Monday morning is the first day of classes

 

 

 

Bring it on!

 

 

Those of you that have suffered 

thru my typing over the years...

 

 

 

 

I get to begin teaching again in the classroom on monday.

And I am rather looking forward to it.

There are so many things out there ...in the real world  so supremely interesting ..

going on..right here and now

that re-presenting them makes teaching very interesting.

But what things ... can hold ones attention for a moment....?

look around and see...what's happening now?

I would say ... science has it's hands full trying to play catch up

with the pace of the ever changing  now

but we do   what we can..yes?

 

but lets play the game...a bit just for fun..

In science we are told to teach something called significant digits or numbers...

So lets make a clear example of a truly significant number

So it will be in the light for all to see..

 

now this can be a tricky thing for it is easy to visualize

the significance of a number... If it were to be a million dollars!

But numbers can be deceiving .... how can a tiny tiny number ever really matter much...?

 

now number are a curious thing ....and we even say "they" count...

so lets  count the number of gallons  

we burn in our cars every day...

suppose 2?

let not quibble to much..

1 day =2 gal or 1d/2g

and lets add those gallons together  for each day we drove in June

2g per 30d

1month/60gal ...

There are 42 gallons in one barrel of crude Oil  

After refining, it makes about 19.5 gallons of gasoline

So its 1 barrel for 19.5 gallons of gas...

1b/19.5g (60/19.5)

math is interesting just wait....

 

we personally  use.... give or take then 3,07 barrels per month

We can then take that number and make it so much smaller

by finding the fraction of the oil that comes from Iraq  and dividing  that by our total oil usage

573 000 barrels in the month of june 07 from Iraq 

total usa consumption 600,000,000 barrels in that time and

if i am doing the math right on... it  comes out ...

We use each... about  .003 barrels of oil from iraq each month..

but lets make that number smaller still   yes?

and divide into it the number of people who have died per month in the war 

As the average deaths per month are 16,374 human beings

1m /16,374dead

.003b /1m

gosh it will be such a tiny number ..

You many say if you use two gallons per day

you drive 0.000000018 dead iraq people per month

Or per day,  that's 0.00000000625 dead people 

And we can get that smaller still @

0.000000000032 dead human beings per gallon!!

and if you have an economy car...gezzz

you can cut that number in half!!

and brag about it to you friends!

The cost we are paying for our comfortable way of life may seem like a small number

0.000000000032 dead human beings per gallon!

Yet I would beg to suggest that

the price we truly pay

Is a hugely significant figure indeed

 

Published on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 by the Baltimore Sun (Maryland)

654,000 Deaths Tied to Iraq War Hopkins research yields toll far higher than most estimates

by Jonathan Bor

In an update of a two-year-old survey that sparked wide disagreement, Johns Hopkins researchers now estimate that more than a half-million Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S.-led invasion and its bloody aftermath. Reporting this week in the online edition of The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, the researchers estimated that 654,000 more Iraqis died of various causes after the invasion than would have died in a comparable period before. The scientists attributed 600,000 of those deaths to acts of violence.

Based on the study's estimate of 654,965 deaths occurring over the first 40 months of occupation, we have extended this rate of civilian deaths (16,374 deaths per month) over subsequent months of the occupation since the study was published.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 an adventure in time..

 

hunor2:

 

but find out for yourself

 

 

 

 

'You do not know what well-being is, because you have never experienced it,' he said.
... He said that they only think I knew how to seek was a sense of disorientation, ill-being, and confusion.

He laughed mockingly and assured me that in order to accomplish the feat of making myself miserable

I had to work in a most intense fashion,

and that is was absurd

I had never realized I could work just the same in making myself complete and strong.

'The trick is in what one emphasizes,' he said.

'We either make ourselves miserable,

 or we make ourselves strong.

The amount of work is the same.'

--- Don Juan, Journey to Ixtlan, by Carlos Castaneda

 

 

 

As question for me...

I am curious, then, where you draw the distinction (doug) between manifestation and creating reality? Such as when you manifested the information you needed in order to find the vein of amethyst you were mining? The language in all of this, our ability to comprehend the incomprehensible,does get confusing; yet I know how we think, how we feel does make a difference (because that is testable by experience).

