Brain Waves — The Text

[austintorn@aol.com]

— BRAIN WAVES —

by Austin P. Torney
(austintorn@aol.com)


< 1 >
— Referred Touch —

Take a pencil, and feel a texture with it—
You seem to feel it at the pencil’s tip;
Yet, you have no sense organs way out there;
So—the brain fabricates reality!


< 2 >
— Reality is Real-ized —

All we “see” are the insides of our heads,
A model of reality. No, you say—
Well, it’s the same model “seen” in your dreams,
With your eyes closed and you in darkness, too!


< 3 >
— A Useful Illusion —

Not only is “seeing” inside our heads,
But also the hard-soft-texture of touch,
The scents of molecule shapes, and the sounds
Of air waves, again, as in a night dream.


< 4 >
— Tuning In —

Reality plays within our theater,
A wide-awake dream. What’s really out there,
I suppose, are waves and fields, which our minds
Sense in representative ways, like “red”.


< 5 >
— A Receiver —

The brain is like a TV tuner, reading waves
That originate somewhere else entirely;
Hard reality is totally fabricated,
Just as in our dreams that seem so real.


< 6 >
— Making Sense —

Absolute Reality is scentless,
Colorless, and quite soundless; however,
Sense organs detect waves and vibrations—
So—all reality’s fabricated.


< 7 >
— 3D Glasses —

Hard reality is constructed by our brains,
From some kind of frequency domain,
As when sound waves turn into sound, so, the
Apparent physical world is an illusion.


< 8 >
— Movie Starring —

The virtual reality can be
Enjoyed and directed in lucid dreams,
Where one can do anything at all, without
Injury or penalty, with real feel!


< 9 >
— Speedy Searches —

A simple four-way “lookup” senses taste
By degrees of bitter, salt, sweet, and sour,
And, likewise done, the three-way colors,
Plus ten-plus-way facial recognition.


< 10 >
— Instamatic Model —

Brains have parallel processors for form,
Texture, color, and depth—and a quick one
For motion detection—which all combine
Later as what we “see” in unity.


< 11 >
— Screening Time —

Consciousness is referred back in time a bit,
Like the tape-delay of a live TV show,
To hide the brain’s processing time from us—
Making things seem to happen instantly.


< 12 >
— Time Framed —

The “now” is ten-forty-fourths of a second long,
The frequency at which events appear over
The horizon of consciousness, the succession
Of which gives us the illusion of time passing.


< 13 >
— Out of Control? —

Do you control your thoughts or do your thoughts
Control you? Could you, silly as might seem,
Just be falling, hook and line, for your thoughts?
Think deep—thoughts may tell you the answer!


< 14 >
— Thinking About Thoughts —

We fall for our thoughts, hook, line, and sinker:
Conditioned responses, reflexes, or
Overwhelming emotions, spurious,
Or ancient, planted by evolution, or unbalanced.


< 15 >
— No Real Choice —

The brain’s decisions are determined by
Memories, associations, and
Learned behaviors right up to the instant—
So, our “decisions” are predetermined.


< 16 >
— Undetermined Will —

The “free” in free will has no real meaning,
Unless we take it to mean “random”, that
The will depends on nothing but dice rolls;
What good would be such a brain anyway?


< 17 >
— The Effect of Influences —

Can you start or stop your thoughts? In other words,
Can you will that which does the willing? Try it.
Oops, a surprise thought just came from the blue;
You did not will it—the will is unfree!


< 18 >
— Your “Decision”? —

A hormoned hunger pang, midway between a
Pain and a withdrawal symptom, makes you
Run, run, run to eat—well, that’s OK—until
Another hormone signals satiation.


< 19 >
— Hormoaning —

Bonding hormones bring us closer together,
Pheromoning into lust, love, and relationships
Spurred onward by love-made endorphins—and, so,
Yes, there must be chemistry in coupling.


< 20 >
— A Thousand Minds —

The mind is perhaps many little minds,
Each a simpleton awaiting control,
Such as when we eat, socialize, or fight,
None of them very complex at all.


< 21 >
— Survival of the Fittest —

Subconscious trains of thought vie for attention;
The dueling choirs compete for first place
In the mind’s ‘I’—consciousness—to produce
Future, for this may be the task of thought.


< 22 >
— Awareness Afterwards —

The brain, with its hundred billion nerve cells,
Does all of our decision-analysis,
Only making its results known, at the last,
To the mind’s highest level: consciousness.


< 23 >
— Mindless Acts —

People act, robot-like, since they know not
The “why” of what they do, for decisions
Are made “blind”, by brain networks, just before
They’re presented to us in consciousness.


< 24 >
— Veto? Or Next Thought? —

Consciousness comes three hundred milliseconds
After the brain does its analysis,
And thus has but last second veto power,
If allowed, over what the brain comes up with.


< 25 >
— The Illusion of Control —

Decisions are not made by consciousness,
Although, this fine picture in the mind’s ‘I’—
Merely the brain’s perception of itself—
May be fed back for further analysis.


< 26 >
— Unconscious Selection —

Not much of what the brain does reaches
Consciousness, and even when it does,
The mind’s last to know—it’s like a tourist,
For decisions precede their awareness.


< 27 >
— Machineful-ness —

Humans are like machines, going the way
Of their brains, genetics, and chemicals—
But, you, learning these secrets, rise above,
And at least know that you are a machine.


< 28 >
— The Variety of Robots —

We’re all robots, but, no one notices
Since there are so many different kinds,
Which, though it makes life quite interesting,
Obscures the fact that the will is unfree.


