1. I think synchronistic events happen all the time: someone calls when you're thinking of them, your best friends gets a root canal the same day that you do, etc. It's open to individual interpretation whether it's by "chance" or as the result of some forces we don't yet understand.
2. I would explain connectivity as both cause and effect, and in that way, everything is connected. I would also explain as in the fact that matter is bound by the same physical forces. Also, we are connected in that humans, if broken down into elements, are made of approximately the same proportion of hydrogen, oxygen, etc as the universe.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Assignment #2
1. Uncertainty
I really enjoyed the "Discursive Practices of Skepticism and Fath in Cuban Santeria" article and its discussion of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. To me, the article could really be used as a good critique for the format of our class debates with an "East" vs "West" perspective (see blog post #1). As the article states "any attempt to describe a cultural phenomenon... will bear the imprint of the observer's perspective". Thus what one person constructs as east vs. west is very subjective to one's own cultural experience and biases. And the instructor clearly has his own subjective perspective to impose on us, as is elucidated through various comments made in class (i.e. west = scientific method, etc, and east = the tao de ching). I feel like the entire thing devolves into an exercise of typecasting stereotypes.
2. Causality
My thoughts on causality is there we only know so much about the way the universe works, so what cause and effect we can deduce from our limited knowledge can easily be upended.
3. Weird Universe
I don't think the universe is weird so much as fascinating because of all we don't understand, from dark matter to multiple dimensions to questions of infinity. At a scale the size of the universe, there seems to be room to theorize about beginnings and ends, infinite expansion... more than enough for our limited lives.
I really enjoyed the "Discursive Practices of Skepticism and Fath in Cuban Santeria" article and its discussion of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. To me, the article could really be used as a good critique for the format of our class debates with an "East" vs "West" perspective (see blog post #1). As the article states "any attempt to describe a cultural phenomenon... will bear the imprint of the observer's perspective". Thus what one person constructs as east vs. west is very subjective to one's own cultural experience and biases. And the instructor clearly has his own subjective perspective to impose on us, as is elucidated through various comments made in class (i.e. west = scientific method, etc, and east = the tao de ching). I feel like the entire thing devolves into an exercise of typecasting stereotypes.
2. Causality
My thoughts on causality is there we only know so much about the way the universe works, so what cause and effect we can deduce from our limited knowledge can easily be upended.
3. Weird Universe
I don't think the universe is weird so much as fascinating because of all we don't understand, from dark matter to multiple dimensions to questions of infinity. At a scale the size of the universe, there seems to be room to theorize about beginnings and ends, infinite expansion... more than enough for our limited lives.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Quiz #1
I decided to come to Chinese Medicine school because I've felt the need to transition from working in social justice/public policy to something more healing on the personal level. To something more tangible. My family also has a history in practicing Chinese Medicine, and it was my primary form of health care growing up.
I really enjoy reading popular culture books on physics and learning the basic theory behind theories like the possibility of multiple universes and the discovery of the Higgs Boson. It really tries to get at the fundamental question of why we are alive, from a very hard science point of view.
Time seems to be speeding up in general for me as I get older, whereas I remember days lasting a lot longer when I was a child. When I'm meditating, say on a retreat, there will also be hours that just seem to go by so quickly and hours that are agonizingly slow.
I decided to come to Chinese Medicine school because I've felt the need to transition from working in social justice/public policy to something more healing on the personal level. To something more tangible. My family also has a history in practicing Chinese Medicine, and it was my primary form of health care growing up.
I really enjoy reading popular culture books on physics and learning the basic theory behind theories like the possibility of multiple universes and the discovery of the Higgs Boson. It really tries to get at the fundamental question of why we are alive, from a very hard science point of view.
Time seems to be speeding up in general for me as I get older, whereas I remember days lasting a lot longer when I was a child. When I'm meditating, say on a retreat, there will also be hours that just seem to go by so quickly and hours that are agonizingly slow.
Assignment #1
My honest reaction to our first class discussion was one of being somewhat aggravated. While I really enjoy that fact that we are learning physic from a larger point of view than that of traditional mathematical formulas, I was really triggered by the cultural reductionism of the "East vs West" setup of the class discussion. Mainly, this was because there was no defining of what we are suppose to take these two words to mean. And my sense from the class discussion was that we are suppose to impose and feed upon stereotypes of both of these terms without any critical thinking.
Is "West" suppose to mean white European? Based in Greek philosophy? Modern American culture? Where would African, Latin American, Middle Eastern approaches to science fit in this set-up? What about any of the indigenous cultural traditions of people from Europe to Russia? Is "East" suppose to be Chinese? Daoist? Buddhist? Hindu? Sufi? Modern East Asian cultural approaches to science?
While I have no problems engaging in debate based on something specific (say, what would Hippocrates say versus the great Chinese Medicine doctor Zhang Zhong Jing, or even what would Socrates' approach be versus Confucius), I think to use these broad terms of "East" and "West" as the basis of differentiating intellectual thought, without definition, is irresponsible and frankly, culturally offensive to everyone.
Thanks for reading.
My honest reaction to our first class discussion was one of being somewhat aggravated. While I really enjoy that fact that we are learning physic from a larger point of view than that of traditional mathematical formulas, I was really triggered by the cultural reductionism of the "East vs West" setup of the class discussion. Mainly, this was because there was no defining of what we are suppose to take these two words to mean. And my sense from the class discussion was that we are suppose to impose and feed upon stereotypes of both of these terms without any critical thinking.
Is "West" suppose to mean white European? Based in Greek philosophy? Modern American culture? Where would African, Latin American, Middle Eastern approaches to science fit in this set-up? What about any of the indigenous cultural traditions of people from Europe to Russia? Is "East" suppose to be Chinese? Daoist? Buddhist? Hindu? Sufi? Modern East Asian cultural approaches to science?
While I have no problems engaging in debate based on something specific (say, what would Hippocrates say versus the great Chinese Medicine doctor Zhang Zhong Jing, or even what would Socrates' approach be versus Confucius), I think to use these broad terms of "East" and "West" as the basis of differentiating intellectual thought, without definition, is irresponsible and frankly, culturally offensive to everyone.
Thanks for reading.
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