There is nothing more real than experience....but how you then later attempt to understand that experience can easily become a can of worms...and tie you mind in knots of double binds..

The notion that one manifests some event or happening is a perspective that views ones existence as something of a duality ...

and you and the event

To say I manifested that information is a curious way to view it

If that information was present and I was alert enough to feel it...

I was participating in the emergence of a shared intention.

perhaps it can be said that the quality of information we draw from the conscious energy field ..is determined by the degree of our own presence.

But lets speak of wishes for a moment...or manifestation if you prefer.

If your intention is in line with the present flow of life...

The Tao as many call it

Your won't be expending energy creating reality,

You will be living  in the moment of it

As one.

 

 

 

 

C

 

 

This stuff puts Shanti to sleep!

 

 

 

Something to look at....

The traditional crystal habits of alpha quartz

 

 

 

 

 

A beta quartz crystal habit

 

 

 

 

 

What are you seeing in this crystal?

 

 

 

See it now?

 

 

 

 

see it now?

 

correct me if I am wrong but

I believe many call this....

The golden symmetry

 

 

 

 

 

http://members.tripod.com/~Glove_r/Sheldrake.html

 

 

He

 

 

Wow!! An

 alpha after beta  pseudomorph

The Classical hexagonal pyramid minus the C-axis or  m face

as with all beta quartz

 

 I am not to good with this painting program thing

 but you can see it perhaps

yes?

 

 

 

 

 

Some variations in beta~alpha transition  symmerty...

One half the right appears a hexagonal pyramid

the other on the left 

rotated trigonal pryamid 

 

 

Layers of embedded Record keepers.... !

Golden symmetry indeed

 

 

 

http://www.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/quartz.htm 

Beta Quartz:

At surface temperatures and pressures, quartz is the most stable form of silicon dioxide, to no ones surprise. Quartz will remain stable up to 573 degrees Celsius at 1 kilobar of pressure. As the pressure increases the temperature at which quartz will lose stability also increases.

Above 1300 degrees and at a pressure of approximately 35 kilobars, only beta quartz also known as high quartz is stable. Beta quartz is not the same as normal quartz, actually referred to as alpha quartz, low quartz or, as is mostly done here, just quartz. Beta quartz has higher symmetry, is less dense and has a slightly lower specific gravity. The conversion, from one solid substance to another solid substance, of quartz to beta quartz is quick, reversible and accompanied with a slight energy absorption. The conversion in fact is so easily accomplished that a crystal of quartz heated to beta quartz, cooled back down, heated again to beta quartz, etc and the crystal when all is done, will be the same as when it started.

The reason that the conversion is so easily accomplished is that the difference between quartz and beta quartz is relatively slight. The bonds between the oxygens and silicons are "kinked" or bent in quartz and are not so "kinked" in beta quartz. At the higher temperatures the atoms move away from each other just enough to allow the bonds to unkink or straighten and produce the higher symmetry. As the temperature is lowered, the atoms close in on each other and the bonds must kink in order to be stable and this lowers the symmetry back down again.

Although all quartz at temperatures lower than 573 degrees Celsius is low quartz, there are a few examples of crystals that obviously started out as beta quartz. Sometimes these are labeled as beta quartz but are actually examples of pseudomorphic or "falsely shaped" crystals more correctly labeled 'quartz after beta quartz'. These crystals are of higher symmetry than low quartz although low quartz can form similar crystals to them. They are composed of hexagonal dipyramids which are a pair of opposing six sided pyramids and the crystals lack prism faces. Quartz's typical termination is composed of two sets of three rhombic faces that can look like a six sided pyramid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed reading this in some ones blog .....

 

 

One theme that runs through much of what is being considered and used by my fellow travelers is  the idea that we create our reality.

My reaction to this idea varies  from day to day.

I certainly think we influence the reality we experience.

I do not however accept the idea that we create our reality in its broadest interpretation.

I would say in fact  that that thought grates on my last nerve.

 

Alan Watts devoted much attention to this distinction ...

and if he were alive to comment on this observations ...

just perhaps it would sound a bit like this.

 

Any description of reality is inherently something of a hoax...  

