SYNCHRONICITY
"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." -William Shakespeare
“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”
When you spend much of your life people pleasing and in service to others, when you finally get your world shaken up and after the dust settles, you begin to live a life that more aligns with and resonates with you. Then comes a phase of time spent on making up for lost time. In my case, once I gave myself permission to just be me, the foray into withheld creativity began. There was a figurative dam that burst and it’s been this steady stream of experimenting with different formats and genres, sometimes successfully and sometimes closer to “back to the drawing board”.
Here is one such foray into the very-inexperienced-to-me realm of music production. And of course, it’s me so there had to be an accompanying music video as well. Hope you enjoy, the message of the video seems pretty straightforward, but if it resonates with you or if it doesn’t and makes no sense whatsoever to you, let me know!
THE LINEAGES UPON WHOSE FOUNDATION WE STAND
Space may be vast and beautiful, but we are the crown jewels of the universe.
Space may be vast and beautiful, but we are the crown jewels of the universe.
When you return home to that familiar place you know oh so well, the place of your youth, the sounds and the sights and the unexplainable smells (that you can’t quite describe or put your finger on but that if you were to ask your siblings they’d know just what you’re talking about), when you see the fields you ran in or the streets you logged hundreds of miles on while peddling your bicycle, you instantly have a million memories wash over you and the nostalgia comes alive as if it were a living thing.
The interesting thing though is that the home you return to is never really at a fixed location. Its location in time and space are ever changing. I mean the earth is traveling at a thousand miles per hour as it rotates around the sun and at the same time the galaxy is rotating and moving all the time. If you wanted to traverse time (assuming that were possible) and go back to re-experience the days from which you recall this nostalgia, you’d have to know exactly where the place was located in the universe at that exact moment or else you might go back and find yourself surrounded by empty space or worse, at the event horizon of a black hole.
But imagine you could literally trace your path from birth to death across time as you traverse the planet, the solar system, the universe and you would have what is called your individual “world line.” Now imagine every human being who ever existed and how vast their world lines would be, all of us intersecting, entangling, in a beautiful dance across time and space surging forth from some point in a very distant past. You would see that we are incredibly huge in time but relatively small in space on this little planet which just happens to have the perfect conditions needed for us to be.
As three dimensional beings, we are bound by time: inching forward one second after another. Into the future we are thrust as the past closes off to us forever. We exist as the sum of literally billions of years of time, where processes and interactions had to occur just as they did in order for you to exist. Each individual of our lineages lived, discovered, dreamed, and made indelable marks in their day which echoed through time and then eventually passed on, but they left us with an inheritance that persists beyond their finite years to this day. You see, none of us exists in a vacuum. As we build our future on the established efforts of the past, just as our children and children’s children, and so forth will build things we cannot even imagine from the foundations we are laying at this very moment. We take for granted the on demand electricity, and our clean, running water, and the freedom afforded us via a giant network of traversible roads and multiple modes of transportation. Inventing the next great technologies doesn’t require us to start at building the first wheel - we build upon those before us who built upon the work of those before them and so on.
For whatever reason, we constantly try to search for meaning and fulfillment outside of ourselves among the stars, asking where there may be others like us. Not realizing that they may not exist. And we have been looking intently for a while now. But we, in fact do exist and we must stop and realize that we are incredibly special. As of this moment, we know of no other place among the millions of stars and galaxies our technologies have allowed us to view quite like us. Imagine for a moment that you were able to step outside of our world and see it from above for the very first time - how indescribably fascinating humanity would appear! In all of our goodness and imaginations as well as our heartaches and horrors, we generate so much information every second it’s mind blowing.
Now by all means, continue searching the heavens, embrace that spirit of adventure and exploring the unknown, because that too is the culmination of huge amounts of established ingenuity from our past that gave us the blessing of the Webb telescope today; whose images it bestows upon us are breathtakingly beautiful. But also remind yourself daily how special you are. Although we are far more than just physical beings, looking from that physical perspective only: of the trillions of combinations that DNA could express itself, most have never existed and will never exist - but yours does. You are alive and you have lived, and no one can take that away! Your experience in this world is one that has never been nor ever will be after you are gone. You forge through the cosmos with eons of distinctive history and experiences that all had to precisely occur so that you would be here at this moment, both equal parts unique individual and component of a collective of humanity that has the privilege of experiencing life right here and right now. Let it truly sink in how many things had to line up across the ages for you to be here now. When you stop to consider it all, it’s difficult not to be overwhelmed with gratitude. You must realize that all of that time and miraculous effort should not result in a being that lives out its days in service to that which is outside of itself, who is not nor ever will be the one of a kind person that is you. We each have to search for the truth, finding our purpose and passions that the rest of the world desperately needs. No one will spoon feed you your reason for existence, and those who attempt to should be scrutinized. The truth doesn’t care about the scrutiny because it comes out the same at the end.
