Tag: space-time

Heavy Thought Time

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, nature vs. nurture, religion, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

To create a life is rather easy, people do it all the time.

To create good people, that is possibly the most difficult thing we will ever do.

We have all heard about the nature vs nurture debate, and from where I stand as an observer of nature, I see many deep connections between all living things everywhere I look – connections that run like fungal mycelium throughout the deep-time tapestry of life.

These ancient genetic connections are incredibly apparent to me because I see them in myself. I was adopted as a newborn and spent the next several decades with wonderful, loving parents who nurtured and cared for me, giving me a comfortable home, an education, and most of all, the ability to think for myself. They let me choose my own path – they did not force on me any specific religion, politics, or any other worldviews – they let me choose for myself who I was to become. They were the nurture side of the coin that I received in this coin toss called life.

On the nature side of the coin: From a very young age, my curiosity about the natural world around me was incredibly strong. I have always had a deep empathetic nature and a deep connection to animals, nature, wildlife, and the silent teachers that exists in the forest, an endlessly flowing river, the rolling ocean waves, and the deeptime knowledge that exists in every rock, tree, mountain, water drop, and in our own DNA – these are teachers that only some of us can hear.  Due to these deep connections to the natural world I always wondered if I had inherited this intense love and focus on nature from my biological family.

Then, in 2018, I used the tools of science to find my genetic family and my suspicions were confirmed – my love of nature was indeed genetic – my father and all my family members were great lovers of nature and all things wild and wonderful. My father and I shared so many things in common – even down to things like favorite foods, TV shows, music, vehicles, wildlife, it is really astounding how many deep connections we share.

So for me specifically, the nature vs nurture argument is no longer a debate – i am a product of both of these things.

From my point of view, and from my lived experience – I believe that at birth we carry within our genetic code, a singular sequence specifically written by the experiences of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents and far far back into deeptime, to a time before we gave ourselves names, before we harnessed fire, before we were even human. This ancient code sequence is the nature side of the coin. It is a hard written instinct stamped into our DNA by the experiences of all our ancestors. This ancient code is expressed,  like it or not, by our consciousness.  But what the heck is consciousness anyway?

In an attempt to answer this age old question we need to flip the coin back over to the nurture side again and ask – what about our consciousness?  Where does it come from?  What is it that allows us to look in the mirror and say “Hello me, i recognize that i exist…i think therefore i am.” 

Where does the consciousness  originate?  Some say it is all in the mind…and maybe this is so.  However, I sometimes wonder if it comes from outside the body…another realm of existence that we have yet to identify.  Maybe we and all life on earth are part of this unique and massive energy field…this Singularity…and we are greatly limiting ourselves when we think that we are separate, apart, alone individuals.  But in reality…a reality we have not discovered yet because we are not yet ready, not evolved enough to experience that reality and understand it…maybe we are all connected deeper than we could ever imagine.  Maybe when our body exhausts itself and ceases to exist, maybe our unique consciousness – our soul – retreats back into this unknown realm, this undiscovered country, to rejoin with the rest of the whole where it then shares its lifetime of experiences with its “peers” afterwhich it is reset, and then born again as another lifeform on earth…or another planet in the vast cosmos – and the cycle continues.

I do not believe in omnipotent beings – a god or gods – and therefore i do not believe a devine creator being gives us each a unique consciousness – at soul – at birth.  I have this hypothesis that at birth, our consciousness is a blank clean slate…like a new computer waiting to have is blank but eager to learn storage drives filled up with all our unique photos, music, stories, history – the unique things we save close to our hearts and minds – the things that make us, us.

Maybe we are all born with this same basic, “blank slate” consciousness.  Maybe this blank slate consciousness is exactly the same for everyone – it is a carbon copy of whatever the first one was, whatever the first human being was.  Then, as we live and grow and are exposed to our family, friends, society, the media, religion, politics, science, culture, war, love, hate, bullies, hippies, laughter, passion, sickness, trauma, etc – maybe it is only after this exposure to all these unique outside experiences and influences, coupled with the genetic expression of our instinctual nature knowledge passed down from our unique evolutionary lineages, does our unique consciousness truly becomes ours, and only ours.  It becomes unique to each human due to the unique experiences each of us has experienced as well as the deep genetic connections we brought forward in time from our unique ancestrial DNA.

Maybe the “me” and “you” parts of our thinking brains are exactly the same until they experience life, the universe, and everything around us during our first few years of life – and then we become the unique individuals that we are – we become the you and the me that we see in the mirror.

If all this is so, then to guide an innocent young human into adulthood as a parent, teacher, or mentor, is possibly the greatest responsibility one could ever hold.

Choose wisely.

Think before you speak.

Be a good human.

Do good things.

Another Thought Experiment

On By StevoIn anthropology, climate change, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, religion, Science, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

If a highly advanced, long-lived, extraterrestrial species from another galaxy landed on Earth today and told us we were all part of a long-term planetary biology/evolution “lab” experiment designed and implemented several million years ago in the attempt to discern the direction biological evolution would take under the unique environmental conditions offered by this planet and its star…

…and/or…

If Jesus (or any other religious prophet) returned and/or appeared – and he was a dark skinned, barefoot, long haired, “herb” smoking, robe wearing, bisexual, “hippie” “dude” whose pronown was “whatever man” and he was asking all of us to destroy our walls, weapons, governments, religions, superficial labels and divisions, and all coexist and live in harmony…

Recent events suggest that many people who call themselves religious would probably deny the flesh and blood evidence standing in front of them, and cry “demon,” “witch,” ” infidel,” “imposter,” – and then try to crucify and/or dissect them.