For  reality is a tricky word.

On the one hand there is the real world

and on the other

there is whole system of symbols about that world

we have in our minds....

 

This normally unnoticed distinction

gives rise to our  feeling of separate- ness from the universe...

Yet this artificial distinction is a 'feeling'

and not a 'real' difference at all,

and in fact just a philosophical concept.

When people mistake the symbols we use...

 for the reality towards which those symbols point they  confuse 

The world As it Is

With the world  as they think about it.

and talk about it and describe it.

 

 

Reality  however,  is not a concept.

The idea that we create our  reality

 

 

Is a concept that certainly to appeals to our dualistic mind ... our ego ...

And it is true enough...that

In the quantum soup of what we see as the illusion of  'things' and 'events'...

 

We do in fact descrying things as we believe/expect  them to be 

Just as we would project images on to a Rorschach blot

 

or as we create the  images with our mind's eye 

from the pixels on this monitor....

that form what you are seeing now

 

 

So in just such a way ...  people believe they create the reality around them

When the difference between myself/yourself and the rest of the universe

.....is nothing more than an idea...

and  not a /Real/ difference at all

 

 

 

 

Shards and phantoms 

 

The magic within a crystal begins

with it's ability to liberate your attention..

from the temporal world of your busy day

into the Now.

 Becoming aware of the depth of the crystals presence

 can free you from the illusion of the matrix of time

and remind you that

 

Your life is lived only in felt moment of immediate experience.

...

 

perhaps once in your busy day..

a glint of sunlight captures your eye

and you look ..

and see the crystal in the sunlight

 

 and a feeling of.....Wow

 effortlessly overwhelms  your  thinking  mind 

 in a  most delightful manor

 for a moment the past and the future lose their hold on you

and you enjoy the timeless beauty found

in that one thing 

which was not born of man

and wonder..

 

 

  In such a moment you are in a state inner peace.

Treasure that moment .. like the pupil of your eye...

and using the knowing experience as a foot hold

 practice bringing that same state of inner peace

into simple life situations.

at first...

and then gradually allow it to develop into your normal state of being....

 

I like the way the wesmans  says it.

 "The  power of a crystal  is inside of you"

 ...

but as i said...

 The magic within a crystal begins with your presence...

Where you go from there

I leave up to you

 

 

 

 

 

The Ancient Master

an

Ionized -Iron Hematite,  Druzy coated

Record keeper

Phantom Elestial Lightbrary

Canadian Super Seven Amethyst Crystal

 

What a wordy definition! but its all those things and more

On a 17 inch computer monitor this picture is to scale

7" tall by 4" across it weights over 5 lbs 

  

A quality the pictures can't show is that

It resonates powerfully when cradled in two hands

 It's balances is amazing and stands easily in the palm of your hand

and for such a large mass   it warms quickly to the touch

        

Indoor lighting ...

Orange?

Green

Purple

 

The crystal was born in a fault system running along side of the canadian shield

well over a billion years ago, at just about the time life on the planet was beginning to flourish 

 

 

 

 

When you examine the crystal, there are two general areas to consider,

 

the tip or termination

 

 

and the root shaft of the crystal body..   

 

I will try to explain the crystalline structural classification

  When I figure out just exactly whats going on with it!

These crystals do not fit easily within the the normal habits for crystal termination

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see a thin coating of transparent quartz as it  glosses over the rich orange hematite coating of the minor faces in the back of the crystal

The etched encoded surfaces of this transparent coating 

show evidence of the most recent hydrothermal event 

 

 

   

Here is that coating at 160 x....

 

 

 

the two major peaks of terminations are amazingly undamaged by physical contact.  They do show evidence of chemical activity from a hydrothermal event that eroded some of the surfaces while depositing a thin druzy sugar-like frosting...

