Glass half empty or half full. Your both WRONG!

What does glass half empty or full mean anyway?  Every glass is full everywhere.  There is usually variable amounts of air, but nonetheless every glass is full.  However, what you say about this says more about you than you realize.

Let me explain...

Reality is that the glass is always full, unless you live on the cusp of a black hole and half your glass is in it.  It is full of air, water, juice, or whatever cool-aid your drinking today including this philosophical bullshit. It is still full though, and anyone telling you it is not is trying to sell you something for your glass.

In life...

You have not had time for anything more than you already did. You don't get a chance to do it twice.  Your cup is always full.  You put more cool aid in and you lose air.  You know what happens when your brain loses air? You don't die right away, instead you turn into a clumsy, stumbling, walking blueberry.

So...

The cup is overfilling.  It always is.  Air is spilling in and out, and if that cup is sideways you might only have air in your cup.  Make your cup straight and put what you want in it.

I'm sorry, your hard life has only given you half the blessings you deserve.

For heavens sake.. Stop believing there is a void in your cup!

How to lose me as a friend.

It is inevitable that there are those out there that do not want to be my friend.  I am glad, but sometimes you just don't make it apparent. So that I do not waste time and worry wondering if you are really my friend or not, I wanted to write a quick guide to make it easier for you to show me how I am  your friend.

There are some things that are very important to me in relationships.  One of them is respect.  Disrespect can take many forms.  To make this rather simple I will try to make a bullet point list for quick reference to make sure you show me your relationship intentions clearly.  Successfully done, and I will know that control and power actually mean more to you than listening to and respecting my feelings.

• Don't appreciate it when I am sharing time with you.  Instead attempt to make me feel guilty for the times I wasn't there for you.  Accuse me of not being a good friend. Tell me how little I value you, and make reference to me throwing away our friendship.  I will realize that engaging in such conversations is a higher emotional toll than I can pay and will find others to bug. 
• Make sure I hear things I only shared with you from other people.  There is nothing I like better than a person that lets me know right away how much I can trust them.  Do this sooner rather than later. 
• After you complete the last few task I am less likely to be contacting you. Try and get mutual friends to influence me to talk to you. This is where you call mutual friends and persuade them to discuss this with me. I love to make my personal relationships everyone's business and truly enjoy justifying myself to our mutual friends for not taking your crap. 
• Make no apologies.  Why should you change a thing.  I am not going to change to enjoy such treatment so why should you for being yourself.  When I explain to you I do not have time, am busy, tired, or otherwise over-extended it is best to really give me some guilt. Tell me about sickness, cancers, death, and drama.  Every moment you wish I was with you and I wasn't should be brought up, this is especially effective if it is a decision I had to make for someone else.  This will show your compassion for the others I love in my life. Completely ignore what I am going through.  Make sure I know that your issues is all your thinking about. 
• Anger. When you harbor anger because you believe I am not 'doing my job' being your friend this manifest in gloriously fun ways. When passive insults start getting tossed around about me as jokes I instantly understand this. This social manipulation can be used to instigate many negative feelings. You can use tools such as tears, sarcasm, and pity to create powerful divisions among group friends. 
• Jealousy.  When you feel insecure make sure you question me about everyone else.  Demand your place in my heart. 

Remember, you do not have to be my friend.  I choose my true friends by character. Please do not hesitate to demonstrate what being your friend will be like early on.  The clearer you can make it, the sooner I can establish a quality relationship distance with you.

Photography Practice at Pacific Grove

ISO 100 - 18 mm - f/22 - 1/3 sec 

During Easter weekend I went to Pacific Grove to practice taking photos. The photos below were taken during Blue Hour.

I tried to take slow shutter speed photos during the daylight hours, but without a dark filter on my lens I was not able to get less than 1/8 sec without overexposure.

During the evening hours I returned to Lover's Point Pacific Grove to catch the photos below. 

ISO 100 - 18 mm - f/14 - 5 sec

I started out with a high aperture setting to get everything in focus.  I gradually backed the aperture out to f/8 in the end to gather more light and focus on the rocks. 

All these pictures were taken with a infrared shutter remote and tripod.  It would be impossible to get long shutter speed shots in focus otherwise.  Even still you can see a slight amount of shutter vibration in some of the lower shutter speed photos.

At the end of this photo session I moved down to the beach level for a different angle.

ISO 100 - 18 mm - f/13 - 4 sec

Next time I do a long shutter speed photo session of moving water I will try to make the following preparations.

