Walking back to our rural home after a dog walk, I was struck by how a leafless oak tree at the edge of our yard looked against the late afternoon sky. It was a lesson in fractals, those amazing shapes that repeat at many levels.
Each twig was a reflection of each branch which was a reflection of the entire tree.
Which got me to thinking about how the small things in life are a reflection of the big things in life. To put it another way, the meaning we get from small things is the same meaning we get from big things.
Even more: arguably those big things can't exist without the small things, just as the beautiful shape of the entire oak tree wouldn't exist without each small twig and branch.
We say, "look at that tree." But tree is an abstraction, really.
A necessary abstraction, given how human language works, yet that high-level word, tree, can blind us to the reality of the many miniature "trees" that make up the twigs and branches without which the tree wouldn't be what it is.
Yesterday I wrote a post on my HinesSight blog, "Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved" is a great book.
The author, Kate Bowler, has been diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. Her book is a marvelous description of how she rebelled against the Prosperity Gospel foolishness of many of her fellow Christians, who tried to find meanings in her struggle against cancer that were both inhumane and unwanted by her.
This is one of my favorite passages in the book:
Beverly lived in the apocalyptic future, and the scholar lived in the past. I think I believed that I was living in the center, but I rarely let my feet rest on solid ground, rooting me in the present. My eyes shifted to look for that thing just beyond, the next deadline, the next hurdle, the next plan.... I would not say it was simply that I didn't stop to smell the roses. It was the sin of arrogance, of being impervious to life itself. I failed to love what was present and decided to love what was possible instead. I must learn to live in ordinary time, but I don't know how.
Below I've shared a more extensive additional passage from her book that I quoted more briefly in my previous post. Bowler's words kept rambling through my mind today. I found myself paying more attention than usual to all the small things that make up my life, as they do every life.
My day went more pleasantly as a result. I guess you could call what I did mindfulness, but it was mindfulness absent a purpose. Meaning, I wasn't trying to generate more meaning in my life by attending to the innumerable little things I did today: spooning coffee into a filter, brushing my teeth, making a (large) pancake for breakfast, picking up our dog's poop at a park, etc. etc.
Adding up all of these little things produced a meaningful big thing -- my day. In fact, there really is no such thing as my day. That's an abstraction I use as shorthand for all of those real concrete little things.
Here's the quote from Bowler's book:
This is the problem, I suppose, with formulas. They are generic. But there is nothing generic about a human life.
When I was little, to get to my bus stop, I had to cross a field that had so much snow my parents fitted me with ski pants and knee-high thermal boots that were toasty to forty degrees below zero. I am excellent in the stern of a canoe, but I never got the hang of riding a bike with no hands. I have seen the northern lights because my parents always woke up the whole house when the night sky was painted with color. I love the smell of clover and chamomile because my sister and I used to pick both on the way home from swimming lessons. I spent weeks of my childhood riding around on my bike saving drowning worms after a heavy rain. My hair is my favorite feature even though it's too heavy for most ponytails and I still can't parallel park.
There is no life in general. Each day has been a collection of trivial details -- little intimacies and jokes and screw-ups and realizations. My problems can't be solved by those formulas -- those cliches -- when my life was never generic to begin with.
God may be universal but I am not. I am Toban's wife and Zach's mom and Karen and Gerry's daughter. I am here now, bolted in time and place, to the busy sounds of a blonde boy in dinosaur pajamas crashing into every piece of furniture.
Even smaller thing vibrating in every electron of universe is Unified field / Shabd. Make no mistake , that is the fundamental reality behind all realities.
Posted by: vinny | February 12, 2018 at 04:20 AM
"God may be universal but I am not."
God is personal and universal. If you can look at the stars, if you can see your life as an observer, then you are stepping towards the universal.
"I am Toban's wife and Zach's mom and Karen and Gerry's daughter."
These are roles you play. They change. Cling to them as long as you can, but they change. They aren't actually who you are. They are just roles you are playing for a time. "I am Toban's wife." No, sorry. You are a person separate and free of all labels and identities. Yes, in this sense you are also God.
