There is Only One Energy in the Universe and You’re It – Alan Watts

There is Only One Energy in the Universe and You're It - Alan Watts | Third Monk image 4

Alan Watts suggests that humans created a superior being to worship out of fear and uncertainty.

The behavior of worship is reinforced by government and religious organizations to create a population that will obey. If we realize that we are all one energy, we can start to see through the illusion.

Audio of the speech is from Alan Watts lecture Zen Bones and Tales.

The Yin and Yang of the Universe

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According to Buddhist philosophy, all this universe is one ‘dadada.’ That means ‘ten thousand functions, ten thousand things, one suchness,’ and we’re all one suchness. And that means that suchness comes and goes like anything else because this whole world is an on-and-off system.

As the Chinese say, it’s the yang and the yin, and therefore it consists of ‘now you see it, now you don’t, here you are, here you aren’t, here you are,’ because that the nature of energy, to be like waves, and waves have crests and troughs, only we, being under a kind of sleepiness or illusion, imagine that the trough is going to overcome the wave or the crest, the yin, or the dark principle, is going to overcome the yang, or the light principle, and that ‘off’ is going to finally triumph over ‘on.’

Death is the Other Face

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Isn’t it odd that anything exists? It’s most peculiar, it requires effort, it requires energy, and it would have been so much easier for there to have been nothing at all. Therefore, we think ‘well, since being, since the ‘is’ side of things is so much effort’ you always give up after a while and you sink back into death.

But death is just the other face of energy, and it’s the rest, the not being anything around, that produces something around, just in the same way that you can’t have ‘solid’ without ‘space,’ or ‘space’ without ‘solid.’

Reborn Star Dust

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You are really a playing of this one energy, and there is nothing else but that, that is you, but that for you to be always you would be an insufferable bore, and therefore it is arranged that you stop being you after a while and then come back as someone else altogether, and so when you find that out, you become full energy and delight. As Blake said, ‘Energy is eternal delight.’

Fear of the Illusion

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You realize you’re That–we won’t put a name on it– you’re That, and you can’t be anything else. So you are relieved of fundamental terror. That doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be a great hero, that you won’t jump when you hear a bang, that you won’t worry occasionally, that you won’t lose your temper. It means, though, that fundamentally deep, deep, deep down within you, you will be able to be human, not a stone Buddha.

But to have no hang-ups, that is to say, to be able to drift like a cloud and flow like water, seeing that all life is a magnificent illusion, a plane of energy, and that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Fundamentally. You will be afraid on the surface. You will be afraid of putting your hand in the fire. You will be afraid of getting sick, etc. But you will not be afraid of fear. Fear will pass over your mind like a black cloud will be reflected in the mirror.

Fractals – The Hidden Dimension That Designs Our Universe (Documentary)

Fractals - The Hidden Dimension That Designs Our Universe (Documentary) | Third Monk image 4

Mysteriously beautiful fractals are shaking up the world of mathematics and deepening our understanding of nature.

What do movie special effects, heart attacks and the rings of Saturn have in common?

You may not know it, but fractals, like the air you breathe, are all around you. Their irregular, repeating shapes are found in cloud formations and tree limbs, in stalks of broccoli and craggy mountain ranges, even in the rhythm of the human heart.

In this film, NOVA takes viewers on a fascinating quest with a group of maverick mathematicians determined to decipher the rules that govern fractal geometry. Discovered by mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, fractals are the architecture used by nature.

Their remarkable findings are deepening our understanding of nature and stimulating a new wave of scientific, medical, and artistic innovation stretching from the ecology of the rain forest to fashion design.

The documentary highlights a host of filmmakers, fashion designers, physicians, and researchers who are using fractal geometry to innovate and inspire.

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Fractals – Art Gallery

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Psychedelic Audio Visualizers (Video)

Psychedelic Audio Visualizers (Video) | Third Monk image 1

Audio visualizers generate animated imagery based on the sound and frequency of a piece of music. They can be an interesting addition to any bag of shrooms, as the synched music and visuals can lead one deeper down the rabbit’s hole.

