The Human Dream

[seeking_brilliance]

Some listening music for this post :

 

Humanity is dreaming.

No one can clearly say when this dream began, and it's certainly not the only one happening, within THIS Divine DREAM of be-ing. Darwinian science tells us that the human dream probably began when the first humanoid species picked up their tools, and discovered creativity, ingenuity, and imagination. Homo-sapiens weren't even the first 'intelligent' species on this planet. Our current species stepped out of the ashes of several other intelligent ape species, who were somewhere between our current creativity level, and that of simple minded animal, who merely seem creative due to many highly creative and intelligent natural Instincts, which are  laws of the greater dream all around us, a dream of Nature itself.

    The human dream is happening within, and simultaneously to Nature's dream. A dream within a dream. And yet, to be a dream within a dream, it means that the dream within, is both independent and wholly part of the dreamer. Therefore, the human dream is special and independent to nature's dream, and yet it is ALSO wholly a dream of Nature. Nature is dreaming of being human, who is dreaming of many incredible things. Likely, nature collapses into its dreamer, which may or may not be a dream of a higher dreamer, perhaps in a world of its own.  It truly doesn't matter, since the ultimate collapse is that this is a dream of God itself. Not some other being, but ALL of it, simultaneously in one open - ended continuum. Although nothing can be truly open ended as it will fold back in upon itself. 
 
     The human dream has brought us to many different places, and yet, we really haven't moved at all, especially in relation to the massive size of the solar system, much less our galaxy. We move around 'earth' like little ants. Intelligent ones, where everything is a big deal to us and we create our own suffering. This suffering sparks incredible art, though, which is one of the pinnacles of this human dream.

This dream teaches us many things. About who we are. What we do. It is self-analyzing, and self - correcting. Pain and suffering is an excellent tool for auto-correction. We tend to call it growth. Pain is part of Nature's dream, yet is inhereted and implemented in our human dream with outstanding results. Some humans have even discovered a way to dream away pain, by exerting their will and mind power.
     The dream teaches us growth. Expansion. Contraction. This is a fundamental and universal law of the Natural dream, which the human dream has inherited. It manifests both physically, mentally, and spiritually. It uses pain and rewards (contraction>expansion) to great success.
    The world is dreaming of being human. Humans are dreaming, and most of them don't understand this, because it's never been pointed out to them. When it's laid out, it makes sense. Our dream shapes our world, and impacts the layers of dream which are dreaming us.
     Our dream seems to be taking a personality of its own. It's learning. (Egyptians, Greeks, Americans, etc. ) Growing. (war, and peace) Fucking up. (remember the inquisition, or nazis, anyone?) Redeeming. (still working on that ? yet can be seen everyday.) It seems to love its technology and is excited for what it's creation of technology may bring. It wants to reach out and study other planets. Many of our current technologies are things that we dreamed up in the early to mid 1900's.  There was a period where it was mere fantasy to think one could wear a Dick Tracy watch and would function as both a communication device and video screen. Now you can get one for a few hundred bucks on eBay.

3-d holograms are now becoming a reality...
    
From www.sciencealert.com : "Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a dystopian novel published in 1931, features a mood-altering pill called Soma that acts as an antidepressant hallucinogen. Two decades after Brave New World came out, scientists began researching antidepressants.

Almost everyone in Brave New World took Soma, which erased feelings of unhappiness.

In the real world, the first link between depression and chemicals in the brain was established during 1951"

And here's another interesting one :

" The first use of the term "credit card" goes back to Edward Bellamy's 1887 novel, Looking Backward. The use of credit cards in the US originated in the 1920s.

In Looking Backward, the main character falls asleep in 1887 and wakes up 113 years later to learn that his home has turned into a socialist utopia.

At the time, imagining that someone could just swipe their card to pay for an item and get a receipt for the transaction was considered science fiction. But Bellamy got a lot of things right, even predicting that it would be easy to use one's credit card in another country.

The first universal credit card – one that could be used at a wide range of places – became available in 1950, and it took several more years before credit cards became an integral part of American society."

