Friday, February 17, 2012

Quantum Baby Steps

Barbara: I told you I’d share some of my quantum lessons with you, right? Not one to go back on my word, I have a little something for you to chew on today. Plus, I’m still basking in the glow of my teacher’s most mind-blowing words (so far) that every lesson we ever have about the world is essentially there to teach us about ourselves (I mean think about it, every boring math class or droning lecture could actually be getting us closer to subconsciously understanding who we are inside)… No, I didn’t ask how carefully we needed to be paying attention ;).

Now, keep in mind that I’m adapting my ideas here from my own perspective (and limited understanding). In other words, this stuff is from a science-noob trying to keep up with a crazy course while simultaneously trying to translate this newly-acquired understanding to you as if you’ve also never in your life had a class on Physics or Quantum Physics. So bear with me—because my ultimate point is to get us to the juicy life-stuff and not linger in math equations and non-visual concepts.

I always assumed (if I’d ever even given it a thought) that energy built along a smooth continuous course, build and build and build, smoothly up. Like a fire gaining intensity, getting hotter and hotter, in an even, cumulative way. Sort of like this:

But after deconstructing a bit of Planck and Bohr (super-important physicists, yadda yadda), I learned that, in fact, the only mathematical formula that could explain how energy built (or diffused)—and this formula never ever fails when applied to everything we know so far in the universe—is that energy builds in steps. Clunk, clunk, clunk, up and up, or up and down, or down and up, but always by indivisible, chunky steps. Sort of like this:

So how does this apply to the juicy stuff of life? Well, that’s the question!! Because let’s assume for a moment that it does.

Okay, so I’ve been going along in my imperfect life, bumping along, trying really really hard to “improve myself” or “gain greater spirituality” or “develop my thinking” and I am always amazed—and frustrated and PISSED—that even when I get it in my mind, I don’t just get it in my heart. After weeks or months or years of contemplation, the same things will still frustrate me, or evade me, or challenge me. Why can’t I just get over that thing someone did that bugged the hell outta me? Or why can’t I just process my grief? Or why can’t I meditate properly?

And I’m supposed to be so in tune with myself, right? So conscious. But then… but then…

Suddenly, one day, actually one moment in one day, it just … clicks. It all falls into place. I do get it. I forgive that transgression. Or I get over that grief. Or I understand that principal (or that godforsaken computer gibberish). All the hell and fury is just … gone.

And I do feel like I’ve just jumped up a clunky step. After aimlessly wandering along the same level—but gathering, I guess, information or experience or insight—I suddenly find myself closer to being the accepting, cognizant, loving me, the me in peace. And maybe the whole process has been a series of step-after-step-after-step and not a smooth, fluid, and inevitable process at all.

So I did discover that when I applied the quantum logic to my feeling self, the math still worked! And I had learned something too. The question is, does this quantum logic speak to you?

Deb: It does speak to me. I always think back to trying trying trying to have a second baby after the boy was born. It was not to be and I could not get past it. Until I did. Same with leaving my sketch troupe a few years ago. Struggle struggle block block struggle and suddenly I guess it was a quantum cloud that lifted and it was “done”. I guess I am intimidated by the whole quantum show but when you break those molecules down to little old me, I get it. And I so see it working for me. I have always wondered the whys of when you can’t let go and why suddenly you can. Should have paid attention in science. Would have saved myself a lot of pain! 

45 comments:

  1. Interesting, this Quantum Physics. Have you ever seen the movie "What The Bleep"? It is all about this very subject. My sister who lives in BC has been doing her PHD on this subject and how the universe responds. In her own quiet way, when I spend time with her, she points out so many things that we might normally miss, because in our "busyness" we sometimes just aren't in tune enough to catch it. It is subtle, but at the say time shrieking with it's message!
    Kudos to you Barb, for expanding your mind and taking this course. I think that's so great. It is a very good thing to keep challenging ourselves, our brain , and our outlook.

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    1. Yes! I watched that film years ago and so want to see it again. If I'm not mistaken, my prof is featured on that film! But it's true, amazing how these subtle changes in awareness really do adjust your reality (for the better).

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  2. Wow. Very interesting way of looking at it all. Good application to "real life". I wish I had paid attention more in the physics class I took in high school now! So many theorists so little time!

