Consciousness-raising

[renaissancekid]

Anyone else here spend so much time studying perspective that you connected the dots and realized that your perspectives attained from positions outside (in the world)are from the sphere of the earth we commonly see in image format in books/on television/on interenet, etc?

Anyone raise their consciousness level so high that they felt drawn to study the cosmos professionally and give up art?

[Sammy]

I've been wachin' a lot of Carl Sagan lately too.....

[renaissancekid]

Precisely.

[Sammy]

:]

well it's not all for loss --- you don't have to give up your creative abilities. It's profound how much people of study aren't supported, and America has recently been losing its scientific edge. but with the interweb, you can always connect to the most scientific supported nation and help them out with all the illustration they need...... and yes, the cosmos has very little illustrative support.

there hasn't been a good portrayal yet of the "new earth" and what it would look like from the surface.

I wouldn't know how to put you in contact with these people, since I've been trying to find them for quite some time :/

[renaissancekid]

Yeah, I really can't walk outside or do anything without blowing my brain to bits by considering multiple perspectives of our solar system/galaxy simulataneously, then contemplating how easy it is to fall prey to the intoxicating experience that is traditional perception.

I feel like I don't want to go back to regular life anymore. I used to play games and watch television/movies. Nearly half a year now has passed (I've stopped watching/playing). I no longer find them interesting. Now I'm standing outside at night in awe feeling ten thousand chills run down my spine.

[Costau D]

Yeah, I've been having the same notion as well. Not due to perspective practice, but what sammy said. Carl Sagan, and documentaries on Steven hawking. You will find this nifty little flash demonstration quite interesting.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension





Click the spinning numbers.

[renaissancekid]

I've seen that flash animation. Truly amazing.

[Costau D]

If you go the route I think you're going, kudos to you man. I hope you're good with numbers. We need more people in the business of studying the cosmos.

If the knowledge of this study could be taught to all people, maybe it will make it seem like the problems in Human exhistance are so irrelevant we may have some fucking peace and God can get some sleep at night. Figuratively speaking.

[renaissancekid]

It's tough. I've gotten through a good deal of the hard work necessary. I didn't expect this to happen.

One thing that tears me apart is this -- we're probably going to have a manned Mars mission in the next 20 or 30 years. Why don't we have oodles of people lining up for that now? How amazing would that be? The first human eyes to gaze upon Mars from its surface. Literally, a floating orb that has teased mankind with it's secrets for far too long.

Only thing I can think is that it's just too damn hard to find the cosmos more interesting than _____ thing or ______ thing.

So hard... Even studying the information sent back from those lucky enough to make the trip would be sufficiently mind-blowing.

[renaissancekid]

.......

[Costau D]

Don't forget. I'm sure you already know this. But on a calm surface such as the ocean, when looking at the horizon that is 8 miles, give or take a few.

[DeadlyFreeze]

One thing that tears me apart is this -- we're probably going to have a manned Mars mission in the next 20 or 30 years. Why don't we have oodles of people lining up for that now? How amazing would that be? The first human eyes to gaze upon Mars from its surface. Literally, a floating orb that has teased mankind with it's secrets for far too long.

If NASA even survives in the next 20 to 30 years I'll be pretty shocked. We got a whole mess or problems just on the horizon.

[renaissancekid]

Yeah. NASA's having a hard time finding a purpose. Budget issues, space station, moonbase..... love triangles...

[renaissancekid]

I didn't know that it was 8 miles Lugh.

[HunterKiller_]

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

Thanks for the link. I really enjoyed that.

[Gnosis]

I feel like I don't want to go back to regular life anymore. I used to play games and watch television/movies. Nearly half a year now has passed (I've stopped watching/playing). I no longer find them interesting. Now I'm standing outside at night in awe feeling ten thousand chills run down my spine.

I feel the same way.

Games, movies and most programs on television have largely lost their entertainment value to me, and I find it much more rewarding to wander about in the forests and mountains, contemplating existence and my own position in the universe. It might sound pretentious to most people, and I understand that, but this is the way I've come to feel after thinking a lot and studying philosophy, cosmology, astronomy and biology in my spare time during the course of my lifetime.

But on the other hand, things like Wikipedia and YouTube have given me the possibility to immerse myself in documentaries and talks given by people like Richard Dawkins, Aubrey de Grey, Jeff Hawkins, Brian Greene, Carl Sagan, Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, Terence McKenna, Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson and other prominent thinkers and futurists.

I quit, or took a break from, visual arts a year ago to pursue a career as a novelist instead, and now I'm writing novels and shortstories on a daily basis in my native language, Norwegian, since my comprehension of English still is too weak to translate my ideas to that language.

I only have a few close friends whom I meet regularly nowadays, since I find most people uninteresting and stupid, and I can't stand their company unless I'm drunk or high on endorphines, dopamine or serotonin. I've experienced my most profound feelings of loneliness in the company of people whom I don't have any intellectual or "spiritual" connection with.
When I'm actually alone I find that I can regulate my emotions simply by neuro-linguistically programming my brain with positive thoughts and affirmations. There are still some fluctuations, but they're manageable, and creative activities gets the neurotransmitters flowing and gives me the necessary high to survive another day in this rather sad world pestered with religious lunacy and ignorant, power-hungry politicians.

(I must add that the novel I'm currently writing is mostly focused on sex, drugs, religion, horror and social dynamics. Not too deep in other words.)