The take away here is don’t just exist and feel like you’re just another cog in the wheel of the machine that trudges forward aimlessly. Because you are a part of a giant miracle transversing the galaxy made literally of star dust who happened to become physical and alive. And what a star does best is shine light across the darkness. From a grateful heart, comes creative imagination and you are experiencing the rarity of life as well as leaving your own indelible mark within the entirety of the largest framework of this incredibly rare human experience that thus far has not been found anywhere else in the cosmos. Remember your novelty, be grateful for this life, and you’ll naturally leave a legacy reaching far beyond the brevity of the time you’re allowed.
Footnotes:
Check out Sara Imari Walker’s work on Assembly Theory and Emergence
And the new release, “Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence”
IN A NEW YORK MINUTE
A last minute business trip doubles as a new adventure
A last minute work trip to Pennsylvania close to the weekend opened up an opportunity to visit NYC for the first time! Although I only had one day, I was able to see quite a bit (although I definitely plan to go back someday). The work trip, by the way, was another videography project for True Value, more to come on that at a later date!
And, being that I was staying in Allentown, PA, I was able to capture some of the quite unexpected beauty of Pennsylvania as well:
I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to experience all of this while also doing the thing that I love most!
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE
The centennial bulb, located in California, has been burning since 1901.
This is the Centennial Bulb which has shone non-stop for 115 years.
Our current age of information has changed the game of media and information dissemination somewhat, but is a double edged sword. On the one hand, information is so abundant that it can become daunting and almost impossible to discern fact from fiction. Leading to a natural inclination towards skepticism. Then on the other hand, information that is rooted in fact-based, reproducible scientific scrutiny can be circulated so quickly far and wide that it is almost impossible to stop and can become immune to suppression attempts.
Before scrolling on, let me tell you a quick story you may not have heard before about the amazing little piece of technology that literally lights up our world. Did you know that, prior to the current LED light bulbs that have relatively long life spans, those years and years of us having to dispose of burned out traditional light bulbs and spending money to replace them over and over again was actually not necessary and was very much an intentional act? The photo above shows how light bulbs could easily have lasted for decades or longer, this one in particular lighting a firehouse for over 115 years and counting. This longevity of a product was not in the best interest of the corporations that produced them. And so, according to a BBC article from June 2016, “Greater sums of money could be reaped, companies figured, by making bulbs disposable and putting replacement costs onto customers. Thus was born the infamous “Phoebus cartel” in the 1920s, wherein representatives from top light bulb manufacturers worldwide, such as Germany’s Osram, the United Kingdom’s Associated Electrical Industries, and General Electric (GE) in the United States (via a British subsidiary), colluded to artificially reduce bulbs’ lifetimes to 1,000 hours. The details of the scam emerged decades later in governmental and journalistic investigations.”*
Such is a real world example of the term, planned obsolescence, wherein corporations who provide a particular good or necessity decide to intentionally manufacture sub-par products in order to keep us patronizing the malls and marketplaces, forking over our hard-earned money to buy a newer version at predictable rates. I know I almost lose sleep worrying about those corporate budgets so I’m just so glad to be able to be a part of their success. I mean, what would I do with that extra money anyway? Actually enjoy a vacation somewhere? How selfish of me!
Anyway, I digress. If such a thing can be true about light bulbs, imagine what a threat to elite lifestyles discoveries are that reduce or eliminate our dependence on oil and gas or other heavy polluting energy sources that for some odd reason we just have not been “smart enough” all these decades to reach any solutions for, doggone it. You might be a tad upset upon learning that viable and significantly more efficient energy alternatives have been around for a very long time. But of course how could we not sacrifice the world and well being of the bulk of society when we had to work to ensure that we kept those billionaires supported and who in turn, created this utopia we have now where the two finest examples of sound leadership keep us all wondering how we ever got so lucky to have as choices to lead the greatest nation ever to grace the world?