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  3. Wonderful topic Barb !!! I can relate with this.....and From the stuff I know...Its true....it works that way...I mean things just fade away....in time...New thoughts come in and the old ones become less relevant...Ive had so many experiences where something that bothered me...just phased out of my life....And this is something that worked for me.....when bothersome thoughts come in.... dont fight them....it doesnt work....Remember that things change....always change...When we realize that every trouble is just temporary we make it easier to deal with....I mean maybe the situation hasnt changed but our minds get a little clearer...and soon its gone completely from our experiences and we remember it after a long time....It worked for me...try to relax....remind yourself that things change....and its just temporary.....its like in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when they fall on the Devil's Snare...and Hermione says "IF you'll relax it will let you go".....and it works...the boys keep struggling and stay caught up in it..but it lets them go when they relax...!
    (Sorry about the example I'm a POTTERHEAD....) But it works....try it !
    BTW loved the Quantum Lesson Ms.Radecki...But you forgot to give us homework today......(I wasnt that kid in school though...I was the "Sorry, left my homework back home" kid :D)

    And Deb..I feel for you...(yet I dont regret not paying attention in Science...coz thats when I used to get the best naps :P) Honey....relax...*BIG-HUG*....things always work out.....BELIEVE they will and they WILL !!!(Sorry Pep talk just comes outta me...lol !!!) I realized that I couldnt let go of things because I kept thinking "why can't I let go of them ??"...and when I said "Screw it...I have work to do".....the next time I approached that situation...CLICK!!!!... and the pain was gone forever !!!!xoxo

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    1. I knew this would interest you, Shalaka! That said, your comment made me lol!! (and, yeah, no homework from Ms. Radecki, that's not how I roll ;)

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  4. Say what? The small part of my brain that isn't drugged up and oozing ick gets it....I think.

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  5. As I started to read I thought I would never get this but by the end you explained in a way Barb that I see it. I always new something about baby steps but can you skip some of the steps and take big leaps or are you always destined to just mosey on up the ladder to the end? Also, what about those that get stuck along the way? Is there a way to skip ahead to higher up? Now you have me thinking. Yikes, I do too much of that already.

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    1. I think you jump up and up, but also up and down and up, in every variation. In Quantum Physics, the energy particles can indeed skip steps. So maybe we can too!

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  6. Meant to say knew. I hate when I make syntax errors.

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  7. So thought provoking. Must think about this for a while.

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  8. everything everything everything exists in a state of infinite potential until we bring consciousness to it. and arriving at the exact moment of consciousness is NOT as we humans seem to think it should be, a linear process. it is a collage soup; a collection of seemingly unrelated flotsam & jetsam that gathers within mystery and then suddenly reaches critical mass and explodes into being. the "clunky steps" you speak of is the stuff of life itself--all the ordinary moments that we pay absolutely no attention to (because they're happening under the surface) but because we are working it out subconsciously, we eventually NOTICE what's already there and then make a choice about it. the moment of acceptance that Deb speaks of is the moment of subconscious reconciliation, of CHOICE. there's an old saying about indecision: "it's not that you don't know what you want to do, it's that you don't like it." the clunky steps where we flounder are when we are trying to come to terms with what we don't like. by the way, this relates to Buddhist thought in many ways: specifically in this case--by being selective. did you know that the word Buddhi--comes from the same root as the word intelligence? and that both ultimately mean to select among choices? my two cents on this billion dollar subject. keep THINKING Barb & Deb. I'm right there with you. ;)

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    1. Billion dollar answer! I have to say, thinking hurts a bit, but the brain-tweaking/questions vortex is truly fascinating for me. I did not know that about the root of Buddhism. Love your 2 cents!

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    2. actually,, technically, Buddha means "awakened"--when you get into the technicalities you get to what I said. actually, another meaning of Buddhi: Buddhi is the wife of Ganesh (the elephant God who is known as the remover of obstacles)--thinking DOES hurt :) I re-read my own answer several times and if I didn't know what I meant, well, I'm not sure that I'd know what I meant ;) a lot of these things need to be experienced, rather than verbalized.......

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    3. Fair enough. But in that symbiotic thing that we have, I thought I got what you meant! Of course, "awakened" is even more interesting than "knowledge" -- it implies soooo much more, huh?

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  9. ....My brain refuses to wake up today. I had to read this like 4 times just because I kept missing parts.....
    being in this state I am thinking how coffee works with your reasoning : ) one minute half asleep but the next suddenly awake and ready to go. Ok I need to go get some coffee now....

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    1. Yeah, it might need caffeine (and I think it's easier than I made it sound... :) 0

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  10. "After weeks or months or years of contemplation, the same things will still frustrate me, or evade me, or challenge me."

    This is what I notice when reading old diaries -- in many ways, I'm still dealing with the same issues (different pile, that's all) that were driving me crazy years ago. I like the way you explain the reasons it takes time to work things out and come to a peaceful resolution. Otherwise I tend to think it's my own stubborn refusal to change my patterns of thinking or being -- which it probably is, but you're making me consider there may be more to it than that.

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    1. Yeah, Kate, I do think our brains trump our sense sometimes and our life lessons feel soooo heavy. But the patterns CAN change and that's what I find so fascinating. Old diaries, huh? Must be fascinating too!

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  11. The illustrations help me immensely. I get this. It's not linear or smooth. This is really cool, Barbara.

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    1. Thanks, Lisa - I couldn't grasp it w/o some kind of visual touchstone.

