Universal Ramblings

Meditation = Brain Sit Ups

2008-10-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read that meditation can increase your brain size. At first I thought that was amazing, and that if you meditated every day, your brain might get thicker and heavier, causing you to become brilliant. But when I read the full article, it turns out that meditation only enhances a small portion of the brain.

It’s like doing an exercise and focusing on one particular muscle. In the brain, the location where meditation mainly occurs will over time accumulate more cells, and become thicker (barely, but that is still significant). However, the benefit is pretty much contained therein.

The results aren’t to be written off entirely. I was pleased to read that the simple form of meditation that was practiced by monks could be used by anyone to enhance a certain aspect of their lives, as well as the brains.

It’s called insight meditation. Apparently, you lie down and close your eyes, and think of nothing, while focusing your attention on sensory input -- “whatever’s there.” So if you feel some tension in your neck, you focus on that. If you feel an odd tingling in your side, you focus on that. If you don’t experience any sensory input, you simply focus on your breathing.

This technique relies on areas in the brain responsible for focus, attention, and memory. Monks that been doing this for years have a great deal of skill built up in that area. An average person who has been doing this for a little while typically seems to report greater ease handling complicated situations that might have seemed overwhelming before. So maybe if you practice insight meditation, you’ll be able to keep focused on an urgent task, even when all hell breaks loose around you. Pretty cool.

Immortality And Relationships

2008-10-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Today I wondered about what it would be like to live forever, and not be tied down by sterility. In the Highlander movie saga, our heroes usually couldn’t bear children. I realized that this makes a lot of sense. If you still have the urge to reproduce, and are fertile, you run the risk of dating your great, great, great grandchild in a few hundred years. That did not appeal to me.

Then I realized that’s where marriage comes In. If you can find a suitable partner who happens to be a mortal, marry them and make sure your relationship lasts forever, in fact as long as you both shall live. Even if that’s 100,000 years.

That way, if you produce offspring, you don’t necessarily need to keep track of bloodlines in order to avoid the risk of unwanted intermingling.

The show New Amsterdam was in my thoughts when I contemplated this issue, because the protagonist had obviously sired more than one child. So who’s to say he doesn’t have great grand children running around? It could become a very complicated situation if an immortal had many, many children. At least marriage offers a sort of solution.

And then, for those of us who die, what happens if in a thousand years you meet a soul in the afterlife who you find to be attractive? What if the soul is that of your deceased great, great (etc.) grandchild? I guess the rules are different for souls. Maybe there’s a sort of fusion that happens there, a combination of souls, as opposed to a creation of “offspring” souls. That seems to make more sense to me, although I’ll bet it’s far more complex.

UFOs vs Abductions

2008-09-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Stories about UFOs and abductions seem to differ depending on what category they are in. If you see a UFO, maybe you see brilliant technology, and it leaves you alone. If you get abducted, maybe you see weird shenanigans, and it bothers you tremendously. I know that the mere idea of being taken aboard a ship and abused is frustrating.

But the idea of being able to harness advanced technology for the betterment of mankind seems pretty cool. What if Microsoft were to capture a downed, unmanned ufo, and reverse-engineer the tech there? Or, if you think Microsoft would use it to their own ends, what if some sort of philanthropic project got the tech instead?

I guess what I'm saying is I'd rather think about the good that might come from contact with ufos.

The Voyage of Life Series by Thomas Cole

2008-09-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

I recently saw Thomas Cole's "Voyage of Life" painting series. It includes four paintings depicting a man's life.

In the first one, he arrives in a boat as a baby, with an angel steering the boat toward a pleasant place.

In the second one, the man is a child, steering the boat himself toward a ghostly castle in the sky, while the angel watches from shore.

In the third one, the man is an adult, praying for help while the boat steers itself through a dark and dangerous course. There appear to be dark faces above, in the clouds.

In the fourth and final one, the man is elderly, and the angel guides him toward Heaven.

According to Wikipedia, the paintings represent life and earthly ambition, and not so much otherworldly existence. The castle in the sky is the boy's dream of success and a better world, and the faces in the clouds during adulthood simply represent bad weather.

But my first take on it was a little different. I saw the ghostly castle as being the boy's vision of heaven. Children are thought to be more connected with heaven than adults. So I figured when the guy became an adult, and the view of the sky become mean faces instead of a cool castle, that meant that he was bound mentally and spiritually to earthly things, and manipulated by demonic forces.

Either way, whether the castle represents pure ambition, or the palace of God, it still looked pretty cool.

Looking at the adulthood picture again, maybe there's only one face in the clouds -- a creature blowing a gust of wind toward the man.