Heavy sarcasm aside, we must admit that we do in fact have better quality of lives in general than even 100 years ago. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be even more advanced at this point and the truth is that extreme wealth disparities are evidence of strangleholds on our societal progress. It’s more naive to refuse to believe that those who benefit the most from the current structure and who also wield significant power and control would not take significant measures to protect their status. And let’s all be honest, those who actually have the ability to do something about the greatest problems facing the world, would have already done so. While I may feel good about switching to laundry detergent sheets rather than using the giant heavy plastic detergent bottles that wind up in landfills or donating to habitat for humanity, these individual actions just don’t make enough of a difference. Those in positions of privilege who can make a real difference, simply don’t. Therefore their lack of concern is our evidence of the threats they pose to us all as well as the absence of empathy. So when you begin to hear spin on the coat tails of exciting new; sound and scientifically tested new ideas, remember the light bulb. When you have got a lot to lose along with a history of ruthlessly stomping out competition that is actually beneficial to everyone all in the name of self-preservation, there’s not much you wouldn’t try in order to hold on to that spot on the top of the mountain.
*Here's the truth about the 'Planned Obsolesence' of tech, by Adam Hadhazy, 12 June 2016, BBC news
THE GRADUATE
Julie,
As you stand on the threshold of this new chapter in your life, my heart swells with pride and love for the incredible person you have become. Graduating college is no small feat, and your tenacity and resilience in the face of whatever obstacles present themselves are truly inspiring.
I remember the day you were born, holding you in my arms for the first time, and feeling so enamored at this tiny little blessing that I literally could not put you down! In fact, I may have spoiled you a bit because you expected that treatment even after we brought you home and had a hard time getting you to sleep in your crib. (Sorry, not sorry as I’d do it again if I had the chance! Lol). Watching you grow and mature over the years and seeing all that you’ve accomplished is such a blessing to this dad’s heart. That overabundance of love and admiration towards you persists to this day.
I’m excited for you as you and Ty begin this adventure of a life together. Speaking of, I couldn’t ask for a better person for you at your side than Ty. As a bonus, his family is a collection of such great souls who are full of love and who are just as thrilled at your accomplishments as if you’d been with them and known them your whole life.
These are just words of course and I don’t think I could compose anything to adequately express the feelings I have within, but you must know that these words are from my heart and reflect just a fraction of the love and gratitude I have inside for the privilege of being your dad. Despite whatever life throws at us, I know that there exists within you at your core the deep connection we share, the thread that neither distance nor circumstance will ever sever. There are things I wish I would have done better or differently and many ways in which I may have not met your expectations and for that I cannot undo or change and that makes my heart hurt profoundly. But through difficulties this has just made your resilience shine even brighter.
“Though she be but little, she is fierce!”
-Shakespeare
Now you will begin your adventures in education and your impact will reverberate down through the years in the young people who are lucky to have you as their teacher. It’s your calling in life, and although there will be some tough days and even tougher circumstances you may encounter, I know your light will shine through and your realm of influence will create a brighter place as a result.
In closing, I’ll share with you a few things that I have learned over the years. We only regret the chances we didn’t take: remember that the gifts you possess within you are there for a reason, so be fearless as you move forward because the world needs your talents. Those who think they know everything, actually know nothing: so remain humble, stay open hearted and open minded. When in doubt, err on the side of compassion towards others. When confronted with an incomplete picture, never assume but rather seek out the answers for yourself before reaching solid conclusions. Always keep learning. The world’s greatest achievements are never created in a vacuum, but are accomplished through collaboration with others of differing mindsets, experiences, and backgrounds.
“What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
-Henry David Thoreau
And most importantly, remember that I am always here for you and love you with every fiber of my being. My door is always open to you at any time and for any reason and no circumstances will ever change that. You deserve the best of all that life has to offer, and I have no doubt that the best is yet to come for you.
