Time and Physics

The Mayan, the Jews, Bose-Einstein Condensate, and then MIT. I was enraptured when Dr. Hau at MIT was able to demonstrate how time decelerates considerably as it passes through BEC. As mortal, as intelligent as we are, time and space constantly a reminder of our "size" in the scheme of the universe.
The Mayans, in their eyes, time was a circle. The Jews, time was a line. But when I saw what BEC can do to a "particle" of light, time seems ........ more tangible and perhaps even applicable, not just in physics and philosophy, but also in our tangible, dizzying world of i Phone, iPad, Tianhe-1 supercomputer, MRI Scanners, and ever faster and numerous Gadgets.
I must bow my head at how long it takes many ingenious men (Bose, Einstein, et. al.) to wrestle with the angel of time, and finally catch a glimpse of his countenance.
While we progress in our small little earth, the angel of time looks on.

P.S.: Time, is not just the "toys" of physicists, they are also the stuffs of nursing, unless we forgot Erik Erikson. Imagine that fictitious old man lying there on his bed, wrestling with integrity or despair. Like Cher said, if I could turn back......!!!

The Three C's?

I saw on the History channel that there was once a preacher, who ventured to a poor African town said, that the three C's (Christianity, commerce, and civilization) would elevate the condition of the people.

Christianity, may be, as long as the religion does not erase the culture and traditions that make the people special. Consider the tragic lost of the wisdom and wealth of knowledge of the Mayan civilization; they conceived one of the most accurate calenders ever attained by mankind.

Civilization, again depends. In the Maker's anger, man has to earn his food by the sweat of his face (Genesis 3: 19). Even Gerry Spence spoke of the "curse" of work woven within the architecture of man's life. There is only one species on earth that is "civilized", man and look at how aggressive we are towards the environment and each other in terms of our feeding upon earth's resources. We took lands upon lands for our cultivation and development, and in the process, drive "animals' out of their homes. The list goes on and on, and on. We discover E=mc [2], and pharmacology, but who has to pay for our advancement.... just look at the white mouse in the labs of drugs company, and one will get some idea. If Siddhartha considers the tramping upon an ant as cruelty, imagine what happened to all the animals when US and other counties did when they test their atom bombs, nuclear bombs, precision weaponry, etcetera.

When we build roads, animals' habitat get segregated, and many of them get killed by cars as they tried to cross to the other side. So what if a mother deer got killed, or a young cougar got hit by a speeding car, right.

Commerce, again, is a two edge sword. A very sharp sword. Capitalism though something enjoyed by the successful and the wealthy and the superwealthy, is more a curse to billions than a blessing; the well being of the planet aside.

The poor across the globe needs the three C's? May be we the in the "developed" nations need the three C's more than they, the "poor". I am quite sure the planet didn't need it in the first place.

Modernism, Revisited

What is Modernism. I think its a studied, measured, and disciplined rebellion. To me it means more than an architectural style, or break from the past, or culture; its the basic tendency in any conscious breathing human thinker of any time/era to question the status quo. Thus, if you question the way American children learn in schools, you are a modernist. If you question about the way the modern man lives, you are a modernist. If you question, the very act of questioning, about anything, in any setting, you are a modernist.

To me, modernism is the audacity and the will to question. Thus Prince Siddharta is a modernist when he questioned the human condition, a long time ago. A nurse, or one who practices nursing is a modernist if he/she question the way the modern society approach "healthcare".

Its much easier to go with the flow than to be a modernist, I would caution, but the good of overcoming the gravity of conventionalism can .........well, bring man to the moon and beyond!

But regardless of the outcome of being a modernist, I propose this humble question, can a human be principled in a chaotic world without the will to question?

Mental Instituion 3X, Imprisoned Once...

The journey of the soul.....in our world that is obsessed with success
and images of health and competence and unblemished resumes....the
trials of the soul in this terrestrial continuum has purpose only the
angels can fathom and appreciate....

I wrote this as response to P. Coehlo's remembrance of his youthful trials....

"Every day of my youth was very difficult. I was three times in a mental institution, I was arrested and tortured by the paramilitary in Brazil. And yet, when I remember it now, those were very interesting years. Because I was young, and I was overcoming all obstacles.", P. Coehlo.

Jewish have a saying that in order to rise to the top, one must descend to the bottom.....In his youthful trials, while his peers were riding the waves of success and functionality, being behind the walls of mental institution and prison, is a taboo to the secular gaze; I am "sure" even Paulo cursed himself..he might be profoundly sadden to feel that his mother is sadden by his lot.....

I remember a renowned christian author once wrote that "there is greatness in being, and there is success in doing"; the younger Coehlo, in retrospect was in the state of being....like Gandhi's journey of being....its never easy.....

The Heart and Our Future...

