Vinaire's Blog

Reference: The Book of Subject Clearing

Mindfulness provides the discipline for looking and contemplation. It is “seeing things as they are.”

Once you have purged most of your present physical and mental discomfort you are now prepared to enter mindfulness meditation.

In this exercise you do not do anything. You simply let the changes occur on their own accord. Such changes shall settle down after a while if you don’t interfere with them.

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EXERCISE: MEDITATION

PURPOSE: To learn to look at the mind objectively

GUIDING PRINCIPLE: The 12 Aspects of Mindfulness

STEPS:

Please see the audio recording for the instructions below.

1. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply and exhale fully.

2. After breathing deeply, hold your breath for 5 seconds. Then you exhale and hold your breath for 3 seconds before inhaling again.

3. Let’s practice it once. Inhale… hold… one-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three, one-thousand four, one-thousand five… exhale fully… hold… one-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three… inhale.

4. Do this controlled breathing at least five times, then resume normal breathing.

5. Become aware of the body and stay aware of it without interfering with its natural movements, such as, breathing. Do not resist anything.

6. Become aware of the mind and stay aware of it without interfering with its natural processes, such as, thoughts and feelings. Do not suppress anything.

7. Become aware of what your physical and mental senses present to you, such as, visual forms, sounds, smells, taste, touch, thoughts, emotions, and impulses. Do not strain to perceive them.

8. Let the body move in response to the natural impulses from the mind. Do not try to control the body movements. Let them unwind and settle down on their own accord.

9. Let the mind respond naturally to the stimuli present in the environment. Do not try to control the mental responses. Let them unwind and settle down on their own accord.

10. Let physical reactions, such as, twitches in muscles, minor pains and aches, sleepiness, etc., come and go. Don’t resist them. Experience the body thoroughly as a whole. Such reactions shall unwind and settle down on their own accord.

11. Let mental reactions, such as, embarrassment, guilt, anxiety, anger, fear, grief, apathy, and even sleep, come and go. Don’t suppress them. Experience the mind non-judgmentally as a whole. Such reactions shall unwind and settle down on their own accord.

12. If you find yourself mentally doing something else, or getting lost in thoughts, then simply recognize it, and continue. Let the attention roam freely.

13. Let the “pictures” of the current and past events come and go. Let the feelings, emotions and sensations play themselves out. Do not speculate on anything. Simply be aware.

14. Let the realizations present themselves without you making any effort.

15. Continue.

[Continue silently for the rest of the meditation period.]

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Here is an audio recording of instructions to get you started on the above.

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From Wikipedia article on Copernican heliocentrism:

“Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. It positioned the Sun near the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets rotating around it in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform speeds. The Copernican model departed from the Ptolemaic system that prevailed in Western culture for centuries, placing Earth at the center of the Universe, and is often regarded as the launching point to modern astronomy and the Scientific Revolution.”

From Wikipedia article on Galileo Galilei:

“Galileo’s championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, and they concluded that it could only be supported as a possibility, not as an established fact. Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.”

The geocentric viewpoint was so embedded in the minds of the 17^th century scientists that the heliocentric viewpoint took a long time to be accepted. But when finally that happened it created a scientific revolution.

The prevailing viewpoint in science today can aptly be described as matter-centrism. Current science looks at space and energy through the filter of matter. The Theory of Relativity looks at light travelling relative to matter. Quantum Mechanics looks at energy as discrete “particles” in the fashion of matter.

Recently I asked the following question on Quora,

Relative to light, all objects are moving at the “speed of light”. So what is the big deal about a spaceship moving at the speed of light?

This question innocently reversed the prevailing viewpoint on relativity. It looked at matter moving relative to light instead of light moving relative to matter. Nothing else was changed. The “speed of light” remained a universal constant as before.

But the protests were immediate. “Your opening assumption is not consistent with the known physics.” “There is no such thing as the frame of reference of light.” “To say we’re traveling at the speed of light relative to a light ray is superficially true, but irrelevant.” “None of what you said makes sense. That is not how speed of light is defined.” etc.

Why can’t we consider matter moving relative to light? Did Einstein provide a reason against it? Or, did he simply never consider it?

This question put on Quora was definitely jarring, but it was not out of line. Maybe it will improve known physics if we consider matter moving relative to light. There is no reason why light cannot be used as a reference. Our minds are conditioned to using matter as the basis. But we can certainly turn that around and pursue new paths.

If we take the viewpoint that all matter is already traveling at ‘c’ relative to light, then the motion among material objects seems to occur on a different plane. It is as if light forms the bottom of a lake, matter floats on the surface of the lake relative to other matter.

The theory of relativity correctly points out that there is no material aether. That makes space itself a medium in which light appears as a disturbance. This brings about a new concept of “undisturbed space”, which replaces the concept of “void”. The universe is now seen as a disturbance spreading out into undisturbed space.

The undisturbed space appears at the lower end of the light spectrum as frequency approaches zero. Matter then appears at the higher end of the light spectrum where increasing frequency finally collapses.

This Disturbance theory presents a “light-centric” approach, which is no less valid than the “matter-centric” approach. It opens the door to a whole lot of new possibilities. It does not change the “speed of light” as a fundamental constant. That constant can now be seen as the wavelength to period ratio that does not change while frequency changes.

There is nothing unscientific or illogical about the postulates of the Disturbance theory. Its basis rests in the recognition of an assumption that current science makes unwittingly. Recognition of this matter-centric assumption opens the door to a myriads of new possibilities.

This is good for science.

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The current fixed ideas about space and time come from a matter-centric viewpoint. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is formed by looking at “light” through a mind conditioned by matter.

The concept of speed exists only when we consider the units of space and time to be fixed. When these units are not fixed we do not have a proper concept of speed. The theory of relativity talks about length contraction and time dilation as we approach the “speed of light”. This means that the units of space and time are not fixed for light.

The concept of speed does not apply to light. Light has no speed.

The experimental determination of “speed of light” uses fixed units of space and time. What it is actually determining is the speed of matter relative to light.

The “speed of light” is actually the speed of matter relative to light.

Einstein’s theory of relativity actually provides us with the realization that the units of space and time are fixed for matter only. They are not fixed for electromagnetic phenomenon, such as, light.  

Light simply has a constant “wavelength to period” ratio, which we may represent as the “speed of light”. The wavelength and period for light vary according to its frequency. This may be the reason why space and time units are not fixed for light. The parameter that is consistent for electromagnetic phenomenon then is frequency.

The concept of “frequency” is appropriate to electromagnetic phenomena rather than the concept of “speed”.

In case of matter, the wavelengths and periods do not exist. The equivalent de Broglie wavelength and period do exist and their ratio is still ‘c’. But because they are infinitesimal the variation in them does not affect the fixed units of space and time used for matter.

The concept of “speed” is limited to matter only.

Matter contains the “speed of light” within itself as infinitesimal wavelength to infinitesimal period ratio. It can never attain the “speed of light” relative to other matter because of its property of inertia.

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