What is being sentient like for you?

Over the last 18 months, because of the institution I live in, I have come in contact with many people with various levels of awareness and physical mobility, to say nothing of psychological functioning. All this has me reevaluating the presumption that all human beings share essentially the same "Sentient reality".

My own personal sense of self sits, dead centre in my head and radiates outward. Now, to make matters even more interesting, perhaps because I have a physical disability since childbirth, I tend to treat my limbs in the third person. "The legs", "The arms", and so forth. This is especially true when I was a child and ofcourse posed some problems, because it allowed me to rationalize things being up beyond my control. Slowly over time the various body parts have indeed become more integrated and not thought of as separate components. Still though, in times is duress the old habits reemerge and I have to consciously bring myself back together.

Throughout my day as I deal with people and observe them in various situations I find myself asking "What is their reality-what is being human for them-and what is their experience? "Anyone who is been through trauma of any sorts or indeed fallen in love knows how the world can appear instantaneously different, as though you were a different animal. Perhaps we are more different than we know, and the cause of some of our problems is that we don't acknowledge and make room for the differences.

Take, what I believe are, to very different people who presumably experience the world dramatically differently:

1. Pres. Donald Trump and;
2. Prof. Stephen Hawking.

Aside from the obvious differences, of which there are many, the essence of their realities must be vastly different  One would presume that the two minds worked fundamentally differently. Just how far did this difference go? Did it reach beyond the intellectual level, down to the way they both interfaced with the world? I believe so and this is what I find fascinating. Do these two minds work fundamentally differently, to such an extent that the experience of the world for each person would be different. Yet because we cannot plug into each other's head (yet) humanity has no way of confirming whether any existence is different from another.

Even subtle differences which are hard to quantify may combine to create for each individual a unique reality. Which because it is the only one they know, they never question that others may not experience things in the same way. We all just presume that the basic concepts of living in a 3D space are the same for everyone. And of course it goes far beyond that level of the physical to the very way people think, the process involved in making up a thought. Talk about going down the rabbit hole! :-). If we examine it closely, we may not even agree on what the "hole" is, to say nothing of the rabbit.

So my question to you is:

What is being sentient like for you? Does the above text make sense to you, or is your experience entirely different? Leave a comment below and let us know.

On a positive note

This is just a very quick entry .

Sometimes small things elicit surprising responses. Such was the case last night, when after fooling around when the photograph of a gladiola on our patio something quite nice emerged. So I decided to post it to Facebook. What a marvellous reaction. People wanted to know how I made the thing. In all honesty it was a complete accident. But nevertheless, everyone wanted to know the details of how it was done . So without further ado here are the details.

Where Are the Artistics

 "Where Are the Artistics?"

 

Last week a good friend of mine, said "Patrick you must get out and do something new. Get out of your own normal." He said this because I had mentioned feeling a little blue (slightly depressed). This opened up a whole discussion on where creative freethinking people hang out and express themselves in the modern world.

One would think, with all the information avenues we have at our fingertips that creativity would be overflowing, but as we talked about the issue it became clear, although it looks like on the surface that people have many options, in general a great many of these perceived choices are really very similar to one another, and if they are not, people tend to use only the attributes which they are already familiar with. The result is more of the same stuff everywhere. Rather than stretching their minds people nowadays tend to repeat what they already know. -- I miss the mind stretch! I simply love going down the path less taken. Especially when it involves understanding something new.--. Take Facebook and Twitter, what do most people do with them? Make comments and share photos.  This is got me thinking: "Where indeed are all the artistic, truly radical, minds hanging out?"

Living in Surrey British Columbia Canada, by the Guilford shopping mall, I have spent the past few months snooping around looking for those creative souls or clubs. So far the closest is, one slightly off the wall  librarian (being "slightly off the wall" is a good thing by the way), and I think they have a hard enough time, finding fellow souls as well. But somewhere, hopefully in Surrey, there has to be a "hideout" for these characters. The ones who dare to be them themselves, despite the mediocrity around them.  Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for a "Gunwielding Terminator type group", I am looking however for people and groups or organizations who follow their curiosity and are bored with the ordinary technologies or how they are used.

If this short post resonates with you or your group, regardless of the topic, do drop me a line. Even posing a question from out of left field might be enough to start the fire, to combat the mediocrity I see engulfing the modern society. And that right now includes me.

Take care Patrick

Your Internet Garden

In recent months I have had several occasions to clean up websites with various issues and a few common points have become clear:

There is a mistaken belief among website owners that once a website has been created and is on the Internet it needs no more attention... Nothing could be further from the truth!

Websites should be viewed as gardens, in that:

• They take a fair bit of planning and preparation.
• Look beautiful when their brand-new and,
• Wither and die if not maintained. In the case of websites, they become horribly infected with malware etc.