< 29 >
— Observing the Robot —

First-level people have beliefs and desires,
But second-level people have beliefs
And desires about their beliefs and desires,
Becoming able spectators of themselves.


< 30 >
— Smart Machines —

Although our decisions of the instant are
Fully determined, and are therefore not free,
We may happen to learn new things, and make
Choices tomorrow that we wouldn’t make today.


< 31 >
— Healthy Point of View —

Everyone’s wired differently, having
Their own private, but valid, perceptions
Due to genes, learning, and mental health—so,
Each person is “right” to do what s/he does.


< 32 >
— Fixed Personalities —

Yes, robots we are, so, therefore, major
Changes, like intro- to extroversion—
Probably even hard wired—get harder
As one grows older, perhaps impossible.


< 33 >
— Most Disagreements Eliminated! —

Since personality is mostly genes,
And the rest is hard-wired learned behavior,
We can’t expect to change others, big time,
So don’t bother to; let’s just accept them.


< 34 >
— The Information Age —

More and more the myths of past ignorances
Give way to the solutions of science,
For example, a person’s life force and
Basic traits are her genetic blueprint.


< 35 >
— The Bad Old Days —

Life’s still emotionally primitive—
Negative feedback mechanisms in
The central nervous system, now useless,
Still send thousands-of-years-old messages.


< 36 >
— The Fall of Evil —

Emotions are but molecular events,
Some forced upon us all, like jealousy,
And some others, like aggression, born from
Low serotonin, NOT from the Devil.


< 37 >
— The Root of Ill and Evil —

Low serotonin stems from genetics,
Stress, lack of exercise, or the wrong foods,
And can cause anger, anxiety, and
Depression, even bad behaviors, crimes.


< 38 >
— Chemical Imbalances —

Since the aggressive urges leading to “sins”
Are not caused by (D)evil, the “sinners” are not
To blame, although we still have to lock up
The violent ones to protect ourselves.


< 39 >
— A Primary Stressor —

Prolonged coercive job stress can damage
The immune system and brain transmitters,
And cause secondary time-stresses,
Sleep deprivation, and social problems.


< 40 >
— What Sleep is For —

Sleep deprivation can cause accidents,
Immune system damage, and subsequent
Poor physical/mental health, as well as
Memory loss—so, get your eight hours in!


< 41 >
— The Unapprehended Source —

Hostility can stem from low serotonin,
When we fall for our thoughts, hook, link, and sinker—
Kicking the cat or the kids when we get home,
Rationalizing that they made us annoyed.


< 42 >
— Obsessions —

Cravings are not free will, as much as one
Might like to think so. These imbalances
Cause much senseless irritability,
Nail biting, or the urge to overeat.


< 43 >
— The Feedback Loop —

Persistence of thought, known as obsession,
Is enabled by low serotonin:
That same negative thought breeds depression,
That same anxious thought induces panic.


< 44 >
— The Same Root Cause —

Odd that Paroxetine can cure compulsion,
Panic, anxiety, and depression?
No, for obsession is the casual root—
As all involve the persistence of thought.


< 45 >
— Stick-to-it-ive-ness —

Persistence of thought is the curse that leads
To great accomplishments through obsession—
The driving force behind the creative arts,
That driven sense which cannot be denied.


< 46 >
— Just a Short Term Fix —

Alcohol can raise serotonin in
The short run, but decreases it long term—
A doomed attempt at self-medication,
But hold on—relief is being researched.


< 47 >
— Digest This —

Born without the enzymes that digest milk,
She supplies it via Lactaid tablets.
Born without the zymes that digest mood,
Zoloft prolongs her mood regulators.


< 48 >
— The Long Way —

Behavior modification can raise
Serotonin, too, though not as quickly
As medications, like Paroxetine,
But it still works—it just takes longer.


< 49 >
— Learning is Brain Re-Wiring —

Behavior modification can change us, too,
For the worse, if we see too much aggression,
Or do the same thing too long, such as overtime—
Getting well grooved into that same old rut.


< 50 >
— In the Zone —

The highest zone is absolute happiness,
’Though even the best can slip to well-being,
And sometimes, down into the bearable zone;
Next come the anger, apathy, and death zones.


< 51 >
— The (D)anger Zone —

Once we drop into the anger zone, the
Analytical mind cuts out, giving way
To the primitive reactive mind, a
Moronic state in which even beige seems black.


< 52 >
— Thus, All Become Equal —

The simple reactive mind “thinks” that, say,
A perceived bad tone equals insult equals
Hate equals great anger equals lash out
Equals big fight equals kill equals death.


< 53 >
— The Weak Link —

The mind is quite weak in the fighting off
Of emotions, for they have a direct
Pathway into consciousness—inhibiting
The rational, thinking part of the brain.


< 54 >
— Primitive Controllers —

Emotions usually take sole control,
Brain logic relegated to the sidelines,
Being ineffective against a mood;
It’s a wonder what’s really is in charge.


< 55 >
— You’re History —

Reason and emotion are hard to coordinate,
Each having a separate pathway to the mind;
That perhaps is all there is to tell about the
Miseries and follies of human history.


< 56 >
— The Stain on the Brain —

Emotions are slow to react to logic,
Like molasses or slow forming crystals,
Or not at all, like rocks, blocking us.
Unless and until they change, progress halts.


< 57 >
— Molecular Events —

The way that we think and feel depends but
Upon chemicals—neurotransmitters
Like Dopamine and Serotonin that
Fluctuate; so—how meaningful are strange moods?