  

 

this is the tip on the left 

 enlarged  x 20

 

 At  6O -X

you can see the exposed underlying dark amethyst

showing through the red coating

Near the tip the coating was dissolved by the acids

and heat of a high pressure water solution 

(thus the term hydrothermal event) 

the vivid triangle record keepers are concentrated

where ever the orange coating is thick 

   

this is the tip on the right side

 

I was calling the dominate color in this picture orange

but under the frequencies of the LED-lighting used by the microscope camera

 

the coating appears to favor red..

yet retains a hint of orange in the foreground  

If you look deeply

the subtle interplay of the shallow orange

and deeper red give the impression of a dimensional depth

and form interesting shadow patterns

 

look at the interplay of colors

 with attention but no expectation

and as they react with the quantum nature of light

you may get the impression that this image you are viewing

is more of a window ...

because it is

 

The metaphysical people I have shown this to have informed me  that the crystal functions as a new type of  'seed' crystal

So I looked that up on the net

"purposes of these seed crystals is to create complete holographic unity. It only requires one  Seed Crystal to holographical connect to all of seed crystals. This energetic connection forms an energy grid around the earth which links us to inner and outer worlds." Katrina Rapheall ....

From my personal experience, I agree with some aspects of that observation

but i would insist that no one believe that

You must see that for yourself

 

 but i will tell you 

The information window potential is there in many places on these ancient stones

 and once you find one present  

and accept the knowing of that recognition of the reality   you are seeing... 

that key acceptance  will open the window

  

Lets have a look at the information in  parting plains of the crystals root

The striated surface is not really a C-axis nor is it a cleavage surface

I will go into more detail on exactly what it is later

 

try looking at the qualities of light and dark in the green zones

the green zones in the amethyst matrix are powerful encoders of information

To help unlock the vision ...

try looking for the shadows of the noses of these 'heads' ..

Or the lips

It' s helpful to see the

Dark as depth and the lighter values as foreground

 

 

                      So what is the sandy grey colored stuff?  ^^ 

 lets have a look at 180 x  

 

 fascinating black and red zoned crystals in variety of forms  

 

the color comes mostly from the 'orange' cement

that binds red crystals to the surface 

  

Dauphiné Law - is a penetration twin that results from transformation.

 

Another look at the orange surface on the termination

The depth of the structure of the interacting triangles is remarkable

 

 The glowing  iron rich hematite coating is vibrant indeed

but removing the color might help see into the surface a bit

 

 The triangle is the basic code underlying this entire picture

and light can do a lot with that!

 

 

 

90 x

The red/orange is the oldest,  the clear quartz in the vein formed next  and the last was the druzy yellow

This picture shows the intersections of all these three

types of the various surfaces

of the crystal's termination 

 

 

view of the transition zone from the crystal termination

to the pseudo C-axis

 

 

 

Now it gets tricky explaining the body or root of the crystal

 One can see that It is made up of  layers of phantom terminations

The term Chevron amethyst is commonly use to describe this feature

 

The phantons reflect and image of the tip  ....all the way down the crystal

 Each layer representing a span of time...like the thickness of  tree rings .

In just such a way the entire crystal  records ...  about 1.5 billions years of  time 

 

(some different crystals here might better illustrate the occurrence)

 

The process of phantom-ization begins  when the crystal stops growing.

This occurs when there is a change in conditions on the planet

that subsequently change the nature or flow of hydrothermal fluids which feed it Quartz.

 

.

In the case of these crystals  ...

growth continued again when heat sources from volcanic events 

triggered new infusions of  dissolved  'amethyst slurry'  into the area

During the hiatus in growth, small microcrystals of other minerals and microcrystals of 
 amethyst  grow  on the  surface of the ancient crystal...

 

you can see it almost!

 a fresh surge of amethyst beginning to flow... adding new growth to the crystal 

while capturing inside a record of the past shape of crystal.

 

Much the same way... a photograph captures sun light

 Some feel they are ghostly look to it ... perhaps explaining why the term 

 phantom is so popular  

 

 

But put aside the phantoms for a second and look at the striations on the surface of the purple sides

as I stated before!

The striated surface is not really a C-axis nor is it a cleavage surface..

 

Its only near definition is

that it is a 'parting" surface

formed from an intentional  "field" property within  the crystal

in a process that is yet not well understood

 

What ever it is ..

it's very interesting to look at and to touch!

