I find that whatever I am looking for, I seem to find. Funny how that works. To be sure, the search could be exhausting and time consuming but in some way all of us usually find what we’re looking for.

Take other people as one example. If someone crosses me and causes offence I can choose to keep looking for reasons to justify my indignation. It never fails that I will find more reasons to add to the reasons-I-am-justified-in-my-opinion-of-you bucket of wrongs. Of course it works the opposite way as well. You do me well and all I see are the things that further justify my reasons for overlooking those “small” quirks that you have. I find what I look for.

I have experienced this effect in many other areas beside people and relationships. I notice that as I look toward God and for the provision he gives that I see more and more the direct answer to prayers as well as those things that I just hope for. Time after time prayers are answered both in the way I expect and in ways completely unexpected.

So what does it all mean? Do we create “nice” people, “mean” people, answered or unanswered prayer in our mind because we want it to be there? Is our reality nothing more than what we imagine it to be? I think not. I would say that the qualities or responses are always there whether we’re talking about God or man. The difference is that we’re selecting what to notice. We don’t conjure up the facts (usually) we simply select from a set that already exists because we want to validate our perception.

What would the world be like if we all chose to focus on the best and greatest? How would mankind change? Would God become a living, personal, omnipotent being or remain relegated to the “weak-minded.”

I read a scientific article written by a staff writer at Space.com. I cringe at the lack of critical thinking skills both of the “scientists’” involved and also what I believe to be the vast majority of readers of this article. The piece is entitled Invisible Matter Won’t Disappear Anytime Soon excerpts of interest include:

Dark matter is a mysterious something invoked by scientists to explain mass they know is out there but which can’t be seen.
…
“We don’t know what dark matter is, but we do know it’s made of some kind of particle,” said Signe Riemer-Sorensen, an astrophysicist within the University of Copenhagen’s Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark.

I’m no scientist but in my laymen’s knowledge dark matter is:

hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter.

Therefore dark matter theoretically exists because science cannot yet explain certain astronomical observations. It is a construct, a placeholder if you will, to fill in the blank until we figure out

1. where all the mass that “we think” should exist is

    OR

2. that our assumption of what mass there ‘should be’ in the universe are in error

Dark matter is not a fact, it cannot be proven, only inferred. So tell me how an astrophysicist can say “but we do know it’s made of some kind of particle?” Whatever happened to the scientific method and the open mind? It’s circular reasoning to state something exists because it ‘must’ to substantiate the current data we have. I have no problem with theorizing that it may exist, the problem comes in when the mind closes and says it’s so because I can’t think of another reason for what I’m seeing. Sounds like the rigid thinking of the middle ages.

Isn’t it OK for science to say “We’re just not sure how to explain this – but we’re still looking?”

The History Channel is currently airing a program entitle ‘Decoding the Past’ this covers various prophetic accounts of the end of the world. The broadcast hones in on the prediction of several ancient cultures & individuals that predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012. As with most History Channel productions that touch religious topics, I found the program ‘curious’ at best. Sensational broadcasting based upon speculation and devoid of real facts in order to obtain viewership gives this genre of show very little credibility in my eyes.

One thing I did not expect was a full blown belly laugh as yet another December 21st doomsday prophecy was revealed, of all places, from the Internet. Yes, through an exhaustive multi-year search of websites it is confirmed that the preconscious awareness of the collection of human thought confirms that in a little over 5 years, it’s over folks. That’s it. Now I’m shaking in my boots – if the search of millions of websites has pointed to some ‘awareness’ of future events then it must be true.

Somehow I find ancient Mayan predictions slightly more credible than the Internet. Cynical? Very much so. Hasn’t occurred to those involved in this project that if you look hard enough, through enough data YOU WILL find what you’re looking for. The true question is whether or not ALL evidence overwhelmingly points to an event. A string of luck is statistically probable, any gambler will tell you that.

Maybe all this effort would be better placed into a little introspection as to whether one is prepared for what ones state will be 1 second after doomsday.

This evening I’m looking at an overnighter with a good friend. Nothing special, nothing elaborate. Just two guys in a van near a river a few miles from home. We’ll do some gold panning, get wet under the expected rain and do a lot of talking about life, the universe and everything.

That’s were it’s at. The deeper, meaningful stuff in life. By deeper I’m not referring to intellectually deeper – sure that’s fun but there is no real meaning in information and ideas. By deeper I mean the core of who we are, what makes you and me tick, what drives each person to do and act the way they do.

I can have an deeply intellectual discussion about a topic and I come away respecting you. I can have a deeply this-is-who-I-am conversation and I come away knowing you.

In the end it’s the latter that binds you and me.