"I am here now, bolted in time and place, to the busy sounds of a blonde boy in dinosaur pajamas crashing into every piece of furniture."
That object of your joy and attention is fleeting, however wonderful. You are in the dreams and hopes of that boy's future. Your care is all relative. And your values change around those things.
But you are more than that.
If not, you could not even depict yourself with such labels.
You are more.
And Now is not just events in a context that is actually retrospective. Now is all that as a whole.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | February 12, 2018 at 10:58 AM
Scientists began to study the brain activity of people who were deeply in love via functional MRI - while the subjects viewed pictures of their partners, kids compared to viewing friends or kids of similar age and sex - publishing the first major work on the subject in 2000.
Belief in a universal or personal God that is an abstract concept is the choice and experience of some followers of spiritual path. It replaces fear of death, with beliefs that there is no death and that this reality is but a dream with a prologue and an epilogue. That is the right path for some people that have convinced themselves and feel at peace about it.
Some of us have a hard time to detaching ourselves from the reality of daily life events. It is difficult to believe in illusions and experiences which part of the brain believes them to be reality and rewarding survival behaviors.
Apparently, the author, Kate Bowler having been diagnosed with a terminal disease is looking at reality in time and place. The thought or emotion of not being around the people that you are attached the most, is very appealing to the brain and mind if you decide to look at reality as It is.
So far we can say with near certainty that believing in experiences outside the brain is faith. Sensing that something is more then coincidence is also an expression of faith.
For some of us Spiritual hope based on false science is Suffering.
Posted by: Anita | February 13, 2018 at 05:12 PM
Hi Anita
You wrote
"So far we can say with near certainty that believing in experiences outside the brain is faith. Sensing that something is more then coincidence is also an expression of faith."
Faith might have a little different definition for different people.
It's not important to believe in anything you can't experience
But to understand how magnificent that you are alive, and that you can actually have an idea, a wonderful thought, an inspiration. That you can easily walk into a room and transform that reality just by presenting an idea no one thought of before, but now understanding it, nothing is the same anymore for anyone listening.
And that you can learn something new, an innovation.
We are largely constructions of our own creation, our identifies. These bodies are a fine vehicle for that, but we are much more than that.
If isn't for faith or spirit. It is about the magnificence of what it means to be human.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | February 13, 2018 at 05:31 PM
Some of us have a hard time to detaching ourselves from the reality of daily life events. It is difficult to believe in illusions and experiences which part of the brain believes them to be reality and rewarding survival behaviors.
Every time we awaken and recall a dream, we have no trouble detaching
ourself. It was a dream, that's all. For some interval of time it was our
reality...the only one we knew. But, awake,`we nod our head sagely and
dismiss it as a chimera. A survival tactic. Ambient brain activity during rest.
Some residue of the brain's sub-conscious.
Dreams, even some intuitive thoughts, can seem nonsensical, bizarre,
useless jumbles. Yet others are uncannily perceptive, revealing, even
prophetic. What's experienced inside, whether dreams, faith, deep
seated belief, can't really be pigeonholed "illusion" so facilely.
On the other hand, the non-dream world our senses perceive is rife
with it. That is until we "wake up" and see it for what it was. Why
don't we see the truth. It seems so real, so solid. And others are
supportive too. They see and hear the same thing. So we shake our
heads and try to snap out of it. We cling to the "reality" we know.
Posted by: Dungeness | February 14, 2018 at 12:33 AM
Why does the subconscious mind create dreams that are narratives, that go on and reveal plots as the dream goes on? It is a very unusual thing. What possible reason could there be for this? It isn't a conscious activity but something the brain just conjures up.
Posted by: D.r | February 14, 2018 at 01:17 AM
Really enjoyed your post Brian, the following quote talks about a ‘pattern match’ which fits in well with ‘fractals’.
Where does intuition come from?
Under stress, the brain is gathering and processing many facts, much of which is happening outside of awareness. These facts, formed into patterns, are then sent into high brain processing areas and compared to past experiences. When you get that “gut feeling” you are benefiting from intuition – a pattern match.
——————
10 Things Highly Intuitive People Do Differently
They listen to that inner voice.
They take time for solitude.
