do you think He might really answer?

DISCLAIMER: Yahoo selected the category for this question. I had nothing to do with it.

2007-01-25 06:22:31 · 19 answers · asked by In Honor of Moja 4 in Philosophy