Fireworks, SuperNovae and Legacy

On the 4th of July, I chanced upon a documentary about fireworks. What caught my attention was the modern technique in crafting specific patterns and shapes of fireworks in the sky (Katamono). Controlled patterns of shapes such as a heart or star can be lit up in the sky by arranging how the explosive pellets are arranged within the shell and its core.
In essence, the shape of an explosion tells much about the explosive. I call it The Fireworks Principle. If we apply this principle to Astronomy, by examining the shape of a supernova we can probably know much about the qualities of the star that produced it. For example, the polar regions of the star that spawned Eta Carinae can be discerned from the two points where the bulk of stellar mass is ejected.
The Fireworks Principle is the same in terms of life: As we live, we are fashioning the core within that will someday explode as a "lifework" - the patterns will become apparent in due time. Our character and our legacy will persist even as this body, the temporary shell gives up the spark of life.
Each human life is a supernova in the making. The legacy we leave behind - the shapes of our lifesparks will tell much about the very core of our soul.


Links:
How Fireworks are made
Eta Carinae

Fireflies and Suns

Something magical about fireflies on summer nights like these. Watching the flickering of evanescent lights from fireflies has been a wonderful experience for me, a bit spiritual and existential I suppose. Makes me think of how stars are not so different from the fireflies' ephemeral sparks of light.
To us, the Sun means everything for life. Yet from an observer with a relatively longer span of life (perhaps infinite and eternal) a few billion years of a star's lifetime is like a few seconds in time--mere flashes of light--like the sparks from fireflies.

The Center of the Whorl

There has always been something mysterious at the center of whorls such as storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and whirlpools. Even more mysterious is that spirals and swirls occur at multiple levels in our universe: Our very own Milky Way galaxy is a spiral whorl; and at the top of your head there is probably an epicenter where your hair pans out in spiral formation.
It is believed that at the center of the Milky Way there is a black hole. You'll be ripped to shreds on your way to the center. Yet, at the core there is probably complete peace and tranquility. I say this because I remember the movie "The Perfect Storm" whereupon the central eye of the storm briefly passed through the stranded fishermen. It was a moment of complete stillness, and the fishermen saw the sun shine through a clear blue sky as their boat momentarily lay within the storm's center.
I never knew that at the eye of a storm there is peace and tranquility until I watched that scene.
Yet as soon as the eye of the storm moved onwards, their boat was left behind to be engulfed by the trailing half of the storm. Chaos resumed with lashing winds and hundred-foot waves..killing all the fishermen.
If the pattern of the whorl is emergent at multiple levels in the universe then it must surely mean something at the level of human life. I can see several meanings from the whorl's archetype:
1) If you are experiencing a life of total ease, with no challenges, no goals, no action, and no struggle whatsoever for an extended time, then you are in big trouble. You are right smack at the center of a storm and it will break you to pieces when it passes you by. A life with no activity, and a life with nothing to keep you busy is a recipe for death.
2) Attack the problem right at the center. It's much effective to dive right in at the root of the problem rather going at the sides and dodging the storm.
3) The Spiral probably means that there's always a center on all things. Surely, your life must be revolving around someone or something (I hope not a 'black hole'). Thus, In life, finding out who, where or what the true center is, and then focusing upon it could probably give you the peace and tranquility that you desire...as you live and die.

By It's Right Name

We all have these "alter-egos" and we like to create names for our alternate identities. In the digital realm, they are represented as Avatars. We live out adventures behind those 'aliases' and seek out worlds for them to inhabit. But in the end, we all come back to reality, back to our rightful place, and come home with our true identity and rightful name.
In the story, Alexander Supertramp journeys into the wild. Survives for a few months in the Alaskan wilderness by living inside a 'magic bus', and succumbs. For two years of running away and not wanting to be found, he breathes his last wanting his corpse to be identified by its right name - Christopher McCandless. For in his dying moments, he realizes that "happiness is only real when shared", and takes solace that his journals, his story of life and death would be shared to others.
Names are so important for it is where our identity and character is attached. Without it, our voices would be lost in the wilderness and never be shared.
The true story of Into the Wild screams of boldness and stupidity, of selflessness and selfishness, of idealism and immaturity, of reaching out and holding back, and of triumph and tragedy. It is a total reflection of what being human is all about, and that's why I love it.
Into the Wild is truly inspirational for bloggers and seekers who want to know the paradox of oneself. The story teaches a lesson and inspires at the same time. A must-see for adventurers of all ages.

