It’s been sometime since I’ve been on Zaadz with my last blog on the Idiocracy of America. Unlike my last hiatus which was the result of a personal time out for summer fun with my son, this one was the result of a fried motherboard on my computer.

And like many of you, your computer can be an extension of yourself reaching out into the noospheric  regions of Content vs. Form or in the Medium which is the Message.

Not many years ago, 1954 to be exact,  the personal computer was just a fantasy. To think a computer could fit on a desk, let alone a laptop, seemed almost inconceivable. Here is Rand's version of a home PC.
 

But as you can see, computers have come along way and today, to be without a computer is almost like being a fish out of water in the great ocean of collective knowledge. So when about a month ago when  I told a co-worker to build his own computer,  I got home to find that a metal bracket on the case had fallen on the motherboard and fried it.

Well, ok, stay calm I told myself. Even though I had not backed up my hard drives in six months, all was not lost. So off to

Fatality at Frys Electronics

a local big box electronic store that has everything you could want in electronics I go.  I had planned on rebuilding my system this holiday season, so hey, I get to start a little early.  So let’s see, I’ll take one...

Intel Core quad 6600, 2.4 GHz@10666,

one ASUS P5K Deluxe motherboard, 

A nice little N-Vidia Video card, 4GB of Ram, a Silent Knight all copper cooling fan 500 GB internal  hard drive and a 500 GB external hard drive to go along with my two 75 GB raptors and Maxtor 300 GB.  All told, over a terabyte of hard drive. Plenty of room to transfer the old date and room for the new. This isn’t so bad I told myself,  just a nice excuse to upgrade the system as I have a Havidol moment. So off I go to the tech service center after having spent  more then I needed to have it built into my existing Cooler Master.  Of course I wanted it right away, so I paid the extra money for 72 hour service.  I only made one stipulation, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES, I NEED ALL OF MY DATA TRANSFERRED TO THE NEW 500 GB HD. NOTHING CAN BE LOST!

No problem says the tech. I again reiterated that there was no backup for the C drive which had ALL of my blogs, writings, pictures and videos.  I even explained that my 5 websites had not been backed up in six months as my back-ups were full, so any changes that had been made were in that C drive. Not a problem says the tech, but that will cost you an additional $150. Ok, whatever it takes, just make sure the data is saved. “No problem “says the tech.

Well, after 72 hours, no computer. Five days, no computer. On the seventh day, I inquire again stating that I had paid quite abit of money for a service that has yet to be rendered.  I came back every day only to find out that the tech who had been working on my computer was fired.

Eighth day, no computer,  to which I said you guys are sounding like General Petraeus regarding the Iraq War everyday!  “We’re making progress but no real exit strategy as of yet.”

Well, that’s when things went from bad to worse, you see not only were they to transfer the data, but they were also to raid the two Raptor hard drives in a mirror format.  But the tech FORGOT to back up my main C drive and completely LOST ALL OF MY DATA, writing, research, pictures, videos and websites!

I couldn’t believe it, and neither could they.

“Ahh, well, you see, uhmmm, there was, well we really don’t know what happed given all the confusion with the original tech being fired and all.”

So almost a month after I took the computer in, and a full week of data recovery that recovered ZERO data, I now have a pretty rockstar computer that is missing 70GB of hard earned data.  The funny thing is I took all of it rather well. I never got upset, disappointed yes, but hey, it is what it is, and nothing will bring back the data. Not that it was easy to let go of but like Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the fictional character in J.K. Rowlings “Harry Potter” I use my computer to hold my thoughts and epiphinies as he does in the following video.

So I decided to try and follow the medicine I wrote about in Laughter - Music For The Soul and realize that Perspective Can Shift Thinking.

I took it all in stride and increased my Holosync level and duration during this time. So needless to say I have not been able to blog, and even the blogs that I was working on are now gone. I had started quite literally hundreds of blogs that needed only pictures, videos and a few more lines of drafting. More recently I had been writing a series on Ken Wilbur, his work, perspectives and criticisms. I’ve wanted to explain his theories and Beck’s Spiral Dynamics to co-workers, but as many of you know, trying to explain Ken in a few brief moments is quite impossible. Outside of learning a new language and trying to understand a variety of disciplines that include psychology, sociology, philosophy, mysticism, postmodernism, science and systems theory, most just look at you with a blank stare.  So I’ll start all over again with that idea in mind, though starting right back into what I just lost is a little difficult so I’m sure you can understand if this series doesn’t get posted tomorrow.

I just got the computer back today and have spent the better part of it loading drives, software, and all the necessary components that you take for granted once your up and running. In the end, I think what helped me most to get over the loss, is the understanding that the thoughts that my computer had contained, were just conceptualizations and mere form for what in reality is but merely shadows. In a way, I felt free, free to begin anew, to not hold on to what was written in the past, but to take hold of the NOW in the never ending quest to learn and experience what it is to be human.

In a sense, it is a new beginning to keep learning and moving forward just as Merlin, the original Dumbledore says in "Merlin, The Once and Future King",

“To learn something – that is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins,…you may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.”