This is a little hard to write....have you seen some parents with children of special needs....whether its Down Syndrome, or autistism; how you seen how the parents love these children.....From nature-evolutionary angle, reason can make little sense out of this.....I remember in the Eskimo culture that the elders would sacrifice themselves for the survival of the young in times of scarcity. This particular altruistic example of [Love] makes sense; it satisfies the reason and heart of an observer, but sacrificing [Love] and resources for children of special needs, makes "no" sense....(don't get angry dear readers, wait til the end of this posting; like I said, this is not easy). Another example that makes "no" sense is sacrificing resources for people with terminal cancer....If you ask Deep Blue, the supercomputer to decide which ship to deliver given limited stocks of nails/hammers/paint/fuel: Ship A, an old old ship that is leaking in multiple places, or Ship B, a brand new ship with only one leak. Deep Blue would pick Ship B, I would guess.

But parents of "special" children, would save Ship A, even if resources were scarce. Mr. Reason and perhaps, just perhaps, Chief National Economic Adviser would scratch their heads;these parents wouldn't. The answer, as you already know before I even mention it, is the overused and abused word called [Love]. Its synonymous with the Heart.

From the biologist-scientist-philosopher standpoint, this is fascinating because, [Love] is something that can't be observed and quantified under a microscope, or within a particle collider. Its like the dark matter, it can be studied and "observed" only via its effects and consequences; like the studies advocated by Dr. Dean Ornish.

Perhaps, one can design a Love-particle-detector and discover its spin, angular momentum, and charge value.

But I digressed. The wonder and poignant beauty in the scenario of the loving parents is that, it tells me that the Heart is superior as compared to either Super-DeepBlue or the most powerful of electron microscope/Hubble telescope in reasoning power or visual capacity. Its superior because it sees a dimension that cannot be tapped by the strongest of instruments or brain power.

God bless these parents and their precious children....

P.S.: Imagine if all the powerful nations treat each other with the Heart rather than with Reason;.....Fear is what I suspect that led strong nations to prefer Reason over Heart...I mean the Heart wouldn't tell you to invest billions in nuclear arsenals over building more schools and paying teachers more.....right?...

Need Not Be A Physicist To Be A Nurse...

It's true, you need not be a physicist to be a nurse. It's hard to imagine though, that we could do without MRI Scan in the hospital if someone with a particular illness needs it. We can be quite "helpless" in the absence of these "machines". It's even harder to imagine designing MRI machine without a physicist; really hard. You need not know Hamlet to be a nurse too, but yet you are bound to bump into Hamlet, as you take English as part of the prerequisite to enter the nursing curriculum.

So, why physics and nursing? What is the connection or disconnection, here.

What am I trying to say here. Perhaps, what I am endeavoring to elucidate is that, even-though the amount of physics/chemistry/Hamlet one need to know in order to function as a nurse/interior designer/janitor/president of the US may be minuscule compare to that of a trained physicist/engineer, learning about these subjects, provided there is a yearning, reflects the nature of our species, mankind. We as a species, regardless of professions, yearn to learn, irrespective of the presence of any practical implications.

One might ask, "so?".

Pondering Man @ 2 years Before 2012

I was near a lake. I pondered and thought of how similar modern man's condition is to Gilgamesh'; though we are not aspiring immortality, we in a way are pursuing immortality. Billionaires do so by making more money. Some women buy anti-aging products. Neighbors congratulate each others achievements, and try to outdo each other simultaneously. A Lexus is not enough, may be a Bentley. It seems the whisper is losing grip amidst the powerful winds in our secular world of "courteous gradation".

Augustus dediticum.

I received a lifestyle magazine from Acura a while back. In the magazine there were of course photos of Acura cars, but there were also a few stories on some people who changed their career directions. One former lawyer became a jeweler, and another former contractor became a medical doctor when he was already in his forties. What fascinates me is the stirring within their hearts before they made that bold leap to change, and to jump beyond the stratosphere. That stirrings though not everyone needs it, but if it does take place within one's bosom,interpreting the significance of its echo is only the beginning, the rest however is what differentiate between a bright ensign and a distant twinkle.

Digitalis Purpurae, Anyone?

Oiver Sacks wrote about ferns in his Oaxaca Journal; and Winston Churchill painted with brush and paint. Good or bad, the renditions, he painted. Man's interests or talents can't be contained in neatly measured boxes of secular artificiality. His talents and interests could and should be as broad and far reaching in accordance to the dictates of his/her spirit. So, it is for me, an RN writing about digitalis purpurae, sea snail, agalychnis callidryas, and papaver somniferum. If that is not enough, I might throw in superstring theory in the mix; but that might be too much, for now, anyway.
From botany to marine creatures, to tree frogs and back to botany; diverse, certainly, but they are "related to" nursing, in that the chemistry contributions from these plants and animals, are the droplets of "inspirations" for many of our modern medicine, and pharmacological-therapy. But this is where, I intend to make the crucial point, I enjoy the naturalist aspects of this sampling from nature irrespective to their relevance to the medical field; their medical relevance is a plus, rather than a must to hold my fascination of the beauty and secrets in Mother Nature.

To champion the romantic and ethereal, without abandoning the pragmatics, that is what I am trying to convey in a nutshell.