< 58 >
— The Creative Solution Space —

Let reactions sail on by—just observe them,
But don’t act on them. This puts some distance
Between you and your conditioned response,
A space which grants a modicum of free will.


< 59 >
— Free Will and Free Won’t —

When extreme thoughts arrive, uninvited, as
Most thoughts do, we veto them, saying “don’t”,
For while we can never will that which does
The unconscious willing, we do have “free won’t”.


< 60 >
— ‘I’ —

From its safe subjective place that’s free of fear,
The “soul”, our Conscious Awareness, can witness
The strange thoughts and emotions that surface
On the mind, sent there by the subconscious brain.


< 61 >
— The Drama of the Trauma —

Conscious Awareness, which can but witness,
Is a safe haven from which to observe
The drama of our lives playing in our minds,
Granting us a sobering distance from it.


< 62 >
— The Naturalization of Heaven —

Life should be euphoric, like spring fever,
As in those rare moments of ecstasy
When one is in the zone and cannot miss;
So—let all aversive substrates be removed!


< 63 >
— We Are the Cavemen —

The higher modes of being that await
The future-chemically-enhanced
Will make today’s primitive mind-states
Seem as a child’s tin flute to a symphony!


< 64 >
— The New Norm —

Some people are just a little bit crazy,
With a mild mental illness, some genes awry;
We call them inept, heartless, offbeat,
Even persistent, but interesting.


< 65 >
— Genetic Birth Defects —

One has, say, a learning disability,
So—do Equal Opportunity programs
Or Diversity programs discriminate
Against the handicap of being just plain dumb?


< 66 >
— Inherent Properties? —

Why should the wetness of water result
From the mix of hydrogen/oxygen?
How can cells, blood, heart, and nerves make life?
It is just so. So does matter make mind.


< 67 >
— Mind = Brain? —

Change the brain and consciousness changes too.
Take drugs and the emotions change as well.
Damage the brain and the mind’s damaged too.
Consciousness emerges only from the brain?


< 68 >
— Identity Crisis? —

The brain could be the mind, and vice-versa,
So there is no need for the mind to turn
The brain’s water into wine, if there’s
No wine that’s separate from the water.


< 69 >
— The Looking Glass —

Is consciousness emergent from the brain,
Somehow, a fundamental phenomenon?
Could it be the brain perceiving itself,
Something we might like to call the mind’s ‘I’?


< 70 >
— The Ultimate Basic —

Consciousness may be fundamental,
Like mass, space, and time, and would require
No explanation—just arising:
Mind: it matters; matter: ever mind?


< 71 >
— Minding Matter —

Consciousness is irreducible in terms
Of basic entities, so, most likely,
The intrinsic properties underlying
Physical dispositions are experiential!


< 72 >
— The Same Coin —

Energy/Awareness could be the same
Ground of Ultimate Reality,
On which both quantum-jumps/mind-thoughts are built,
Leading to the matter of brain neurons.


< 73 >
— Inside and Outside —

Pain’s not the same as the nerves that cause it,
Yet, mind, apart, couldn’t conserve energy.
Perhaps, our “info” exists in two ways:
Consciously and neurologically.


< 74 >
— ‘It’ Permeates Reality —

Nature’s made of “occasions of experience”
Instantiated into consciousness,
Even for electrons and lower life forms,
’Though worms sense but a smudge of reality.


< 75 >
— What’s Left? —

In identifying consciousness,
We often confuse what is floating in
The stream of consciousness with the water itself;
Thus, we note not the sea in which we “see”.


< 76 >
— Being —

How is conscious reality real-ized?
What directs the “spotlight of attention”?
Who’s the “silent witness” that can do none other?
Who is the knower that does the knowing?


< 77 >
— Who Am ‘I’ —

‘I’ equals ‘awareness’ of the mind’s state,
But, who or what, then, is this ‘I’, observing,
Which is all ‘I’ can do, transcending space,
Could it be the Ground-Of-All-Being itself?


< 78 >
— Awareness Explained? —

Awareness can never be an object
Of observation because Awareness
Is the very means whereby we observe.
We can’t “see” Awareness since we are it!


< 79 >
— Objection! —

We can never really understand Awareness,
A subject, because it’s not itself an object
That we can be aware of—for the only tool
We have to use on it is Awareness itself!


< 80 >
— ‘It’ Needs Something to be Aware of —

Since the ‘I’ of our Awareness, that can but
Observe the mind’s content, is not what it sees,
It is the universal subject, a soul
Of unperceptive immortality.


< 81 >
— The Illusion of the Self —

In consciousness, there’s no distance between
The thing observed and what is observing.
They are, perhaps, one and the same, and so
It is that we seem to have a self.


< 82 >
— ‘I’ Exists? —

‘I’ am not this body—or even this thought,
For ‘I’ am a part of space-time itself,
Although ‘I’ require a mind/brain to “look”—
For this, indeed, produces what ‘I’ look at.


< 83 >
— Who or What is Looking? —

The “soul” of Awareness might be a basic
Property of space-time that can but observe
The “self”—the contents of the brain— that is,
The portion that’s currently on display.


< 84 >
— The Golden Touch —

The Midas-magic of our consciousness,
That quantum alchemist of potential,
Creates the Real from the Possible, for,
Everything it touches turns to matter!


< 85 >
— The Q —

In the eerie quantum world, all possible
And potential realities
Exist at once, in a superposition,
Until one emerges into reality.