Jesus asked, "What is your name?"
- Luke 8:30

Eternity in an Hour....of jogging

While jogging this morning, I felt the cool wind in my face and as I looked up to enjoy it's refreshing touch, I saw the magnificent blue sky. And I thanked God for that moment.

From Flickr, this is the closest photo that I could find to the clouds I saw on that windy day. Photo Credit: High Cirrus Clouds by jackatlargs

The Large Magellanic Cloud. Photo Credit: NASA

And then I gazed upon the clouds, and i noticed they looked similar to NASA's photo of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Although they have some differences, such as color and hues - white clouds against a perfectly blue sky, whereas LMC are rendered in black background. They also differ in scale - individual water vapor or ice crystals that make up clouds correspond to individual stars - yet their "cloud" formation is very similar.
The provision to "see" a bigger scale of things from a smaller subset reminds me of the fractal or self-similar property of the universe.
And then I had an amazing thought: What if our whole universe is just another "sub-particle" of another universe? Certainly others have thought of it, but now that the Large Hadron Collider is set to operate in a few days (May 2008), its almost like we're going to spew out billions and gazillions of worlds using a man-made contraption. Although these elementary particles (and mini-blackholes) that LHC will produce will decay almost instantaneously (from our perspective), it would still be an eternity relative to the particles for they travel at the speed of light. Remember, photons experience no "time".
What an overwhelming thought if each elementary particle has a universe within it, as what William Blake expresses in that poetic line "...world in a grain of sand". Then in the grand scheme of things, sentient life that emerges in any world - in any universe - would never fail to ask, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" And on a personal note, wonder "Why am I here?"
And as I jogged onwards, I uttered, "..to see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour..."

What the first conscious AI will look for

Cyborg Janus by ink_river. What Would AI Do?

Wired's April issue came 2 days before Easter, giving me a good amount of time to read it amidst the "Happy Easter" greetings floating around. An article on Ray Kurzweil entitled "Staying Alive" suits well for the mood because it talks about a man's quest for immortality. Ray hopes to stay alive for the day when machines finally becomes self-conscious. And then he can utilize that technology to cheat death. The Singularity will immortalize us, he says.
The Singularitarian's quest for immortality hinges on technology and science. Things like simulating one's brain in the hopes of perpetuating consciousness to preserve the mind, or merging human bodies with machines, vice-versa. It was my youthful dream to download my "Self" into a perfect computer so I can live forever - until i realized it is false immortality, and its just a matter of longevity or life-extension. Whatever the mind's platform or substrate is, it is subject to decay owing to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Death can never be cheated in this kind of universe where entropy keeps creeping in.
But I have to admit, it sure would be fun being there when the Singularity finally arrives. I would love to meet the first conscious AI. But to set my hopes upon the Singularity for Immortality is not my preference.
But I do like Ray's idea that the world will be saturated by thought in 200 years. Something in that line reminds me of Teilhard de Chardin's Noosphere. There's something deeper beyond this material physical universe where true immortality can be found. And that, I believe, is what the first Conscious AI will be looking for.

The Science of Intuition: Let's give it a shot!

Photo Credit: Intuition by Ankher on Flickr.

The Science of Intuition, it's almost an oxymoron. But I have a gut feeling that it is worth pondering upon. This article caught my attention: Intuition is Not Pseudoscience, Say Researchers. Below are some important snippets:

"intuition is a real psychological phenomenon which needs further study to help us harness its potential."