People may enjoy watching these videos without the music on, but either way make sure to watch in High-definition.

After your trip, comment below on what other videos you enjoy watching on psychedelics.

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Particle Tests – 3D Audio Visualizer

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The Space We Live In

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Electric Sheep Fractal Animation (No Audio)

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The Fractal Plane by Christopher Ursitti

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Dran – The French Banksy, Art Gallery

Dran - The French Banksy, Art Gallery | Third Monk image 37

French street artist Dran uses his artistic talent to criticize society, and it’s conditioned conventions. Typically ironic in approach, his similarities to English graffiti artist Banksy have earned him the nickname, “the French Banksy”. 

Dran’s social criticisms are varied in scope, and although many of his works are naturally playful, they manage to retain their intended message.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention Dran’s site, it has a lot of cool interactions built in (don’t click on the spider!).

 Dran – The French Banksy Art Gallery

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How Do Psilocybin Mushrooms Reduce Brain Activity of the Ego? (Video)

How Do Psilocybin Mushrooms Reduce Brain Activity of the Ego? (Video) | Third Monk image 1

Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, of the Neuro-psychopharmacology Unit, Imperial College London, discusses research on Psilocybin and how psychedelics could be used in therapy to help with depression, addiction, and other problems of rigid thought patterns.

Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris is one of the first researchers in 40 years allowed to investigate the effects of psychedelic drugs. He used an FMI brain imager to study the resting state activation in the brains of volunteers who had taken a small, but very intense intravenous dose of psilocybin mushrooms. What he found surprised everyone.

He found that the psilocybin caused large decreases in activity in various centers of coordination in the brain. This was exactly the opposite to what Robin and everyone else had predicted, but it is a clear and far-reaching finding. Decreasing brain activity that generates a sense of “self” allows our consciousness to expand, a process that Aldous Huxley described as opening the mind’s “reducing valve” in The Doors of Perception.

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Bill Hicks – Marijuana Should Be Mandatory (Video)

Bill Hicks - Marijuana Should Be Mandatory (Video) | Third Monk image 2

Bill Hicks calls for mandatory marijuana, setting everyone straight on which drugs are better.

So I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs…anymore.

I used to take drugs and I quit, but I’ll tell you something. I have nothing against drugs whatsoever, that’s kinda weird, huh? Never heard that one, used to take drugs, quit, and have nothing against them. Wow, never heard that, let’s hear more. Okay.

I’ll tell you something else, and I know this is not a very popular idea, you don’t hear very often anymore, but it’s the truth. I have taken drugs before, and uh, I had a real good time.

Sorry.

Didn’t murder anybody, didn’t rob anybody, didn’t rape anybody, didn’t beat anybody, didn’t lose hmmm, one fucking job. Laughed my ass off and went about my day.

Sorry.

Now, where’s my commercial?

Shit I’ll be the guy holding that skillet in that commercial, man. That ain’t a brain, that’s breakfast. Let’s eat. What have been up – five days now? I’m fucking starving.

I find that commercial a tad insulting to my intelligence, you know the one, here’s your brain. I’ve seen a lot of things on drugs, but I have never, ever, ever looked at an egg, and thought it was a fucking brain. Not once.

I have seen UFO’s split the sky like a sheet, but I have never looked at an egg and thought it was a fucking brain, not once. I have had 7 balls of light come off of a UFO lead me on to their ship, explain to me, telepathically that we are all one and that there is no such thing as death, but I have never looked at an egg and thought it was a fucking brain.

Now, maybe I wasn’t getting good shit.

That’s what I hate about the war on drugs, I’ll be honest with you. It’s what I can’t stand, is all day long we see those commercials: here’s your brain, here’s your brain on drugs, why do you think they call it dope. And then the next commercial is: This bud’s for you, come on everybody, let’s be hypocritical bastards. It’s okay to drink your drug, we meant those other drugs, those untaxed drugs. Those are the ones that are bad for you.

