Fractal Universe

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In physical cosmology, fractal cosmology is a set of minority cosmological theories which states that the distribution of matter in the Universe, or the structure of universe itself, is fractal. More generally, it relates to the usage or appearance of fractals in the study of the universe and matter. A central issue in this field is the fractal dimension of the Universe or of matter distribution within it, when measured at very large or very small scales.

Fractals are encountered in both observational and theoretical cosmology, make an appearance at both extremes of the range of scale, and have been observed at various ranges in the middle. Similarly the use of fractals to answer questions in cosmology has been employed by a growing number of serious scholars close to the mainstream.... –Wikipedia

Fractal Universe

It is of no consequence
whether our questing focus is within
or without:
Mandelbrot decrees
that the pattern reduces or increases
forever.
Slight variations may occur,
but make no change to mathematical
perfection.

Logical and natural progression
I accept, and seek to find my place
in the Pattern.

A Day in the Life

Part of the "Quantum Shift" series.

"The multiverse (or meta-universe [metaverse]) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including our universe) that together comprise everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and constants that govern them. The different universes within the multiverse are sometimes called parallel universes. The structure of the multiverse, the nature of each universe within it and the relationship between the various constituent universes, depend on the specific multiverse hypothesis considered."



"Trans-world identity
A metaphysical issue that crops up in multiverse schema that posit infinite identical copies of any given universe is that of the notion that there can be identical objects in different possible worlds. According to thecounterpart theory of David Lewis, the objects should be regarded as similar rather than identical."



A Day in the Life

The thunderheads, growling down
from the mountains,
put wings to his heels.
The alpine meadow was flat,
with no shelter, no haven.
Deafened by the roar,
he never saw the raw energy
that was his epitaph.

...wings to his heels.
He stopped, relieved to see the storm
pass to the south,
giving his valley a wide birth.
He stopped to drink at the stream,
then paused, puzzled by the rumble
of the flash flood that was his executioner.

...wings to his hooves,
as the slavering beast
halved the distance between them.
The cliffs loomed before him,
and he launched himself into the air,
embraced, and destroyed, by the red breakers
of an angry sea.

...wings to her fins,
as the sheer joy of her passage,
sped her home, through crystal depths,
to her family, pod, and students.
She was old, but others of her kind
lived long and productive years,
after their genetic duties were done.

...wings in his mind,
haunting him, and driving him to heights
of thought, of speculation,
of despair.
Thousands of feathers pounding
their insistence that he break,
and finally rest, covered with their down.

...wings of the rampaging god,
ravenous and eager to accept
the sacrifice of his body.
His tentacles writhed on the black stone alter,
as the fire god screamed acknowledgment.
Fear overcame pride, near the end,
but he did not flinch.

...wings of the seagulls,
gliding on updrafts above his hill.
The wind, from a bay bejewelled by autumn sun,
swept through his pines,
and moved the frost-stiffened grasses.
He sipped his coffee, smiled at the patient dog,
and thought of other realities,
        and peace.

The Observer Effect

“In physics, the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observation will make on the phenomenon being observed. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. This effect can be observed in many domains of physics....
A common layman misuse of the term refers to quantum mechanics, where, if the outcome of an event has not been observed, it exists in a state of 'superposition', which is akin to being in all possible states at once. In the famous thought experiment known as Schrödinger's cat, the cat, in a closed box, is supposedly neither alive nor dead until observed. However, most quantum physicists, in resolving Schrödinger's seeming paradox, now understand that the acts of 'observation' and 'measurement' must also be defined in quantum terms before the question makes sense. From this point of view, there is no 'observer effect', only one vastly entangled quantum system.” –Wikipedia

The Observer Effect

We are taught,
from birth, to be aware
of our surroundings;
to be careful before crossing streets;
to beware of strangers bearing candy.

We are conditioned
to set our sights
on a distant horizon
where dawns success,
comfort, and satisfaction.

Our religions demand
we obey the Higher Voice,
made audible by those
who purport to speak for It:
the promise of eternity.

Yet as we age, our linear lives
seek direction;
our focus turns inward,
and our introspection changes us
in ways we could not have imagined.

By virtue of observing ourselves
we transform...
and finally began to understand
that Schrödinger's cat is not important:
it is the nature of the Box
that determines
who we are.

Bubbles in the Quantum Foam

"Quantum foam, also referred to as spacetime foam, is a concept in quantum mechanics, devised by John Wheeler in 1955. The foam is supposedly the foundations of the fabric of the universe, but it can also be used as a qualitative description of subatomic spacetime turbulence at extremely small distances of the order of the Planck length. At such small scales of time and space the uncertainty principle allows particles and energy to briefly come into existence, and then annihilate, without violating conservation laws. As the scale of time and space being discussed shrinks, the energy of the virtual particles increases. Since energy curves spacetime according to Einstein's theory of general relativity, this suggests that at sufficiently small scales the energy of the fluctuations would be large enough to cause significant departures from the smooth spacetime seen at larger scales, giving spacetime a "foamy" character. However, without a theory of quantum gravity it is impossible to be certain what spacetime would look like at these scales, since it is thought that existing theories do not give accurate predictions in this domain. However, observations of radiation from nearby quasars by Floyd Stecker of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have placed strong limits on the possible violations of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity implied by the existence of quantum foam." – Wikipedia.