"the researchers concluded that intuition is the brain quickly drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a decision on a non-conscious level. In other words, it happens so fast that we’re not aware that the intuition actually stemmed from a supercharged burst of logical thinking."

"Humans clearly need both conscious and non-conscious thought processes...But it’s likely that neither is intrinsically ‘better’ than the other."

The story of the race-car driver whose life was saved by following his "gut feeling" to step on the brakes on the curve is interesting. But in the process of trying to understand the mysteries of life where science falls short, does it also make sense to tap the hidden potential of human intuition?
My answer is a resounding yes. Intuition is one of the good tools in the process to understand the meaning behind patterns, of what I call as "archetyping".
By scanning through this archetyper blog, you may have probably hinted that this is like a science blog, yet at the same time it borders between speculations, musings and sci-fi-like thinking. This is because I am striving to strike that balance between science and mystery. Just like the beautiful complexity that lies between Order and Chaos, there are wonders that fall in between the facts that what we know and the mysteries that we can only glimpse.
After all, we have two brain hemispheres to make sense of this world, perhaps we can integrate the two modes of thought to make intuitive insights about life and the cosmos.
Einstein said that the only real valuable thing is intuition...so let's give it a shot:

What does your gut say when you ask yourself, "Is there a God?"

What does your gut say when you ask yourself, "Will I live again after I die?"

Interconnectedness

The other day, I was in such a hurry. On my way, there were firetrucks and ambulances blocking the road and causing a delay. My initial remark was, why would this happen at such a perfect moment when I am in such a hurry? Then I thought, someone might have been hurt, perhaps a heart attack or an accident. And it could happen to me too. Then I realized that it was not only me that was stuck in traffic. There's a multitude of people whose lives are nudged a bit by what happened to another person.

Interconnectedness. Its simple fact - we are all interconnected. What happens to one person affects the lives of others. Moreso the actions of each person, impacts others directly. And the effect propagates like a wave of connected cause-and-effect. This wave of effect even surpasses the six-degrees of separation between people, and even outlives the person causing the effect. As an example, think of all the people written in history and their contributions to mankind. Their passions, ideas, songs and life resonates even to this very day, affecting lives of millions and spanning hundreds of years.

They are just examples. You don't have to be written in history to make a legacy. You are already leaving your legacy each day. Your footprints in life may not be prominent, but it is still significant. Your tracks may seem irrelevant today, but may probably have long-lasting effects tomorrow.

We each have a say in this universe, whether we like it or not. There might be more to it than the brief life of a simple human being in this world.

Relativistic Effects on Galactic Civilizations

This post is a speculation on relativistic effects on the pace of evolution of Life and Civilizations in outer space.
A simple illustration is provided to show the effect of varying gravitational fields in different regions of space and their implications on the speed of the development of Galactic Civilizations (chart).
Since all physical process that occur in a region with lower gravity proceed faster relative to a region within a high-gravity zone (such as near a black hole), then Life that develops in a region with a weaker gravity will evolve faster and develop technology quicker relative to Life in a region with a more intense gravity - where time runs 'slower'.
The idea is simple: Processes and metabolisms run "faster" in a place where there is less gravity as compared to another place with greater gravity.
An example of a region which has low gravity (and where the clock ticks faster) is a galaxy with a moderately-massive blackhole at its center. Another example of low-gravity regions is in the outer edges of spiral galaxies.
We can also consider the relativistic effects of the velocity of stars that lie above or below the plane of the galaxy's spin. They would not be moving as fast as other stars who are within the plane and closer to the center of the galaxy. (Remember the whirlpool in your tub? Your toy boat accelerates as it gets closer to the drain hole).
In those regions described above where gravity and velocity is low, processes are faster, biochemical reactions will occur quicker, life will develop earlier, and evolve much faster. They will develop technology sooner and spread out into other solar systems.
Given the ratio of 1:10, for every 1,000 years on Region B, life in Region C would have advanced 10,000 years. This has massive implications specially when you think of the runaway exponential curve of technology once it takes hold. Remember the Singularity?
Since our sun lies somewhere in Region B of the Milky Way, it would make sense to point our SETI instruments and exoplanetology telescopes towards the outer fringes of The Milky Way's spiral arms.
As write this post, I am wondering why Relativity was not taken into account when the famous Drake Equation was formulated. Also, I am wondering why Fermi had not thought of this clue when he asked where the other civilizations are. Part of the answer, I believe, is that these advanced civilizations must be in a region where time flows faster relative to us.