So how do we find meaning in situations or more importantly, how do we find meaning in life itself? Maybe Viktor Frankl ‘s  “Meaning Triangle” helps paint the way,

1. Creativity – Giving something to the world through self-expression: using our talents in various ways; i.e., the work we do, the gifts we give to life.

2. Experiencing – Receiving from the world: through nature, culture, relationships, interactions with others and with our environment.

3. Change of attitude – Even if we can’t change a situation or circumstance, we can still choose our attitude toward a condition; this is often a self-transcending way of finding meaning, especially in unavoidable suffering.

Viktor Frankl

"“When we are no longer able to change a situation -
we are challenged to change ourselves.”

At least there is Zaadz  which still contain some of the writings and efforts like the video I made for fun one night, CRASHED, it lives on only in the noosphere of the web. When my system crashed I was

"just tryin' to make some sense
out of how and why this happened."

And like in the song, desire will always breathe its breath into you and get you sailing in the right direction.

As I wrote in my last blog I lost all of my writing and blog material due to a computer failure followed  by a service technician failure to transfer the data at a Frye's Electronic store. One of the many blogs I had started but l wanted to finish writing was on the many varied models and universalities that exist at the core of all complex systems and the idea that these can be communicated through a basic model of explanation of some kind. 

These mental conceptions or theoretical descriptions are what I’m calling ‘Sexy Models’. The idea that universal principles that transcend  and include all key principles of the Kosmos, whether they be the universe, man, consciousness, human social systems, or reality itself.  Or what some refer to as the four domans of the Physiosphere, Biosphere, Noosphere and the Theosphere.

 Anyone who has been on any journey of significance will know that these ‘Sexy Models’ act as maps or Mandala’s of the transcendent to guide us through unknown, hidden, or unconscious  territory to bring understanding. Each having its own seductive quality they seek to act as a lens in giving perspective in unifying and objectifying certain truths. A microcosm if you will of the Universe, the psyche, social systems , reality from the human perspective, or a 2 dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional concept of a 4 dimensional reality. I like to call the those that produce such "Sexy Models" the "Map Makers"  who throughout history have sought to manifest a scheme or representation of truth.

"Map Maker"
Ken Wilber

"This map is simply an invitation to explore the vast terrain of your own consciousness,
the almost unlimited potentials of your own being and becoming, the nearly infinite
expanse of  your own primordial awareness, and thus arrive at that place which
you have never left: your own deepest nature and your own original face."

Sometimes they are  in the form of a chart, a process, a progression, a  pattern, a spiral, a ladder or hierarchy of some kind that represent everything from  the kosmos metaphysically or symbolically, to human development and social systems . What I find fascinating is how these ‘Sexy Models’ contend with each other for greater significance in the play of time and ego.

In looking at these models it is important to appreciate that sometimes the details do not matter: certain aspects of complex systems or behaviors transcend the particularities of a given system, and ‘are to be anticipated in any system of a multitude of simultaneously interacting components.’ The key to most of these models is to open the doors of perception to the macro and micro realities that beg us to ask the universal questions?

Who am I?

What am I?

Where am I?

Why am I here? 

How can this be?

 
Or as Joseph Campbell  asks…

“What am I? Am I the bulb that carries the light or am I the light of which the bulb is a vehicle? This can be metaphorically understood as identifying with the Christ in you.”

So I thought I would gather and share with you some of the MANY different models that have been put forth with the idea of writing follow up blogs with a brief overview of a few of these. Some are well known, others may be new to you, while others are all the rage. With Theories of Everything there are those based on scientific  speculations from the newest theories in Science (specifically physics and mathematics), while metaphysical Theories of Everything are based on speculations in, obviously, Metaphysics.

 I’ll try to follow both with the principles of science and work from the simple  to the more complex as a main tenet in science is the Principle of Simplicity or...

Occam's Razor -

"Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem".
or
"entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity."

The theory deduces that all things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one, thus the best theory must be founded on the most simple foundation of only one thing existing. Or as one great thinker of art and thought has said,

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
  Leonardo da Vinci

Vitruvian Man

Metaphysics is based on the idea of the Dynamic Unity of Reality - that the universe is a multiplicity of changing effects of but ONE unchanging cause that we experience as being human. Or as the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz says,

Gottfried Leibniz

“Reality cannot be found except in ONE single source, because of the
interconnection of all things with one another. ... I do not conceive of any
reality at all as without genuine unity. ... I maintain also that substances,
whether material or immaterial, cannot be conceived in their bare essence
without any activity, activity being of the essence of substance in general. " 

 

So here we go with what you kind call a kind of gallery of ‘Sexy Models.’ -  Enjoy!

 

Emptiness

“Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form.”
Miyamoto Musashi

 

Yin Yang

 

'The only constant is change'
Everything is not actually a duality, but a trinity.
Active, Passive and Reconciling or Neutral.
There is always the third aspect eg. neutral, warm, middle, balance.

 

 

 

The Big Three
The Trinity of the Universe
The Good, the Beautiful and the True."