[plundh]

I'm finishing my first year of physics at this very moment, and have had a really hard time deciding between art and science. I've finally settled on the latter because the sad fact is; awe of stars and galaxies is simply not enough, you have to love math to get anywhere. I've had electromagnetics this year and only thinking about all the other boring subjects I'd have to plow through before arriving at astrophysics is daunting. I had calculus exams last week, and I still hate math with a passion. Still, deciding what I wanted to do was basically a toss up. Hopefully I'll be at RCAD this fall, but everytime I see another Hubble photo, I sense a feeling of doubt...

Might as well share this speech by astrophysicist and hero of mine Neil DeGrasse Tyson. It's interesting for two reasons; in the first part he describes an opposite experience where he as a scientist had a revelation through art. In part two he simply shares his awe of the universe and discusses the feeling of insignificance.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

I feel the need to point out that this is junk science written by some musician.

...
Last but not least:

[Gnosis]

DeGrasse Tyson is cool. Here's another film with him that I liked, where he shows his talent as a comedian as well. It's about "stupid design" as opposed to intelligent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgSaT...elated&search=

The ones where he's discussing with Dawkins are also quite good, if my memory serves me right.

[renaissancekid]

.......

[Gnosis]

In this cosmos with a purpose, certain fundamentalists can say without the slightest hint of ambiguity that playing Grand Theft Auto 4 365 days a week is wrong, breaking a standard that was somehow set before the beginning of time (aka, their god said it's wrong.)

Well, playing any game 365 days a week would not only be wrong, but quite impossible, really ...
But I get your point, and the rest of your post was great and mostly filled with truth (from my subjective perspective, that is).

[renaissancekid]

year.

[renaissancekid]

Zvuv,

Thanks for the interesting perspective. What kind of feelings did you experience? Was the year more fulfilling than art? Was it worth it to know that you were living on your sphere, in a quest with specific members of your species to understand the cosmos?

I would imagine that it would have it's own perks and pleasures. One would involve you feeling separated from the vast majority who are content to exist in 'flatland' professionally.

[armando]

An example from my notes. (please pardon the personal feeling you get when reading them. I even repeat the example again at the end to make it a bit clearer. Not trying to be neat here...)

I didn't even bother reading it, basically looks like a rant. If you want to communicate a point, you should take the time to edit it, if it's worth saying it deserves to be said clearly.

You do realize the irony that it's because of the entertainment industry that you arose to whatever conclusion that you did?

[renaissancekid]

'''''

[2100]

Perspective is only the way our brains interpret converging light. We use it to create the illusion of depth. That's all that should concern you...

[renaissancekid]

........

[Seedling]

You can make a religion out of anything if you stare at it long enough.

[Cthogua]

Yeah, I really can't walk outside or do anything without blowing my brain to bits by considering multiple perspectives of our solar system/galaxy simulataneously, then contemplating how easy it is to fall prey to the intoxicating experience that is traditional perception.

I love this thread, thank you Renaisancekid. I know exactly what you mean in that quote above. It's thoughts like the one's you've described that keep me afloat amoungst the sea of everyday life. Sometimes the enormity and complexity of our universe is almost overwhleming...in a good way. Overwhelming in an awe inspiring, drown out the inane babble of the media, shrivel the squabbling nations of man kind of way. Unfortunatly we're trained from a pretty early age not to think about stuff like that. That it's "weird" or frightening. It threatens the supremecy of mankind to remember that we are a tiny speck amoungst a vast cosmic ocean. Then theres the other attitude of just dismissing it because of the "whoa man" hippy factor. Alot of people react to these kinds of ideas simply by filing them under "Hippy Nonsense" and move about their grey day.

I have a really neat book called "Supervision" that starts with atomic level electron miscroscope images, and goes all the way up to a simulated image of the local supercluster of galaxies. One of the things that I found the most interesting is reoccuring structures across varying scales...basically fractals. In one part of the book there is a picture or a mycelial network, the network fungus forms underground to transport nutrients and water, and in another part there is an image of a cluster of neurons, and the structures of the two networks are very similar....Well then I get to the end of the book and the simulated image of the supercluster and it looks just like a neural network in its formation. The idea of structural harmonics across VAST differences in scale is something I just can't stop thinking about. It gives rise to questions about the emergence of our conciousness from the structures and systems within our brain and the existence of larger, and smaller scale structures creating intelligence.

Also, just to add a thought...All the perspectives and experiences you have and can imagine are neurologically generated. Our experience of the "real world" is a multidimensional hologram created by the brain using interpreted stimulus from sensory organs and into which our sense of "self" is projected. I'm not arguing that a world doesn't exist outside of ourselves, but that the thing that we call "real" is just the tinest slice of it that our sensory organs are equiped to detect.

[Cthogua]

You can make a religion out of anything if you stare at it long enough.

and thus Seedling discovers the nature of the universe. Everything contains "the answer", because everything is part of the universe. You can make a "religion" by staring at anything long enough because eventually you will realize through that thing, that all things are connected.

Now I don't mean "make a religion" in like making a cult, getting followers, defining moralities, or even creating a structure by which the universe was created...I mean it in a more basic, unification with the whole, mystic sense, that I think is the real root of all religious impulse.

[armando]

we are a tiny speck amoungst a vast cosmic ocean.

I've never understood this kind of thinking. Why should big pieces of rock floating in a void be more important or interesting than the complex social interactions of humans.
"Unfortunatly we're trained from a pretty early age not to think about stuff like that." I don't agree with that either. Everyone is taught about the solar system, we all have seen or read sci-fi stories, it either captures someones imagination or it doesn't.