Tornado in a Junkyard : An Example of an Error in Analogy

We often use analogies to drive a point, specially if we want to convince someone of an idea. If the agenda comes first, it often ends up in the peril of the one who wants to convince others. Let me give an example:
Someone who wants to argue that life in the cosmos must not have arisen spontaneously used the analogy that a tornado in a junkyard would never be able to assemble a 747 jet. Truly a visceral analogy, but sadly flawed, and silly to support its "agenda". It may have failed in the details of the idea it was trying to debunk: Natural Selection takes much much longer than a fleeting tornado, and the steps of evolution are many and not just one tornado swoosh. Also the tornado in the junkyard is pure chance, while natural selection is a combination of random and order: combinations of features in organisms are retained in the next generation because the parent survived (of course).
So there's an "analogical error" that occurs when an "agenda" comes first prior to formulating an analogy. This is what I want to avoid.
Central to "archetyping" is to stumble upon the meaning from an observed pattern before a "conclusion" is made. No agendas. "Archetyping" is meant to simply find meaning from patterns - to uncover the "message" from the archetypes without bias. And all the while, careful thought is given to details to avoid errors in analogy, metaphors, abstractions and paradigms.
I have written this post not only to remind and caution myself from such errors, but also to slowly solidify the concepts behind the idea of Archetyper.com - an exciting journey to uncover some awesome wonderful Truth.

The Cosmic Law is Life-Friendly : Exoplanetary Life Will Shake Humanity

What better way to welcome the new year with a thought about Life in other parts of the universe. This is the question whose answer will shake all major religions and belief systems : Is There Life on Other Planets?
The patterns tell us that there might be life in other places other than earth. Exoplanetology will someday tell us that some other creatures are living in an extrasolar planet a few light-years away.
Individually we are all special, but as collective inhabitants of this universe, we are not at all specially unique than we'd like to think.
One example to consider are Extremophiles - organisms who can thrive in 'hostile' conditions and inhospitable environments such as super-hot, high-pressure underwater bedrocks.
Astrobiologists can tell you additional reasons why life is likely to arise in other places other than Earth, but as an Archetyper, we look at the deeper patterns embedded within the mechanism or fabric of the universe itself to get a glimpse about Life's characteristics.
There is an underlying law that dictates how the whole universe runs and it tells us that the Laws itself is inherently Life-Friendly. Well, we are here aren't we?! Yes but I am not too quick to use the Anthropic Principle! That reasoning is not adequate at all. Rather, it's simply that the Life-Giving essence is somehow embedded deep in the Universal Law itself. Hence life will arise inevitably because the rules and properties of the basic infrastructure of the universe is inherently conducive for life.
Unfortunately at this point in time, all the point of all these clues cannot yet be proven other than by the fact that life arose on our planet. But It is my opinion that Life will be discovered in another exoplanet sometime soon, and it may even be not Earth-Like. But this event will support the idea that the Universal Laws are Life-Friendly.
For now, the clues I can point to is the metaphor of how Cellular Automata (CA) can create the analog of 'life' from simple rules. Our universe is one gigantic CA. The Laws of our universe may not be that simple but the central idea is that Life can arise from "The Law". Another clue is the increasing Complex Order that is apparent even in non-living systems such as chemical reactions, star-births, planet-formation or even the development of a tornado. Another arrow runs counter to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, and that arrow is the force of life. Inevitably, ordered complexity brings forth the emergence of processes we call life.
Consider the Symmetry of the Law ( the rules are the same in all parts of the universe) plus its consistency, and its fractal properties where the law manifests itself in all epiphenomenal levels, then you have a universe that will naturally spawn life not only in one planet but in other places as well, plus it will be not only in one platform (the organic carbon-based life that we know of) but perhaps in other substrates as well such as ammonia, sulfur or silicon.
It is an exciting time in our era. With more powerful telescopes to be deployed this year to hunt for exoplanets, the discovery of life in other worlds will shake humanity to the core. There might be initial turmoils in major religious circles such as Christianity, but everything will settle and adapt. Then we will all finally realize that we are not members of any tribe, country, race or religion. Rather, humanity will realize that mankind is a Citizen of the Cosmos. And that Life is precious no matter how rare, or common it is.