EXCLUSIVE
Pack Productions goes interstate, traveling to Chicago to produce content for a retailer announcement release
EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH SPYDER ANNOUNCEMENT
After a year and a half of churning out projects left and right (many of which were for True Value), someone from our Corporate Communications team reached out about having me produce a video for an upcoming partnership announcement for our retailers. I traveled to Chicago and spent the week filming for the launch and also working on another side project while there involving media to our retailers (more on that later). The project included many on the communications team, the SVP of merchandising and several from his team, as well as our CEO, who came by for an introductory message to include. This was a surreal moment and one you could not have convinced me would be happening if you tried to tell me two years ago. I would never have believed it. The crazy thing is that, while this was beyond amazing, it is just one of many other opportunities that have come my way since fall of 2022. My story is proof that setting clear intentions, pushing ahead through tough times, and wholly embracing the identity of what it is you want, that you can truly manifest your dreams. The mirror principle in action: what you put out into the universe is what the universe will support and reflect back to you what it is that it interprets that which you convey. I plan to explain more about the unbelievable things that have happened in the past few years at some point when I have time - I’ve been busy which is a great thing in this case! I am so thankful and humbled by the support that has come to me in so many different forms as well as individuals who encouraged me when I needed it and for that I am eternally grateful! Excited to see what lies ahead!
PTA MERCHANDISING ANNOUNCEMENT
And of course I could not pass up posting some great outtakes:
WOODSTOCK
I made a visit to the town where “Groundhog Day” was filmed
While in the Chicago area, and specifically the north west surrounding area of Chicago, I got to visit Woodstock, IL - which you may or may not know is where the movie “Groundhog Day” was filmed. See if you can identify any of the photos I took from the movie.
IN LIVING COLOR
Using different colored lighting creates many different looks.
Mini photo shoot with Jenna-Elizabeth
Lighting can make all the difference between a good and bad photograph. Mixing it up with various colors of lighting creates several different looks that you can use as a single image or combine with others making a really cool collage. Just utilize a dark room and for this photo shoot we used a ring light that produces different colors.
CELESTIAL MAGNIFICENCE
A once in a lifetime event
FOUR MINUES PLUS TEN SECONDS EQUALS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT
April 8, 2024 we will witness a once in a lifetime event as we enter a total solar eclipse!
INEXORABLE
From Henry David Thoreau’s wisdom in the book, Walden
The wisdom of Henry David Thoreau
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life that he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”
WE THE PARENTS
Released just earlier this year, this documentary provides an excellent explanation of the destruction perpetrated against families at the hands of our own judicial system. (NOT one of our productions, but definitely needed to be recommended)
This documentary just released this year in 2024, is a must see, eye-opening look at the current corrupt system. (For clarity, this is not a Pack Productions creation but needs to be promoted and recommended nonetheless) The preview clip here pretty succinctly explains most of the ways in which families are routinely traumatized by the system and how this same system refuses to reform a structure that rewards their continued abuse of power. If you’re like me, I personally had no idea any of this went on, believing that the justice system would surely provide competent and common sense solutions - until I found myself caught up in it. The reality is that you are more likely to fare better in criminal court any day than to even be heard in family court. The stories of unnecessary agony, pain and suffering are numerous and sadly this is the most common outcome one can expect.
This is a classic tactic of our government, used for other nefarious purposes to great success in the past: keep people from organizing and trying to challenge the system by getting them to instead fight amongst themselves. You can see how this played out with civil rights, by instilling a revolting sense of false superiority among poorer whites over people of color thereby keeping them from organizing alongside the civil rights leaders. It’s sad to realize how many bought this lie, but sadder still to see how effective it was in slowing real progress and in the end we all lost to the elites in power. Apathy is a good friend to the corrupt.
So, this topic may not affect you personally, but it probably touches someone close to you in some way. Instead of turning away, I would highly recommend watching and asking yourself how you might feel if it were you and your children who were being played as pawns in a larger scheme and realizing that under the current system, you were highly unlikely to have even an opportunity presented to be heard. Unless you could afford an excellent attorney’s fees on top of the system already arbitrarily siphoning one third of your income or more. But even if you had the best attorney money could by, the odds still are not in your favor.
If there’s any scenario wherein you could imagine the exploitation of your own children in exchange for government funds, which can absolutely happen to anyone, then please educate yourself to the reality before us all.
EPISTEMIC HUMILITY
A true sign of intelligence is being able to change your mind when presented with a new set of facts.