• Take a dark filter for daylight photos.
• Take more photos.
• Wait till the sun sets more for longer exposure times. 
• Bring better clothes to keep warm and comfortable. 

ISO 100 - 26 mm - f/8 - 3 sec

ISO 100 - 55 mm - f/13 - 3 sec

ISO 100 - 18 mm - f/8 - 2.5 sec

Are You More Yin or Yang? Quiz

We are all caught somewhere in the Dao.  Either more on the Yin side or Yang side.  We continually fluctuate throughout our lives between Yin and Yang although through our instincts Yang usually comes more naturally to us. It is Yin that most Zen seekers find for balance. You will notice as you take this quiz many questions you may have answered differently at a different time, and you may answer it differently in the future.  This quiz will let you know where you are at this point in time.  Not which way you are moving. 

UPDATE:
Google changed something that broke my code for the quiz so I removed it. Apologies to those that never found out how Zen they are. The quiz was built upon a PDF posted to the internet by Dr Cort Curtis on his website. The quiz was just an adaptation of the manual quiz he posted below.
http://www.achangeinthinking.com/

The PDF can be accessed directly HERE, and has additional information. Alternatively, you can also take this quiz manually by printing out this PDF.

Death and Beyond

Every Religion Requires Belief in Life After Death

Most people of this world agree that intuitively our energy does not cease when it leaves our bodies. Everyone from every religion around the world believes in this basic principle. It is the most common and fundamental belief of the ethereal thought process.

“To be afraid of death is only another form of thinking that one is wise when one is not; it is to think that one knows what one does not know. No one knows with regard to death wheather it is not really the greatest blessing that can happen to man; but people dread it as though they were certain it is the greatest evil." -The Last Days of Socrates”
~ Plato

Life after death gives us hope.  Our conscious mind cannot perceive itself not existing simply because it exist. If we simply returned to the dust, with no continuing purpose our lives would be miserable and full of despair. According to ancient Egyptians it was the one true hell.  To think you are limited and reduced to a mere carbon life form that will be no more at the end of it's physical life is the one true hell.  To believe in dust will only bring emptiness and despair because there is no hope for freedom. We are then subjected to the eternal torture of our own physical ailments because they signal the end of all that is to us.

Energy never ceases, but does change forms. 

Any given energy becomes stronger when focused, and dissipates as it spreads.  It never ceases though.  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction proving this. Heat energy can change to electrical energy, and electrical energy can spark fire. Fire disperses it's energy, but it is not gone.

“The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.”
― Plato

We as carbon beings can use the energies around us in a focused way in order to leverage dominance over our domain. We as energy sources ourselves can bend, move, and displace other energies as we will.

They say we lose a few grams of weight when we die. Does the soul have physical properties that can be measured? We can measure the electrical currents our body produces. We know that as long as we can move that we can synthesis energy from other forms of energy.  We consume food which was other life material, produced by sunlight.  We live off the sun, the sun is energy. We are energy.

Ego and the physical form. 
It is my belief that ego only exist in the physical form. When we are not in the physical form we are void of ego. In our sleep and when we are unconscious we experience being without a sense of ego. Ego is the sense of self.  When this sense is inflated we gain a sense of control, a sense of progress, and investment. Humiliation on the other hand is when someone degrades your self investment. Humiliation is the trigger for violent behavior. Death in the physical sense is threatened almost exclusively because of the ego in the physical realm. Since the ego is reflected to oneself in the physical realm it cannot transpire in the non-physical realm.

Good and Evil

"Selfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion."
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Most of what we interpret as evil actions are selfish acts imposed by others.  They are a product of the ego. Take away our physical form and we cease to find evil as we know it.  Punishments for crime are imposed for theft, lust, control, or power.  Every violent act in the physical realm has no consequence in the spiritual realm, other than returning you to it.

If you thought for a moment that the person you killed could come back to life in another time and give you grief you would be less likely to attack them. There lies a sense of eternal investment.  In the spirit of ourselves and those we love. This gives us hope and the courage it takes to fully live our lives.

Dissipating Energy

The closest thing I can describe as a true cause to evil acts is the sense of desperation of the ego. It is selfish, but not just to others, but the self. The ego will destruct itself if it is left unchecked. Humility will come. Energy is either growing concentrated or dispersing. People who's energy is dispersing are ok with it. Actions manifest in their lives that give fruit to their spirit. Throwing trash out the window, having little regard for others safety, not bathing, violent acts, drug use to escape. These are signs of dispersing or dissipating energy, and to those that it is happening to; they are alright with it.