Bubbles in the Quantum Foam

Poverty. Borrowed tin plates
serving sparse meals.
Three stark rooms
sparingly furnished.

Explosion. No work.
Relocation,
youthful confusion,
resentment.

A new reality,
of alcoholics, and the mildly deranged:
fellow students in a new school
with a very different curriculum.

Mining camp fights,
where freedom
carries its own route
to oblivion.

Repeated relocation,
and imposed regimentation:
new skills, and travel thrills
in my own personal globe.

Planes, capital cities,
acquired graces
and horrid gaffes:
progression through confusion.

Discovery, in Sri Lanka,
of alternatives,
of freedoms linked
to grave responsibility.

Cobbled streets of Bucharest,
no hope, no direction,
no love. Lost,
then brilliant redemption.

High Commissioner’s table
in Delhi, with conversation
to soothe philosophical soul:
intellectual signposts to Dharma.

Tranquillity, on a hill
above the Atlantic,
with Cosmic wind in the pines,
enhancing Brahman’s Spark.

All slices of Being:
bubbles in the Quantum Foam,
unexpected, unexplained.
When is happening Now.

Event Horizon

“In general relativity, an event horizon is a boundary in spacetime, most often an area surrounding a black hole, beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer. Light emitted from beyond the horizon can never reach the observer, and any object that approaches the horizon from the observer's side appears to slow down and never quite pass through the horizon, with its image becoming more and more redshifted as time elapses. The travelling object, however, experiences no strange effects and does, in fact, pass through the horizon in a finite amount of proper time.”
–Wikipedia

Event Horizon

As individuals we build personae,
complex and byzantine,
for others to peruse.
Adjustments, both minor and major,
occur regularly
as our image of self,
and our perceived life-objectives
change and develop.

As we age, the logarithmic acceleration
of time is frightening,
and we become less concerned
with how others perceive us.
We seek solace, in religion,
in medication, in self-pity,
or in a manic rush
of “look-at-me-I’m-still-the-same” activity
that denies the increasing and relentless pull
of our own,
and very personal,
Event Horizon.

Singularity

Unique,
and nothing has ever been
or will ever be,
     perhaps,
quite like this.

All Realities merge
in this magical place,
and logic is suspended
in the light
     of glaring Truth.
All directions are as one,
and all times are Now,
as endless possibilities
project infinite cycles.

Time shifts, and in the peculiarities
of this strange and singular phenomenon, 
remains mostly the same,
but with subtle and endless variations
that rehearse their roles
in each and every
     bright
            new
                   Day.

TransitionVid

The Wise Man

He was an old man who had reached a plateau
of peace, and of contentment,
both on the personal
and spiritual level.

He had, in his youth, travelled far and frequently,
observing diverse and different
social mores and customs.
He sought the arcane, and thrived on the esoteric,
seeking both through books and conversations
with sages and scholars,
soldiers and fools.

He learned from youthful mistakes,
incorporating the lessons into his life.
He believed in teaching his children through example,
through logical conclusion and experience,
discounting fairy tales and folk myths,
popular culture and politics,
as simply interesting stories,
and deviations from
the Quest for Truth.

He explored his inner solitudes,
and contemplated the unknown vastness,
the unknowable mysteries
of Being:
of how There goes on forever,
and how it is that Now
is eternal.
He understood the concept
of probability,
of multiple realities,
and how quantum theory
opened doors of thought
that should change human condition.
He held the magic,
this old man,
that could lift our tragic lives
to a level of contentment
and understanding
unimagined.
He held the wisdom
to save untold suffering
and hardship,
to dispel superstition
and prejudice:
the keys to a new Renaissance of Man.

He spoke, and those listening
heard not the wisdom nor the magic,
but saw an old man with weakened voice
and tired eyes,
and laughed at his words,
calling him silly and feeble.

So the world went its way
of pain,
and of stumbling
towards the unknown,
blind and unprepared,
while the old man
meditated,
and thought,
and was content
forever.

Quantum Mechanics, and a Walk in the Fog

The dog was uninvolved,
sniffing,
           and shifting 
between his ever-varying
Realities,
validated
by his Nose.

Fog, for me,
always enables countless 
gateways:

the smell of grass in the summer air
intoxicating
a five-year-old  boy,
a seascape in 1946:

the moonpath from
a Poya Moon, and
the Galle Face Hotel,
patio all a-silver
in that magick light:

the rough security of my Father’s hand
in mine,
during long 
and happy walks home:

the song of the Howler monkeys
at dawn
at the Water Conservancy Lodge
on the Guyanese savannah:

true memories all,
located at different temporal loci
along the serendipitous path
of my life,
but then again,
          then again

the fog shifts,
and we huddle,
awaiting the blessing
of the Stone Circle,
while the smaller of the two suns
broke dawn
with showers of violet
     and then
          and then

a grey glimpse
of something
     so incredible,
          so phenomenally
beautiful
            that ...

Dog perused 
guardrail scents
judiciously,
while an eastern sun
drank away the mist,
and any quantum foam
that may have
remained.

Jim's Guide to Enlightenment: The Complete Sutras Video

Twenty minutes of reading,

and walking
on my Path.