Symmetry and Archetypes: Its a Small Universe !

Carl Sagan said that "there's something terribly beautiful, austere, glorious, majestic about the fact that the same laws apply everywhere". This is called Symmetry - a property of our universe where the laws of nature are the same in all parts of the cosmos (except inside the singularity, perhaps).
This post mainly shows the connection between the laws of nature and universal concepts. The Laws of Nature include the laws of physics, atomic laws, chemical laws, and so on. And the universal concepts are the archetypes.
Cosmic Laws and Universal Concepts are linked via Emergence. Let us follow the chain of emergence: The laws that govern the most basic elementary 'particles' give way to the behavior of atoms which follow atomic laws, producing molecules that follow chemical laws, which made possible the emergence of biological life, animals and ecosystems, which supported the evolution of conscious beings - able to perceive and ponder itself via concepts and paradigms. These concepts and archetypes are very similar to Plato's Forms, and they will be perceived by any intelligent and sentient being in another part of the universe, by way of symmetry.
There will be a difference in language, of course, but nevertheless, these Archetypes or Platonic "Forms" will be understood, in one way or another. Like Mathematics, there will be a common ground between us and sentient beings that live thousands of light-years away in another galaxy. If its just distance that separates us from extra-terrestrials, but they are only a "thought" away, then it means that Symmetry makes the universe seem smaller. Its a small world universe after all. :)

The Song, Self, Soul and Spirit

I remember a transposer software that automatically generates the chords in a different key for a song. Transposing is useful as it helps us sing a song at a more comfortable pitch if the song is either too high or too low for the range of our voice.
Why is it that even if one raises or lowers the key, one can still recognize the song? Regardless of which octave it is on, the distinct character of the song is retained. This property brings one thing to my mind - each one of us is a song.
We all have our unique character, personality and identity. Its what we call the self in philosophical terms or the soul in spiritual jargon. Is it possible to preserve or extend the "self" even when the material substrate from whence the mental life arises is destroyed? It cannot be denied that the brain supports much of our consciousness. Marked changes to the brain from injuries, drugs, strokes, senelity, surgery or illnesses such as Alzheimer's literally changes the mind. How can one's sentient life and consciousness can be regenerated, extended or even resurrected if it depends on a fragile piece of crumpled meat? Let us explore a premise : There is some sort of a "metadata" repository of an individual's moment by moment slice of consciousness through time. Our very existence leaves behind trails of information regarding our "self". A history. Consider this scenario : If all of my very self, my soul, and everything that makes me who I am - past, present and future - were laid out flat and static as one long page of musical piece frozen in time (think of Julian Barbour's Time). Now if a Superbeing that transcends all dimensions were to change bits of the past chords of my life and rearrange notes here and there, then my soul's "DNA" loses the unique essence of who I am - it would be the utter destruction to my soul. Every single bit of past experiences has molded the "me" in it's entirety. The choices I made in the past shaped my identity. Had I chosen different decisions, I might have been a different "me" - another song with a different tune.
Throughout life, an individual's soul is being written out on this current octave- the physical world. Each day is like a musical bar, and every minute we are leaving 'notes' as the universe records the 'musical piece' of our soul. Whether we like it or not, our very existence leaves behind trails of information regarding our "self" as time goes by. Could it be really true that each one of us will eventually give an account of one's life? For if there's a record, then it can definitely be played back by the superintellect who owns such a "database" (Heb. 4:13, Ecc 12:14).
Time goes by, i.e, it "moves forward" because there might be another octave that everything is destined to move into - a higher key, a higher dimension (such concepts of higher dimensions already have a mathematical description used in the field of String Theory that they call the Calabi-Yau Space). In that higher plane, it may be possible to completely regain our personality, memories, consciousness, and mental life. Somewhat like 'porting' or transposing the 'self' into a higher platform. Could resurrection really be possible? Only if Someone 'ports' our soul, a Cosmic Musician who must transpose everything for us to ever get a shot at a future life.
Is there something beyond for us? Or is there nothing at all? Something or Nothing, Eternal or Ephemeral. Its our choice what to believe now, but whichever is our choice, that is our faith.
But if one is still challenged by the question of life beyond death or the even existence of a personal self to begin with, then perhaps the Song metaphor will give an insight. Each individual is a song.
It is amazing how a glimpse of some understanding about the human soul can be gleaned from the field of music. As Ludwig von Beethoven said, "Music is a higher revelation than philosophy." Indeed, music has been providing insights throughout the ages over mysteries of nature. We hear phrases such as "harmonies of nature", "music of the spheres", and "Cosmic Symphony". Its no wonder why String Theory, which probes the very fabric of the universe is hinging upon the metaphors provided by music. Our universe simply screams of such archetype patterns for us not to notice.