Nicotine, alcohol, coincidently taxed drugs, ooo, how does this fucking work? Thank god they’re taxing alcohol man, it means we got those good roads we can get fucked up and drive on. Thank god they’re taxing this shit man, we’d be doing donuts in a wheat field right now, thank god we’re on a highway, woo, this is a good drug.

Cause I’ll tell you something, Ill be honest man, if I was going to legalize a drug it sure wouldn’t have been alcohol. Sorry. There are better drugs and better drugs for you, that’s a fact, you may stop your internal dialogue.

But, Bill, alcohol is an acceptab- shut the fuck up, you’re wrong..kay? kay.

Shit, not only do I think marijuana should be legalized. I think it should be mandatory. I’m a hard liner.

Think about it man, you get in traffic behind somebody. *Honks*

Shut up and smoke that, it’s the law.

Oh, sorry. I was taking life seriously. Oh man, who’s hungry?

That’d be a nice world wouldn’t it? Quiet, mellow, hungry, high people everywhere. Just Domino’s pizza trucks passing everybody. Every single highway, parades of Domino’s.

Let them get stuck in traffic, all our pizzas will be free.

I’m a fucking dreamer man…But I’m not the only one.

Dreamers, man.

Pot is a better drug than alcohol, fact, FACT. Stop your internal dialogue. But, Bill, alcohol is an accepta- shut up. You’re wrong get over it. Kay? Kay.

I’ll prove it to you man, you’re at a ball game or a concert and someone’s really violent and aggressive and obnoxious, are they drunk or smoking pot?

They’re drunk.

I have never seen people on pot get in a fight, because it is fucking impossible.

Hey buddy.

Hey, what?

Hey.

Hey.

End of argument.

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Pictures of Earth from Space (Photo Gallery)

Pictures of Earth from Space (Photo Gallery) | Third Monk image 4

We all necessarily have a pinpoint focus on what matters to us in the present, but sometimes it is beneficial to take a step back and marvel at things not yet understood.

It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day grind and forget just how large the universe that we live in is.

Pictures of the Earth from Space give us a view into our world seen through a distant lens. Humbling us to our supposed importance, while simultaneously revealing the undeniable beauty of our Mother Earth.

Tiny Blue Dot

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Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

On July 19, NASA’s robotic probe turned its gaze toward Saturn’s majestic rings and a tiny pale-blue dot—a planet called Earth nearly 900 million miles (1.5 billion kilometers) away.

The Cassini orbiter snapped this historic image of its distant home world while on the far side of the giant ringed planet.

No surface features are visible since Earth takes up only a scant few pixels—however, its unique blue tinge caused by sunlight reflecting off our planet’s oceans clearly shines through.

Tiny Speck

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Image courtesy SSI/NASA

Swinging onto the night side of Saturn in 2006, the Cassini spacecraft snapped this stunning back-lit view of the gas giant’s rings along with Earth—a tiny speck of light nearly lost just above and to the left of the bright main rings.

This panoramic view of the Saturn system with the Earth represents only the second time our planet has been photographed from deep space.

Back in 1990 the Voyager probe heading out of the solar system snapped the first view of our water-rich world looking like a pale-blue dot from a distance of four billion miles.

Space Beacon

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  Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

Earth shines like a bright starlike beacon at the center of this image, with the moon just underneath.

This raw snapshot taken on July 19 by Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera shows that from a distance of 898,410,414 miles (1,445,851,410 kilometers), Earth looks like nothing more than a bright stellar object floating among a backdrop of fainter stars.

Earth From Mars

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Image courtesy Texas A&M/Cornell/NASA

Earth appears as a tiny speck caught up in a Martian sunrise in the first photo of its kind taken from the surface of another planet beyond the moon.

This historic image was captured by the Mars rover Spirit in 2004. Another rover named Mars Pathfinder tried to take a similar photo of Earth in 1997, but its view was obstructed by clouds.