This weeks reading for my basic psychology course included the topic altered states of consciousness. The textbook covered the obvious such as sleep or extended lack thereof, dreaming, drugs & alcohol and hypnosis. The textbook was also very thorough and covered lesser thought of “altered states” such as times of physical bliss, depression and sensory depravation. A few others not specifically called out that come to mind would be extreme fevers, nitrogen narcosis, post-accident shock, trance states, dehydration, hypothermia, day-dreaming and I’m sure there’re more.

I’d like to hone in on a topic I have heard many times since my youth. The topic is best posed with the question:

which contains representative answers to all the objections I have heard over the years.

As I play devil’s advocate, let me state for the record that there are many things we do not understand about mankind and the human condition. I will neither advocate nor reject hypnosis outright. However, as with all things, the Christian should seek the one from whom all wisdom and truth exists, the only source of knowledge that never fails.

That said, let me put on my sparing gear as I look at the same objections one by one from an alternative Christian viewpoint. In case you missed it, you can view the question & response I am referring to by clicking on the link which accompanies the pivotal question above.

Summary of objection # 1 – Galatians 5:22-23 tells that one of the fruits of the spirit is self-control. Hypnosis transfers control of self to another person (vs. the influence of the Holy Spirit)

• Hypnosis does not transfer control (unlike Hollywood would have us believe), it merely puts the mind into a suggestible state. The participant could as easily be influenced during times of day-dreaming or brainstorming in a group setting. It is a known fact that participants of hynosis are fully aware of what they are doing and do not do anything they would not do anyway. In my opinion this state could be as detrimental as someone that is intoxicated – so yes, caution should be exercised – but the question is: “Is it wrong to allow yourself to be put into an altered state of consciousness?” If your answer is yes, then you must also address the other altered states each of us willingly submits to (throughout life) as well. You can’t use this verse to single out one based upon the “passing control to another person” argument.

Summary of objection # 2 – Romans 6:12-13 tells us to overcome sin by allowing God to reign. Apparently the argument here is that hypnosis “allows sin to control us.” because we are yielding our spirit to another person.

• Should I take this to mean that if I want to lose weight or be a better salesperson that I should not allow myself to be influenced during a pep talk or seminar? After all getting psych’d up for the big one is an altered state of consciousness, is it not?

  The coach on the field is doing nothing less than exerting his influence over the mind of each and every player. As I stated above, yes, caution should always be exercised whenever we allow others to influence our lives. We need to accept responsibility and exercise self-control but this does not naturally exclude allowing others to exercise influence.

Summary of objection # 3 – 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that we need to be alert as the forces of evil are ever vigilant. Hypnosis creates an altered state on consciousness which can not only allow another person to influence but also the forces of evil.

• I can agree with this. However, once again I must say that because it CAN allow does not mean that it WILL allow. Again, note the pep talk example. The talk can be to motivate for good or motivate for evil. This is where being alert and not passive plays an important role.

Summary of objection # 4 – Romans 8:2 tells us that the answer to life of Christ. Hypnosis is seen as a method to “find the answer within ourselves.”

• This is the statement that I am most in agreement with. Christ is the only answer. However, this does not mean that we don’t need the counsel (and possibly admonition) of our brothers and sisters. Many times good counseling will force us to look inward to see the truth of who we are and understand that in ourselves we are nothing and can do nothing. The answer is not in us, but we could be our own worst enemy and may not be aware of it.

  That hypnosis is oft-times used for this purpose, to replace a need for God, I cannot disagree but does the definition of hypnosis include only this purpose?

Summary of objection # 5 – Many of the techniques are shared with those into the mystical and occult.

• To me this is an argument as lame as saying “science is used by devout atheists, therefore science is against God.” The whole of scripture contains example after example of how man has perverted what God has created. That does not make his creation at fault.

In summary, I am 100% in agreement as to how these scripture passages are interpreted. They are right on the money, however, the difference in my viewpoint has to do with what hypnosis is – from a current understanding of the human mind.

Scripture is absolute, our understanding of the world is not. Therefore my conclusion is to inform my understanding with scripture but not to force scripture to fit my understanding. Many current beliefs of hypnosis are based upon an understanding of more than a century ago. I’m not saying I’m right, I’m saying that unless it’s clear let’s not be dogmatic. All counsel should be derived from the omnipotent creator of all things.

Yesterday. If it could go wrong, it did.

First, I try to post a new blog entry and notice that the link to YouTube is not displaying the video. Hmmm, I just did this less than seven days ago and all worked well. Beginners luck? Don’t think so. I go ’round and ’round and can’t discover what I did wrong. I decide to temporarily pull the blog entry until I resolve this.

From somewhere, evil I’m sure, I hear this little voice say – hey maybe it has to do with the older version of your blogging software. Hey, it’s about time you get with it and upgrade. So I go for it. A couple of problems in my thinking here.