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Anyone who knows me knows that I love podcasts. In fact, I frequently find myself frequently relating conversations to a recently listened to podcast. A few days ago, I was listening to a podcast where the host was interviewing Megan Phelps-Roper, who was once closely tied to the toxic Westboro Baptist Church. She is the granddaughter of the late founder, Fred Phelps. Her story was quite interesting. While still deeply involved in the church, she became active on twitter on behalf of the institution and it was through people she met online who took the time to hear her out and share their own stories that convinced her she was not where she ought to be. She eventually found the courage to break free from the church and move away from its negative and oppressive atmosphere. She now spends her time sharing her story and attempting to make amends with those she once hurt. A phrase was mentioned in her story that really struck me. The phrase was epistemic humility. The word epistemic means relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation. Therefore, epistemic humility is having an appreciation for the fact that you don’t know and will never know everything there is to know. Many of the problems we face today stem from a lack of this understanding. People are so eager to share their viewpoint, which in their eyes is the only correct viewpoint, without taking the time to listen to others. Spreading disinformation that makes us feel good just because it aligns with our point of view without researching the facts. We lack understanding because we don’t take the time to empathize and listen to the experiences of others. The more that science reveals of the universe, the more mysteries it uncovers, prompting more questions to be answered. Human beings once believed the world to be flat (some still do), then many were confident that the sun revolved around the earth. Then we learned about not only our own solar system but have discovered a plethora of exoplanets circling distant systems among the billions of known stars in the billion of galaxies. And today we are able to peer down into the quantum realm, which has shaken up and tossed around all that we once thought we knew to be true about the world around us and left us redefining the parameters of our views on reality itself. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. In Christian circles, many scriptural misinterpretations happen when the Bible is taken literally and without the context in which it was meant during the time it was written. While there is most certainly a wealth of knowledge found in scripture, we can not ignore the book of nature that is laid out before our very eyes. True followers of Christ would understand that the gist of the Bible is love and if you are closed off to your fellow human beings because of some misinterpreted text then you’ve completely missed the point of why God placed us here to begin with. There’s a reason why the message Jesus presents is quite different and more widely accepted than the whole of scripture. The joy of life is found in our differences. In loving those who God places in our path regardless of skin color, nationality, social standing, dialect, or who they were born being. Epistemic humility is understanding our finite knowledge as human beings. I don’t think God intended any of us to ever claim we have arrived or have complete understanding of all things. Otherwise he wouldn’t have made such an insanely complex universe. I think that the day we are able to see the bigger picture we will all be in awe of all that we did NOT know. We have only scratched the surface of understanding. A true sign of intelligence is being able to change your mind when presented with differing information (factual information that is). We should adjust our views when we are presented with new discoveries, while at the same time being humble enough to know that we will never have COMPLETE knowledge. So, my takeaway from all of this is to stay humble, love others, be kind, and realize that you will never know all things so don’t even pretend to have all the answers. Take time to listen – I mean really listen – and empathize with others. I guarantee you will find so many hidden blessings you never even realized were there had you been closed minded. This is love.
-Partially revised repost from July 2023
YOU HAVE TO TRY
“Never stop. No matter how many failures. When you know you’re doing what you’re meant to do, you have to try.”
“Yes, he had his demons, but they never stopped him from searching for beauty. Because where you find beauty, you find inspiration. If, that is, you stay as determined as Vincent.”
If you have not yet watched the series “Ted Lasso”, stop what you are doing right now and start it; you will not regret it. I’m probably the last person on the planet who you might catch watching anything sports related, but this series is just so well written and the cast perfectly matched that, along with the personal life connections you will identify with along the way, it will go down as one of the best ever made in my opinion.
However good each episode is, two scenes in particular (both of which are in the same episode) got me all teary eyed - in a good way. In the scene shown here, Ted finds himself questioning his decisions that led him all the way to coaching an English football team. His family life is in a bit of chaos and he’s dealing with moments of paralyzing anxiety worrying about his son and his ex-wife. He goes out for a walk, deep in thought questioning whether or not coaching the team was the right call for him to have made when he waltzes into a Van Gogh exhibit. A docent walks up to him and the short, but profound one minute speech he gives Ted had me ugly crying.
“Never stop. No matter how many failures. When you know you’re doing what you’re meant to do, you have to try.”
ALL I WANT
“I know we can’t fix every ache inside us. But I shouldn’t have to pretend it’s not there either.”
“I know we can’t fix every ache inside us. But I shouldn’t have to pretend it’s not there either.”
