"Discontinue" This Blog (ammended)

I'm discontinuing this blog in favor of my aerospace blog.  I will keep it up a few months so people have time to use the info here.

Thanks for reading.  Keep your Happy Thought.

EC Holm

Ammendment

I am undiscontinuing, if there were such a word, this blog.  People are still reading it.  That is much appreciated.  So, I will make a post entry here and there instead of posting every week. 

Thank you so much for reading.

EC Holm

What Kind Of Year Is 2013?

2012 saw the beginning of economic recovery from the 2008 recession.  What is this year, 2013, like? Let's see what this year is like and what we should do.

I liken this year as a person climbing a hill with the wind in their face.  It seems that with every step forward there is some force pushing you back.  More taxes, shorter hours, and inflation counter any income gains you have.  Then on top of it there are the occasional repairs that are needed this year in your home and vehicle.

So what should our outlook be for this year?  I feel that its important to keep moving forward regardless of the pressures to go backwards.  I wouldn't expect great gains, though count yourself lucky if you even make your goals.  I would try to take steps to mitigate any risk.  Secure your gains, and try not to fall back.

Yep, the year is and will continue to be a fight.  Perhaps toward the end of the year some of us will see some relief from the forces holding us back.  2014 will be a different year.  We will have to see what that brings.  I see growth there and an increased gap between rich and poor.  But even the poor will make some gains.  Cheers!

Change Your World

We all would like some control over our world.  We would like children that listen to us, parents that don't embrace us, bosses who encourage us, etc.  Dream on, right?  Well, maybe.  I saw a documentary called Killer Stress by National Geographic (2008).  It comfirmed to me what my life has taught me and what people deny.  We don't need an alpha dominate society.  Therefore I say, you can change your world or environment to get it away from alpha domination.  I would like to share with you how this is possible.  I'm going to spell out the problem and give some tips on how to combat it.

First, what do I mean by alpha dominant society?  Well, this can be any size society: from a family to a global organization.  The dominant individuals in a hierarchy are called alphas.  The alphas have subordinates and there are subordinates to the first subordinates and so on.  This apparently happens naturally among primates.  My guess is that it happens in many animal societies.  An alpha dominates its subordinates with violence and fear.  We can see the same thing happen in High School with the action of bullying.  The alpha wants to dominate rather than be dominated.  According to the documentary this causes stress for subordinates which could lead to early death.

Cliques are formed by alphas.  Some cliques become gangs, some become political parties, and some become religions.  Actually they become many things.  In forming a cliques the alpha will recruit people to join in.  Here is my first tip.  Don't join.  Don't play their game.  Play your own game.  If we're going to be evolved humans that think for themselves, we have to act like one.  An evolved society shows mutual support and respect.  Alphas beat down on their subjects whether physically or emotionally.  An evolved society builds up people.  Once you reject the Alphas' proposal, they know you are not under their control.

You should actively pursue mutual support amongst your peers.  Show support to all of them.  Soon you may get support back.  This will take time.  You can show support by actively listening to them, empathizing with them, and respecting their positions.  This shows to all that you have a different thing going on than the established hierarchy.  People will naturally gravitate towards positive support.  Refrain from yelling, or raising your voice.  Give people time to think about things rather than trying to convince people of your point in conversation.  Allow people to have different opinions.  Allow yourself to listen to their points as well.  Using communication wisely is the key to change a society.

Respect all people even when you don't like them.  In an evolved society, respecting everyone is key.  People have wants and needs.  They have a need to be heard, they have a need to be respected, and they have a need to feel safe.  Communicating with them in a respectful way gives them all these needs.  People use violence when they feel threatened.  Removing all threats from your communication will resolve a lot of tension.  There are opponents in history who didn't like each other but respected each other.  General Patton and General Montgomery comes to mind.  These two generals of WWII didn't like each other.  They had very different styles of command.  Yet had to rely on each other in fighting the Germans in North Africa.  Military officers will respect each other even if they may use terms like "fool" to describe each other.  You can respect someone you don't like.  This is very important.  If you disrespect someone your going to start a war, or feed into the alpha hierarchical system.

Understanding the nature of alpha domination, applying 'play your own game', learning to listen, and giving respect are a start of changing a society.  Alpha domination is the default architecture to a chaotic society.  To change society we have apply support with diligence and patience.  One day we can have a society that will be encouraging rather than dog eat dog.