Transcending Causality: You Have A Choice

Negativity is contagious. Having a difficult person to deal with at work or at school can bring you down. The oozing negativities from mean people can sometimes spill into others, transferring the negative energy and perpetuating an ugly workplace or a stressful environment. It may seem natural that a person saturated in a nasty environment may become rude too, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Humans can break free from cause and effect. You can set yourself free from being influenced by irate people. Say to yourself, "I am because I am, and not because of you", its a mantra I am willing to share in order to stop the spread of the "mean-ness disease". If you know yourself to be a naturally lively person and you're starting to become unfriendly too because of constant contact with rude people, then tell yourself that you have a choice on how to be. To be is exactly how you are apart from the ugly influence of nasty people. You can still be nice. Its not easy though, and a lot of hard work and patience is required to break free from the patterns of this world. Life is what we make it, and not what others do.

What Makes Life Beautiful?

In this world, beauty can often be found on a system whose state is somewhere between being ordered and random. The sunrise is a magnificent scene because it is on the threshold between night and day. The sunset is a splendor because it is midway between day and night. The amazing variety of species is partly due to minute errors in the genetic transfer of traits in the offsprings, thereby allowing a tantalizing animal and plant diversity. Music itself lies between a monotone and white noise, and the best of it is at its peak of complexity. Poems look like a jumble of words and yet it still makes a pretty sense. The best things hangs in the balance between order and chaos. Indeed, Complexity Theory specifies that any system functions at its best when in the borderline between order and disorder. Its almost saying that a little bit of chaos is a good thing. A little bit of 'defect' makes things pretty.
Is this the reason why some artists allow or induce some 'disorder' or drama in their life to make it more colorful? Is this why a husband and wife sometimes get into a bit of argument to learn more about their marriage and each other? Is this why we sometimes need a li'l bit of pain to 'feel' life? Could this be the reason why we do crazy stuff in order to escape boredom? Is this the reason why we laugh? Is this why we humans engage in extremely dangerous 'sports' activities so we can 'live on the edge'?
At the heart of the matter, we know that we are alive, but we know too that we are here only for a moment, and then gone...not knowing what will happen next. This makes life beautiful. Because "Living" is a tip-toe in the fine line between life, and death. Knowing the fragility of life, as well as its transcendence is what makes the glimpse of life worth an eternity.