Galactic Federation of Light

2008-08-25T11:04:00.001-07:00

I read a little bit about the Galactic Federation of Light (GFL) recently. One version of the story of the GFL is that it is a race like humanity, but with highly evolved people who glow, and are powerful. This race may have altered ape DNA to make humans. This functions as an explanation for our evolutionary missing link.

If glowing human-like aliens exist, they could be an explanation for angels. There might even be an explanation for Jesus that doesn't rely on pure faith.

One of the GFL theories is that they'll be visiting the earth soon. Maybe in a large spaceship. That could explain parts of the Bible in which people will one day look up and see the kingdom of Heaven made manifest in the sky.

It's interesting to consider a highly advanced race that dwarfs us by comparison, especially when we're living in a pretty advanced age ourselves. In just a few decades, even without overt alien influence, we'll have made some pretty impressive strides.

On The Verge Of The Truth, Thanks To The iPhone

2008-08-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

...And devices like it.

If human eyes can see aliens and ghosts, then shouldn't camera footage be able to capture them too? I think so.

Sure, one might argue that the human brain is capable of perceiving much more than just light with our eyes, but I think that just light is enough.

How long will it be until a sighting of some creature will be captured via cell phone, hand-held camcorder, digital device, or whatever?

Post it to YouTube, get a few million hits, and BAM! Mass hysteria!!

People have been trying to share the truth (I'm assuming not all of those videos are hoaxes) for some time, and there hasn't been mass panic yet. Maybe the government/corporations/corporate government has to give the media permission first, and then Fox News will air its Extreme Alien Close-Up report -- tonight at 11!

Which People Know The Truth?

2008-07-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

I saw a story posted in a forum about the apparent 6th astronaut to come forward and speak openly about the existence of aliens. He says they are real, and the government has been keeping a tight lid on the issue for 60+ years.

I wonder how high a normal person would have to rise through the military or government ranks before he or she could confirm (to himself or herself alone) that piece of information.

I would imagine that the higher you rose, the more of the picture would be made clear. But no matter what level you were at, there would probably always remain dark areas that you didn't really have a clue about. Like you might know there's a ship that crashed from space, but you don't know what kind of technology was found or salvaged, or whether the ship's pilots or inhabitants were found.

It would be pretty lame if the reason we're being kept in the dark is because if we all knew the truth, we'd no longer see the point in living.

Free Energy Suppression

2008-07-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Could it be true that someone somewhere, or maybe many people in many places, have developed technology that produces clean, inexpensive, boundless energy? Could it be true that this technology exists, but is being systematically hidden by one or more governments?

Does Cold Fusion work? Has a hydrogen fuel cell been viable for decades? In the Nevada Desert, are free energy systems used to power interstellar aircraft?

Could anyone discover this technology? Would that person soon die of an aneurysm? A man-made aneurysm?

2012 Disaster -- Man-Made?

2008-06-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

And intended to coincide with 2012?

According to the Bible, no man shall know when God's kingdom will unfold on earth. Not even Jesus knew.

I just recently saw an ad for a book that claims that December 21, 2012 won't be the end of the world, but could instead be time when Jesus returns.

It seems to make sense that God would prevent the world from ending by sending Jesus to set things right.

So what if there are people fighting to ensure that the world does end?

Aging, Immortality, and Evil

2008-06-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've usually thought of aging as an evolutionary step which provides younger offspring a better shot at limited resources by killing off the older generation.

Since our technology allows us to harvest resources in mass quantities now, what's the point of growing old?

So many atheists argue that there is nothing after death, and there is no evidence of an afterlife. So why not use science to make humans functionally immortal in the physical plane?

But what if... What if as we grow older, the means of getting away with wrongdoings become simpler and simpler? Experience builds, while physical potential decays. So what if giving a man the fountain of youth would simply enable him to misbehave?

I was wondering why it seems that the rowdiness of youth seems to dissipate as we grow older. What if eternal youth means eternal rowdiness, eternal sin, and eternal idiocy?

A comforting counter-argument hinges on the idea that the older you become, the more naturally spiritual you become (as well as kind and cooperative). Subtle lessons regarding how to tap into a higher plan or another realm are learned over years, so what if instead of ensuring infinite stupidity, immortality allows humans to reach bold new spiritual peaks?

Mankind To Be "Uplifted" In 2012?

2008-06-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

I've recently read about uplifting, whereby a highly advanced race of beings alters a lower creature to bring it into a higher state of evolution. So if you could give a dog the ability to think, to reason, to do the "I am" thing, then you'd be uplifting it.