Primary Perception and Sensitives

Cleve Backster discovered Primary Perception with a lie detector, plants and other lifeforms.  This is a controversial theory.  When the scientific method is used as experiments, repeatability is a serious problem.  Any plant grower can tell you that plant respond to their environment.  Amount of sun light, types of soil, amount of water are factors in how plants respond.  Some plant are described as fickle, like the African Violet.  Perhaps that's why the University of Rhode Island recommends pasteurizing the soil for these house plants.  As an empath I can concur with Backster in that plant do have emotions and do communicate, but they do this in their own way.  I would like to share what I found out about them, what we know about them, and why I think the experiments are not adequate.

Common trees are the plants that I've felt.  Empaths feel emotion and are great listeners and communicators by nature.  We can just about relate to anyone.  Through my experiences, I find that the basis of thought is emotion.  That is contrary to popular belief.  Trees don't relate like we do.  Their timeline is much longer than ours.  They are not concerned about many things, but they do live in the present.  They are joyous with the sun, and they are quiet in the winter.  They are aware of themselves and trees around them.  When they are sick, they feel ill and don't want anyone to be around them.  Their emotion follows their looks.  Humans have are able to look at a tree and determine its state for may centuries.  The ground around them they consider to be theirs since their root system is in it.  I guess you can say that they are territorial.

Science does say that trees are alive.  They grow and reproduce.  In their own way, they also move.  Humans can look at a tree and determine its state of health.  Trees are made up of many cells and lack a central nervous system.  There are animals in the ocean that look like and act like one animal but in reality are a community of animals.  In a similar way, the cells of a tree work together to collect nutrients and gasses and light for the common good.  A government is not an one organism, but made up of many people in different functions all working together with all kinds of communication going on.  How do the cells of a tree work together unless they communicate somehow?  If the cells communicate with each other, what bars them form communicating with other lifeforms especially of their own species?  Humans don't readily communicate with trees, so its logical that they consider trees as non-communicative beings.  That would be due to ignorance rather than science.

So why would the science be so inconclusive?  I think one of the problems is the assumptions of the experiments and the experimenters.  If we are talking about communication beyond our five senses, and we are using our five senses then we are doomed to failure.  Even our electronic equipment have not been vetted to detect such communications.  We assume they are.  We assume it must be electromagnetic communication.  We assume that brain waves we know of are the only form of communication beyond the five senses.  I say we assume too much.  When the experiments are inconclusive then there is more research to be done.  There is more to be learned.  There is likely a whole field of study that we know nothing about that we need to explore.  Another problem is that when were talking intuition, analytical science fails to understand.  Science is a total analytical process.  Intuition does not obey the rules of analytics.  Its like trying to understand quantum mechanics with Newtonian Physics.  It just doesn't work.  Computer programmers try to get around the gap between the way a computer process information and our analytical operating of our brains by using fuzzy logic and other AI techniques in programs and devices.  Can Science take the same leap?  I believe they were able to do it in Physics by revisiting their assumptions.  They added probability to the equations.  This, Einstein notoriously hated.  A new approach to investigate Primary Perception is needed.

So Primary Perception just might prove to be a real thing one day.  Trees are living beings and empaths can pick up on their emotions.  Just because science produces inconclusive experiments doesn't mean that's the end of the story.  Reevaluation of assumptions and means of measuring is needed to create experiments that can have a positive result.

Music and HSP

I've come to the realization that as an highly sensitive person (HSP) and an empath, my experiences may not reflect the experiences of other people.  Consequently, my music experience may not be the same as that of other people.  I remember a study I heard about that concluded that 10% of the population cannot appreciate music like the rest.  We all process information differently.  We do not all appreciate the same things in the same degree.  We are different from one another.  I'm going to detail my experience.

It's not about casual listening.  If I wanted casual listening, I'd listen to elevator music. I'm not personally into that.  What it is about is drama.  I'm a sucker for a good drama.  Take for instance the Romeo and Juliet Ballet by Sergei Prokofiev.  Strength and a sense of establishment is portrayed.  Then there are times when its soft and light embracing every moment and gesture as when lovers first meet.  The contrast is astounding.  Or take the New World Symphony by Antonin Dvorak.  The music invokes majestic views of the Rockies, the Plains, and the Coasts of the continental United States.  Strength and softness combine to incur happiness and peace of mind.