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    2. But will say, not so proud of my funky-ugly sketches ;)

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  12. My husband and I saw a counselor many years ago, who said we wouldn't need his help for ever, we should be better able to handle ourselves after 8-12 sessions. I assumed we would experience a gradual awakening after each session, but after 6 or 7 sessions, I felt no change at all. I remember thinking this might be a complete waste of our time. All of a sudden, after the 8th session, everything clicked...for both of us...much like the energy principle that Barb talks about. I was so impressed with the counselor for knowing his stuff, and I was impressed with us, for actually getting it. Today I'm impressed yet again at how everything in our world ties together! BTW, I started reading your blog a few weeks ago, and I love it!

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    1. Oh, welcome, Anon, so happy to meet you here!! As for the clicking in -- it's really magic when you notice it. Therapy was like that for me too (but it took me way more than 12 sessions!).

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  13. As I've kinda reasoned out in my own head - if life was smooth, it would be pretty boring. It's the bumps along the way that make it interesting.

    It's interesting, in math, my husband tends to say that you want to not prove you're right, but disprove that you're wrong (which is different). You propose your hypothesis, and then you say, now what conditions will prove that hypothesis wrong, and then go from there. It's weird. But, math is weird - their love of pencils and paper is dodgy in my world... :)

    I'm glad you're taking something from this class and making it work for you. :)

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    1. See, the more I explore this foreign world, Jo, the more I believe it's time to bring some irrational to the ordered and rational. We're thinking outside the box maybe.

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  14. Hey everyone, I was checking my bloglist and Lyndsie, who is a regular commenter here, posted that her grandfather passed away today. I just thought I'd let ya'll know. She might appreciate if you pop over to her blog and leave her a message. http://lyndsie-lifeasweknowit.blogspot.com/2012/02/loss-of-great-man.html

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    1. Oh, Molly, thank you for this. Lyndsie! Sending you love xoxo

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    2. message sent . it is sad to hear of anyone passing away from cancer . as i mentioned here before my mom is fighting her second battle against the condition .

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    3. So terrible, Linda. Thinking of her (and you). lots of love, xoxo

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    4. Thanks for sharing, Molly. Praying for you and your family, Lyndsie!

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  15. I don't really have anything intelligent to contribute, but Barb, I must applaud you for boldly expanding your horizons into a venture not many would dare to go! :) Kudos.

    Off to partake in some Frasier laughs...applying for jobs is STRESSFUL!!!!!!!!!!

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  16. The scientist in me runs in and screams, "YES! The a-HA moment!"

    The trivia gal in me pops in with, "The Eureka! moment!"

    The rest of us run in, grab the other two, tell them to shut the hell UP already, and run out.

    A scrap of paper floats in on the breeze and alights on the floor.

    It reads (No, really! It reads! Could since it was only 2!):

    My therapy sessions involved a lot of these moments. A LOT of them. More than I remember. I don't find them satisfying, necessarily. More like, "Whew! I'm glad THAT part of the test is over. When's lunch?" Like I'd only gotten through one part, knowing there was more (sometimes a LOT more) to come.

    I want to know when enough is enough. How much more do I have to stuff into this brain before warning klaxons sound, red lights start flashing, and a previously unknown sign suddenly blinks continuously on OVERLOAD-OVERLOAD-OVERLOAD?

    In other words, where do the stairs end? DO the stairs end? And wha


    ... another breeze blows in, carrying the scrap away.

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    1. BEST description of this EVER!!! Oh my god, Dawn, thanks for this.

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  17. I've never really thought about transfering some physical concepts into "what life means".

    But I think it makes sense.

    Life consists of steps. It's not a straight line heading towards a climax. It has its rough edges.

    You literally practice to make your very first step.
    It's like going through different sections.

    Reaching the next level can be easy (haha, maybe we are in a videogame. You have to collect some items, fulfill tasks, find treasures, meet people, improve your abilities, fight enemies...), but it can be very difficult, if you're not ready to jump up.

    Then you have to practice, try harder, learn new things, broaden your mind, or simply wait for the next chance.

    Sometimes you get hit and lose your faith, your health, your strength, your luck, and you fall back down.

    Then it's important to stand up again. To not give up and be stuck on the same level forever.

    Besides, if you actually climbing steps, you can see the changes, and the improvements. Reaching the next level is like getting a reward. And maybe if we try hard enough, we can even reach the bonus-level (Sorry, got carried away a little bit).

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    1. On the contrary , Becki, this makes it way more clear than I ever could! Thank you.

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  18. i hope you don;t mind me giving a little plug . after reading through the brilliant blogs mentioned on the blog guest of honour , i have been inspired to take the plunge and start a blog myself . see what you think :
    http://bestfreak.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thrilled for you, Linda!! Congrats. Just so you know I'm in a bit of a transit sitch here and will come visit as soon as I can.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  19. no problem . there is only a couple of things up right now drop by when you can . sorry about removing the above post . my typing is all over the place !

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    1. Hey Linda.....the blog is AWESOME !!!!!!! good luck :) Love xoxo

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    2. thanks shalaka . i hope you will drop by again . i have just added another article to it ! the problem is now though i am using too many you tube clips !

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