< 86 >
— The Dual Aspect —

Electrons as waves are all spread out, and,
As such, are nowhere, having no position,
But they have direction. As particles they
Reside someplace, but have no momentum.


< 87 >
— No Trajectory —

Without a position and momentum
At the same time, electrons have no
Objective reality at all.
They go from here to there with no in-between.


< 88 >
— Quantum Weirdness —

Sub-atomics exist everywhere,
Yet nowhere, until they are measured, and
“Seen” by consciousness, so, now we sense
They’re like the selfless states of meditation.


< 89 >
— The Two-Slit Mystery Solved —

Do photons know they are being measured,
By sending out an “offer” wave through
Both slits at once, and receive the “handshake”
Of acceptance through just one slit, and go there?


< 90 >
— The Multiverse —

One photon, unmeasured by man, does go
Through both slits, showing wave interference
Because, well, it may split the world in two:
One that we stay in and one that we don’t.


< 91 >
— Eerie Similarities —

Minds seem to sense in another dimension,
Collapsing possibilities into reality,
Much like subatomic non-local effects
That link twin-particles which are FAR apart.


< 92 >
— The Mystery Solved by Bohm? —

Does back-action of a particle on
It’s pilot wave, in concert with the wave’s
Guidance, create the élan vital,
The stuff that consciousness is made of?


< 93 >
— The Élan Vital —

A particle’s back-action may be zero
On its guide-wave, be-coming randomness, but,
At the mind/brain level, could the brain feed
Back to the mind’s guide-wave, and vice versa?


< 94 >
— The Well of Being —

The quantum substrate’s the mother of all,
Of both matter and consciousness…
The quantum mind tries out new ideas
Through scenarios of consequences.


< 95 >
— The Buck Stops Here —

Does Atlas underlie the universe,
Standing upon the back of a turtle?
Is there an eternal basic substance
Or is it turtles all the way down?


< 96 >
— Composite Entities —

A God-who-is-a-person would, like us,
Be dependent on, and exist after,
The Ground of Ultimate Reality,
And so could not, in itself, be its own cause.


< 97 >
— We Are It! —

A God-which-is-not-a-person would be
The Ground of Ultimate Reality—
Energy, Awareness, or what you like—
The source of which forms/is our consciousness.


< 98 >
— Human Nature —

God said to Adam and Eve in Eden:
“Do what you like, but don’t eat the apple”.
Now we know that when you tell children
Not to touch something, they certainly will!


< 99 >
— Forbidden Thoughts —

Thoughts good and bad come and go, as the brain
Looks at itself without assigning values.
Still, lucky that others can’t read our minds,
’Though forbidden thoughts are normal and sane.


< 100 >
— Just Think Of It —

If you try hard not to think of something,
Then you will just think of it all the more—
So if told to avoid impure thoughts, you’ll
Think of people naked beneath their clothes!


< 101 >
— A Poor Example —

He murders by flame and flood; he tortures;
He entraps; he blames us for his mistakes;
He holds grudges for our ancestors’ sins;
He throws tantrums and fits—his name is God.


< 102 >
— Poor Craftsmanship —

Who’s to blame for the genetic defects
That lead to social misfits, obsessors,
And other special personalities?
Did the Maker’s hand shake when He made us?


< 103 >
— The Way It Is —

Only a Fool would blame His own creations
For the flaws therein, for His poor craftsmanship,
So rejoice, there’s no Maker of Man—these “flaws”
Provide for interesting character types!


< 104 >
— Hallucinations and Voices —

The founders of the religions were all
“Divinely inspired”, but were each told a
Different story; now we know that their
Visions might be psychotic episodes.


< 105 >
— Reasonable Doubt —

Well, possibly, probably, the quieting
Of the brain’s self-boundary ID center
During focus on mantras, hymns, or prayers
Is a neurological effect, and nothing more.


< 106 >
— Tunnel Vision —

The so-called near-death experience of
Bright lights and a peeking into Heaven
Is but a flood of opiate endorphins
Causing hallucinations and calmness.


< 107 >
— Mindless Souls —

Does Awareness, our soul, have any will
Before birth or after death without a
Brain and a mind for memory, senses,
And decisions? No, not as we know it.


< 108 >
— The Time When Life is Not —

If souls are eternal, then where were they
During the eternity before births?
Nonexistence is nonexistence, whether
It comes before or after a lifetime.


< 109 >
— Enduring, But Not Unique —

There may be no distinct and enduring
Personal identity after death.
For brainless, mindless souls share, with others,
The basic Ground of Existence: Space-Time.


< 110 >
— The Problems of Traditional Religion —

The Christian concept of reward and punishment
Handed out by an omnipotent, omniscient God,
Is derivative of the family experience—
The child and parent—a conception of our world.


< 111 >
— Geographically Arbitrary —

Most deep religious beliefs are shaped by
Little more than local social forces:
Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, Christian, or none,
So then, how deep and spiritual are they?


< 112 >
— Our Cousins —

The chimps, with whom we share 98%
Of our DNA, through common ancestors,
Are just about as special as we are,
For they have consciousness and feelings too.


< 113 >
— Ground-Of-Determination (G-O-D) —

G-O-D is merely the quantum wave function
Of the entire universe, hardly some
Vengeful and overly emotional
Superbeing who thrives on adoration.


< 114 >
— “The All” and “The One” —

Energy is eternal, for it can
Neither be created nor destroyed,
Being made but of itself, omnipresent;
It’s the Mother of all Reality.