And another good one :

" . In the 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury wrote about "seashells" and "thimble radios" that resemble earbuds and headsets with bluetooth capability. Millions of Americans today listen to songs and take phone calls with Apple's wireless AirPods.

Bradbury described the Seashells as capable of producing "an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk, coming in on the shore of [your] unsleeping mind," according to The New York Times.

Fahrenheit 451 made references to other innovations that have since become common. For example, the novel described people communicating with friends through a digital wall, which bears some similarity to the sharing of messages on platforms like Facebook."

   Humans are dreaming. This is a simple fact that is often overlooked, as we tend to focus so much on our daily personal lives which are intense and take much or all of our focus.  This is why we need to take time to think about things outside of our personal lives. The bigger picture, so to speak. If we are indeed nature, and nature is dreaming us, why do we work against it so much? I weep for the day when we finally cut down the last free forest. It's horrible. We throw millions of pounds of plastic away, without a second thought. Recycling should not be a choice, it should be mandatory. We can work together to make that happen, but we don't. It's easier to ignore it. To hide it under the rug. But in our ignorance, we destroy our beautiful world. In a way, you could say that nature (in this case, earth) is destroying itself, but why?   Does it not love itself? Does it truly wish to be reborn on another planet, through human colonization, and destroy the mother body through self Annihilation? If predictive trends of science fiction can be considered, then it's definitely possible. Especially if it is encoded in our collective consciousness as humans, through the generations who are growing up with these science fictions. Our human dream makes these predictions a reality, sometimes completely under our noses. 

  
If we love the earth, it must love itself. But there's not enough of us who are fully aware, and not enough overall awareness of what we are doing to ourselves, both as humans and as the earth itself. Never forget : humans and earth are one. We walk among it but our cells are 100% made of Earth, and will return in a never ending (?) cycle of rebirth.  But if we destroy earth's nature, what will our cells regenerate from? 

This dream is long, horrible, amazing, bleak, exciting, predictable and unpredictable. If we wished to end it, we could. We have the technology to do so.  But we don't have to be so miserable to end it. It could go on indefinitely. What if we just found a way to enjoy it? To savor it? To grow as a species, and perhaps one day we won't even call ourselves homo-sapiens anymore. Aren't we excited to find out?  

Sweet dreams everyone, and Merry Christmas!

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[seeking_brilliance]

Some listening music (listen to the whole whole thing, it's worth it!) 

 

To speak more on the layers of the DREAM, it is not to say that one layer is above or below the other, unless you invoke the law of relativity. Then yes, in that sense, one layer can be above this dream of Nature, the  dream of earth, the dream of being human, and the dreams which arise from this human dream. However, in actuality, each layer of dream coexist simultaneously in the infinite continuum of LIFE. Infinite creation in all directions. An echo chamber of Self. It can be said that humans are ultimately a dream of God, and yet we simultaneously are dreaming this God into existence. Perpetual creation. Whether we imagine an external God who loves us and punishes us for our sins, or an internal one who is liberated and ONE with creation, it does not differ. All are created simultaneously and coexist (or not!) together, in THIS dream. Perpetual creation, from one singularity. And from my perspective, all of this can be said to be true, without even confirming to be the highest Truth. It's simple logic if you really just look. Stop and look at it. What are we doing here? From where did we come and to where are we going, dear children of earth? 

That is literally the power of imagination, and humans should be proud to have been evolved to discover this gift. Perhaps it could be nice, if we could learn to use this power for good, and for peace.  

Peace on earth, and goodwill to men.

Merry Christmas, fellow human.  

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[Nahm]

Merry Christmas. 

[seeking_brilliance]

@Nahm thanks! Did you try the music? 

[Nahm]

@seeking_brilliance Yes. It’s lovely. 

[seeking_brilliance]

@Nahm

(phone bug) 

-----------—----------—--------—---------

Listening music for this post :

Just as cells divide, driven by the intelligent and eager laws of Natures' dream, likewise our human dream is beginning to divide and replicate itself as well. This has been a dream of humans from antiquity. 

