Thanks to everyone at the Chateau for a very interesting session.
One of my colleagues has been saying for years now that 'photons don't exist', to the point where it became almost a catch phrase. Just a couple weeks ago I was chatting with him about this. I'm no theoretical physicist myself (as an astronomer, to me light is something to be used, I don't worry much about what it is).
I was starting to think maybe my friend was onto something. If the strict view is taken that photons travel at the speed of light, where c is perfectly invariant, and applies general relativity as given, then two consequences follow: 1) time dilation means that in the photon's reference frame, zero time elapses between being emitted by one atom and being absorbed by another; 2) length dilation means that zero distance elapses.
Given 1) and 2), how can we photon really be said to 'exist'? And yet, there they are!
In any case, my colleague replied that he'd thought more about it, and decided that there was only one possible solution: photons aren't actually massless, but have very tiny masses. This means that the speed of light isn't a constant, but will depend on the photon energy ... it's just that the mass is so tiny, and the deviation from uniform speed so small, that we can't (yet) measure it. Making this change removes the singularity they otherwise makes light so weird.
In the context of that conversation, the C's replies to Ark's question really stuck out to me!
This notion of non-existent photos of zero time and space flying from atom to atom reminded me of a quite uncharacteristic thought about Xeno's arrow the other day. I don't often contemplate physics, but practicing some archery out in the woods probably had a something to do with it. Anyways, if I remember Xeno's paradox correctly, an sprung arrow from the bow will close the distance on the target. We can imagine that the distance diminishes by half, then half again, then half again, and on and on. Logically, the distance would only halve forever, never actually hitting the target. But lo and behold - in the real world, the arrow goes plunk.
This got me thinking about why or how this is the case. I recalled some integral systems theory stuff I studied in school. Any system (defined roughly as a discrete set of parts behaving in relation to each other such that there is some level of organizational unity) operates under certain regular and self-regulating conditions, called a 'basin of attraction'. For example, the arrow moves on its trajectory, diminishing the distance to the target by infinite halves - this is such a system with an internal coherence. But in reality, the arrow overcomes the stagnancy of the 'infinitizing of halves' and goes plunk.
Not being familiar with physics or any of commentary, modern or ancient, about Xeno's paradox, I think that what happens is that systemic conditions change to such a degree that a tipping point is reached, and the system collapses and recalibrates into a new 'basin of attraction'. Strangely enough, this new state (arrow in target) is said to exist in the future as a real potential, and actually reaches back into the past to organize its own existence. So just like the photons of zero time and space, there is something very funny going on when an arrow strikes the target. Perhaps even something sacred. Who knows exactly what goes on in such processes - perhaps it is possible that in a single 'holy moment', a higher order of law can deploy, suspend 3D's supposed 'constants', and initiate change. The Greeks might call that
kairos, or 'the opportune moment', which was very different from
chronos.
Kairos is also actionable for us in what don Juan said about the necessity of developing one's field of awareness in order to be able to to suddenly zero-in with focused attention:
"There is something you ought to be aware of by now," don Juan said. "I call it the cubic centimeter of chance. All of us, whether or not we are warriors, have a cubic centimeter of chance that pops out in front of our eyes from time to time. The difference between an average man and a warrior is that the warrior is aware of this, and one of his tasks is to be alert, deliberately waiting, so that when his cubic centimeter pops out he has the necessary speed, the prowess to pick it up.
"Chance, good luck, personal power, or whatever you may call it, is a peculiar state of affairs. It is like a very small stick that comes out in front of us and invites us to pluck it. Usually we are too busy, or too preoccupied, or just too stupid and lazy to realize that that is our cubic centimeter of luck. A warrior, on the other hand, is always alert and tight and has the spring, the gumption necessary to grab it."
The implications of this, as far as I can tell, are enormous - the cubic centimeter of chance represents a doorway to another reality. Caesar had tremendous luck, as far as I can tell, in large part because he had situational awareness, but also initiative born of great Faith.
Xeno's arrow has me thinking about the notion of the impossibility of hitting the mark, too - and human impossibility in general, futility, meaningless and hopelessness. The stakes are high. Missing the mark, after all, is the meaning of the Greek word for 'sin'. All of us here in some way have let the arrow fly, and now it seems that we are in a difficult testing period, waiting as the arrow remains suspended in a strange time paradox, witnessing the world and all of it's ponerized convulsions.
Maybe we can say that the waiting is best characterized by the choice of what to do with the 'time' we have, what we do with our waiting period. The left hemisphere logical brain is tempted to see only the extended sequence of despair, the arrow halving and halving and halving, the current 'basin of attraction' inescapable. I can relate to it in crazy old Uncle Gurdjieff's terms... there's the fear of not having done the Work, of not being ready for the coming changes; or of impatience, and wanting things to accelerate, and yet also wanting other things to stop, and all the while a very subtle voice that whispers about the impossibility of attaining an Aim or fulfilling our destiny in the seemingly finite time we have left. I think those are all valid concerns, and fuel for forward motion, but over-indulged, they turn waiting into hell.
But perhaps the imaginal right hemisphere can balance that out with Faith. It seems that now more than ever it is absolutely essential to have some kind of orienting point of contact in the future, a target, an Aim. And a tangible one, too. I know it's been helping me immensely to organize myself around an Aim - to pray every morning and remind myself that I have something to live for. Sometimes its just the 'simple yet difficult' Aim of
refusing to have a complacent, mediocre day, and making a sincere effort to have the best day possible - an impeccable day! And then see how many impeccable days I can join together like a string of pearls. And in doing so, to maintain an awareness that at some
kairotic point in the routine, a crafty 'cubic centimeter of chance' might just pop up out of the blue, vibrating and ready to be seized. I want to hit the bullseye as close to the centre as I possibly can, and really give the crowd of ancestors in the bleachers in 5D a good reason to be watching.
All this to say - there's the possibility that our lives will only get better from here. Which isn't to say they will get easier or that things will work out the way we want. I learned that from the Romance Novels. As it stands now on 'the Romance of the BBM', the plot is rising fast, there are victims and villains aplenty, and it does look like there's a lot of pain on the horizon for nearly every character in the tale. But I am becoming more certain that the pain is the gate and that we will pass through it - and we will pass through it with Truth, and we will pass through it to Love.
, and all those in attendance.
