Welcome to my Universe...

Introduction:

I still consider myself a novice blogger, but having read many blogs and been inspired, I decided to move my blog to a spot recommended by a friend of mine (or as Mouse might say, "One of my hommies."). I am settling down here to a bit of "Underworld" soundtrack and considering how to explaing myself to anyone who might stumble upon this blog. In truth, I'm not entirly sure where to go with this blog except I feel a compelling urge to write about my Universe as I see it. A minor idosycrasy you may notice is that I capitalize "universe" since I consider it a proper noun. This may have to do with the fact that I am a deist and a soto zen buddhist and from that perspective the Universe is a living entity. As a scientist I find that I am very conscious of my tendency to anthropamorphize Nature (yes, I know, "nature" with a capital N) as so many of our founding fathers did (they were, after all, predominantly deists as well since they were of the Enlightenment). I am caught between this semi-animistic viewpoint and the reductionist, logical, experimental, and evidentiary point of view of science since I am also a physcial scientist. It is in these blog pages and entries that I hope to shed some light on my viewpoint as a gift (or a curse, its a point of view thing after all) to the Universe of which I am a part.

What sort of viewpoint? I hope a fairly logical and scientific point of view free of the pundantry of the typical political writings seen in far to many blogs today. The Shakyamani Buddha was supposed to have said, "The Universe is as you think." so that your state of mind determines your reality. This is true for how we view the Universe internaly but externaly we are better served with science in all it's seemingly cold, reductive glory because it is through science that we have achieved greater heights than any other creature yet seen on this planet. It is our capacity to learn, to question, to search, to experiment, and to see the Universe and understand a number of it's rules that has allowed me ( and you ) to see my ideas on a device that would have been considered 'magical' only two hundred years ago. But our technical capabilities have far outwieghed our social development and we suffer from primitive, tribalistic modes of thought that we are so prone to fall into unless we demand of ourselves a constant vigilance and make questioning a reflexive attribute so as to counteract our primitive, tribalistic thought patterns. Here, in this blog space, I hope to start to question.... for to question is to put oneself in the place where knowing ends and learning begins.

And so, I named my blog space "The Portal" in the hope that it might (just might) transport your mind to a different place or state of being and influence at least a few people to reconsider.... everything. Welcome to my Universe...