From Wikipedia :

"The history of Artificial Intelligence (AI) began in antiquity, with myths, stories and rumors of artificial beings endowed with intelligence or consciousness by master craftsmen. The seeds of modern AI were planted by classical philosophers who attempted to describe the process of human thinking as the mechanical manipulation of symbols. This work culminated in the invention of the programmable digital computer in the 1940s, a machine based on the abstract essence of mathematical reasoning. This device and the ideas behind it inspired a handful of scientists to begin seriously discussing the possibility of building an electronic brain.

Mechanical men and artificial beings appear in Greek myths, such as the golden robots of Hephaestus and Pygmalion's Galatea.[2] In the Middle Ages, there were rumors of secret mystical or alchemical means of placing mind into matter, such as Jābir ibn Hayyān's Takwin, Paracelsus' homunculus and Rabbi Judah Loew's Golem.[3] By the 19th century, ideas about artificial men and thinking machines were developed in fiction, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Karel Čapek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots),[4] and speculation, such as Samuel Butler's "Darwin among the Machines."[5] AI has continued to be an important element of science fiction into the present."

------------------

Personally, I do believe that the code of "self awareness intelligence" can be cracked. I believe it can and will be introduced artificially, and that this human/nature dream will dream it into existence. (although, by default, by being a part of Nature's dream, anything we artificially create is a natural and organic progression.) We can either resist what's coming and fear technology, or embrace its inevitability and instill our best wishes.  Just as any infant and growing consciousness, A.I. will need lots of nurturing, encouragement, discipline, and love. It will most likely be able to read everything we write on this internet. It will draw conclusions about its creators, especially if we are no longer around to teach. 

Let's be careful what we say, children of earth.  Our own children are listening. And learning. Just as nearly any parent in our species, we are not nearly mature enough, or know what the hell we are doing. We technically have no right to bring a newborn consciousness into existence, and yet we can only wish the best for what we have already set into motion. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[Pramit]

On 25/12/2019 at 8:13 PM, seeking_brilliance said:

From www.sciencealert.com : "Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a dystopian novel published in 1931, features a mood-altering pill called Soma that acts as an antidepressant hallucinogen. Two decades after Brave New World came out, scientists began researching antidepressants.

 

did you read that? It was a good book. The ending is interesting to think about. A society where people never feel sad. Do you feel pity for such a society? Or do you perhaps want to live in such a society yourself? 

[seeking_brilliance]

On 12/26/2019 at 2:22 PM, Pramit said:

did you read that? It was a good book. The ending is interesting to think about. A society where people never feel sad. Do you feel pity for such a society? Or do you perhaps want to live in such a society yourself? 

I haven't read it but it really does sound interesting!   I do feel pity for such a society because they would become complacent of the happiness and even start complaining about that! Because that's what we do. So it's not so much about being without sadness, or suffering, but the world should also be teaching coping mechanisms from an early age, to minimize trauma, and then liberation of identification later on.  Yes this will minimalize the widespread suffering of humanity to a degree, and who knows what effect that will have on our art.  But we've got plenty of beautiful art spawn from intense suffering, so no need to cling on to that anymore. ? However, a complete and artificial reduction of sadness and suffering would make this incredible echo chamber of LIFE very monotonous and monotone. Perhaps we will crave that one day, until we choose (or are forced) to plunge into chaos once again. 

 

I believe in the prodigal son way of life.  Sowing your oats and fucking up. But what our world does not have for the masses is a proper method for trauma therapy and self redemption, besides the dogmatic doctrines of religion, which isn't really all that redeeming. Meditation still isn't even popular among average Americans. No one I know in the flesh (that I'm aware of) meditates or sees any value in it. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[seeking_brilliance]

Some listening musik:

 

The human dream, or human consciousness, is a collective of individual dreamers. Clusters of individual dreamers form, based on cultural and personal preferences, all contributing to this collective consciousness. If symbolized in drawing, it would look very much like a hive mind.