 

 Ok...Lets have a look at the inclusions in the Amethyst body

The microscopic view of the pseudo C-axis amethyst body

 

Wild inclusions 

 

The inclusions in the amethyst body are present in both in patterns on phantom layers

and scattered throughout the amethyst matrix

  They include a host of minerals, most common are the sulfide metallic minerals who's presence throughout the crystal resulted from a magmatic fluids injected during and after regional volcanic events formed the veins of  amethyst. Inclusions formed as fluids cooled, depressurized, and reacted with wall rocks...

This photo is cut and pastes directly from assay of a similar crystal from the mine

 and as you can read it contains this amazing combination of elements

  

         Ag,Al,Ba,Be,Bi,Ca,Cd, Co,Cr,Cu,Fe,Hg,K,La,Mg,Mn,Mo,Na,N, P,Pb, S, Sb, Sc, Sr, Th,Ti, Tl, U, V, W, Zn, Zr

The minerals identified as inclusions in the crystals from this locality so far are:

Lepidocrocite,Cocoxenite, Goethite, Pyrite, Chalcopyrite,

 Sphalerite, Copper, Limonite, Pyrolusite, Hematite, Epodote, Magnetite and Rutile..

to just name a few... the list is growing and is not close to complete 

 This Crystal does contain all of the requirements to me labeled as a

Melody's Super Seven

And as such it may be one of the largest Super Seven crystals discovered to date

 

 

 

The only significant damage to the crystal appears to be where

a layer of the orange coating has flaked off

 

  

I hope you enjoyed the pictures...

of the crystal i call

The Ancient Master

 

Doug

  

 

 

Amethyst visions

 

 

Howard and I faced a classic situation at the mine

 A situation that is virtually the same one 

each of us faces in every moment of our lives,  that being

Our conscious ability to choose a direction in which to focus our attention.

You can select and direct your attention to whatever

you wish to bring into your life

and by doing so

It will manifest

 your presence is all that is required.

  

 

 At the mine...

 time seems to exerted it's pull

we had to choose

where to look inside?

Not really knowing what is just beneath the surface..

where do we put the shovel to the dirt? 

 

 

There we were ...right smack in the middle of a huge up welling of earth energy.. 

A real life dream come true ..A rock hounds paradise..

beautiful purple veins more than a foot across

 threaded into the pink rhyolite granite walls

crystals lying on the ground ...

 

every where you looked ...or if you closed your eyes..

You could feel the living crystalline power flowing through and enhancing the environment..

 

It was overwhelming...there was so much energy and so many places that were drawing our attention that the choice of where exactly to dig was blowing my mind...

 

Fortunately Howard is gifted in that regard

His intuitional ability to sniff out the powerful crystals is amazing

And we need all of that

There were beautiful crystals waiting on the granite walls to be extracted but the rock was so hard and solid that to get them out we would have had to use explosives... And we both agreed that damaging the earth formation in such a way was out of the question.

so we did it the hard way..

we dug in the dirt....hoping there was terminated crystal underneath

We did so the most efficient way possible given our resources.. 

by using a compact track hoe that was totally awesome 

 

and this was the amazing thing to watch...

Now as a lad I worked with many back hoe operators

I have seen good ones and bad ones..

but I have never seen anyone use such a powerful machine

with the graceful skill that Howard demonstrated.

  

The machine seemed to become an extension of his own hands..

I saw Howard scoop a crystal out of the wall without damaging it

He cradled it in the paw of the bucket .. like a mother would hold her baby...

and in violent contrast he dug threw solid seeming granite...

by literally tearing it apart

 

Now at first this kinda freaked me out,

for I have been know to take hours carefully digging out one baby crystal

but after a while I relaxed

He knew exactly what he was doing 

 

So the big question then was how to utilize Howards skills with the track hoe

and that breaks down to a simple matter of where to dig?

   

There are thousands of veins of beautiful amethyst that run through the mine

but only in special areas does that amethyst grow into terminated crystals..

In the evenings of the first days Howard pointed out a subtle feature in the rock

A place where he felt the crystals were..

And from what little I could see

 I agreed with him totally, 

it was in line with the direction of this huge rich vein purple

This is a 25 foot wall here!

 

but special in that the spot he was suggesting  

was just below a cluster of uncommonly thriving trees

 

As you looked around the area

it became apparent that the trees love to sink their roots

into the water filled cavities of big vugs of crystal.