Sometimes a song with a story will get my attention and not let it go.  This has happened to me so many times I can't count.  A Day In The Life by the Beatles has done and still does this to me.  Its not just the music, but its also the words that keep my conscious on it.  Then it feels like a drug.  I get high off of the song.  This can last several hours if not a couple of days.  Other songs that do this to me are Ode To Billy Joe by Bobby Gentry, The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia by Vicki Lawrence, Drops of Jupiter by Train, and One Piece At A Time by Johnny Cash.  This is just a short list.  I can't express to you the joy of experiencing these songs for hours on end.  It doesn't seem that many people experience this music quite as I do.  Well, at least none that I've personally been around.

Music is very important to humans.  Its strange that just a mixture of sounds communicate deep deep emotion and life experiences.  I don't doubt that other highly sensitive people and empaths experience music and other entertainment in a deep way as I do.  Though we have our things that we enjoy, we must make room for others not to enjoy the same things and not as much either.  To me such experiences are just one of the benefits of being highly sensitive.

What Is Bullying?

The recent Taft School shooting in California highlights that victims of bullying not only suicide but can kill others as well.  Bullying is a term that's thrown around a lot these days.  Everyone knows what it is, or do we?  We have all been called names, criticized, mocked, laughed at, and so on.  So we think we know what it is.  Most of us have gone through it as children, some go through it all their lives.  There are peoples who have a history of being victims of bullying.  There has been institutionalized bullying.  There are some laws against bullying for some groups of people.  This may sound surprising, but in essence bullying is a message.  That message says, "You are not important."  Let me explain in the following paragraphs.

In childhood, bullying is prevalent.  It usually goes something like this.  One person has a desire to become important among his friends and succeeds.  Someone challenges that person, and consequently they fear not being important.  So, they call the challenger names and ostracize him from the group.  then they proceed to ostracize anyone who looks or acts like the challenger.  They never stop ostracizing.  The ostracized person will develop deep anger and resentment.  At a later time they may act on that anger.  That's a generalized understanding of bullying.

Bullying is not restricted to children.  Adults bully other adults and children.  Employers bully employees.  Those with authority bully those under their charge.  Parents bully children.  Bullying is prevalent throughout society.  It is unfortunately also tolerated.

Institutionalized bullying is bullying in the extreme.  Slavery allows for all kinds of abuse from theft, to torture, to rape, to murder.  The Third Reich ostracized the Jews in the mid 1930's and 1940's.  They ostracized them to the point of genocide.  The Jim Crow laws led to legal ostracization as they promoted segregation.  In these examples people lost their property, dignity, and their lives.  The victims were considered no good for society.

There has been legal consequences to bullying.  One example is when the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.  The Declaration of Independence lists a number of bullying acts committed by Britain on the people of the U.S.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolished the Jim Crow laws in the U.S.  This was the beginning of freedom for the African Americans.  Racism is still a problem, but it is diminishing over time.  We also have American Disabilities Act that established civil right to the physically impaired.  They were ostracized in the workplace and in movement since many buildings didn't accommodate for wheelchairs.  There are other laws as well.  These came about because people were being bullied for being different.  There are now laws against cyberbullying since 2007 in some areas in the U.S.  So far as I know, its the first type of anti-bullying law that applies to everybody.

 What is to be done?  I think stopping bullying starts with yourself.  You must recognize that you are important, regardless of what others say.  You are important to your friends and family.  You are important to people you say 'hi' to every day.  You are important to the shopkeeper when you buy something.  You are important to society at large.  Without you, society is lessened.  Next you need to recognize that other people are important to you.  Those you love and those you don't know are important to you.  Society is important to you.  Your children are important to you.  Next you need to talk to people like they are important to you.  Use respectful words, listen to others, refrain from judging or criticizing, and learn to disagree in an agreeable way.  Guess what?  Its hard.  Its hard to change.  Its also brave.  You will be a better person when you do.  You will get respect once you give it.  There will always be critics.  Count on it.  Teach your children to do the same.  Tell your children how important they are to you.  Victims of bullies and bullies themselves need psychological help.

Bullying is a hideous aspect of humanity.  It does not build character.  It tears down and breaks people.  It was the cause of some of the most hateful times in history.  Violence cause violence.  Bullying is violent even when its just verbal.  Its personal, and its very personal.  Its little wonder that Jesus said to love your enemies (Matthew 5:43).  Bullying was a problem back in the first century too.  I'm a highly sensitive person, why am I concerned with this?  I am concerned with all humanity.  The better everyone feels the better it is for me.  Is that selfish? Yes it is, and I don't apologize for it.  Guess what?  Unless you look after yourself, you cannot look after others.  Looking after others is in effect looking after yourself.