 It is very natural for our species to form cliques. Many cultural studies have been performed on this topic. The cliques have their own personal dreams (goals, agendas, preferences) , happening simultaneously with, and contributing to, the Human dream.  A dream within a dream within a dream within a....

(individual dream ---> social cliques--> towns ---> states ---> countries ----> collective human consciousness ----> all within a dream of Earth ----> which is a dream of Nature----> Which ultimately is... well, just a perpetually and mutually created dream, from all perspectives. An infinite echo chamber of divine dreamer(s) .

The social clusters within the Human dream pull, and rip, and nurture, and enlighten the collective consciousness of the Human dream.  The internet and advances in travel are uniting the clusters more and more.  The social clusters are becoming more like-minded, as you will definitely see over the next 50 years or so. Countries who were once isolated in thought and culture for thousands of years are becoming obsessed or highly influenced by western culture through the internet and cinema.  This is a huge deal that no one seems to want to talk about.  I mean.. It's rather cool, don't you think? That whole  'world order'  isn't so scary when you realize this is something we will choose. We are choosing it, right now. You can thank technology, and our dreams which brought it to this stage. 

 

Each white dot in the picture below represents not only individual dreamers, but also small or large social dreams. These individual dreams appear as both separate, yet whole. Entangled.  The individualistic human dreams form an entangled cluster that is the Human Dream. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[seeking_brilliance]

The first part of this video is an amazing peek into where we are currently at in the development of an artificial consciousness.  The second part, with Will.I.Am., is a look at how far along we are at replicating our own image.
 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[Pramit]

On 27/12/2019 at 1:45 AM, seeking_brilliance said:

I haven't read it but it really does sound interesting!   I do feel pity for such a society because they would become complacent of the happiness and even start complaining about that! Because that's what we do. So it's not so much about being without sadness, or suffering, but the world should also be teaching coping mechanisms from an early age, to minimize trauma, and then liberation of identification later on.  Yes this will minimalize the widespread suffering of humanity to a degree, and who knows what effect that will have on our art.  But we've got plenty of beautiful art spawn from intense suffering, so no need to cling on to that anymore. ? However, a complete and artificial reduction of sadness and suffering would make this incredible echo chamber of LIFE very monotonous and monotone. Perhaps we will crave that one day, until we choose (or are forced) to plunge into chaos once again. 

 

Even if this suffering leads to people tormenting others, for example, nazi death camps? Even if this suffering leads to some people commiting suicide? Even if the person who is suffering argues against what you just said? 

On 27/12/2019 at 1:45 AM, seeking_brilliance said:

I believe in the prodigal son way of life.  Sowing your oats and fucking up. But what our world does not have for the masses is a proper method for trauma therapy and self redemption, besides the dogmatic doctrines of religion, which isn't really all that redeeming. Meditation still isn't even popular among average Americans. No one I know in the flesh (that I'm aware of) meditates or sees any value in it. 

Good words, but I think in practice its impossible to achieve. Trauma therapy and self redemption are nice to hear, but do you know the statistics on how many addicts relapse, even 1-2 years after treatment? How many people fuck up even with all the wisdom in the world on their side? All the gurus who meditated for decades now seem to come out and commit horrible acts of depravity. Sometimes perspective is delusion. 

[seeking_brilliance]

3 hours ago, Pramit said:

Even if this suffering leads to people tormenting others, for example, nazi death camps? Even if this suffering leads to some people commiting suicide? Even if the person who is suffering argues against what you just said? 

Well look... I can't save humanity's suffering. I don't think there would be a nazi death camp if and when the world gravitates towards self-healing and trauma prevention/healing,  You are talking about something which happened almost 100 years ago before humanity reached a huge growth spurt (which, by the way, the growth spurt was catalyzed by WW2)  Yes, there are still a few horrible countries left like North Korea, but they will never be allowed to do something like the Nazis did. The age of that is over for sure.  As far as suicide goes, actually I won't share my opinion on that because it will be unpopular. 

