Eat Pray Love, the Monica way!

Like I’ve said in my previous posts, I am taking some time to travel, to work, to read, and to write. Here’s one of those things expressed though another. My reading explained through my writing.

I first started reading this book in 2008. It took me 3 years to read it, but I finally did. I started reading it in the hardcover version, and it was advancing slowly. I read tens of other books in the mean time, and this book was still sitting on my night table, patiently waiting its turn to be finished. In the mean time, I put all my books in storage, packed my bags and headed out into the world, with my eReader in hand. And, as I don’t like to leave things unfinished, I found this book in the ebook version, and FINALLY finished it.

Now that I have finished the book-finally-I am rectifying my previous view & opinion of the book. I don’t think this book was created to be the inspirational and influential book that it has become. I think that just because it is, we don’t have to judge the author, and her experiences during this year of travel as anything other than what it was: her personal experience & the telling of said experience. I like it now, on a different level, the “I am human too” level, the “this is my experience, dammit” level, and from this point of view, this book rocks!

I’m not writing this review to say BUY THE BOOK, or don’t buy the book. I am writing this because I believe that we are all entitled to live our lives just as we want. And if you feel like your life is slipping from your fingers, faster and faster, then take a minute and remind yourself of the things you’ve wanted to do in this life, and GO DO THEM! It is never too late. Peace:-)

My latest creations, in the “Places” series

This gallery contains 3 photos.

In my attempt to gift my brother with something unique, specially for him, I have decided to give him a few original paintings, for his new place. The though that came to mind then was to paint the places I’ve … Continue reading →

Universe=Space+Time and yellow buttercups

“I arrived this morning and walked on the grass still wet with dew. I found buttercups growing. See?” He held up a flower which had a single stem that branched into two smaller stems, and at the end of each smaller stem shone a small bright yellow blossom, like a bloom of sunshine.
“Like you, I study cosmology,” he said.“You see, when the universe was created, time was created—there was no ‘before’ or ‘after’.” He pointed at the main stem. “So time was just a part of the universe, like this stem (of a flower). Time is nothing but the path from the root to the blossoms. Time grew.” Then he drew a line in the air between the upper stems. “And space is the path from stem to stem, from blossom to blossom. Space grew.”

What have I been doing for the past 5 months? Good question. I have been traveling, seeing, experiencing, connecting, reconnecting, loving, evolving, exploring countries, people, cities, situations, ways to travel, cuisines, emotions, bodily feelings… IT FEELS EXHAUSTING!
If you thought that traveling is easy, fun and worry free, Oh, how wrong could you be! I know and recognize that I was wrong too! Not just about the “ease of travel” but about pretty much everything else related to the “ease of travel”!  No, this is not a “yet another travel” piece! This is not a “do not go traveling” piece either! It’s just a collection of experiences put together by time, in a very organic way.

I am currently in a train, in Romania, reading an eBook, uploading a theme to a website I’m building, and all these thoughts about the past 5 months just started flooding in. The phrase that started this whole writing thing this time was very simple in its logic, but nonetheless touching upon many layers of consciousness. The Ebook in question is “The Buddha Lectures on Cosmology” by Dana Paxson, where he states, in a very blunt way that the universe is an expression of time, and time is what we need to go between the beginning and the end of anything! The universe “grows” because, well, why not experience growth? I think…

So the short answer to what I’ve been doing for the past 5 months is growing my universe, expanding my universe through the use of time.

Thing is, we’ve all been doing this our entire lives. We’re expanding our universe through the use of time. And time is –wait for it- what happens on our journey from our birth to our death, from point A to point B. Time is our path, our story, our way…time cannot be without space. Right? I really mean it. Is this right? It feels right to me, but I am not a scientist, and not even a “couch scientist” at that, so that’s why I’m asking. I have been “creating” my universe through the incursions in my physical space + time. So, my universe=my beginning space + time; space growing, with time, and time=the distance between points in the universe. I like this. It seems logical to me.
Now, as I am using time to travel between 2 points, I am amazed at the beauty of this universe created by time and our excursions in space-time.
It’s humbling, it’s awe inspiring, it’s so simple and so beautiful this universe of ours.
Now go create your own.

