Surfing the Tao Striving to increase awareness of our spiritual natures as well as the news, technologies and agendas in our world which influence them. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 2 1441 4 1092

Articles from Surfing the Tao

Immanentize the Eschaton 2007-05-14 01:13:46 A concept created by political philosopher Eric Voegelin, ?Immanentize the Eschaton? has become for some a sort of rallying point for the cynicism of the post-modern age. Whether one believes the Powers-That-Be are conspiring to bring about the End of the World, believes fervently in a religious prophecy or other eschatology, or simply enjoys the references to The Illuminatus! Trilogy (or perhaps even William F. Buckley, who popularized the phrase); one must admit, it does have its relevance nowadays. Voegelin used the term in reference to what he saw as a Gnostic influence on modern politics. He recognized various political movements, particularly communism and Nazism, were set forth by an elite group of people who believed they possessed special, secret knowledge and even attempted to ?create heaven on earth? ? or immanent-ize the eschaton. A grab for power based on totalitarianism and social alienation, as he saw it. From the back cover of my book, ?A secretive and selfish elit ...

Fractal Consciousness 2007-05-10 05:02:39 I love fractals. They were a revelation to me when I first learned about them, as I imagine it was for science to learn there really are patterns in nature. ?Mandelbrot?s reality has shapes undreamed of by Euclid, and surprises that ridicule the idea of order?clouds, coastlines, tree branches, commodity prices, word frequencies, turbulence in fluids, stars in the sky, a reputation, fame, the passage of history itself? - all are fractal shapes.? (Morrow, Lance. ESSAY: Let Us Recuse Ourselves Awhile. (Time, 03-05-1990), p. 72.) In my book I suggest awareness of fractals might help spark the consciousness necessary to create a world outside of what are now considered to be our boundaries. Some researchers believe ancient civilizations were processing fractals long ago, evidence of which is found in ancient carvings and artwork. I always thought the Mandelbrot fractal resembled a sitting Buddha on its side. I believe fractals may be a much larger part of our subconscious than we r ...

Organic Bees 2007-05-07 23:12:21 I want to pass on the latest on the bees. An excellent series of articles are making their way around the Internet with another point of view on the Colony Collapse Disorder phenomenon. Sharon Labchuk is an organic beekeeper (and longtime environmental activist) from Canada who has given us all a heads up as to what is really going on with those commercial beekeepers, such as spraying pesticides and forcing them into unnatural sized combs, comparing it to the beef industry. She notes none of the organic beekeepers are reporting losses. Please Lord, not the bees is a great overview of the debate. ...

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder in Hawaii 2007-04-27 05:54:31 In the past week I?ve received several links from friends about the missing bees. The media continues to report on current research into the cause of the disappearance of bees from their hives around the world. Taiwan just announced the loss of over 10 million bees. The other day The New York Times reviewed various theories. One involves radiation from cell phone towers, and rumors abound as one might expect; people are blaming everything from terrorism to a ?bee rapture?. (BTW, did you know the military is testing the use of bees for sniffing out bombs?) Yesterday a press release from the Army announced several pathogens had been found to be potential culprits. Some have found evidence of a fungus; in Hawaii, the news is centering on a harmful mite, and bee colonies are now quarantined to prevent its spread. More information on current research can be found here. What?s interesting is that while most of these articles claim Colony Collapse Disorder is yet to be found in Hawa ...

?His Eye Is on the Sparrow? 2007-04-26 21:26:24 From ?The Measure of a Man: a spiritual autobiography? by Sidney Poitier, ?I simply believe that there?s a very organic, immeasurable consciousness of which we?re a part. I believe that this consciousness is a force so powerful that I?m incapable of comprehending its power through the puny instrument of my human mind. And yet I believe that this consciousness is so unimaginably calibrated in its sensitivity that not one leaf falls in the deepest of forests on the darkest of nights unnoticed.? pp.196-197 ?The grand consciousness I perceive allows me great breadth and scope of choices, none of which are correct or incorrect except on the basis of my own perception. This means that the responsibility for me rests with me.? p.197 ?The whole process of survival tells us that there?s a morality to [these] natural rhythms, and that this morality is woven into the fabric of nature. For humanity, part of that fabric is the higher consciousness I was speaking of earlier. I feel that to asp ...

Welcome to Surfing the Tao 2007-04-16 20:29:33 …and my new WordPress site here, with the intention of making it “Surfing the Tao” central.  There’s a huge learning curve for me, but I’m working hard.  Please feel free to link here or subscribe to my feed.  If you are looking for my old links page (especially if you had a reciprocal link), hang tight; I’m working on getting it up again in a new format. ...

A Closer Look at the 2012 Phenomenon 2007-04-12 15:34:00 Aloha all, here is a link to my interview with Occult of Personality. ...

Hawaiian Bees are Missing Too 2007-04-10 21:55:21 Regarding my post yesterday on our neighborhood bees, I just spoke with my neighbor and got an update.   Although the beehive in their yard is still buzzing away (behaving strangely, though, he said they are circling in unusual ways for some reason), they have 60 other hives up north on the island, and are confused as to why 20 of them are suddenly gone, just in the past couple of months.  Nothing?s left, he said, no queen, nothing; just the cockroaches.  He didn?t actually realize it was happening all over the world and I think he was a little stunned.  He promises to talk to other island beekeepers to see if it?s happening to anyone else.  Scary.   ...

Missing the Bees 2007-04-09 22:14:00 I live in Hawaii in a relatively rural place so we are used to seeing things like wild turkeys wandering around our neighborhood.  Yesterday a wild goat scampered across the street in front of my car to join its family on the other side.  The Big Island has wild pigs, cattle, goats, horses, mongoose, parrots and even donkeys.  (Not to digress, but Hawaii even has its own Bigfoot myths ? two of my family members have personal stories about that.)  In suburban neighborhoods it?s not unusual for people to keep chickens or goats; the best eggs I ever had were from a friend?s backyard.  In fact the people across the street from us keep a goat as a lawnmower and have a beehive.  They?ve given us some honey before; it?s wonderful.  I used to have a patch of mint that flowered and the bees just took over my garden.  One time a few months ago they swarmed, coming right up our driveway next to our porch.  We all ran inside, including the dogs, at a loss as to what might have upset them. In the ...

Blogging 2007-04-05 16:57:29 A little off the subject for me today, but my brain is full of RSS feeds and tagging and widgets.  Blogging is a rapidly growing and changing world!  At least for my generation ? hey, I grew up with Pong, I have a lot to learn!  As a self-published author I?ve done most of my marketing online so I?m constantly searching for more places to put my stuff.  Thanks to my smart and wonderful stepdaughters, I?ve entered the world of blogging and social networking sites.  It?s been a great way to keep myself involved in the topics that interest me, and to find other like-minded people.  Here?s to all the people that work hard coming up with new gadgets, designs and ideas.  I look forward to more.   However this rapid advancement can also mean that you can do something on one site that you can?t do yet on another.  Frustration at Blogger led me to Wordpress and I?m happy to find some things are easier there; on the other hand, since I?m not into CSS yet (hey, I can find HTML code now and know w ... Blogging