EMERGENCE
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
As the wise playwright once penned, “This above all: to thine own self be true.” The only way out is through and it’s in the process, painful as it may be sometimes, that we learn the valuable lessons most useful to navigate the labyrinth called life.
Blog post soon, as for now this is a project drawn from my own personal well, loaded with symbolic imagery navigating through the valleys and emerging anew on the other side.
THE BRIDGE
MOMENTS OF INSIGHT. AND MORE QUESTIONS.
This design has a multitude of meanings. A moment of insight, a surprising revelation, through a looking glass, different perspectives, and for me it represents crossing a threshold of new understanding which also presents more questions. Our curious nature peels more layers from the proverbial onion, knowing that we will never reach the center. But the joy is in the journey.
THE POWER OF A MOMENT
I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to share this special moment with my oldest daughter, Julie. It seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little baby I held in the hospital, mesmerized by such a beautiful and perfect little bundle wrapped in pink, she instantly had me wrapped around her little finger. In fact, I held her so much in the hospital that when we brought her home she refused to sleep in her bed, expecting to be held at all times. So I was so happy to have been able to hold her once again, although all grown up this time and beginning a new and exciting life journey with her now husband, Ty. I could not be more proud of her and excited for this new chapter she’s beginning.
Occasionally in life, there are moments where you are able to say a million words without saying any at all and this was one of those moments. I’m so thankful to be blessed with such a ray of sunshine and can’t wait to see what great things lie up ahead for you. You deserve every happiness in this life. Love you more than words can ever convey!
AS ABOVE SO BELOW
The observation that changes reality. On the smallest scale possible there lies a phenomenon that exists outside the constraints of even time itself and one that, quite possibly, has such profound implications it might just result in a paradigm shift. In a world that grows more and more contentious each day, perhaps it’s time to refocus and become more intentional with directing and manifesting that which we want for our future.
“The act of observation is an act of fact-creation.”
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
In our day and age of exponential discoveries in science and technology, the unknown begins to become known more and more each day. But despite the advancements, there are areas that defy human understanding. No one really understands consciousness or even what it is fundamentally. Despite being able to see out further into space than ever before, we have barely even begun to scratch the surface. In fact, if the universe were the size of the ocean, the equivalent amount of what we have been able to observe would fit into a twelve ounce glass of water. And while we are discussing the ocean, you might be surprised to know that a vast amount of our own oceans have still not been explored. So it’s safe to say that there is still a lot we just don’t know. But sometimes, we are able to discover things that, although still cannot be scientifically explained, are a beautiful peek into the window of the profound mysteries of life itself. The quantum realm which science has only started to grasp, defies all explanation and operates by it’s own set of rules. But it does have some consistency to it’s randomness and the story that that consistency tells us is no less than astounding.
This is an area where we can see that the very nature of reality lines up with philosophy. On the smallest level possible, it has been repeatedly observed that subatomic particles behave in a random way, exhibiting all possible outcomes simultaneously (and outside even the constraints of time itself) until it is consciously observed at which point the waveform collapses into one state or another. Considering that particles themselves have no awareness, the only conclusion is that it is this “Observer Effect” which cannot be fully explained is the result of human interaction. Meaning that it is not until a human interaction happens that the wavelength of all possibilities collapses into a realistic course of action. That, to me, has to be one of the most impactful discoveries ever made. And shows that our conscious will can, in absolute fact, create reality and on the most fundamental realm of our existence. Since all things are made up of atoms, whose subatomic particles are exhibiting this behavior, it is imbedded into the very fiber of our being.
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
Imagine if we were able to tap into such potential. If people could really focus on it and not lose hope that the destinies with which they were infused with from their very beginning would materialize in due time. How might that change our world for the better? Often in icebreaker sessions or boardroom meetings people will ask you a hypothetical question, “If money were no object, what would you do?”. Usually some will answer with some trivial material wishes that come from a place of ego. However, more often than not, you will get an answer which comes from their very core. It bursts its way through the messiness of life, through the temporal political affiliations, bubbles past the brief roles that we cling to and reveals itself in such a succinct way. An internal gravitational pull, aligned with that which we all want for ourselves - which is to be able to use our natural gifts for the betterment of others. To make a difference in the world in some specific way.