If you read nothing else, please understand, that all websites must be maintained usually on a weekly basis. This is because, even if none of the content changes, the various components which make the site work frequently have updates. I have seen many wonderful sites run into serious problems just because no one checked them on a weekly basis.

This started out as a short article, but then I went down the rabbit hole, as I thought of the various questions asked of me in the last few weeks. The short take away is this: If you don't know how to do maintenance, for your own peace of mind, get someone who does.

The following text, briefly breaks down the various aspects of the website one needs to be aware of particularly if you are going shopping for a new site. As I said, I went down the rabbit hole, so if you're not technically minded or don't want to be bored to death :-) feel free to skip the following. Just remember to take care of "your Internet garden".

All the best, take care, and feel free to keep on reading...

Patrick Clark

There is confusion about the various services involved which must come together in order for a website to exist and what each of the services are actually responsible for. I.e. the domain name registrar, the hosting company, the actual software which makes up the website, and the web designer. Many companies offer all these services in-house as a single package and while this is very convenient one still needs to understand the various aspects.

If you are in the market for a website, especially if this is your first, please read on, because the choices you make initially can have a major impact later on down the road. 

A suggestion: if you are planning to do a business related website and this is your first endeavour. I strongly recommend that you consider creating a alternate website not related to the business in order to get some initial experience of the process, and work involved. Start with something, perhaps related to a hobby. The experience you gain will be invaluable, later on.

Aspect 1. The website address and the Domain-name  Registrar. People understand that this is the website address they type in to their browser and magically a site appears. But in reality this "website address" is completely separate from the website you were actually looking at. As a matter of fact, there are specialized companies, called Domain-name Registrars which sell website addresses. Once you buy an address, it simply means that no one else can use that exact same one. Also, having a website address, does not mean you automatically have a legal copyright. If you are planning to use the domain name in business, you need to check with a legal representative before buying the domain.

Domain-name  Registrar company controls what happens when someone types in your website address in their browser. This can get fairly technical. You will have a separate account with this company just for maintaining your website address.

Aspect 2. The Website Hosting Company. This is the company that stores the files which make up the website and make it available on the Internet. They do not provide domain names. The domain name must be "linked" to the website. (In technical parlance this is called updating the DNS.) Again, you would have a separate account just for maintaining your website.

It is very important to understand that these two aspects of the website are completely separate and hence the need for two accounts one, with each company.

Aspect 3. The Software That Makes up the Website. Modern websites use different software. This can have a major impact if you decide later on to move your website to another hosting company. For example, as far as I know, a website created on WIX cannot be moved over to a company that uses WordPress software. So it is wise to ask the hosting company before spending a great deal of design time on a website, whether the website can be moved. (Sometimes called migrating.)

Aspect 4. The Web Designer. This is the person responsible for creating the design of the website. They will have to deal with both The Domain Name Registrar and the Website Hosting Company. Be very clear at the onset about what their duties are. Also make sure you have a plan in place should they leave.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list but it does cover the obvious basics. Owning and running a website cannot only be profitable, in either the monetary, or in other ways, it can also be a lot of fun. But it does take commitment and you must embrace change. That is the very essence of the Internet, change and evolution.

Until next time! And who knows on what topic :-)

 

PS: There are several other articles on the blog dealing with various aspects of website creation and upkeep. You can simply click this link to see the most current list of documents, or at any time, use the search box on the site to search for the keyword "website" or just click here to automate the search.

ARTICLE: New York Times. "Look for magical moments."

She’s 103 and Just Ran the 100-Meter Dash. Her Life Advice? ‘Look for Magic Moments’

Wow!  If this short, New York Times article, doesn't demonstrate that one's outlook on life has a major impact on everything. 

Briefly, at age 103, Julia Hawkins is still competing in the hundred metre dash. Moreover, she is articulate and enthusiastic. When did she start running?… Oh, at the young age of one hundred years. This is the kind of news that we should all receive in our inbox once or twice a day. It helps balance out the onslaught of all the advertising and negativity. There was also a short 20 second clip of her on the track.  

I sincerely hope the New York Times never takes this article down, or better yet, places it in its entirety in the public domain. Because we all need good news like this :-)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/sports/julia-hawkins-running.html

 

The Power of Habits

Habits are an incredibly human facility. It is an evolutionary efficiency adaption by the brain. For example: you see a hungry tiger-you run away from it! There is no thinking involved, it is evolution's way of keeping you alive! If you had to think about it, chances are by the time you decided to flee the Lions caloric intake would've increased.

Some say that it can take just three seconds to form a habit, but three weeks to break one. If we accept, for the sake of this discourse, that this is true then the question becomes "How can we ensure that the habits are positive and assisting us in some way?" Before that question can be answered, we must understand that habits come in a variety of forms. Some are automatic answers to situations and questions like "Donald Trump is a…". That politician has been around long enough that you probably had an automatic answer, along with an emotional response.  The emotional response is what ingraines the answer and usually colours the rest of your thinking for the moment. This usually happened so fast that you are not aware of it mentally although there may be many other reactions.