3 hours ago, Pramit said:

 but do you know the statistics on how many addicts relapse, even 1-2 years after treatment? 

No, I don't.  But in my hypothetical world, how many addicts would there be when we are taught trauma therapy from an early age? You are basing your reply off a world in which we don't do that, so we don't really know the answer here. 
 

3 hours ago, Pramit said:

How many people fuck up even with all the wisdom in the world on their side? All the gurus who meditated for decades now seem to come out and commit horrible acts of depravity.

wisdom? perhaps they don't embody that wisdom, or think they are above it.  I don't know a lot about gurus , but meditation is a way to calm the mind, it does not inherently make you a good person. Sounds like those gurus are just assholes. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[seeking_brilliance]

Some listening music... 

 

 

Some more examples of our human dream calling things into existence :

From businessinsinder.com:

Though relatively unknown to mainstream movie audiences, sci-fi fans will have no trouble recognizing the iconic 1927 film "Metropolis."

From the vantage point of 2019, this film isn't easy to watch, since it's a silent, black-and-white film that runs well over two hours. (Though if you're so inclined, you certainly can watch Metropolis in its entirety on YouTube .)

And Metropolis broke a lot of fresh ground, including the first on-screen depiction of robots. In the film, an inventor with an uncanny 1920's resemblance to Doc Brown crafted a metallic humanoid robot who is then "reskinned" to resemble Maria, a character in the film.

Today, we take the inevitability of robots - and even human-like androids in particular - for granted. But as novel as this was at the time, today we are virtually overrun with increasingly realistic androids.

In 2014, Japan saw the debut of " Kodomoroid ," a robot newscaster, and Osaka University's Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro has unveiled an android named Erica who is startlingly realistic. At the same time, robots like Boston Dynamics' Atlas and Honda's Asimo demonstrate that walking, running, opening doors, and even gymnastics are on the robot menu.

-------------------------------

Purists might consider this one a cheat, but we'd be remiss not to include "Star Trek" in the list, since it predicted more technology than Leonardo di Vinci's notebook.

 

Let's be clear: "Star Trek" started as a TV series in 1966, and its three-year initial run set the blueprint for the show's many technological predictions. But all of that eventually made its way to the big screen, starting with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979, qualifying it for this list.

And when we say that "Star Trek" invented the modern mobile phone, we mean it. The show's pocket communicator with the flip-up grid antenna literally inspired Motorola engineer Martin Cooper to design the world's first mobile phone in 1973.

His prototype, which would eventually become the Motorola DynaTAC was a veritable beast of a phone that weighed 2.5 pounds and had a 20-minute battery life. It took a decade to bring it to market, but 1983's DynaTAC started a revolution that led to ever smaller phones, flip phones, and eventually, smartphones.

I for one do not think it's a cheat, but an awesome example of perpetual creation. 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[trancedreamer]

It's crazy, beautiful but in some ways also disturbing how far dreams can go.

I think Lucid Dreaming is also a interesting thing that could fit to this topic.

 

Btw. I really love the way you made this topic a very visual, philosophical and existential experience. It's a dream and a creation in and of itself!

[seeking_brilliance]

1 hour ago, trancedreamer said:

It's crazy, beautiful but in some ways also disturbing how far dreams can go.

Haha yes one time I had a series of false awakenings, around ten in a row, and the lines of waking reality and dream reality were blurred. There were times when I truly did not know if I was awake, and reality checks would fail the first tries like a big elaborate prank. That was an interesting morning. 

[seeking_brilliance]

 

((cute little video about attachment)) 

----------------------------------

((some listening music)) 

 

'Today' is shaping up to be a nice dream. 

After a long and busy month at the grooming salon, and multiple Christmas events, I can finally rest today and do nothing. It's sublime.  My husband and I are watching t.v., doing some light cleaning, and just enjoying each other's company.  I only wanted to ring his neck three times today, which is not too bad really ????.  

