Our Place

We are but tiny cells in the service of the organism that is Mother Earth.

Q: What does it mean to be a cell in an organism?
A: A cell's function in an organism is simply to do it's job as effectively as possible, replace itself, then get out of the way for it's progeny to do the same. To put it simply - work, reproduce, die.

As humans we tend to think of ourselves as the unit of importance, however differing orders of magnification efficiently humble that point of view. Considering the insignificance of a single cell in our own bodies and following the analogy:

• cell -> body : body -> earth

We can begin to think of our family units, corporations, countries, governments, tribes, genders and all other groupings arbitrary or otherwise as bodily organs. Then I begin to think about renegade countries, how the consume too many resources, draw attention from other matters and drag society down. Dangerous religious memes such as radical Islam grow beyond their borders spilling into other countries just as cancers refuse to respect the intended limits of their growth.

Communication among cells is done by chemistry and electricity. This serves the body very well for both autonomic and voluntary muscle systems and brain functions. Similarly, societal communications have moved increasingly toward this model. First with telegraph, then telephones, then with cellular phones and most recently through the use of mobile computing. As Moore's Law continues to predict that electronics become smaller and smaller coupled with the dropping price, increasing speed and , take note, advances in Human-Computer interfacing and Brain Computer Interfacing, it becomes easy to imagine an impressively tiny computer device that we will be able to control with our thoughts, essentially having the ability to "instantly" communicate around the globe.

So if we're the Earth's cells, what completes the next analogy?

• body -> earth : earth -> ??

Determinism vs Free Will

There is no mind absolute or free will, but the mind is determined for willing this or that by a cause which is determined in its turn by another cause, and this one again by another, and so on to infinity.

(Benedictus de Spinoza, 1673)

It's an age old question. Do we have free will? Or are our actions predetermined by conditions of our environment, genes, and prior events?

It seems an easy analogy between these two situations:

The first - Waking up on a given day, we remember it is trash day, get dressed and proceed to collect and distribute the trash to the curb.

And the second - Tripping at the top of the stairs, we tumble down, step by step and are predictably in pain.

While we will readily acknowledge the second of these scenarios as lacking choice, we are less apt to do so with the first. The argument might go something like this...

I choose to take the trash out because otherwise it will accumulate and smell. Or I may choose not to take the trash out because there is a small amount this week and it's cold outside.

Both of these elements of reasoning include a 'because' factor which effectively determines our actions. Continue in this line of logic and one can readily come to the conclusion that all of our actions are predetermined.

Modern quantum physics suggest that there only exist probabilities of actions happening. For example, whenever we knock a cup off the counter, it has a very large likelihood of breaking into bits when it hits the floor. However there is an infinitesimally small chance of it actually passing through the floor! This may suggest that while it may seem that our actions are predetermined, that in fact there is are small probabilities for some actions occurring while others have a bit larger probabilities.

Like whether we take out the trash on a cold day... :)

The Path to True Happiness

Everything in life changes. The path to true happiness is one of integrating and fully accepting all aspects of our experience. This integration is represented in the Taoist symbol of yin/yang, a circle which is half dark and half light. In the midst of the dark area is a spot of light, and in the midst of the light area is a spot of darkness. Even in the depths of darkness, the light is implicit. Even in the heart of light, the dark is understood, acknowledged, and absorbed, If things are not going well for us in life and we are suffering, we are not defeated by the pain or closed off to the light. If things are going well and we are happy, we are not defensively trying to deny the possibility of suffering.

–Sharon Salzberg, from Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (Shambhala)