Out with the old, in with the new.

This blog was originally conceived out of personal interest and a desire to share the varieties of graffiti that I witnessed on the walls of the women's restrooms at the liberal arts college I, until recently, was a student of. Having never once fulfilled this ambition, and having completed my degree, I feel the time has come to retire this forum. I appreciate the audience that has visited this site, mostly composed of strangers, and if any members of it wish to continue reading my writings, I redirect you to my new endeavor: http://glassgiants.blogspot.com. Thank you again for your readership!

Recent Works III (Med-Lg Format)

Recent Works II (Medium Format)

Recent Works I (March-May '10)

A Series of Annotations

This Will Be Our Year

Read Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie.

Heading to India in July. In the North, and Nepal. The Land of the Buddha and Tantric Buddhism.

Today is my birthday, and this year is my year!

Fractals, Time, Circular Thought, Galactic Cosmos: An Exercise in Tantric Consciousness

Abstraction A: Fractals

This is a visual mapping of a fractal set. It is also clearly a mandala. Let us think about this. The seed syllable of the deity is the originating point of the essence of the mandala. If the seed syllable could be imagined as the starting point of the fractal, the endless repetition of the starting point becomes the emanation of the principle deity outward from the center. From this pattern of emanation arises the structure of the mandala palace, in which the deity abides. In this way, this image and the images of fractals below are visual representations of the mathematics of cosmic vibration, the cosmic ratios of space. This provides an argument in favor of Tantric metaphysics which argue that the mandala is inherent in the fabric of the cosmos, that paintings of mandalas are not created images, but revealed. It also supports the necessity of accurate proportions in the portrayal of mandalas. Fractals are not approximate, they are precise patterns based on exact calculations, as are mandalas.

Abstraction B: Circular Thought (Finding the Center)

Crop circles are geometrical patterns constructed in fields of crops. their origin is mysterious. some say they are made by extraterrestrials, or inter-dimensional beings, or they're fixed energy patterns known to the ancients but long forgotten, or that they're just hoaxes, created by crafty human hands and nothing more. where they come from, however, is not what's important. rather, it is how the human mind attempts to make sense of mystery and symbol, and how human minds necessarily ascribe meaning to symbols.

How do we make the vastness of the universe tangible? By creating it in space, visually. the universe is evolving in my mind. I am going to learn how to speak the language everyone understands. subtle sense faculties.

what would 17th century philosopher benedict de spinoza say about crop circles? that they are nothing more and nothing less than a phenomena of nature, the causes of which surpass our faculty of understanding. he completely refutes any possibility of miracles. (which hume borrowed without recognition in 'of miracles'.) now, spinoza's conception of nature is as all encompassing as and identical to God. god is nature. fact. the power of god surpasses our conceptual faculties, therefore the power of nature surpasses our conceptual faculties. that is why there are natural marvels of mysterious origin throughout the planet. crop circles are only one example. the fabric of the universe is a vibrating frequency of light which shifts in an out of different patterns, creating and undoing ceaselessly. order into chaos. order out of chaos. it is merely shifting patterns. galaxies are nothing less than this. their basic patterns are the elements, which give off a color, which is an energy frequency. these energy frequencies encounter each other and create change and balance. change is a balancing act.

crop circles are an encounter with the unexplained. when human beings encounter the unexplained, their minds, confronted with their own ignorance, instantly attempt to explain it. that is the marvel of human intellect: to recognize the limits of your consciousness, and have reason reveal that this too is part of the pattern.

every moment is an experiment in consciousness. every experience is an experiment in emptiness. every moment must count. every moment is right now. everything is always happening all at once. without everything nothing could be. everything is real. but nothing can be without everything else. one thing necessitates all things. from one. a circle is one, but it is infinitely expanding. a circle can always get bigger. the depth of human thought expands with our knowledge of the cosmos. as i sit here i ponder a nebula. because that nebula exists in the same universe as i do, as i sit here on this chair in this room on this floor in this building on this block in this city in this country on this continent on this circle. the circle we walk in everyday. no matter where we walk, we are always walking in a circle. from the moment we rise to our feet to the moment we rest on our backs, we never stop moving in a circle. sure it's not a perfect circle. that's hardly the point. it is meant figuratively. our orbit around the sun is an elliptical path, so it is like this: we are moving on a circular trajectory the center of which is always being moved. the pattern is always being slightly offset by some force. it's being pushed, challenged. despite the push, the pattern never falters. it is consistent. the zero-point of the continuum establishes balance with the ceaseless re-centering of this trajectory.

it is a fact that the conceptual mind experiences material reality in three dimensions. but within those three dimensions there are infinite dimensions. it's fractals, simply put.

this image of fractal patterning appears to me to be a field of buddha fields, all intersecting and merging, not unlike the collision of galaxies. the point is not where it is but the fact that the circle is always centered. always. the point is not that the center exist out there, but that it exist in the mind. that is how visualization mediation produces realization. by creating an enlightened space the entire architecture of which is united with your mind, you become the center of the universe. you are the singular zero-point, the placeless center from which the universe is created in every moment. there are no dead ends. everyone deserves a beautiful life. and buddha helped give it to others. sometimes i feel like a pratyeka buddha. like i have experience true, all encompassing enlightenment. i have experienced the depth of emptiness. i discovered a gem in indra's net on the platform of a subway in brooklyn new york, on all saints' eve. it was a circle. an empty circle. on an earring. i recently lost a similar earring, found it a month later, then lost the other one a few days after that. and another earring a few days after that. one two one one. one two one one. one two one one. one two one one. one two one one. 5.

this is the reality of my conceptual process, which is circular. time is not linear. the universe is not linear. even light bends. my mind is made of light, so it bends with the light. plants bend with the light. crop circles possess their power as the center of bent light. that light is energy, and the pattern, whatever its source, even produced in a ritual manner by humans (hoax circles), is in that respect entirely analogous to a mandala. mandalas are not defined by the image so much as its function. certainly the pattern is important, but only with regard to how it coalesces the existing light in a visually approximate way. the ground is only the point of departure. there are dimensions radiating outward from every point in space. and their are infinite points in space. and every point is a center. finding the center is a matter of knowing where a circle begins. and it begins at the center and moves outward in a circular motion. like a fractal. like some crop circles. like mandalas. like stupas. like an orbit. the center is constantly moving and constantly remains the same.

crop circles could be anywhere. they're hardly different from any other pattern found in nature. there are faces, figures, shapes, everything stamped on the surface of this planet. just because we don't see it doesn't mean its not there. padmasambhava understood this. that is how he conquered the volatile natural forces of tibet. knowledge is limitlessly attainable in every moment. there are no good and bad. tantra allows all, because all is full of emptiness. with nothing there is the possibility of everything. in the empty space of a field appears a circle. it is mysterious, and we contemplate it. in the empty space of a piece of paper, words appear. we discover our own mysteries. and we discover our own truths. truth is freedom. mysteries free our minds from the confines of conventional thinking.

Abstraction C: Time Does Not Exist

time is circular. a wall clock is round, a circle. around and around it goes. the line from the center to the periphery is the present moment. everything falls within its trajectory at the exact same moment. time is infinite clocks all measuring the same infinite moment. and yet the mind is always happening in the moment, the eternal present, the perfect center. it is as the dalai lama said: we are all the center of the universe in our minds. but what does it mean to stand in the center of ones mind, the cosmic clock? time does not exist linearly, but in circles, always moving around. yet the measurement of time begins in the center. when you stand in the center of the clock, time exists only in the centrality of the moment where you stand in relation to it. in that way, you are the center of time, the determining factor in the experience of the moment.