They create.
They practice mindfulness.
They observe everything.
They listen to their bodies.
They connect deeply with others.
They pay attention to their dreams.
They enjoy plenty of down time.
They mindfully let go of negative emotions.
Posted by: Jen | February 14, 2018 at 03:07 PM
Quote D.r : “Why does the subconscious mind create dreams that are narratives, that go on and reveal plots as the dream goes on? … What possible reason could there be for this?”
That’s a fascinating question!
I’ve just now spoken out somewhat freely about your fanaticism, D.r, in that other thread. But that was there, and this is here. You often say some interesting and even incisive things, and if despite my strong views on your fanaticism you wouldn’t mind engaging with me when it comes to other subjects, then I’d like to speak about this interesting observation of yours.
Here’s how I myself think this dreaming business might work : I think sleep helps our brain recuperate, and this R&R for our brains is essential to long-term health. But for early humans (and to an extent even for us now), sleep has clear negatives in the short term. Early humans were always looking over their shoulder for predators and other dangers (as well as for food), and surely lying down to sleep might have, in those days, have appeared not just negative but positively dangerous in the short term. So how do we get these creatures, always hard-wired to keep their brains ticking, to rest, to sleep? Answer : Dreams! That is how I think dreams may have evolved. I think that is “why” our model-building brains have evolved to build up these lovely narratives for us when we’re asleep. They’re basically lullabies to help us asleep.
On the other hand, really deep sleep is dreamless. (At least that is how it appears to us. Is it actually dreamless? I don’t know!) Given that really deep sleep can be dreamless, perhaps dreams don’t really serve any purpose at all? Perhaps they’re simply our brains continuing with some amount of somewhat wild ‘model-building’, without any real evolutionary benefits at all? Might that be how it is? … No, I have to say, that doesn’t sound very reasonable!
(And of course, I keep saying “humans”, but no reason why all of this shouldn’t apply to any and every species that has a brain.)
.
Of course, all of that was wholly unsupported and somewhat wild speculation on my part! No more than wild guesses. I think this is a very interesting subject, and if there’s anyone here who does actually know something about this, about what actual research has to say about dreams -- perhaps Brian himself, with his prodigious reading, or perhaps some other commenter here who’s happened to have read about the ‘how’ and ‘why’of dreams -- then it would be great if you could tell us something about this.
Posted by: Appreciative Reader | February 19, 2018 at 07:17 AM
I don't believe in evolution theory so I don't find your answers very persuasive, to be honest. (Evolution is a whole other debate...) Though I can see how the evolutionary explanation makes some sense.
Another take might be that dreams are like a metaphor with relation to conscious waking life in that consciousness can be considered dream like in every state of mind, from awake, to asleep to deep sleep to superconsciousness. "Life is but a dream". Or dream in Hindu philosophy as one interpretation of maya, illusion. Objective experience and subjective experience can and are mixed to a certain extent. So let's imagine what an afterlife would possibly be like - it would occur in your consciousness still, and if there are other beings or persons in this afterlife, they would be occurring in your subjective consciousness but have autonomy and hence objectivity in that afterlife realm also. Sometimes in dreams you meet characters that seem to have autonomy and don't go along with your own wishes, which suggests a form of objectivity despite the fact it is all happening inside your own brain. Perhaps this is partly what Freud meant by dreams being wish fulfilments. A better word to describe it, in my opinion, is desire. Hidden desires might turn up in dream imagery as psychic antagonists to your will, just like suppression of desires can lead to dreaming of certain desires or wants you have.
I studied Freud and Jung over the years and it seems I missed these vital insights about wish fulfilment as being like desire. As far as my preference, Jung is more in line with the way I view things than Freud. I mean, it is well known that Freud fainted 2 times in the presence of Jung when the latter started to speak about the paranormal and certain paranormal events transpired in his presence.
I am amused at the way the paranormal is classified as "abnormal psychology" in specialist psychology textbooks but in mainstream textbooks all you see are mad people and no paranormal phenomena. It's rather like the theory of evolution taught at school - lots of speculation, no real facts.
Posted by: D.r | February 20, 2018 at 09:12 AM