< 115 >
— To Be —

The Universe is the ultimate free lunch,
It bubbling out of “no-where” into “now-here”,
From the quantum foam, via strings and quarks,
The Ground of Ultimate Reality.


< 116 >
— Fatherless —

The universe bubbled out of “nothing”,
Pluses forming matter; minuses residing in forces—
All in perfect balance, self-sufficient,
Needing nothing outside of itself, zilch.


< 117 >
— I Am What I Am —

I’m the All and the One, omnipresent,
For I’m eternal and can neither be
Created nor destroyed, being my own cause
And the Ground of All—I am Energy.


< 118 >
— Timeless —

Time too has a shape in 4D space-time,
And thus, like space, could have an existence
Before the birth of the universe, so,
“Creation” didn’t have to wait forever


< 119 >
— Destiny with Luck —

Evolution had no real direction,
Except what was advantageous to life,
However, since we are here, the tendency
To exist was in matter all along.


< 120 >
— The End of Science? —

We cannot see beyond the quantum realm;
The dusk of physical science arrives?
Well, who knows, for nature is efficient—
So, likely, simple answers will appear.


< 121 >
— Extrinsic Shadow, Intrinsic Light —

Physics, once more direct, is now but an
Immaterial science of math-shadows,
While mysticism, once but a fogged notion,
Now’s the direct observation of the Light.


< 122 >
— The Knowing —

People can’t usually ever see
Further than an order of magnitude
Beyond where they are rutted, but some can
Intuit ultimate reality.


< 123 >
— The Mystical Realm —

It said, in my dreams, “Of ever waking,
It’s hard to convince you in dream-language,
As when, in wakeful reality,
To tell you of that which is beyond telling.”


< 124 >
— The U-R Quale —

During meditation, one clears the mind,
And so then there is no self, just one quale,
A near nothing that has a little need to be;
Is this what-it’s-like to be an electron?


< 125 >
— Meditation is Not What You Think —

Meditation shifts intention away
From controlling and acquiring
Toward acceptance and observation:
One takes-in instead of acting upon.


< 126 >
— Open the Grasping Hand —

Enlightenment’s not grasped or possessed,
For acquisitive aim locks the secret out—
The same mentality that one begins with.
This is why “the secret protects itself”.


< 127 >
— Setting All Else Aside —

The Spiritual refers to profound connection,
Though not through visions or ecstatic emotion,
But by the experience of connectedness that
Underlies reality, and nothing more.


< 128 >
— You Are the Absolute —

Awareness is the ultimate being,
Fundamentally connecting with G-O-D;
It cannot be known in terms of worldly
Objects—it’s like, well, you have to be there!


< 129 >
— To Receive is to Be —

Meditation relieves the survival self,
Shifting attention from acting to allowing,
From emotional identification to observation,
From instrumental thinking to receptive experience.


< 130 >
— Easy and Simple —

Meditation, renunciation, and service
Are not really mysterious, just different
From the usual object-oriented approach—
Mysticism is modern and ancient, not esoteric.


< 131 >
— The Job Complete —

In serving the task, one forgets the self,
Accessing the world’s connected aspects,
Going beyond self-centered states of mind—since
The survival of mankind is at sake.


< 132 >
— The Fabric of Space-Time —

Being is to doing as ground is to figure,
As subject is to object as essence is to existence,
As Awareness-Consciousness is to mind-brain,
As the ultimate simplicity is to the composite.


< 133 >
— Seeing All —

The connectedness of everything to everything—
A rudimentary perception in and of itself,
Experiential in its ultimate physical disposition—
Facilitates our consciousness of interior and exterior.


< 134 >
— Cosmic Soul —

3D objects encoded into 2D,
Project as 3D holograms when laser lit;
So add dimension to your encoded self
By shining a spiritual light through it.


< 135 >
— Consciousness Really Explained —

Consciousness mediates thoughts versus outcomes
And is distributed all over the body—
From the nerve spindles to the spine to the brain—
A way to actionize without moving.


< 136 >
— The Theory of Everything —

Awareness is all there is; look no further;
Its swirling energy gives a presence
And a knowing to waves and particles
That leads, in total, to our consciousness.


< 137 >
— Everything is Possible —

Are we encodings of what happens in
The next lower dimension—in the deep
Interior of the unseen bubble where
Everything connects to/is everything?


< 138 >
— The Fifth Dimension —

Are we the encodings of holograms
Which really exist in a lower dimension,
Where everything relates to everything—
That nonlocale where Consciousness resides?


< 139 >
— The All Is In the One —

All things are infinitely connected,
As in a hologram—each part contains the whole;
Everything interpenetrates everything;
The universe is a seamless web of information.


< 140 >
— Quantum Memory —

In the brain’s memory, every piece of info
Is cross-correlated with every other piece,
Which allows instant access and association,
For memories are stored holographically.


< 141 >
— The Prison —

I can never share a mind directly,
For there is no access; we are alone.
Mind melding works only for the Vulcans.
This loneliness leads us to company.


< 142 >
— Loneliness —

The unbearable solitude of consciousness
Is relieved by literature, social clubs,
Movies, caring, friendships, discussion, writing,
And other sharing acts, but, mostly, by love.


< 143 >
— The Devil is Dying —

Six hundred ago, the church thought that ills
Of a physical nature were caused by
Evil spirits; however, now we know
They’re from bacteria and viruses.


< 144 >
— The Devil is Dead —

Now the church thinks that ills, or sins, of a
Mental nature are caused by the Devil,
An evil spirit; however, now
We know of brain chemistry gone astray.