 

 

 

Enneagram

"Law of seven" and the "Law of three"
(the two fundamental universal laws)

 

 

Body- Mind – Spirit

 

Sigmund Freud's Model of the Unconscious Mind

"The ego is not master in its own house."
Sigmund Freud

 

Jung’s Quaternity of Functions

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human
existenceis tokindle a light in the darkness of mere being."
Carl Jung

 

Hierarchy of Needs

“If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of
being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”
Abraham Maslow

The Great Chain of Being

"Nearly universal view, [that] reality is a rich tapestry of interwoven levels,
reaching from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit."
Ken Wilbur

Holarchies

This concept has a long and respectable ancestry. So much so that defenders
of orthodoxy are inclined to dismiss it as "old hat" - and often in the same breath
to deny its validity. Yet I hope to show as we go along that this old hat, handled
with some affection, can produce lively rabbits.
Arthur Koestler

 

Holons

Arther Koestler coined the term "holon" to refer to an entity that is
itself a "whole" and simultaneously a "part" of some other whole. ...

For instance, a whole atom is part of a whole molecule, and the
whole molecule is part of a whole cell, and the whole cell is part
of a whole organism, and so on. Each of these entities is neither
a whole nor a part, but a whole/part, a holon.

Hypersphere

"The Universe and the creatures that inhabit it are toridial."

Arthur Young

The Reflexive Universe

"The earlier concept of a universe made up of physical particles interacting
according to fixed laws is no longer tenable. It is implicit in present findings
that action rather than matter is basic. . . This is good news, for it is no longer
appropriate to think of the universe as a gradually subsiding agitation of billiard
balls. The universe, far from being a desert of inert particles, is a theatre of
increasingly complex organization, a stage for development in which man has a
definite place, without any upper limit to his evolution."

Arthur M. Young

All things extend to all things, from all things, and through all things.

"The universe is a tonal one, a dimensionless universe of light."
Light is the universal language in which the Divine Concept is plainly written."
Walter Russell



Integral Spriral of Developmental Waves

Spiral Dynamics reveals the hidden complexity codes that shape human nature, create global diversities, and drive evolutionary change.These dynamic Spiral forces attract and repel individuals, form the webs and meshes that connect people within groups, communities and organizations, and forge the rise and fall of nations and cultures.

                                        HOW people think about things (as opposed to “what” they think)
                                        WHY people make decisions in different ways
                                        WHY people respond to different motivators
                                        WHY and HOW values arise and spread
                                        The nature of CHANGE

Spiral Dynamics

"It’s not that we need to form new organizations. It's simply that we have
 to awaken to new ways of thinking. I believe it makes no sense to spend a
lot of time attacking the current realities. It is time to create the new models
that have in them the complexity that makes the older systems obsolete. And
 to the extent that we can do that, and do that quickly, I think we can provide
whatwill be necessary for a major breakthrough for the future."

 Dr. Don Beck

AQAL
All Quadrants, All Levels,
All Lines, All States, All types


Each holon, or unit of reality that is both a whole and a part of a larger whole,
has an interior and an exterior. It also exists as an individual and  as a collective. Observing the holon from the outside constitutes an exterior perspective on that
 holon. Observing it from the inside is the interior perspective, and so forth. If you
 map these four perspectives into quadrants, you have four quadrants, or dimensions.

"AQAL is a map of samsara, a map of the prison, but if you gonna
 make a prison brake,you need a good map. "(laughter)
Ken Wilber

Spiral Dynamics Integral

Evolutionary new way of perceiving human nature that lets us understand,
predict, and resolve even the most difficult conflicts. In his effort tomap the
genome of the mind, Dr. Beck has created a tool he calls the Spiral, which
charts the underlying reasons for virtually everything that human beings think,
believe, and do.Breaking down the 'complexity codes' that lie at the heart of a problem.

Integrated Enlightenment

"This map is simply an invitation to explore the vast terrain of your own consciousness,
the almost unlimited potentials of your own being and becoming, the nearly infinite
expanse of  your own primordial awareness, and thus arrive at that place which you
have never left: your own deepest nature and your own original face."

“An integral approach is merely an attempt to categorize, in conceptual terms,
some of this glory as it manifests itself. But it is no more than that. Every one of
my books has at least one sentence, usually buried, that says the following (this
is the version found in The Atman Project): “There follows, then, the story of the
Atman project. It is a sharing of what I have seen; it is a small offering of what I have
remembered; it is also the Zen dust you should shake from your sandals; and it is
finally a lie in the face of that Mystery which only alone is.”

In other words, all of my books are lies. They are simply maps of a territory, shadows
of a reality, gray symbols dragging their bellies across the dead page, suffocated
signs full of muffled sound and faded glory, signifying absolutely nothing. And it
is the nothing, the Mystery, the Emptiness alone that needs to be realized: not  known
but felt, not thought but breathed, not an object but an atmosphere, not a lesson but a life. ”

Ken Wilber

Thus all of these SEXY MODELS

Can be reduced to

 

ONE

Emptiness

"Be Still and know that I am God"

or

"No Self...
 No Problem."

The Pattern That Connects: Holons - AQAL to Spiral Dynamics

The Evolution of Consciousness

Ken WIlber about Seeking Enlightenment

DEO
 

Performance