So a thriving tree is a big hint!

so after much consideration ..

 

                                          this is the spot.. ^^  right below the cluster of trees with the exposed roots!

                                                              where we choose to direct our attention..

                      In our quest for the amethyst crystals with power

 

 

Digging into a granite formation, even with a powerful machine 

 is more of an art that anything else

If you don't understand the properties of the rock formation and your machine

you will spend all day just bouncing the bucket off of the solid rock and get no where!

Using brutal forces with precision ...the buckets teeth must carefully wedge into and un peal the rock, one inch at a time...

To say the least this is very dramatic to watch.

 

As Howard worked his prospect with the digger  

I slowly worked a nearby small pocket of deep purple smokey points

 

and it was just what i needed to practice on 

  a wooden stick was my preferred tool

 

some how I managed to pull out some beautiful clusters and points

without damaging them too much..

 

 

it took Howard a few days to dig through some of the rough spots

 In brief moments the obstacles appeared insurmountable...

but he never faltered in his persistence 

 

Howard found the crystal pocket he intended to find 

He hit the big one...It was amazing when

After many hours of digging ...he stopped the machine...

and there it was ....a red tip in the sun

 

We didn't know it at the time

but he hit the big one dead on

right where he felt it to be

"Howard's Pocket" was everything we had hoped to find...

and something we had not imagined

Huge red tipped Amethyst points! 

 

For the the next few days we pulled out red tipped crystals and clusters by the pound.

The green layers with in the amethyst are fantastic!

 

Getting the crystals free of the rock matrix 

without taking hours on each crystals is a learned skill...

 

 

 

Fortunately Howard has it ......

and  I was able to learn tons from watching him...but wow..

 

 

 

 

 

 

I watched him use his hands and simple tools to apply just the right touch

and saw before my eyes... the crystals peel away

into his hands like flower petals unfolding.

 

The sound the crystals make when they come apart ...

I can't describe it  

..but its almost like ..no its not

its not like anything else I can think of...

a kinda ringing.. crackling metal on glass .. baby being born ..screech 

?

Removing the new born crystals is so dramatic

every time you apply a force you...

and you have to do that a lot

 If you don't understand  what is really there

with one unconscious stroke

you can damage forever!

 the precious form that has been present

within that crystal for millions of years

 

 

For that reason I was mostly overcautious

and Howard was very patient with me about that.

because above all things

we wanted to get the crystals out safely

that was paramount

As we dug deeper into the pocket we were finding larger crystals ..

 

Little did we know this huge cluster was just the tip of the ice berg...

but that tale is for another next post

 

 

Go to Dosmangoes -Canada Rocks

Website to check out the crystals for sale!

http://www.dosmangoes.net/ 

 

 

 

A joke is a kind of a Zen thing..

and what I mean by that is

beyond the trappings of the situation involved

and inherent in it's basic structure

Comedy hinges on a sudden realization

that involves a shift in perspective..

 

In just such a way the formula for a successful joke 

brings a person to that momentary transition

from our normal time bound mental state 

to a state of being presently consciousness

 this explains why we enjoy them so very much... 

 

 If the joke is good, our illusionary identifications become transparent....

 and for that often brief moment 

we are suddenly free of them  

 and laughter then flows spontaneously and quite naturally...

 

 

 

its often quite a trick to remember a good joke 

If you cant clearly summon the perspective of presence upon which the joke pivots

 the telling of the joke may result in a chuckle or two 

but don't expect a belly laugh    

and that's ok...

our comics need the employment opportunities 

 

  

"Belief" is always a good topic for the comic

because belief itself has always been

a huge joke playing itself out on the human race

 

 As you look around the world

and see all those thoughtful beliefs in operation

 it is obvious to the point of  hysterical insanity...

 

 People have totally lost their since of humor!

LL

 

Lewis, however seems to understand this quite well 

 

 

 

In this one next tube...

 Lewis demonstrates how

a present moment experience can

exceed the illusion of expectation  born of our "beliefs"

  

 

I often wonder ...

Are not our comedians  as a group 

the most sane people in our culture today?

 

  

well maybe not