Earth Rising

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Photograph courtesy NASA

Like a cosmic blue marble, Earth appears to hang in the space above the lunar surface in this historic portrait taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders in December 1968. Before this mission, no person had ever seen or photographed Earth from deep space, and this famous “Earthrise” view helped inspire an entire generation of environmentalists.

Earth in Detail

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  Image courtesy MODIS/USGS/NASA

This classic blue marble view of Earth represents the most detailed true-color image of our entire planet to date.

Most of the images were seamlessly stitched together to create this mosaic view—snapped by NASA’s Terra environmental satellite from 435 miles (700 kilometers) above.

Light Show

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Image courtesy NASA

What look like sparkling jewels scattered across the night side of Earth are in fact the telltale signs of the expansion of people worldwide. The light pollution from cities and towns, mostly across darkened North America and Europe, dominate this satellite image.

This global view of Earth’s night lights was acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite over 21 days in 2012, taking 312 orbits and collecting 2.5 terabytes of data to cover the entire surface of Earth.

> Stunning Pictures | National Geographic

Alan Watts – Thinking is a Good Servant, But a Bad Master (Video)

Alan Watts - Thinking is a Good Servant, But a Bad Master (Video) | Third Monk

Alan Watts talks about the art of meditation and why it is important to practice it, especially in the civilized world. Too much mental chatter can trap you in a world of illusion.

I’m not saying that thinking is bad. Like everything else, it’s useful in moderation. A good servant, but a bad master.

All so called civilized peoples have increasingly become crazy and self-destructive, because through excessive thinking, they have lost touch with reality. That’s to say we confuse signs, words, numbers, symbols and ideas with the real world.

Most of us would rather have money than tangible wealth and a great occasion is somehow spoiled for us unless it is photographed. And, to read about it the next day in the newspaper is oddly more fun for us than the original event. This is a disaster

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Alan Watts – Creating Who You Are (Video)

Alan Watts - Creating Who You Are (Video) | Third Monk

Alan Watts shares his thoughts on life’s inherent transiency. Explaining how our own thoughts and feelings may hinder or aid us in our pursuit of discovering who we are; Watts poignantly expands our minds to allow more of ourselves to be remembered.

Alan Watts – Creating Who You Are Transcript

Why don’t you really know what you want?

Two reasons that you don’t really know what you want:

#1 You have it.

#2 You don’t know yourself, because you never can.

The Godhead is never an object of it’s own knowledge. Just as a knife doesn’t cut itself, fire doesn’t burn itself, light doesn’t illumine itself. It’s always an endless mystery to itself. I don’t know…

And this I don’t know uttered in the infinite interior of the spirit. This I don’t know, is the same thing as, I love. I let go. I don’t try to force or control. It’s the same thing as humility. If you think that you understand Brahman, you do not understand. And you have yet to be instructed further. If you know that you do not understand, then you truly understand. For the Brahman is unknown to those who know it, and known to those who know it not.

And the principle is that anytime you as it were, voluntarily let up control, in other words cease to cling to yourself. You have an access of power. Cause you’re wasting energy all the time in self-defense. Trying to manage things, trying to enforce things to conform to your will. Why don’t you stop doing that?

That wasted energy is available. Therefore, you are in that sense having that energy available, you are one with the divine principle, you have the energy. When you are trying, however to act  as if you are God, that is to say you don’t trust anybody, and you are the Dictator, and you try to keep everybody in line. You lose the divine energy, cause what you are doing is simply defending yourself. So then, the principle is the more you give it away, the more it comes back.

Now, you say “I don’t have the courage to give it away – I’m afraid.” And you can only overcome that by realizing you better give it away because there’s no way of holding on to it. The meaning of the fact, you see, that everything is dissolving constantly, that we’re all falling apart. We’re all in the process of constant death, and that the worldly hope that men set their heart upon – turns ashes or it prospers anon like snow upon the desert’s dusty face lighting a little hour or two – is gone and all that Omar Khayyam jazz.