There are stories of Gods visiting man, and I remember reading about an old guy with an elongated skull, leading a Mayan community. Could he be from an advanced race, sent here to uplift us in a technological sense? What if the 2012 date is his return? Or that of his race?

Will "higher" beings come to earth in December of 2012 and alter us? Bring us to a higher level of awareness? Of evolution?

It seems that we are approaching the point where we could uplift ourselves using our own technology. Perhaps a "higher" race wants us to "get it right" the first time, and skip all the trial and error that we'd inevitably experience before achieving a truly great form of uplifted humanity.

Man-Made Fountain Of Youth

2008-05-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

With nanotechnology, we could make tiny robots that repair our bodies on a cellular level, healing wounds, reversing damage, and making us younger.

We could infuse these nanobots into water.

Then create a well-spring that constantly replenishes itself.

Then forget how it works over the course of a few hundred years.

Is this what happened? Or maybe we wouldn't forget.

Maybe aliens or pre-humans developed this, and left it. Then news traveled around humanity, and people set out to find it.

What if we don't need to find it? Maybe we can create it.

Must We Enhance Ourselves?

2008-05-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Will technology become so all-pervasive and powerful that an ordinary, intelligent human being won't be able to keep up?

Are we going to have to breed ourselves stronger and smarter just to get by? Just to survive?

Or could we allow normal reproduction to continue, and then once a person reaches adult age, give them a few options? Like genetic enhancements, or technological implants?

I read somewhere that by 2050, if we're not "jacked in" somehow, like with a brain chip implant, we won't be able to comprehend the changes taking place around us.

Return Of Jesus: In What Form?

2008-04-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Will Jesus come back as a baby who grows up to be the hero most people are familiar with?

Or will he return to humanity in spirit form, as an adult, who can shift in and out of phase at will?

Or is there someone already living, a normal human, that Jesus will spiritually merge with in order to direct the course of history? This seems similar to the idea that the Antichrist would possess the body of an already living human slave.

Or could it be that Jesus has put himself into a state of amnesia, and already walks among us, but needs some event or occurrence to trigger his "waking up?"

Ghosts And Possible Explanations

2008-04-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

The other day I was looking at some interesting pictures on the internet. No, no, they weren't dirty. They were supposed to be of ghostly apparitions.

One was of a couple of people taking their picture for Halloween. Right behind one kid was this 9 foot tall tarp or cloth. It looked like it was just hanging there, draped over something. At the very top it looked like you could see half of a guy's angry yelling face, and the other half had faded away. The story goes that the woman living in the house noticed the power go out one day. Then she heard her youngest son banging on the cellar door, which she had locked. She opened it and asked him why he went down there. He said he'd wanted to speak to the tall man with the stick.

So they moved.

What if there really was a man in that house? What was he doing? Was he monitoring the family? Was he wearing stilts, and in costume for a parade? Was he walking down the street, waving and smiling, when all of a sudden he finds himself in some sort of vortex, severely disoriented, and then in a sort of hologram house? With a hologram woman and hologram kid? Maybe he thinks they're the ghosts.

Or what if aliens have some sort of cloaking technology where you can phase yourself into a different plane of reality and move about undetected (for the most part)?

Pope's Visit To US A Sign?

2008-04-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Of the coming doom?

I've read that the Pope's visit is something new...

Could it be a part of some larger plan that has to do with the next (and possibly final) Pope, the Antichrist, and Armageddon?

What if the Pope changes his name and hides among Americans, and they say, "Pope ran away. Let's get someone new to be the next Pope."

And then Peter the Roman watches as the world goes nuts...

Boom, Bust, War Cycle (20's to 40's, and now)

2008-04-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

The Roaring Twenties were so great, everybody thought the economy would be fantastic forever. So people were borrowing on margin left and right.

Good times led to loose planning.

Then the Great Depression began.

Then WWII.

Did the U.S. government lack the resources to avert the war? Maybe if there had been no Depression, we could have prevented it? And if that's the case, then the Roarin' Twenties could be to blame.

In the 1990's, computers made things seem fantastic. Everything was going great. Dot Com millionaires were being born every day. We thought it would last forever...

Then Y2K and millennial fears coupled with our over-estimated stock prices, and the bubble burst.

Then 9/11 happened.

We seemed to be recovering, but people were taking out loans and buying homes they couldn't afford.

The banks started foreclosing, losing money, and a cascade effect began...

Could the good times of the '90's be leading toward another Great Depression that predates the Third World War?

And since we're living in the Information Age, will the cycle repeat itself more rapidly this time around?

Are We The UFOs?