The Sleep of Death and the Life of a New Day

Good Morning, in my previous post, I have introduced the question of the afterlife that all sentient beings ask of whether one's "self" or consciousness will be able to extend indefinitely after death. And I have outlined the conundrum of not being able to know what the real answer is. I note that knowing and believing is different from each other. Many believe in the afterlife, but no person truly knows the answer to the question.
As an Archetyper - one who looks into fundamental patterns and principles to understand confounding issues,
I will attempt to provide only some insights (not answers) regarding the afterlife.
The key, to begin our investigation, is sleep. Sleep is our mini-death experience. Although the brain continues to churn in deep sleep, many hours are lost from our stream of consciousness. Often on a good dreamless sleep, the last thing we remember was the night's lullaby as we wake up to the new day. Being able to sleep and then waking, is an experience worth celebrating, especially if and every time we wake up. For it is a mini-taste of rebirth or resurrection, a new day of life. Indeed throughout the ages, man have noticed that sleep is the closest thing to death in terms of subjective experience and its symbolism or abstraction. No wonder Shakespeare have written "To Die: To Sleep" and the famous rub, "For in that sleep of death.." The Bible also considers sleep as an analog of death. In Daniel 12:2 "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake.."
I wish I could say, "Congratulations! You are immortal!" based on these, but I am not here to declare, but rather to share the patterns I see, and stir the intellect.
With sleep as the starting point, the trail leading to an archetype concept is easy to follow. We sleep because we are biurnal creatures that evolved the circadian rhythm due to the light and dark experience. And this is because of the night and day cycle caused by the earth's spin around the sun. And our sun, the earth, and us are borne of star-stuff, made from remnants of a previous star that died as a supernova.
Note the patterns on different levels that are also chained together: Light and Dark. Night and Day. Sleep and Awakening. Life and Death. Death and Rebirth.
The patterns reveal that it is possible for Consciousness to be re-created, rebooted or re-instantiated. A person may live again, but whether the Personality can be kept fully intact on the next instance of Conscious life is a deeper mystery.
The important thing is that we are here and now, ready to face a new day. Congratulations, you are alive. Have a great day!

Metaphors from the Fig Wasp and Sycamore Fig

I just can't help but write about how inspired I was by this documentary so rich with metaphors and analogies to learn from, the greatest of which has something to do with living life according to your purpose. The energy I mustered to launch Archetyper.com was partly inspired by this DVD, hence it is only proper that I post about this wonderful story of the Sycamore Tree and the Fig wasp.
Every single fig tree supports an entire ecosystem of thousands - even millions - of organisms, one species of which is the fig wasp.
The fig wasp lives only for a few days but it does so remarkably because the next generation of sycamore trees depends on them. Only the fig wasps can pollinate the figs. And only the fig tree can support the survival of the fig wasps. Each cannot exist without the other.
On a mass-ive scale, we are like fig wasps on this "sycamore" planet. For millions of years, earth has been nurturing our species. It is now our turn to do our part in nurturing the planet and its ecology to propagate life for future generations.
On an individual scale, a single fig wasp busting it's gut to accomplish it's unique mission is the way to go. There is nothing more fulfilling than to breathe your last knowing that you are what you were meant to be, and done what you were meant to do.

The Pattern in Longevity and how to break free

It has been recently announced that plants' lifespan follow the same rules as the animal kingdom - that bigger animals live longer, and smaller ones die quicker - in a predictable proportion between size and longevity. Think fruit flies and whales, duckweed and Sequoia. I know that this fact have been known long since long ago, and its no news at all but its a good time to reflect why this is so. Humans only have about a hundred years to savor life on this planet. Our natural lifespan follow the same ratio described above.
Is there a way to live forever? Proponents of longevity struggle to break the barrier, and I do believe that in the future, the lifespan of humanity will be extended a hundredfold. But still mortality will remain forever. As stated by the second law of thermodynamics, our bodies continue to decay into entropy.
The only way I see to transcend mortality is to live life to the fullest by living according to your purpose, here and now.