But where does this leave the oh so poignant questions of time-travel? Another postulation (LOL) on this subject at a later time.

There is no spoon

I know, you’ve read the reviews, you’ve seen the movie, you own the DVD, and you’re seen it a thousand times! So why read yet another post about The Matrix?

Because “THERE IS NO SPOON!”  There never was!  Between “Temet Nosce” (Know Thyself), and the entire plethora of empowering gems, this movie is a lot more than a great Sci-Fi.  It marks the beginning of a new way of thinking, in the movies anyway (take  “inception” for example). The masses still have to catch up, but at least, the first steps have been taken.  The world is evolving, the human consciousness is evolving too. Slowly, and it has to be shown the way, we are evolving.  The more we test and try ourselves, the better we’ll get, the faster we’ll get there.

Pushing the boundaries of the mind, one inch at a time.

Yes, obviously, I loved The Matrix. I also love all the sci-fi that’s ever been written, and/or turned into movies. I have read more sci-fi than most people read anything in their entire lives. I devour sci-fi. Science fiction is my personal way of seeing into the future. Science fiction gives us possibilities, beyond pettiness, beyond the “smallness” of the human mind. Science fiction, even as far back as Jules Verne, has given people wings! Has bread generations of scientists that have dedicated their lives to turning fiction into reality. I mean, HOW COOL IS THAT?

I am an avid science reader, specifically anything that helps push our species further. I love math! without it, I don’t think I would be able to learn and speak as many languages as I do (currently I am fluent in 4). I believe that most drugs do more damage than good, especially in the brain area. I am Buddhist, and I am learning more and more about that too.

The reason I bring up Buddhism, is that I find it so refreshing, so empowering, and incredibly congruent with SCIENCE! yep, Buddhism is embracing science, and particularly particle and quantum physics. The Dalai Lama is giving discourses on Quantum Physics, he’s holding scientific conferences in Dharamshala, is teaching the monks math, and physics, and astronomy, and HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THAT? Buddhism is not really a religion; it’s more a spirituality, a way of being, that stays current with the science. Even with the way that Buddhism is embracing the new scientific discoveries, it isn’t loosing any of the strong spiritual core. The “soul”,  if you want, is taught how to BE. How to BE HERE NOW. Aware of everything , in the moment, unattached to anything, free to evolve, and elevate out of this existence.  How is that NOT The Matrix?  we’re all trapped and living in this matrix of ours, and sometimes of our own choosing, and when we finally embrace the fact that THERE IS NO SPOON, that this life’s material possessions don’t really mean anything, and that we’re only being held back by attachment, only then are we able to leave the matrix behind.

Why am I mentioning Buddhism in an article about The Matrix? Because without the influence of Buddhism, this movie can never be. It’s and amalgam of Buddhist spirituality, with kick ass special effects, great adventure, and an overwhelming feeling that, even though you are controlled, manipulated, told what to do, where to walk, how to drive, what to think, YOU CAN STILL GET OUT. You can still have TRUTH! There is still HOPE!

I think this movie is more about showing the human mind that it can do a whole lot more that it is doing currently. Yes, we need this air to breathe, but we also need to realize that our bodies can do so much more, that our mind is a lot more powerful than we’re giving it credit for.  We are still using 10% of our brains! I can’t even fathom what we’re capable of at 100%!  CAN YOU?

Everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be. The world is evolving and we’re growing. We’re growing spiritually as a species.  Change is good.

“He’s beginning to believe!”

The moral of this story (blog): you are THE ONE! Yep, that’s it! You can do anything, and don’t you think for a second that you can’t! You can do anything, the universe will provide, and you can have such an amazing life if you only believe that you can. Let your mind grow, expand, take on new horizons, and READ more. Read anything, and soon, you’ll figure out your own “good” writers’ list. I have my own highly prized list of books and writers I cannot live without.