1. I ALWAYS make a backup of all files and database. Not today – never needed it before, why now?
2. My web host has obviously been doing server maintenance for the last two weeks because of wacky problems I’ve had.
3. My place of employment has been having firewall issues for the last 3 days which has been causing intermittent Internet outages.
4. I am in the middle of one other project that requires a bit of dedicated concentration.

I figure that with all this going on I can multitask and do this upgrade to the blog in cracks of time. After all how much attention can it require?

Wrong.

I spent the better part of 6 hours getting the new files uploaded to my blog host after countless attempts to upload files failed due to timeouts. I tried some “tricks” like switching to dialup and sacrificing speed for reliability. Only marginally better due to blog hosting problems. Finally I get the files uploaded and the blog is live. Now I have to spent a few precious evening hours tweaking the customizations I have put in place on my blog so everything functions as it should.

All this is done as of a few hours ago. Tweaks are made, blog plugins are updated (since I was in there anyway) and all is well.

Well almost, did I mention that the video from YouTube still does not play. And and the best thing, my project that required concentrated effort “blew up.” Not literally, but it might as well have; now I’ve got pieces of my Palm all over my desk, and IF I can skillfully use my ancient soldering iron on a high tech miniature circuit board Humpty Dumpty may be able to be pieced back together again.

To quote a line used in many movies, “Looks I picked a bad day to _______”
{can I squeeze my entire day into the blank?}

Dreams. We all have them. Sometimes we forget them, sometimes we wish we could forget them. Do they have meaning? If so, how can we know the meaning? Freud would say that the meaning is wrapped up in hidden symbolism, others would say they are nothing more than the brain’s rehashing of long term memories, sometimes with meaning, other times nothing more than an elaborate play conjured up by the mind. Some dream in color, some black & white. Sometimes the dreams recur for a period of time, then stop. Most have had dreams involving falling, flying or being chased. Some are able to manipulate their dreams and others may act out their dreams. The dream state has been known to solve complex problems or cause great fear and anxiety.

Personally, I am one of those that very rarely knows that they have even dreamt. As an adult the most common theme in my dreams has been being chased. Usually I have something of value (like a treasure) and others are following me up and down rolling hills trying to recover it. It usually concludes in one of two ways. I am successful at eluding my pursuers, thus securing the treasure, or the dream ends with me awakening at the point of my almost capture. When I awaken on rare occasions I have been able to fall back asleep and continue the dream, bringing it to the point of successfully hiding with the treasure. Emotionally these dreams always have a quality of an action film, that I am playing Robin Hood and taking from the “bad” guys in order to promote the good of all. I am not nervous or tense; excited and exhilarated is the most accurate description that comes to mind. Hence the waking up and trying to resume the dream. It’s fun, just like a good movie; I want to know how it ends. Typically there are 3 to 4 people. Me and one accomplice (either male or female) and 1 to 3 pursuers. There is no real inter-personal interaction just the chase.

What does it all mean? Who knows. One thing is for certain there are widely divergent viewpoints on dreams by those with lots of letters behind their names. Symbology may or may not be present. My personal opinion from listening to others’ dreams as well as my own is that all of the PH.d’s are right. It all depends on the person and the occasion of dream. Sometimes they’re meaningful, sometimes they’re the never-at-rest brain having moments of creativity.

I describe my chase dreams to my wife and her take is that when she has similar dreams they are high anxiety. Strange how people can think of the same situation and perceive it so differently. Guess it’s kind of like life.

We live the exact same experiences as our siblings growing up or our spouse in marriage and we have a completely different take on what we see, hear and feel. You have to love the diversity and differences. That’s what makes the world such a cool place.

Ever have that feeling you forgot something at the office?
USA Today headline reads: “Woman forgotten In CT scanner for hours”

The most eyecatching part of this patients 5 hour ordeal is not the fact that the clinic was closed for the day by the time the patient freed herself and opened the doors for the police to get in. It was this line.

A physician who works at the practice and knew of the incident told The Arizona Daily Star it’s not the first time such a thing has happened.

Hmmm… not exactly the kind of place I’d like to have ANY medical procedure done.

50 years ago this week (October 4, 1957) the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 shocking the United States and initiating the space race.

Recently one of the founding scientists involved in this top secret project that took place in the heat of the cold war revealed that the Soviet Union had no intention of initiating the space race. According to Boris Chertok, “The key reason behind the emergence of Sputnik was the Cold War atmosphere and our race against the Americans, the military missile was the main thing we were thinking of at the moment.”

In other words there was no well-planned strategy to beat the Americans into space. The Soviet Union simply wanted a rocket capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the United States. Chertok tells how he had to convince Moscow to allow him to launch a satellite on the heavy horsepower of the rockets developed for the missile program. That means that the space race was an unintended consequence of the race for nuclear supremacy and not some grand design to laud the scientific might of one political system over another.

Why is it that we must somehow prove our political ideals are greater than someone else’s? For that matter why are my personal ideas and philosophies better than yours?