The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, the great globe itself. Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, and, like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind.

All falling apart. Everything is. That’s the great assistance to you. That fact that everything is in decay is your help. That is allowing you, that you don’t have to let go, because there is nothing to hold on to. It’s achieved for you, in other words, by the process of nature.

So, once you see that you just don’t have a prayer, and that’s it’s all washed up and that you’ll vanish and leave no rack behind. And you really get with that. Suddenly, you find that you have the power, this enormous access of energy. But it’s not power that came to you because you grabbed it, it came in entirely the opposite way. Power that comes to you in the opposite way, is power with which you can be trust.

 The Universe is the game of self. Which plays hide and seek forever and ever. – Alan Watts

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Alan Watts – The Way of Waking Up (Video)

Alan Watts - The Way of Waking Up (Video) | Third Monk image 2

Alan Watts shares his thoughts on reality, our shared connection and the process of waking up to fundamental truths.

Alan Watts – The Way of Waking Up (Transcript)

So then, here’s the drama. My metaphysics, let me be perfectly frank with you, are: That there is the central self, you can call it God, you can call it anything you’d like – and it’s all of us. It’s playing all the parts of all beings whatsoever everywhere and anywhere. And it’s playing the game of hide-and-seek with itself, it gets lost, it gets involved in the farthest out adventures, but in the end it always wakes up and comes back to itself.

And when you’re ready to wake up, you’re going to wake up. And if you’re not ready, you’re going to stay pretending, that you’re just a little – poor little me. And since you’re all here and engaged in this sort of inquiry and listening to this sort of lecture, I assume that you’re all on the process of waking up. Or else, you are teasing yourselves, with some kind of flirtation with waking up, which you are not serious about. But I will assume that maybe you are, not serious, but sincere, that you are ready to wake up.

So then, when you’re in the way of waking up, and finding out who you really are. You meet a character called a Guru; as the Hindu’s say this word: the teacher, the awakened. And what is the function of a guru? He’s the man who looks at you in the eye and says (laughs) “Oh, Come on..” (laughs)…”I know who you are.” You know, you come to the guru and say “Sir, I have a problem, I’m unhappy and I want to get one-up on the universe or I want to become enlightened – I want spiritual wisdom.” Ah, the guru looks at you and says “Who are you?”

You know Shri Ramana Maharshi that great Hindu sage of modern times? People used to come to him and say “Master, who was I in my last incarnation?”, as if that mattered. And he would say “Who is asking the question?” – and he would look at you and say “Basically go right down to it, you’re looking at me – you’re looking out, and you are unaware of what’s behind your eyes..go back in, find out who you are. Where the question comes from, why you ask.” And if you look at a photograph of that man – I have a gorgeous photograph of him, and you look in those – I walk by it everytime I go out of the front door, and I look at those eyes, and the humor, the lilting laugh, it’s a – ho ho, come on….(laughs) SHIVA, I recognize you. 

When you come to my door and you say “I’m so-and-so.” I say “ha-ha” what a funny way god has come on today. (laughs) There are sorts of tricks of course a guru will play..they..they well, they’re going to put you through the mill. And the reason they do that, is simply: you won’t wake up, until you feel you’ve paid a price for it. In other words, the sense of guilt that one has or sense of anxiety is simply the way one experiences keeping the game of disguise going on. Do you see that? Supposing you say: “I feel guilty.” Christianity makes you feel guilty for existing. That somehow the very fact that you exist is an affront. You uh, a fallen human being.

I remember as a child when we went to the services of the church on good Friday, they gave us each a colored postcard with Jesus crucified on it, and it said underneath: This have I done for thee, what doest thou for me. You know you felt awful, you nailed that man to the cross. Because you eat steak, you have crucified Christ. Cause you’ve killed the bull, but after all you depend on it. Mithra, it’s the same mystery. And what are you going to do about that? This have I done for thee, what doest thou for me. You feel awful, that you just exist at all. But that sense, that sense of guilt, is the veil across the sanctuary: Don’t you dare come in!