Now get out there and start living this life properly, because THERE IS NO SPOON!

Second Helping of Star Trek

I had a question yesterday about WHAT WAS THE POINT OF CAPTAIN PIKE? and WHERE DID HE GO?

Short, and sweet answer:  Captain Pike was the first captain of the Enterprise, 13 years before Kirk was assigned to the ship. At least that’s what the explanation was during the Menagerie I episode. I still don’t understand the meaning of including him in the saga, but hey! The 2 episode Menagerie I & II were just reliving the pilot, and showing us the full and utter devotion that Spock is capable of. Hail to Spock! He’s a hero of mine, with the whole LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, and his cool and collected logical, and spiritual view of the world. Yes, he’s the hero in the episode, not captain Pike. Pike is hot, I mean, right?

But more about Pike! Darn it, he’s hot! In the old series and the new movie. In the movie, oh yeah, he’s a freaking hero! In the series, not so much!

Loved him in the movie! Total hero! without him, captain Kirk would never have been. He wouldn’t have joined Starfleet, he wouldn’t have had such a stellar career in the academy, and definitely wouldn’t have become the freaking Captain of the Enterprise.  Thanks Captain Pike!

Glad that’s over! now back to reveling at the amazing captain Kirk:-) (sarcasm and hero worship wrapped in one).

P.S. JJ Abrams, please continue to make Star Trek movies. Haven’t enjoyed a movie that much in a long while. Actually, keep doing what you’re doing: the shows, the movies, they all rock!

Sleep and Star Trek

Now that I am making my writing a priority, seems like my dreams are conspiring to give me the inspiration to write. A  new story percolated last night. A story like nothing I though of before.

Here’s the jest of it:

Uhh ohhh! I think I forgot it… I’ve been writing all morning, but not about that, and now it’s gone. Damn!

So what is my lesson here: WRITE YOUR INSPIRATION AS SOON AS YOU WAKE UP! it’s not like I don’t have a reminder at 7:30 am  to write!

I’m not saying that this would have been a national best seller, but still, it would have given me another thing to write  about.

I know 1 thing: It was not my normal, space adventure, hero sci-fi idea. It was dark, space thriller  kind of dream.  I was starting to feel anxious, yes, in my  dream.

Maybe it’ll come back to me before the end of the day……….

In the mean time, I guess I can comment on something new, to me!

As I didn’t grow up in this beautiful country of ours and I wasn’t alive when the first Star Trek show came on tv, I didn’t have the opportunity to watch the show. Yes, I’ve seen some episodes, and yes, I’ve seen some of the movies, but I have not seen the entire show.

I’ve been sick the past few days, and as I lack the energy to do too many things, the couch is calling me. Sleep and Star Trek.

I’ve already went through the first 10 episodes, and to be honest with you, I didn’t understand where did captain Pike go, or what his purpose was. Kirk can and did hold the show flawlessly for years, so WHY PIKE?

And when did the transition get made? Where was Kirk when Pike was captain? I hope that there is an answer to these questions in the later episodes.

Should I even comment on the misogynistic or prejudicial writing? WOW! Suspicion of Spock because he’s not human! Except for lieutenant Uhura, there is not 1 other ranked woman on the deck, and no, I’m not counting the yeoman or nurses, which are women yes, pretty yes, but assigned in a serving position, without any real power, decision power, because hey, that’s what the 60’s were about.

Star Trek is absolutely essential to the development of future writers, future shows, technology, bu you already know this.  To me, Star Trek is like Freud, in that, without either of them, their respective fields would be nothing like we know them today. Pivotal, Essential.

Can you imagine a world without Star Trek?  The cellphone concept came from Star Trek. so, NO CELLPHONE! In the later episodes, and shows like Star Trek TNG, the touch tablet came in: so NO iPAD or iPHONE! And these are just the few things that are affecting my day to day life. Can you think of others? Let me know in the comments if you do. Star Wars wouldn’t be without Star Trek. Stargate (the longest running sci-fi show in tv) wouldn’t be! Farscape wouldn’t be. Firefly wouldn’t be either…I don’t know about you, but for the sci-fi aficionado, the disappearance of these shows is like a bad, un-hero like death.