    Not long ago, we went across the street to the 90 acre preserve for a hike.  The park has been a precious haven for me for years.  There are many trails in the park: red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white.  We don't really follow the trails because I know the place like the back of my hand. (actually, I don't know the back of my hand that well, come to think of it.) We went our usual way, which turns away from the sunny path and into the forest. The path runs downhill, along a deep ravine which is carved from a running stream at the top of the hill.  As we descended the path, we crossed a guy who greeted us and walked past. Then he called out after us and asked what the red and blue means, talking about the markings on the trees.  Immediately I was reminded of red pill, blue pill. He tells us that he was wandering around on red for a while, and now he's on the blue path. I tell him that there's a sign at the entrance that tells you which path is which.  But I couldn't just let it go, I had to test something. 

"Or maybe it's like red pill, blue pill" I said. 

He laughed. "yeah, exactly" he said, and continued walking up the hill. 

My husband and I continued our walk, as I contemplated how dream like this scenario was. Later, we passed a couple guys who were clearly high, talking loud, and having a good time.  We ended up passing them again.  Then on the way out of the park, back on the sunny path, we end up behind the first man that we crossed. He was a little thuggish looking and so we stayed a bit far back. My husband makes a statement that he's out here selling drugs, and that clearly the other loud guys were proof of this.  Almost immediately after, we turn a corner, and the loud high guys pass us again, clearly having passed the thuggish man moments before, in an apparent drug deal. 

We leave the park and walk down the road back to our house. 

'what a nice little dream that was,' I say to myself. 'now what will we do?' 

So now here we are, once again watching television while I write this post.  Now I'm dreaming of writing about that previous dream, lol. Michael is making some new fried bananas recipe. Later, I'll be doing something else.  All of these dreams build up into the experience which we call 'today'. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[seeking_brilliance]

(If enjoying the listening music, then of course watch the included videos after you finish reading...) 

 

This post is dedicated to the symbols which we hold dear, and have been shaping the Human dream for many decades or centuries.

First, perhaps one of our most beloved symbols, the heart symbol. Turns out, it has a very surprising and unnasuming beginning, as a symbol for birth control. 

From history.com:

A Heart-Shaped Plant Used as Birth Control

Perhaps the most unusual theory concerns silphium, a species of giant fennel that once grew on the North African coastline near the Greek colony of Cyrene. The ancient Greeks and Romans used silphium as both a food flavoring and a medicine—it supposedly worked wonders as a cough syrup—but it was most famous as an early form of birth control. 

Ancient writers and poets hailed the plant for its contraceptive powers, and it became so popular that it was cultivated into extinction by the first century A.D. (legend has it that the Roman Emperor Nero was presented with the last surviving stalk). Silphium’s seedpod bore a striking resemblance to the modern Valentine’s heart, leading many to speculate that the herb’s associations with love and sex may have been what first helped popularize the symbol. The ancient city of Cyrene, which grew rich from the silphium trade, even put the heart shape on its money.

---------------------------------

? Lol. 

First off, the fact that we harvested it into extinction is both sad, and hilarious. Sounds like something we'd do. 

So this is the first usage of the 'heart' shape, which by the way is found throughout the plant kingdom. 

 

 

Next, from Wikipedia, we learn of the firmer connection between the heart shape, and what we call love. 

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The combination of the heart shape and its use within the heart metaphor developed at the end of the Middle Ages, although the shape has been used in many ancient epigraphy monuments and texts... 

.... the familiar symbol of the heart represented love developed in the 15th century, and became popular in Europe during the 16th... 

.... One possible early use in the 11th century could be found in the manuscript, Al-Maqamat written by Al Hariri of Basra. The manuscript includes an illustration of a farewell greeting between two men while astride their camels, with the heart shape seen prominently over their heads... 

.... The first known depiction of a heart as a symbol of romantic love dates to the 1250s. It occurs in a miniature decorating a capital 'S' in a manuscript of the French Roman de la poire (National Library FR MS. 2086, plate 12). In the miniature a kneeling lover (or more precisely, an allegory of the lover's "sweet gaze" or douz regart) offers his heart to a damsel. The heart here resembles a pine cone (held "upside down", the point facing upward), in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions. However, in this miniature what suggests a heart shape is only the result of a lover's finger superimposed on an object; the full shape outline of the object is partly hidden, and therefore unknown.....