In order to, you know, in all mysteries when you’re going to be initiated, there’s somebody saying: “uh, uh, uh, uh, don’t you come in – you’ve got to fulfill this requirement, and this requirement, and this requirement, this requirement, then we’ll let you in.” So you go, you go through the mill. Why? Because this is, you’re saying to yourself: “I won’t wake up until I feel I deserve it, I won’t wake up until I’ve made it difficult for me to wake up – so I invent for myself an elaborate system of delaying my waking up. I put myself through this test and that test and when I feel it’s been sufficiently arduous then I may at last admit to myself who I really am, and draw aside the veil.”

And realize that after all, when all is said and done…I am that I am. Which is the name of god. And when it comes to it, that’s really rather funny. They say in Zen, when you attain satori, nothing is left to you at that moment but to have a good laugh.

But naturally, all masters, Zen masters, Yoga masters, every kind of master, puts up a barrier. And says to you…He simply plays your own game, you know, we say anybody who goes to a psychiatrist or has his head examined, because you, when you go to a psychiatrist you define yourself as someone who ought to have his head examined. Same way the Zen masters say anybody who studies Zen or goes to a Zen master ought to be given 30 blows with a stick. Because he was stupid enough to pose the question that he had a problem. But you’re the problem, you put yourself in the situation. So, it’s a question fundamentally: Do you define yourself as a victim of the world, or as the world?

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Technological Advances Pave The Way To A New Reality

Technological Advances Pave The Way To A New Reality | Third Monk image 7

Technological advances continue at an exponential pace. Our brightest minds and unstoppable doers bring about a new way of living. It is quickly becoming apparent that the only thing holding back the human race is the human race itself.

As we embrace new ways of thinking and new ways of doing; we will find new ways of co-existing. From the economy to medicine; technology is changing all facets of the human world.

The time to let go of outdated self-serving enterprises is here; this is the time to accept ideas that encompass values beyond profit, power and persecution.

Technological Advances

Robotics

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Today we have robots that can self-replicate, re-assemble after being kicked apart, shape-shift, swarm, create emergent effects, build other robots, slither like a snake, jump to the tops of buildings, walk like a pack mule, and run faster than a human. They even have their own internet. Put it all together and you realize that we’re in the midst of a robotic revolution that’s poised to change virtually everything.

Humans are creators. The rise of robotics in the workplace leads to more free time for humans to create and experience. As robots continue to take the place of humans in areas of life that are menial and dangerous; the human experience will evolve.

Waste to Biofuel

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“Energy recovery from waste” — a process that typically involves the production of electricity or biofuels (like methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels) by burning it. Cities like Edmonton, Alberta are already doing it — and they’re scaling up. By next year, Edmonton’s Waste-to-Biofuels Facility will convert more than 100,000 tons of municipal solid waste into 38 million litres of biofuels annually. Moreover, their waste-based biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% compared to gasoline. This largely overlooked revolution is turning garbage (including plastic) into a precious resource. Already today, Sweden is importing waste from its European neighbors to fuel its garbage-to-energy program.

Waste management plus a new source of energy; this kind of thinking and problem solving is what the future holds.

Gene Therapy

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Though we’re in the midst of the biotechnology revolution, our attention tends to get focused on such things as stem cells, tissue engineering, genome mapping, and new pharmaceuticals. What’s often lost in the discussion is the fact that we already have the ability to go directly into our DNA and swap genes at will. We can essentially trade bad genes for good, allowing us to treat or prevent diseases (such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis)interventions that don’t require drugs or surgery. And just as significantly, gene therapy could eventually give rise genetic enhancements (like increased memory or intelligence) and life extension therapies.

The future of healthcare is only limited by the desire for profits in our current social structure. As our socio-economic views change; the way we approach health care will follow suit.