Total and utter respect to Gene Roddenberry for the creation of this show that changed the world as we know it.

now back to Star Trek (just 2 episodes) and a nap. comments later…

P.S. As some time has passed since I’ve written this piece, I have had the chance to watch all of the Star Trek movies, and of course, I am an even bigger fan than before. So, I suggest, for the novice Science Fiction fan, and especially for the novice POP SCIENCE FICTION fan, to start with the beginning: the ORIGINAL Star Trek.

Control

Ok, so maybe I don’t write every day, but I have to start writing. Somebody said that you better write crap than not write anything at all. So that’s what I’m doing, and hopefully it’s not all crap. But I am apologizing in advance if it is.

Today I shall write about being sick. It’s where I am physically and where I’ve been for the last 3 days. Being sick is more about a state of mind, and a negligence towards the physical body than an actual sickens. What is sickness? germs? eh! don’t think so. Catching a cold? how did I catch it? I don’t remember running after a thing, green blob like thing, and catching it. Actually, what I remember is being tired after a stressful week of work, driving for 5 hours, pitching a tent at midnight, in pouring rain, sleeping in a leaky tent, with constant rain coming down for 2 days, wet clothes, sun burned, and some drinking. But of course I got sick! Immune system was taxed at both ends. First, I come to this weekend all tired and stress. Then I get tot he campsite and all I get is rain, wet sleeping arrangements, cold, and fear that coyotes, bears, and what else was lurking out there, are going to come and attack.  My body doesn’t like it when I’m tired. My body cannot stand stress, that’s why I took the job I did, to alleviate stress. Well, that didn’t happen.

Not complaining about my job, but it seems like this is not as stress-less as I was told it would be.  It slowly started to take on its own life, its own proportions, and it’s gotten to a point where it’s dominating my awake hours.  Starting with a change in my duties and what is expected of me, followed by the stress that I could lose my job because of the company’s improper use of finances, to the constant and increased monitoring of what I do, every freaking second, my stress levels have shot through the roof.

The creative types  (and I am one of such) cannot deal with and cannot function with a choker around their throats.  But how can I relate this to someone who can only function when he’s in control of every detail around him, personal or otherwise?

I think that people get more controlling when things in their lives go to shit. The more they lose control in their personal life, the more they want to control every little aspect of every little thing in their environment. But if you’ve lived long enough, or have been in this situation before, YOU KNOW that there is no real control, that you have no real control. and I’m not a big advocate of totally “going with the flow” either, but to crampon yourself down and be so darn unmovable, unbending, it’s just downright crazy. Trees survive storms because they bend. People survive changes in their environment because they adapt. You will not survive anything if you are unwilling to change, and to allow for a certain degree of loss of control.

I say, control what you can! As in: control what you eat! Control what you think! Control what you do! And let the world be what it is otherwise. Take a darn breath, and relax your shoulders already!  You’re stressing people out. Go take a yoga class, and stop competing with others. You’re there for yourself, not for the people in the class.

Enough about control today. It’s stressing me out.

Finally!

The time has come for me to write. And I mean write! Too long have I sat on “the bench”! Enough with the bitching about not having the time, not having the inspiration, not having the motivation.

I’ve started this book a year and a half ago, and it’s staring at me, literally (more like figuratively) staring at me, every time I put my macbook pro in my bag. Every time!

Darn it! I have to write. I have to finish this book. Science fiction is more to me than an escape from the reality.

With a major deadline approaching, full time work, a trip to plan, a bunch of other balls up in the air, writing should still be a priority.

I am hereby dedicating 30 minutes each Monday-Friday, before work, where I write. Should get my writing mojo going again, right. We shall see.

This project starts tomorrow.

Write baby, write!