Concentrated Energy

This is the most active of energies.  It occurs when we have a celestial purpose.  One that supersedes this life. This sprouts selflessness as we grow.  When we love ourselves we show others love too.  It all begins in ourselves. There is no end to love in this stage, and sacrifice is not at a cost, but returns a blessing.

Karma

Karma is the reaction of the universe to our own actions.  It is neither good or evil, but a name for what comes back around when we do something. When we see karma we either think it is a blessing, or justice.

Fear of Death
Death is inevitable and therefore illogical to worry about. Regardless of your religion or beliefs it is going to happen to you too. Since we cannot change that we must concentrate only on the living, as long as we are.

“[T]hose who practice philosophy in the right way are in training for dying and they fear death least of all men.”
~ Plato, Phaedo

A Horse Named Karma

I approached the storm, the clouds are dark, and the air is cold.
No stranger to the darkness I ride along.
Attacked by deceit, wounded with pain
I carry the wrath of others sins for them.

Spears of guilt, threats of fear
strengthen the ego and pride.
Control is the illusion of grandeur,
a veil over the emptiness of despair.

Karma is my horse, and keeps me high above the mud.
I trust in Karma and he carries me safe
Those that fear, those afraid and weak,
loath the sight of Karma as it comes near.

Energy is either growing, or receding.
Death is welcomed by the receding,
growing energy cannot be stopped.
Impenetrable by death the light shines truth.

Truth is the evidence of action.
Trails of trust left by time and will.
Leave reminders that love causes change,
shining light into the darkest storms.

The clouds open for a moment.
When the sun shines the illusion is gone.
The fear is void and suffering ceases.
The weak all hide from themselves.

The wrath I carry is not mine to give.
Karma takes me where it must go.
With no anger I have no enemies
Anger first destructs it's host.

The power of the wrath breeds in fear,
multiplies in anger, and believes love weak.
The wrath I carry is not for my vengeance,
but those that take it, harm only themselves.

Crystals and Metaphysics to me

A set of chakra stones I keep at work. 

I have always found rocks and semi-precious stones fascinating. Every person I know at one point has picked up a rock or crystal and felt some attraction to it.

My first memorable experience was with a large Iron Pyrite crystal I purchased when I was 8 for $1.  I thought it was cool that people thought it was gold.  It felt valuable and similar to what my young mind would imagine as a huge chunk of gold.

Small part of my collection.

I carried that stone around with me, brought it to school to show my friends and kept it on display in my room.  I can still remember the shape of this stone, the large cubed crystals sticking out of it. I remember how it made me feel to this very day.

Whether it is vibrations of the stone, magical powers, or just the soothing color of the yellow it made an impression on me.

Crystals have proven energy.

Crystals have been a subject of research for centuries. The patterned alignment of atoms in various shapes as elements crystallize is still a mystery for the most part.  Every electronic device we use is made up of elements such as gold, quartz, silicone, and aluminum. We use these elements to communicate, heal, calculate, and assist us in our task.

Peizo crystals

Petrified wood I found in AZ.

All those lighters, and gas stove igniters that click click poof.  They operate by Piezoelectricity.  Simply put there is a small piece of quartz crystal with a metallic spring loaded hammer.  When the hammer strikes the quartz a small electric charge is created. This is what ignites the gas.

Clocks

We keep the most accurate time by counting the vibrations of atoms in elements.  Such as the Atomic Clock.

Sugar Crystals

One skeptic told me one time that the only crystal that gives us energy is sugar.  Yes, it does form very shapely crystals and gives us a large burst of energy. So does salt, copper, iron, and many minerals that aid in the smooth operation of our organic bodies.

Uranium

Just another mysterious rock until the 19th century.  It was discovered that very large amount of energy can be emitted by charging and refining this material then exposing two cores to each other.

Sacred Geometry

Throughout history there have been several shapes we find have very mysterious properties. These shapes are caused by the alignment of atoms in elements as they cool, or condense. Why the specific shapes? We have copied nature in our architecture and design.

Old as the Earth

Local serpentine stone from Calaveras CA. 

Rocks have spanned billions of years before we were here. There are rocks all over space, trillions of them. If we re-incarnate after thousands of years we will still see the same patterns, colors, and shapes of the stones. As a re-incarnate point of reference we can find ourselves in touch with pre-life incarnations of our energy.

Amazing Gifts

As my brother pointed out all of the metaphysical properties of all these stones are positive ones. While there is such a thing as too much good, giving a gemstone can only come from the heart. There is no way to give a rock with ill intentions.  Unless of course you use momentum or force.