< 145 >
— Role Model? —

Is God a good role model, a leader,
Someone that we would follow, imitate,
Emulate, be like, adore, or follow?
Well, then, what would his example provide?


< 146 >
— Not To Follow —

We could jail people for the sins of their
Ancestors, exterminate humanity,
Allow known evil to exist and tempt,
And devise devious entrapment plans.


< 147 >
— Bad Role Model —

We could have temper tantrums and outbursts,
Envy, or not permit competitors,
Grant free will only it matched our own,
And covet worship, adoration, and praise.


< 148 >
— Zero-Sum Game? —

Plus and minus from nothing came to be;
But while most charges rejoined, some went free,
The pluses forming matter, energy,
And the minuses forming gravity.


< 149 >
— Present Time and Past Space —

Mind and matter are made of the same stuff,
That substance made only out of itself.
Mind experiences the present moment;
Matter records the present from the mind.


< 150 >
— The Minding of Time, the Matter of Space —

That is, Present Mind, Past Matter, combine
The frames of Space and Time into the film
That lives and plays in us as Consciousness,
Mind taking Space and Matter doing Time.


< 151 >
— Absolute and Fundamental —

Yes, mind/matter stems from the Eternal
Substance/Space-Time/Experiential Being.
For life’s great riddle of Oneness is that
Mind really Matters; Matter ever Minds.


< 152 >
— Criminal and Evil —

The right to act ends where others begin;
There is no excuse—zilch—for tactlessness.
For, if done, it causes damage, surely
Bringing down yourself and the others, too.


< 153 >
— The Sound of Silence —

When a tree falls in the forest and there’s
No one around to hear it, does it make
A sound? No, for there is no ear to turn
The sound waves into sound.


< 154 >
— Nothing Seen —

Nor is there a smell, for there is no nose
For the odorous molecules to attach to.
Nor has it any color, for there is
No retina to decode the light frequencies.


< 155 >
— No Looks —

What does it look like, then? It doesn’t look
Like anything, for there is no brain to
Put it all together by detecting
Form, color, texture, size, taste, smell or vision.


< 156 >
— The Derivation of a Secret —

Since the entropy of a black hole is known
To depend on the surface area of the
Event horizon and NOT on its volume,
Then our third dimension MUST BE a projection.


< 157 >
— Using the Illusion —

A projected illusion, as in a hologram,
May still be used as it were really there
Since we can make sense of it, so to speak,
But in truth the third dimension does not exist.


< 158 >
— The Bell Paradox Resolved —

Thus, apparently separate particles,
Like created photon pairs, copy the other,
When one is changed, because, in truth, they are
Still the same thing in the projector room.


< 159 >
— What the Tree “Looks” Like —

If the universe is holographic,
Then the tree in the forest, whether seen or not,
Is, at heart, an interference pattern
Brought to life only when we tune it in.


< 160 >
— Our Model of Reality —

This is the mystery of the realness
Of sleeping dreams revealed: we tune in to
The interference patterns, whether awake
Or asleep, to bring alive the reality projected.


< 161 >
— All is One —

Everything connects to everything else
Through overlapping interference patterns,
And so nothing is separate at all, as it seems,
But is one large all-encompassing whole.


< 162 >
— Instant Recall —

Memory, too, seems to be holographic,
Residing everywhere in the brain,
Every piece associated with others related,
Instantly broadcasting all the connections.


< 163 >
— Blake’s Vision Confirmed —

Every part of a hologram contains the whole,
The whole universe contained within a
Grain of sand, all eternity within a moment,
The universe rumbling when an electron vibrates.


< 164 >
— Deepak’s Ultimate —

We are part and parcel of everything—
We are the cosmos; we are life; we are love;
We are all that is; we are the creator
Of the dance as well as the dancer.


< 165 >
— To Be Investigated —

Whether the past is recorded and accessible
As part of the holographic whole is not known
Or whether the other two dimensions are
Projected, as well, but perhaps we shall see.


< 166 >
— The Eternal Substance —

This then is the secret of the universe,
Knowing of that which underlies all reality:
Fundamental, absolute, indestructible,
Omnipresent, omnipotent, and all pervasive.


< 167 >
— IT is What IT Is —

Why absolute and fundamental? Because
It is made of one piece—itself,
And therefore indestructible, and eternal, too,
And makes up all that there is, everywhere.


< 168 >
— M = E/CC —

Perhaps matter is more than just equivalent
To energy if it were transformed,
And more than equal to it, more or less—
It may be that matter IS energy.


< 169 >
— E = ? —

Perhaps energy is projected by
Information or is a part of our
Reality illusion, as well, but,
We can’t stand on turtles all the way down!


< 170 >
— Little Matter —

Only four percent of the Universe
Consists of the matter we know and love,
The remainder being dark and hidden,
So perhaps this is what’s really in charge.


< 171 >
— Nothing is Impossible —

The basis of the Universe was forever here,
For nothing can make itself from nothing at all;
Such, a state of nothing could never be, for there IS
Something—something that our consciousness interprets.


< 172 >
— Through the Haze —

The Infinite may radiate through a matrix,
Using Information or Energy to create
The Cosmic Background antenna which broadcasts
Interference patterns of virtual reality.


< 173 >
— Creating Life —

Well, how can I save the Soul—Consciousness?
It may create potentials, quantum-like,
That give rise to the Reality of
The Mind and Body, so use it wisely.