Digital Currency

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The idea of digital currency is slowing starting to make the rounds, including the potential for Bitcoin, but what many of us don’t realize is that’s it’s here to stay. Sure, it’s had a rough start, but once established and disseminated, electronic cash will allow for efficient and convenient online exchanges — and all without the need for those pesky banks.

The rise of the Bitcoin is a sign of the changing times. Value is derived by humans, the true value lies within humans. It has always been this way but we often believe that money holds value on its own. Currency is the exchange of human worth in physical form and the value correlates to the stock put into yourself. This change is still murky as economics pushes the gears that make this current world turn. But these outdated policies and practices will give way to new and improved systems. That is how our current system came into being in the first place.

Concentrated Solar Power

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A recent innovation in solar power technology is starting to take the world by storm. It’s called concentrated solar power (CSP), and it’s a massively distributed system for extracting solar energy with mirrors and lenses. It works by focusing the incoming sunlight into a highly concentrated area. The result is a highly scale-able and efficient energy source that is allowing for gigawatt sized solar power plants. Another similar technology, what’s called concentrated photovoltaics, results in concentrated sunlight being converted to heat, which in turn gets converted to electricity. CPV plants will not only solve much of the world’s energy needs, it will also double as a desalination station.

Organic Electronics

Technological Advances - Organic Electronics table

 

Thanks to the rise of the nascent field of organic electronics, it’s likely that we’ll rework the body’s biological systems and introduce new organic components altogether. Already today, scientists have engineered cyborg tissue that can sense its environment.Other researchers have invented chemical circuits that can channel neurotransmitters instead of electric voltages. And as Mark Changizi has suggested, future humans will continue to harness the powers of their biological constitutions and engage in what Stanislas Dehaene calls neuronal recycling.

These are only some of the technological advances that will change humanity. I’m excited for the present day advancements and the future we are all building together. How about you?

Alan Watts – Voluntary Versus Involuntary Choices. Are We Really In Control? (Video)

Alan Watts - Voluntary Versus Involuntary Choices. Are We Really In Control? (Video) | Third Monk

Alan Watts discusses the perceptually blurred line between voluntary and involuntary actions.

Going through everyday life seemingly exercising free will while apart of a larger system of life and creation is wondrous. You are not only a part of the big picture, you are the big picture.

Alan Watts – Voluntary and Involuntary Actions Transcript

You see the problem is this; we identify in our experience a differentiation between what we do and what happens to us.

We have a certain number of actions that we define as voluntary; we feel in control of those.

And then over against that there is all those things that are involuntary. But the dividing line between these two is very arbitrary.

Because for example, when you move your hand you feel that you decide whether to open it or to close it. But then ask yourself how do you decide?

When you decide to open your hand. Do you first decide to decide? You don’t do you. You just decide. And how do you do that? And if you don’t know how you do it; is it voluntary or involuntary?

Let’s consider breathing. You can feel that you breathe deliberately. You can control your breath. But when you don’t think about it, it goes on. Is it voluntary or involuntary?

So we come to have a very arbitrary definition of self; that much of my activity that I feel I do.

That then doesn’t include breathing most of the time. It doesn’t include the heart beats. It doesn’t include the activity of the glands. It doesn’t include digestion. It doesn’t include how you shape your bones, circulate your blood. Do you or do you not do these things?

Now if you get with yourself and you find out that you are all of yourself; a very strange thing happens. You find that your body knows that you are one with the universe.

In other words, that the so called involuntary circulation of your blood is one continuous process with the stars shinning.

If you find out that it’s you who circulates your blood you will at the same moment find out that you are shinning the sun.

Because your physical organism is one continuous process with everything else that is going on. Just as the waves are continous with the ocean. Your body is continous with the total energy system of the cosmos and its all you.

Only you’re playing the game that you’re only this bit of it. But as I’ve tried to explain there are in physical reality no such things as separate events.

So then remember also when I tried to work towards a definition of omnipotence. Omnipotence is not knowing how everything is done, it’s just doing it. You don’t have to translate it into language.

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