2008-03-31T21:16:00.000-07:00

What if the aliens that do exist, if they're out there, have never visited earth, and don't plan on it either? What if all the UFO sightings have been the result of secret military aircraft tests?

I heard someone once say that Area 51 has technology 50 years beyond our ability to comprehend it. Like real Star Wars spaceship type stuff.

Could the UFO sighting of today end up being the most popular form of transportation tomorrow? Could the cigar-shaped craft end up being used in the next form of commercial aviation?

Can We Achieve The Jesus State?

2008-03-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Can what Jesus did be done again through biology? If someone went in for a brain tune-up, could a scientist manipulate the person's brain in such a way that new cells and new areas begin to grow and organize? Does this new brainpower lend itself to useful new abilities?

Like healing yourself and others?

Like walking on water?

Or are these abilities instead solely a product of spirituality?

Is the next stage in human evolution for us all to gain healing abilities? Or at least, generations in the future?

2012, Pope, Antichrist Are All Significant

2008-03-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting that there are definite coincidences regarding 2012 that need to be addressed.

First, December 21, 2012 - Date Mayan Calendar Ends

December 21, 2012 - Terrence McKenna's Novelty Theory - hits Zero

Prophecy of the Popes - Next Pope sees the end of the world

U.S. Elections - Could the 2008/2012 President be the Antichrist?

Who Was John Titor?

2008-03-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Was he a legitimate time traveler from the future?

Was he a visitor from the future of a parallel earth?

Was he a visitor from a doppelganger earth?

Was he a government agent trying to manipulate the online community?

Was he an aging computer specialist looking for a thrill?

Since his predictions as of two months ago have all been proven incorrect, it seems likely that he was a resident of the present-day, and not a time traveler. So why did he write those things?

Was it just one person, or a group?

If it was a group of people, did they know each other and plan ahead?

Or did one person create an identity that others assumed?

To what end were the John Titor writings posted publicly? Was a disgruntled screenwriter trying to stir up a reaction for his rejected screenplay?

Was an aging loner looking for attention?

Were a handful of whiz kids testing their persuasive powers?

One World Government Is Good?

2008-03-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

When hearing about a One World Order, the idea is usually connected with bad things like the End of the World or the Rapture. What if there's a way we can achieve a single unified worldwide government, without any ill consequences whatsoever?

If we're already going down that path, will the stories and our fears be the only reason for conflict to erupt? Will we destroy ourselves out of fear of being destroyed?

So maybe it's a good thing... A One World Order...

But what if that argument, that whole, "There's nothing to these End of the World threats, it's all fake, but the benefits to be had are real," is really part of the mindset that will soon sweep through humanity and pave the way for the rise of the AntiChrist?

Could Synthetic Bodies Make Humans Immortal?

2008-02-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

If a human brain were to be hooked up to a synthetic body, how many years could that person last? Even if they kept up with upgrades and replacement parts for their new physique, is there a limit to how long the human brain can function normally? Even if all brain diseases are cured, would the mind eventually break down?

I've read that we get old because of limitations in our cellular makeup. Basically, the DNA or something can only divide so many times before it doesn't have the ability to copy itself any longer. That happens for many different types of cells, and eventually the groups of cells that have stopped replenishing themselves have bigger and bigger problems. This contributes to aging.

Cancer cells can divide indefinitely. Can cells of the brain divide at all?

Antichrist: Here Already? Or Waiting To Take Shape?

2008-02-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

What if one of our Presidential candidates is currently already the AntiChrist? What if all the speculation about who's going to win is pointless, because the AC will win no matter what?

Or, what if the speculation is not pointless at all, because the AC isn't here yet, and is waiting to see how it all turns out? What if the AC will possess the body of whoever wins the election?

Or, what if the AC is really Artificial Intelligence set to evolve into existence before 2012?

Or, what if the AC is the collective will of humanity's dark side, which will manifest in material form, or perhaps remotely color the decisions of our next President?

Or, what if the AC is totally separate from the Prez, and is someone else?

Are Metaphysical Mysteries Pointless?

2008-02-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

What if 90% of all metaphysical speculation is pointless? What if none of that 90% is real, and is just eating up time and resources? What if all the stories of gods and alien visitors are just that -- stories? What if there are no Higher Selves guiding us along a clear-cut path? What if there are no interdimensional travelers in complex spaceships? What if everything that isn't clear, or capable of becoming clear, is meaningless?

What if instead, this stuff is real, but all of our speculation still serves no purpose? What if in order for something to matter, to be of use, it must be fully quantified? Sure, speculation leads to testing which leads to fact, but what if instilling faith is really a way to enforce ignorance?