The alarm bells ring out loudly in the background, the doomsday clock inches closer and closer to an inescapable midnight. With our blinders on and feeling comfy in our own self-made echo chambers we continue to march into the abyss, towing our children behind to inherit a bankrupt future and fight to survive in an environment that is so out of sync with modernity that it poisons rather than supports. There are no adults in charge. We are like latch-key kids who come home to an empty house and make their own dinner from the meal kit box of Chef Simply Daily Survival. It should be no surprise to any critical thinking person that our current institutions have failed us and they instead cast blame on various “others”, shrugging shoulders without answers and complain that it’s just too hard to fix what we certainly did not do, “but vote for me and I’ll be sure to make ‘said others’ pay.” Or perhaps “for a monthly fee of $19.99 we can provide you with some tiny material comforts to help you not fret over the worries of tomorrow.” The constant barrage of intentional distractions grows more and more intense each day.
What if, after all, we discovered a profound new level of control we have over our own destinies? When, instead of relenting control to the whims of fate, we take complete ownership of our course in life? Think about the things you might do if you realized the power of your intentionality and that your future is yours to claim, not dependent upon any other being than yourself. This is both an empowering and equally frightening concept. But I would always rather know and live in the truth than in some facade of a construct made to keep order and control. This realization is necessary in order for us to awaken and perhaps avoid our own extinction. And it should be abundantly clear that the status quo institutions are not the answer, but very often are part of the problem.
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
In another blog post a few years back, I referenced the term epistemic humility. The word epistemic means relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation. Therefore, epistemic humility is having an appreciation for the fact that you don’t know and will never know everything there is to know. To quote the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare himself: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Those who claim to have complete knowledge with assuredness are foolish. But we do get pieces of the larger puzzle along the way which allow us to recalibrate and sometimes discover some profound elements to our reality that we can use to improve our lives.
This is not about some genie in a bottle who grants you whatever selfish material desire you want. Mountains will not start moving tomorrow nor will things simply appear out of thin air like magic. But if you quiet those growing distractions and spend some time focusing intentionally on what it is you were put here to accomplish and visualize exactly how you would feel as this version of yourself, which does not come from a place of ego but instead will always have some element of you making the world better than it would have been without you in it - we might just be surprised at what we are capable of doing.
Continue with the video below, which explains how the science from the above video greatly affects our own lives and how these concepts are affecting you right now whether you realize it or not.
(So Below, As Above)
connecting the quantum dots right to your own doorstep: the physics of possibility
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Video References:
Daily Science Minute Podcast. Dr. Quantum and the Double Slit Experiment, Cosmos: Possible Worlds (NatGeo)MOTIVATION MANIFESTED: QUANTUM PHYSICS, HOW TO BEND REALITY(VIA YT)DR. JOE DISPENZA: A WHOLE NEW LIFE IN A WHOLE NEW FUTURE (VIA YT)
OSHA NATIONAL BEAT THE heat contest SUBMISSION
Safety-Man is taking his message national with our submission to OSHA’s national competition!
The Safety-Man series has taken off since we first started this episodic series at the first of this year! I just finished submitting an entry into OSHA’s National Beat the Heat Contest to raise awareness about the dangers of heat exhaustion. Our submission has four components, the main one being Safety-Man Episode 7 which we dedicated to this project submission. Additionally, there are free downloadable posters for organizations to post throughout their facility and direct people to our third component: www.truevaluesafetyman.com (the domain name which we now own). The last component is on the poster below and throughout the video which is a logo with an easy to remember acronym to help people easily recall the symptoms of heat exhaustion in the event they find themselves getting too hot.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE POSTER
There are six categories in the contest: most innovative, most creative, strongest message, best Non-English entry, highlighting indoor heat hazards, and highlighting young workers. Winners will be announced mid-July. The awards are a congratulatory plaque and coin from OSHA, but the most valuable prize will be the national exposure as the winners will be posted on OSHA’s website and in their newsletters. The national exposure would be amazing, but regardless of the outcome I’m happy with what we created and it’s an effective communication tool that drives home the message of safety in an engaging way. This project, along with all of the episodic series, is the result of hours upon hours of additional work on top of my regular duties which meant a lot of late nights and working from home in the evenings and on weekends. I’m so grateful to have the ability and support from my employer to create these media tools. It’s a rare thing to have such talented and committed people come together at just the right time with the potential to generate phenomenal content with a solid message!
To see additional Safety-Man episodes, go to Media Productions from the menu or check out the new dedicated website at www.truevaluesafetyman.com!