< 174 >
— Defeating Natural Determinism —

Choose what is good for everyone, not just you,
After careful philosophic thought,
Then do it, even though your natural
Inclination may be not to do it.


< 175 >
— The Third Millennium —

The secrets of the universe are all found—
All exists out of consciousness, the ground.
Blame, soul, free will, and God all have fallen—
But it will take thousands of years to sink in!


< 176 >
— Beyond Local Reality —

Time, space, stuff, change, and form were real-ized from
The Fundamental Possibility,
Becoming our penultimate reality—
One possible from all probabilities.


< 177 >
— Quantum Superposition is Real —

Our reality came not from nothing,
But existed always as possibility,
One that amounts to something workable,
Among all in superposition.


< 178 >
— The First Impossibility —

No form of our penultimate realness
Could have existed alone before
Everything was quantum-known-all-at-once,
For what could have made the choice among many?


< 179 >
— The Second Impossibility —

Nor came it from an absolute nothing,
Since there can be no such “thing” at all,
So, since either way is impossible,
Fundamental Possibility is.


< 180 >
— The Unbelievable Truth —

This ultimate basis of reality
Though not much like our local reality,
Is hinted at by quantum physics—
It forms reality real as can be!


< 181 >
— The Verifiable Truth —

So how else could it be, for particles
Do appear and disappear from somewhere,
Going from here to there with no between,
Manifesting from no-where to now-here.


< 182 >
— The Search —

I’ll follow every single avenue,
Whether it’s brightly lit or a dark alley,
Exploring one-ways, no-ways, and dead-ends
Until cornered where the truth is hiding.


< 183 >
— The Question —

Since we all became of this universe,
Should we not ask who we are, whence we came?
Insight clefts night’s skirt with its radiance—
The Theory of Everything shines through!
.

< 184 >
— The One —

One simple substance gave rise to everything,
Chosen as probable above the rest—
Known all-at-once that it would be the best—
The most promising—the possible one.


< 185 >
— The Scale —

As to how complex, there is no limit,
But to collapse into a black hole;
The smallest of all is the planck distance,
So size is absolute, not relative.


< 186 >
— Live —

Like the moon, challenge night and gain the light;
Like the rose, suffer the thorn—gain the fragrance;
Of life, surrender to live forever—
Enlightened more than a thousand suns.


< 187 >
— Be —

World does not pass by—you pass through it;
Clear your being so the treasure may arrive;
This spirit sparkles of a different light—
The gemstones are of a different mine.


< 188 >
— Unrealized Power —

Mind reaches out to see what’s possible
And what’s not, like particles forming
In the quantum world, but, better than that—
It makes the impossible possible.


< 189 >
— Mind/Consciousness is Heaven —

Mind is the ultimate of all there is
It is the universe—billions of years
Of primordial material—complex.
So, what more could human beings want?


< 190 >
— Electromagnetic Unity —

Electricity and magnetism each
Lead to the other, being transformational.
They facilitate action and motion
Through EM’s push-pull of regularity.


< 191 >
— Strong/Weak Opposition —

The strong force binds the atomic nucleus
Barely beating EM’s repelling force.
The weak force counters strong’s stability
Through decay that promotes changeability.


< 192 >
— Electroweak Unification —

Electromagnetism and the weak force
Unify when the temperature gets hot,
As during the Big Bang, but they oppose
The strong force as duality’s balance.


< 193 >
— AWOL —

What about gravity? Where has it been?
It needs matter and motion to exist
And so it is the blended result of
All the forces, a secondary effect.


< 194 >
— The Duos and Duels of Nature —

Dualities seem to assist nature:
Good/evil, on/off, hot-cold, man/woman,
Up/down, left-right, here-there, past-future, and
So, none can exist without the other.


< 195 >
— Separation Allows Duality —

There can be no more unification,
For what One could be versatile enough
To form both the electroweak force and the
Strong—as different as the north from south.


< 196 >
— A Smooth Transition —

Past that was leads to future that will be—
Transformational,—“now” in the middle
Rolling smoothly through recall, sensation,
And anticipation. Time is movement!


< 197 >
— Space/Matter Duality —

Matter forms inertial knots in space’s place,
While space places and separates the knots.
Open-endedness counters form’s closure
In the ying-yang cycle of appearance.


< 198 >
— The Élan Vitale —

Space/matter and past-future blend to create
The spirit of life as the pyramid’s core
That furthers the sparks of pair relationships
That evolve as the life of our species.


< 199 >
— What Matter Was and Will Be —

Past matter is history—what’s occurred,
While future matter is progression seen.
Matter past to future changes structure,
That which moves and/or reforms through time.


< 200 >
— What Space Was and Will Be —

Past space is remembrance—the memories,
While future space is wishes, hopes, and dreams.
Space past to future is a change of outlook—
From what is known to what might become.


< 201 >
— Past & Future & Space & Matter —

Remembering history is learning;
Wishing of a progression is vision;
We venture on into creation from
Structural changes and education;


< 202 >
— Continued —

Direction is learning from outlook’s change,
While planning’s the formation of vision;
Vision and change of outlook beget growth;
All of no-where to now-here as Being.


< 203 >
— Not-Here to Every-Where —

Life, mind, spirit, form, time, and consciousness
Derive from the fundamental content
That materialized from the unknowable,
And grant us the experience of being.

[Bogie]

Austin, I was amazed by your article with the pictures and the text.

