52 Weeks to Make the World a Better Place: Week 27 - Slow down!

Are you the sort of person who finds yourself constantly rushing around but rarely getting things done to your satisfaction? If so, plan some quality time out to, wait for it, plan some quality time in! Better time management reduces stress and therefore irritability-related problems such as road rage. It'll make you feel better and have a knock-on effect with those in contact with you. No excuses, just prune, eliminate, delegate - so much for so little!

52 Weeks to Make the World a Better Place: Week 26 - Make your money work for good

Are you in the process of changing, or making new, investments? If so, consider this: there are brokers who specialise in ethical investments. Instead of your money funding who-knows-what (corrupt foreign regimes, arms dealers, multinationals whose only ethics are the bottom line...), you'll rest assured that it will actually be doing some good. I can't vouch for the returns, but then nobody can anyway, that's the nature of the game. They claim good comparison with non-ethical investors, so why not give it a try?

The Language of Dreams and Visions

Have you ever wondered why dreams are symbolic - why can't they just tell us 'straight'? I considered this question, allowing it to rest lightly in consciousness, until it finally struck me - words are just abstract symbols for the objects they signify. We must first learn the language in order to be able to read and therefore to understand, but this language of words belongs strictly to the quotidian level of consciousness that we are so accustomed to occupying. So, let us postulate that dreams/visions are some kind of content-rich symbols for a language of a higher consciousness.

Another consideration following from this concerns the inability of ordinary spoken/written language to adequately convey the experience of dreams and visions. Examination of the previous argument suggests an answer via a simple metaphor: how well does a (3-dimensional) model of a tesseract (a 4-dimensional cube or hypercube) convey its essence? The answer is obviously not very! We can easily interpret a reduction from three to two dimensions, but that's because we occupy three. We would need to be able to occupy a fourth spatial dimension to fully comprehend its nature, therefore we need to raise consciousness to the next level in order to be able to properly and (theoretically) unambiguously comprehend the content of that higher language.

But how to do it? Anyone know of a reliable source of DMT? ;-)

Latest fractal: Loom

I was dithering over how to complete this one, then downloaded a new piece of software GrafxShop. A random try-out of the built-in 'frames' produced this: I rather like the contrast between the sharp flame and faux-scratchy/old photo frame, though I'm sure it won't appeal to all.

52 Weeks to Make the World a Better Place: Week 25 - Switch to healthier 'soft' drinks

Stop drinking addictive branded soft drinks, whether or not they claim to be "sugar-free", "99% fat-free", "diet" or some such rubbish and try fresh healthy (preferably organic, but it's not essential) juice from a juice bar - just for the taste of it!

If you're really keen, invest in a juicer and make your own for a healthy start to the day.

Latest fractal: Always encroaching

Closer to what might be called a 'traditional' Apophysis flame than my recent work. Perhaps the fact that I can contemplate juxtaposing the two words says something about how rapidly the capabilities of the program have developed ;)

52 Weeks to Make the World a Better Place: Week 24 - The power of the check-box!

Whenever you complete an order form or questionnaire, whether by post or online, remember to look out for those little check-boxes - the ones you must tick NOT to receive further mail from other companies (unless, of course, you actually do!). A small act like this can greatly reduce the incidence of junk mailing and hence the squandering of precious resource. And it helps in the process of your own increasing mindfulness!