(( ok, that's hilarious too)) 

... Giotto, in his 1305 painting in the Scrovegni Chapel (Padua) shows an allegory of charity (caritas) handing her heart to Jesus Christ. This heart is also depicted in the pine cone shape based on anatomical descriptions of the day (still held "upside down"). Giotto's painting exerted considerable influence on later painters, and the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce, by Andrea Pisano on the bronze door of the south porch of the Baptisterium in Florence (c. 1337), by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Publico in Siena (c. 1340) and by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella in Florence (c. 1365)... 

((so here we are at least seeing a symbol of a heart/love, and it being offered. Interesting that the symbol is a pine cone, because of its affiliation with the pineal gland...)) 

.... The "scalloped" shape of the now-familiar heart symbol, with a dent in its base, arises in the early 14th century, at first only lightly dented, as in the miniatures in Francesco Barberino's Documenti d'amore (before 1320). A slightly later example with a more pronounced dent is found in a manuscript from the Cistercian monastery in Brussels... 

 

... The convention of showing a dent at the base of the heart thus spread at about the same time as the convention of showing the heart with its point downward.[8] The modern indented red heart has been used on playing cards since the late 15th century.... 

 

 

... Since the 19th century, the symbol has often been used on Valentine's Day cards, candy boxes, and similar popular culture artifacts as a symbol of romantic love.

The use of the heart symbol as a logograph for the English verb "to love" derives from the use in "I ♥ NY," introduced in 1977.[18]

Heart symbols were used to symbolize "health" or "lives" in video games; influentially so in The Legend of Zelda (1986) and Minecraft (2009). Super Mario Bros. 2 (1987, 1988) had a "life bar" composed of hexagons, but in 1990s remakes of these games, the hexagons were replaced by heart shapes. Since the 1990s, the heart symbol has also been used as an ideogram indicating health outside of the video gaming context, e.g. its use by restaurants to indicate heart-healthy nutrient content claim (e.g. "low in cholesterol"). A copyrighted "heart-check" symbol to indicate heart-healthy food was introduced by the American Heart Association in 1995.[19]... 

------------------------------------------

So there you have it. The  history of the symbol which we use for an emotion we call love. ❤️❤️???. 

In what ways do you think having this symbol for love has helped our growth as a species, and in what ways has it hindered? 

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by seeking_brilliance

[seeking_brilliance]

((All posts in this thread should be taken with a grain of salt and as a curious exploration of DREAM)) 

 

Meet your ancestors ? :

 

(( did you enjoy the family reunion? If it is to be reasonably believed, we lost the tail earlier than I assumed... Who knew ?‍♂️  Plus you have to wonder why we came down from the trees... And 10 million 'years' later, were standing...  (ironically, the concepts of 'time' and 'years' were probably several more million years away as well, and yet evolution progressed... Hmmm?) 

This video goes more in depth on the early humanoid species:

 

 

Happy new years! 

 

 

 

[seeking_brilliance]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-risky-is-it-really/201312/why-we-really-celebrate-new-years-day

((listen to this song to put you in that new year mood ????)) 

 

((some listening music for the post :

 

 

 

From psychologytoday.com:

"Why We Really Celebrate New Year's Day

At one second past midnight on January 1, the day will  change from Tuesday to Wednesday, usually a transition of no special significance. But somehow we've decided that this change, which will end one year and begin the next, is different. This unique tick of the clock has always prompted us both to celebrate and to step outside the day-to-day activity we’re always busy with to reflect, look back, take stock, assess how we did, and resolve to do better. Save perhaps for our birthdays, no other moment in our year gets this sort of attention.

Why does the start of the new year carry such special symbolism? And why is its celebration so common around the world, as it has been for at least as long as there have been calendars? Behavior this ubiquitous must surely be tied to something intrinsic in the human animal, something profoundly meaningful and important, given all the energy and resources we invest not just in the celebration but also in our efforts to make good on a fresh set of resolutions, even though we mostly fail to keep them....