I have often thought about the brain and the mind and how our senses work to convey the real world to us. One debate on the subject is about reality vs. or perception. I think we perceive reality on a narrow level permitted by our senses, but the reality is much more complex. We can only perceive what is necessary from that complexity to enable us to operate effectively in our environment, but to keep us from having the complexities revealed to us. Why, I wonder, or is it just evolution?

One observation is that we have discovered the full electromagnetic spectrum while only a narrow band of it is visible light. And look what we have been able to do with the rest of the spectrum.

There is much more to be discovered.

[austintorn@aol.com]

It's almost like the virtual reality hologram of our night dreams… or maybe it is one as well.

[mkirkpatrick]

Austin,an excellent and profound piece of work,masterly crafted and executed,I salute
you sir.


regards michael.

[Fluent Piffle]

Sorry, Austin. I think you have an 'intelligent' agenda to fit in somewhere, and it skewers the truth every time. Why don't you work from the premise that there is NO Greater 'force' other than Nature itself, and just be pleasantly surprised when you find to the contrary? - Or, equally as happy that you have discovered a truly Greater Truth for yourself, and that you can now know without shadows of doubt, having actually experienced the Reality?

Reality, as we perceive it, is not an 'illusion' (I mean, really, is that not a slightly mad contradiction in itself?). It is just not as permanent as we have previously believed it to be. You must account for the changes, which are real, as observed and lived.

As far as Brain function goes, I could not find the one word that describes our everyday thinking best: Judgment. Judgments are biased and personal in the extreme, no less at 'species' level. This makes us responsible for our actions, which is another reason why responsibility for judgments is shunned, why we let 'rogue' politicians do the things they do.

I feel, however, that you are close, but need to re-discover the issue of 'opposites'. You may find the urge to go from the extremes of 'permanence' to 'illusion', dissipates. 'Permanence' IS the illusion that we have carried with us, culturally, for thousands of years. Thus, it is ingrained into our language and thoughts, and difficult to 'transcend'.

The old and worn out 'tree analogy' is a non-starter. The sound-wave produced cannot depend on whether there is an ear to hear it or not. The sound-wave either exists or it doesn't. If we go and sit in a cave, does it mean that the Sun does not shine at all, in reality? Does the whole planet freeze every time someone goes pot-holeing?

The whole Universe is a wave-function (motion of what exists), so at fundamental level all waves operate in the same universal way (spherical, in-out motion). Find out for yourself, you may be amazed at how close you already are, but just need to find the truth within yourself of a realisation of the (w)holistic functioning of reality. You would then leave the tree analogies and such where they belong...


"What’s really out there,
I suppose, are waves and fields, which our minds
Sense in representative ways, like “red”. "

- Austin, you cannot 'suppose'. And do not react 'for' or 'against' my words either... Find out! Eliminate all falsity and impossibility, and what is left?

Not pulling apart, just trying to help. You are close, and your fine effort deserves a 'leg-up'..


pif.

[austintorn@aol.com]

Thanks.

As you can see "Brain Waves" is a compendium of various, even contradictory, theories I've come across or thought about. It's a quick way for me to condense the message of wordy articles and books.

The sound waves are there when the tree falls but not the sound. In a night dream only the sound is there.

[G_burnett]

Thanks.

As you can see "Brain Waves" is a compendium of various, even contradictory, theories I've come across or thought about. It's a quick way for me to condense the message of wordy articles and books.

The sound waves are there when the tree falls but not the sound. In a night dream only the sound is there.

I thought of this sound thing and the bug i have in my ear is sir how do you know that you did not register a sound in your dream from far away hearing it with other ear? Is there then any difference? Perception is perception or haven't you ever felt a sound at a rock concert? heard a color? saw a soft touch? ... interesting reading though Austin as always ..
~Peace! Graham

[Cubola Zaruka]

Some of the ideas are interesting but number 12 states that a now is 10/44 of a second long. When looking at a stopwatch I was able to watch the numbers in the hundredths of seconds column, so this estimate of a now is too long. I prefer to use the time taken for light to travel a planck length as the minimum unit.

[austintorn@aol.com]

10/44th does sound too slow, but maybe the Planck time is too fast since the brain does need some processing time.

[Andy B]

I see this thread is almost a year old by now, but I'd like to chuck in a couple of comments anyway.

1. Much of the material in "Brain waves" seems to be quoted without question. There are only two instances of the word "interpret" on this thread - and you've just read one of them. Yet all "evidence" is open to interpretation; all "facts" are open to interpretation.

Even when two people's "perceptions" seem to match they may still interpret that information differently.

2. There seems to be (relatively speaking) a lot of space given to the subject of consciousness - leading to the conclusion that we are "robots". But where is the evidence. Our "unconscious" brain is the same brain as our "conscious" brain. It can be argued, quite reasonably, that the only distinction is that we are "aware" of one but not the other, though the area/activities that we are consciously aware of may be constantly shifting (to a greater or lesser extent).

Why, then, should I assume that I have no "free will" just because many decisions are made by the (currently) unconscious area(s) of my brain? It's still MY brain making the decisions.

From a totally personal perspective, I found your initial post to be so discursive and fragmented that it actually challenged any attempt to think rationally about many of the "stanzas". Nor did I find any reason that made *me* want to read the whole 203 stanzas or give them much thought. Not because they are in any way stupid but simply because, like most people, I'd guess, I have lots of other calls on my attention. And *for me* many of those other things seem much more worthwhile.

It might be interesting to know what YOU thought/think your initial post was/is about.

Like I said at the beginning, I know things have moved on since this thread was last active. And I'd still be interested in any answer/response you might have.