The trick of course is to become aware of all the automated reactions we have. Then critique them "is this making me feel better or worse? Etc.". Powerful habits can be formed also when were caught off guard, not watching our own barn doors so to speak and allowing the habit to fly right in. These are the ones that do take a lot of work, but I find, one way to lessen their impact is to again critique them and if they are no use to you, challenge them. Easier said than done, but over time this does work.

Keep track of positive and negative habits. Big and small. The moment the positives are greater than the negatives you may just feel a little better. Take each day one step at a time.

Because Independence, First and Foremost, Occurs in My Head…

Independence is, after all is a perception, and once I understood this concept, no one could ever again limit me again. I choose, what the word "independence" means to me, therefore, I have:

The Independence Of Thought.-Free to think and perceive anyway I wish. To see beyond the normal limits of  “No, you can’t do that.” Everything can be accomplished in a multitude of ways. Who would want to do it the normal way, anyway?

Independence To Take Action - The "independence of thought" gives me the power to take action, because I see that there is no limit. True it may be difficult and take some time to achieve. But it involves me with life, keeps me connected, and that can only be good.

From the "Independence to Take Action" - Comes joy, and from joy comes freedom.  All because , “independence, first and foremost, occurs in my head.”  It is a perception and an interpretation which I can change at any time. That is true independence in my book. Because, as long as one is thinking and feeling freely, they are most likely, more independent than those who accept the limitations of normal perception.

From "Joy and Freedom" - Comes New Ideas and Fun. Is it any wonder, that I seek out challenge and enjoy the road less travelled on? For me, being different is a gift, and I have the independence to see it that way.

Patrick 

Definition Normal

Definition: Normal
"Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. "

It is my own personal belief, that too much "Normal" is not a good thing, because it indicates a lack of change. The world evolves constantly in all aspects imaginable, both subtle and gross. Without change people tend to become disconnected as their world get smaller and less diversified. I am very lucky, because inherently I am a rebel, but do not rely on the act of rebellion as being my normal-state, because becoming overly reliant on anything limits the opportunity for growth. So I have a life composed of bits of normal combined with everything else. It is this mixture of things which keeps me engaged in growing. Like never before in history, people can choose to be exposed to so many different things. Literally, access to new ideas is only a search engine away.

So why do I see so many people out in public with blank expressions, who appear totally not engaged with the world around them? I do not have an answer… I sometimes get off the local public transit feeling a little shellshocked. Depending on the time of day, everyone appears to where darker colours, has a headset on and is aimlessly surfing on their smart phone. Judging by the numbers, I would say this is the current state of normal.

What is your experience, and how can we redefine "normal" so that it is a growth factor and not something just apathetic, for lack of a better word?

One foot inside the Matrix

In the movie The Matrix the story and plot revolve around the idea that people live in the dream world created by machines. This solution has a purpose, to keep individuals and entire populations distracted and self-involved. This stops humanity from rebelling and facing the all the truth that humanity only exists as if energy source to power the machines. Indeed, when one of the secondary characters is freed from the dream they ultimately make a deal with the machines to once again enter the dream world, despite knowing the truth about why humans are kept alive. The movie was a smash hit.

In the last few years I have begun to wonder just how close we are in reality to the matrix concept and what rights, freedoms, and responsibilities societies as a whole might be unwittingly giving up in exchange for evermore intoxicating technology, which on the surface seems to make one's life easier, but in so doing also forms and alters our  behaviour. In doing so our perceptions of what is acceptable, and normal are altered . Are we as a society becoming more apathetic and easier to manage? The question may not be as outlandish as it first seems. I recently saw a documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King which vividly recounted the early civil rights struggle and specifically the year-long boycott, by the Afro-American community, of riding public buses. This was a nonviolent response to the accepted norm of having segregated public transit. What was amazing was, not only were thousands of people in revolt, but the community kept up the pressure for a continuous year before the issue was resolved. This was not the end of people struggle for basic human rights, just one of many chapters, in a struggle which continues to this day in a variety of ways across many communities. But have societies in large lost the ability to have such long term focus and foresight? The rapid feedback we all expect from everyone and everything in the modern world seems to on the surface have shortened our attention span and sense of what a long struggle is. If the civil rights movement started today with it gather and sustain such momentum, or would people get distracted after a few weeks? Allowing the issue to become lost. Which stagnates change and the growth of people.

I have seen quite a few things in the last years, which would make my personal answer "Yes.", And hence the title of this blog entry "One foot inside the Matrix". Before we can extract our foot. We must first clearly understand the subtle ways in which people are subtly (and sometimes not) encouraged to join this this Matrix Of Behavior.

That is what this ongoing blog entry will be about. Comments are always welcome.