The function of the mind is to create coherence between our beliefs and the reality we experience...What that means is that your mind will adjust the body’s biology and behavior to fit with your beliefs.’

 

The activity of our brains is reflected in the neuron pathways:

 

‘When we learn something new, our neurons tear down old connections and build new ones.’

 

Research has shown that we can actively affect how our brains can rewire themselves to create new neural networks and override pre-existing ones.’

 

The reality is that we believe in science and religions of personal faith – even if we don’t understand scientific method or the ‘creator’, but we tend not to believe in the frequently reported observations of UFO’s or angels; and we certainly don’t believe in the system of coincidence and planetary movements proposed by astrologers - even though some of the greatest thinkers of all time have been astrologers from the Chaldeans of Babylonia; to Pythagoras, Plato, and Hippocrates; to Bacon, Kepler, Galileo and Newton; to the father of modern day psychology Carl Jung who stated:

 

‘Whatever is born or done at this particular moment of time

 has the quality of this moment of time’.

 

Then there’s the take on reality of the world’s most famous scientist Albert Einstein:

 
             'Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.’


 

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE NATURE OF REALITY - cont.
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The Reality of Science
Reality in a pragmatic sense is the realm of science and ‘proven truths’ even though the focus on particulars in scientific experiment can flaw this approach by separating the observed from its context.

It’s nice to have neat double blind experiments that lead to unquestionable theories of reality but in general the lay person has difficulty understanding atom smashing Hadron Colliders searching for clues surrounding multidimensional realities, or observations from the Hubble telescope that theorise a Universe composed of dark energy (68%) and dark matter (27%) and the bit we can see (5%); with the dark forces causing the Universe to expand at an accelerating rate.

Prior to the ‘big bang’ science proposes that substance had an infinite density at an infinite temperature, with all the Universe's mass and energy pushed to a point of zero volume, which in the blink of an eye expanded 100 trillion, trillion times in size to create our Universe. About nine billion years after the ‘big bang’ our solar system coalesced from the big bang’s molecular cloud and Earth formed shortly after (4,600 mya).

It is thought that the Earth collected water by way of multiple collisions from water carrying meteorites soon after its formation; one such collision being so large that it formed the Moon. By 4,200 mya the Earth’s seas were in place and by 3,800 mya the earliest forms of life (anaerobic bacteria) are recorded, although it is conjectured that this momentous event may have happened shortly after meteorite bombardment stopped.

How the life force ‘kick started’ is as perplexing as the sudden existence of the Universe, but light seems inextricably related to the reality of life since nothing can exist without it. The history of the Universe has been deduced from light waves emanating from the corners of the Cosmos. The timing of the ‘big bang’ - 13.72 billion years ago - was calculated from the reduction in wavelength of light (red shift) from galaxies as they move away from us.

Human health also requires an adequate exposure to the Sun’s rays, even outside the visible spectrum the human brain is stimulated by long wave infrared light as well as short wave ultraviolet light. Radical physicist James Carter makes the assertion that:
‘Physics begins and ends with the reality of the photon. Everything we know of in the universe that can be observed and measured, can be explained in terms of the interaction of the appropriate photons’
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The importance of light as being fundamental to the nature of life and hence reality, is further impressed by findings in quantum biology which have it that DNA exists in the form of liquid-crystal, lattice-type structures that emit biophotons which have the potential to connect all functions of the human body - as well as connecting to all other life forms.

Another ‘fringe’ scientist that may be lorded in the future is Bruce Lipton who has expanded the concept of epigenetics to include our thought processes.
The Reality of Global Warming
The technological advances of the western world since the industrial revolution would not have risen without the energy key of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide which captures heat escaping from the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in global warming as a logical by-product, with the greater ‘carbon footprint’ emanating from the developed world, and with most other countries aspiring to do the same.