Sadly, the fearful, preconceived notions of what many believe their god and/or extraterrestrial visitors should be are far too limiting and microscopically small, to allow them to see the grandeur of the cosmos as it actually exists, and all the amazing possibilities it may hold.

We are our own most limiting factor.

Do Good Things

On By StevoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Fellow Earthlings,

Fear, hate, aggression, anger, greed, judgment, spite, darkness – these things are mind and spirit killers.

Let go of them.

A few decades ago I let go of my fear, hate, aggression, anger, greed, judgment, spite, and darkness. When I did this an amazing cosmos opened up to me. A living cosmos of beauty, coexistence, love, truth, kindness, and light – a cosmos of amazing possibilities.

Today I choose to treat all humans and all beings with the love, kindness, and respect that they deserve until given a reason not to do so.

I do not hold grudges – what a waste of time and energy.

I do not target, belittle and bully those that do not share my philosophy. Doing so would simply breed more negativity and polarization and again – what a waste of time and energy.

However, when needed I will use scientifically supported facts and common sense to educate others on more productive, environmentally sound ways and options of being human. I am aware that sometimes these suggestions may be interpreted as personal attacks but rest assured they are not. A fact is not an attack, it is only a fact. Aggression and attack are easy, evidence-supported facts are sometimes hard because they may require change – and for some people change is an impossible task.

I am simply offering another opinion, another option, or another path based on self-supporting, peer-reviewed evidence and/or common sense that the reader may not have thought of in their popular philosophy. It is up to them to choose what to do with the knowledge I have freely offered. If it does not work for them – so be it – it is they who will suffer the consequences of their actions be they “good” or “bad” consequences.

In adopting this philosophy I have reduced my stress levels, opened my mind, had incredible mind-opening relationships and adventures, and made amazing friends from all walks and ways of life that have made my life so much more beautiful and full than I ever thought possible.

I have followed opportunities that have blossomed into amazing positive learning, teaching, and growth experiences. All of these things, all of these connections, and all of these experiences have worked to create the person I am today.

If I had continued to follow the fearful path, if I had continued to live in fear of the things the sensationalistic media, special interest religio-political, and business groups, and smooth-talking venom spitting charlatans with their powerful hate and fear-filled divisive toxic agendas are continually working to feed us through TV, social media, literature, and movies – who knows where I would be today or if I would even still be alive.

How did I rise above all this? How did I escape the fearful madness that tried to assimilate me into their mind-numbing collectives? How did I form a shield against the never-ending onslaught from all directions?

For me, my answer was and still is nature, knowledge, and willpower.

After spending many years living, working, and playing in nature, in the wilderness – experiencing the ancient, age-old beauty and complexity of all that is nature and all that is this thing we call life – I developed a deep, spiritual reverence for life. This reverence stretched deeper into the core of my being, into my soul than anything I have ever experienced in any place of traditional organized religion/worship or anywhere in the human world.

Unlike all the other ways of living and being that wanted my money, my time, my thoughts, and even my very soul – these powerful natural connections did not want anything at all from me – yet they deeply fed me and I thirsted for more. So I dove deeper into the great naturalistic, scientific, philosophical and religious texts/field guides, and manuals, of the world and I learned from them but did not put all of them on pedestals or see them as “gossip truths” – I saw them as the great and powerful teaching tools that they are and I left it at that.

I also spoke to many wise, well-traveled, learned individuals and mentors who had lifetimes of knowledge to share and I listened to them and often, I followed their examples, and sometimes I did not because their examples did not work for me. Soon, I came to realize that we – our entire species – and all life on our earth – are but an insignificant, yet somehow aware of that insignificance, a minute little speck…a tiny hot candle of life and consciousness in the icy blackness of space, a momentary flaring of self-aware existence in the stupendous grandeur of all that has existed, exists, and will ever exist in deep time.

The time we are given to live on this earth in this form is so very brief, so very fragile, so very special.

To waste this finite time living in fear, full of hate, fighting over petty differences, imaginary lines on maps, temporary things, with eyes closed, and heart hardened to all of the wonders of reality and nature that exist and flow around us and within us – would be the ultimate disrespect to our existence and such an incredibly irresponsible waste of our precious time.

I believe that the biggest decision one can make is how to use the time they have been given.

For me, that decision is to spend my time wisely, free of hate, judgment, and fear and in the service and support of others and in service and support of the infinite living organism we call nature that gives life to us and supports and nourishes us all.

To that end, I will work hard to continue to share with others this knowledge and this reverence for all things that I have found and hope to continue to find. I will continue to use the scientific method and the naturalistic eye to explore the natural world in all its magnificence and share with you what I find.

I will continue to work to respect, trust, love, and accept all life in all of its infinite forms, infinite diversity, and infinite combinations and I will work to promote and support all that is good, positive, productive, and supportive of this grand complexity we call life.

This way is my own and I totally understand that it may not be yours and that is OK, I accept and respect that 100% – as long as your path does no harm to others, works in support of peace, nature, understanding, and coexistence with all beings and all things now and into the future.

Some of us must follow our own path, no one can choose that path for us – so follow the beat of your own drum and when the chance to change, grow, and blossom presents itself, take it, live it, learn it, laugh, love, sing, paint, get out into the woods, rivers, mountains, oceans, and let your inner light shine, be the change, and above all else be yourself and do what you feel is right in your heart and all will fall into place.

Be the change.

Do good things.