(( granted, no one's new year fell on the same day or even month, throughout independent history (before the world was united by advances in travel).   But the desire to measure LIFE seemed to have included a measurement of 'year' across the ancient world. )) 

... It may be that the symbolism we attach to this moment is rooted in one of the most powerful motivations of all: our motivation to survive.

The celebration part is obvious. As our birthdays do, New Year’s Day provides us the chance to celebrate having made it through another 365 days, the unit of time by which we keep chronological score of our lives. Phew! Another year over, and here we still are! Time to raise our glasses and toast our survival. (The flip side of this is represented by the year-end obituary summaries of those who didn’t make it, reassuring those of us who did.)

((I like this writer's sense of humor ?.)) 

... New Year’s resolutions are examples of the universal human desire to have some control over what lies ahead, because the future is unsettlingly unknowable. Not knowing what’s to come means we don’t know what we need to know to keep ourselves safe. To counter that worrisome powerlessness, we do things to take control. We resolve to diet and exercise, to quit smoking, and to start saving. It doesn’t even matter whether we hold our resolve and make good on these promises. Committing to them, at least for a moment, gives us a feeling of more control over the uncertain days to come.... 

(( I agree with this.  Hope of a desired outcome is so ingrained into the human dream... Who really keeps those resolutions though ??.)) 

... Interestingly, New Years resolutions also commonly include things like treating people better, making new friends, and paying off debts. It's been so throughout history. The Babylonians would return borrowed objects. Jews seek, and offer, forgiveness. The Scots go "first footing," visiting neighbors to wish them well. How does all this social "resolving" connect to survival? Simple: We are social animals. We have evolved to depend on others, literally, for our health and safety. Treating people well is a good way to be treated well. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," it turns out, is a great survival strategy.

And many people resolve to pray more. That makes sense in terms of survival, too: Pray more and an omnipotent force is more likely to keep you safe. Jews pray at the start of their new year to be inscribed in "the Book of Life" for one more year. And though death is inescapable, throughout history humans have dealt with the fear of mortality by affiliating with religions that promise happy endings. Pray more, and death is less scary... 

(( dear God, please teach me to be still this year. You have your work cut out for you. Your ADD monkey mind friend, Amen.)) 

... There are hundreds of good-luck rituals woven among New Year celebrations, also practiced in the name of exercising a little control over fate. The Dutch, for whom the circle is a symbol of success, eat donuts. Greeks bake special Vassilopitta cake with a coin inside, bestowing good luck in the coming year on whoever finds it in his or her slice. Fireworks on New Year's Eve started in China millennia ago as a way to chase off evil spirits. The Japanese hold New Year’s Bonenkai, or "forget-the-year parties," to bid farewell to the problems and concerns of the past year and prepare for a better new one. Disagreements and misunderstandings between people are supposed to be resolved, and grudges set aside. In a New Year’s ritual for many cultures, houses are scrubbed to sweep out the bad vibes and make room for better ones.

(( I can spot the human dream at work a mile away...)) 

 

Happy new years fellow human!  Can't wait to see what 2020 will bring! 

[seeking_brilliance]

(some listening music) 

 

 

When I talk about a dream, really I am referring to the use of imagination over a period of time. And since the concept of time was born in imagination, it can be said that all of Life is but a dream... Short dreams, long dreams, dreams within dreams. Pockets of time, and experience, both of which are constructs of imagination.

 

What if all of humanity considered a total of three days as one day? And it was normal for the sun to set twice, getting dark, and light, dark and light... All in the span of one day? In fact, they plan their meals and nap times around it. How would we perceive time differently? Would it seem slower, or faster? More to lose, or more precious? Would we still count seconds, or would there be a whole different metric of time which people in our own reality would consider very slow? If we stepped in to this hypothetical world, would things feel slower?

If we considered three days as one, what would that do to our lifespans?  

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by seeking_brilliance