The issue of survival is again on the table but this time it’s our collective civilisation that bears the dilemma - while woven into the inevitable climatic effects of a reliance on fossil fuels is the emergence of sophisticated technologies for monitoring and manipulating consumer markets without regard for a person’s happiness and personal growth - or for the health of the planet.
'Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times’
The Future of Modern Civilisation
Primates diverged from mammals around 85 mya and about 2 mya the genus Homo appeared and differentiated into ‘wise man’- Homo sapiens - around 200,000 years ago, and by 50,000 years ago we had migrated from mid-west Africa to all corners of the globe.

Nomadic people are civilised to the degree that their lifestyles allow, but the growth and complexity of civilisation speeds up with the development of permanent settlements which require complex legal systems for property rights and the development of physical and social infrastructures such as sanitation, food supply chains, housing and social arenas.

Many famous civilisations have risen only to be overcome by internal frailties, external threats and changing climatic factors. Even the Sahara Desert went through a period of supporting a large population of people (8,500 to 3,500 BC) in a lush, fertile environment of lakes and rivers that covered 3.8 million square miles and then returned to desert in a couple of centuries as monsoonal rain moved elsewhere. (The rise of the great Egyptian civilisation is thought to have benefited from Saharan people exiting to the Nile River valley.)

It is only in recent times that the idea of a global village has sprung from the creation of a United Nations, followed by images of our Blue Planet as seen from outer space, and finally from the knowledge delivered via global media and the internet.

Employment is, and will always be essential for a purposeful life – even if it’s unpaid self employment. Agriculture has traditionally filled the niche of essential labour and still does in many undeveloped countries, but in the developed world agriculture has become so mechanised that its produce no longer carries the nutrients for a vibrant life while its processes rely on fossil fuels. It’s time to return to labour intensive and health promoting organic techniques of cultivation which are healthy for the soil and for the soul.

'A wide scale conversion to low energy, ecologically sustainable agriculture must be implemented to avoid food system collapse and future food supply shortages.'

From a personal point of view I feel trapped by a lifestyle that requires the use of fossil fuels for transport and domestic power supply. In these regards I don’t think I differ from anyone else, yet I understand that I am acting irresponsibly in consideration of the predicted consequences of a continuing march in this direction.

Change is inevitable, whether it comes via a rapid proliferation of dramatic weather events that leave no one untouched, or by a ground swell of public opinion reflected by governments that act with integrity and empathy towards the distribution of the financial benefits of a sustainable world oriented towards products of lasting personal and social benefit.

There is no doubt that free trade is a great leveller since third world economies are able to produce products more cheaply than developed countries - who have capacities in their own unique areas. The factors that undermine free trade should be regulated against but this is not the current reality of global ‘free trade’:

‘The ability to self-regulate ... is threatened by monopolies, tax preferences, lobbying groups, and other “privileges” extended to certain members of the economy at the expense of others.’

Although we all recognise the ripples of change, a major trigger point seems as yet uncertain, although those of astrological persuasion believe that the activating events are on the short term horizon  and will take around 10 years to resolve. According to astrologers the specific area of change within the approaching turmoil, surrounds the global monetary system - something that no longer functions as an exchange mechanism.
Future Reality
Kant believed that reality was an entities ability to sense their surroundings and the changes made in it; or as Bruce Lipton put it: ‘The observer creates reality.’ Hence every living thing on the planet has a reality and the only imperative of reality is life itself.

Kant proposed a ‘universal moral law’ as did C.S. Lewis and since reality requires the magical presence of life then any action whose sum total is negative to life, is wrong action and any action whose sum total encourages life is right action.

The essence of life rolls on – bacteria strive to better their situation while symbiotically we humans strive for the same - this is the indomitable essence of all the life forms that saturate our planet. Aeons of evolution have projected the human form as having the greatest potential for understanding the global village - it is our duty to reflect and make the hard decisions that will impact on the future reality of life on Earth.
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever
“Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.” Frank Herbert, Dune
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The Reality of Science
The Reality of Global Warming
The Future of Modern Civilisation
Future Reality