This is Upper Butte Creek Falls, in Oregon. (Click the picture for an immersive, interactive view.)
Scenes like this evoke sense of calm and serenity. I find it easy to linger in such spots, just enjoying the environment and the lack of craziness. The only motion is a continuous stream of falling water, an unending supply of refreshment and peace. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have this peace in the rest of our lives?
Continue reading
This is the view from Erratic Rock State Natural Site near McMinnville, Oregon. The large rock in the foreground originated in the northern Rocky Mountains, nowhere near this spot. It is the only rock of its type outside Canada, and was transported here during a massive Ice Age flood around 15 thousand years ago. Titanic floods washed down eastern Washington, scoured their way through the gorge, then filled the valley with water. The water was filled with debris including icebergs from the flood’s origin, some of which carried boulders. As the ice melted and the waters receded, this boulder remained, a silent testimony to the power and extent of the flood. The view from this point helps us appreciate the scale of the flood. Continue reading
One of the interesting accounts in Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, is a combination of two things: First, a description of the reasons why certain types of planning don’t work because of limitations in the human mind, and how to work around that. Second, the account of a bunch smart folks working together on a project, and making those very mistakes. I think this raises a very interesting, and possibly fundamental, question about reality.
Continue reading
At the creation of the universe, such vast power was unleashed that it still echoes through the heavens. In an instant, all that exists was forged from nothing. A resulting faint afterglow of radio waves carries with it the signature of those first moments, and by studying that signature we can learn about the beginning.
However, the lingering afterglow does more than paint a picture of the first few seconds of creation, it also points to the Creator. Continue reading
This great little video presents a handful of concepts from physics that illustrate aspects of spiritual reality. They are more than pure metaphors, but less than proofs. The lecture is presented in such a way that the concepts challenge purely natural thinking, while not attempting to force a perspective. Continue reading
Thinking about waterfalls, because I just posted a Virtual Reality photograph of Horsetail Falls, led me to think about water and spirituality, which brought to mind an ancient story. It’s a story about finding one’s deepest thirsts quenched. Continue reading
Fossils remind us that mortality has been around for as long as life itself, yet fossils also illustrate immortality. In a sense, these animals continue to exist, almost as humans persist as statues. But there is a big difference: fossils are not just representations of animals — they are the animals themselves, only now with slower and simpler chemistry. For what has really changed about them? Is there any real difference between chemical reactions that are fast and complex, and those that are slow and simple? Is there any real difference between life and death?
Of course! There is far more to life than fancy chemistry, and even more to humanity than natural life. This truth is the beginning of the end of mortality, for mortality itself has an end. The spark that makes us uniquely human exists beyond mortality, although flickering because of this world’s darkness. But what we physically sense is not all of reality, and with open eyes we can see a path beyond. There is one who defeated death, and because of that he is a door onto this path of light, and is himself a pure light into eternity. Christ is the end of mortality.
Virtual reality photography has been around a while, but is becoming more widely known as new ways emerge of experiencing media. In particular, people expect rich ways of exploring remote locations, and the emergence of touch-sensitive displays makes VR pictures very compelling. In addition to photographic value, they offer an intriguing metaphor for seeing things in the real world — for understanding our whole reality.
VR photographs are viewed interactively. They are images that show all fields of view available from a given location. Three hundred sixty degrees around, and one hundred eighty degrees vertically, the viewer is essentially inside a sphere with the ability to look in any direction and often to zoom in for greater detail.
What can this tell us about the nature of reality? Continue reading
The world is a mysterious place, and part of human nature is to try to understand it. This is the role of science and rationality; we look to them to help us make sense of things. To an large extent they are very successful, and have improved our ability to manipulate the world more and more. And yet, there are things about the deeper underpinnings of reality that give us pause. Continue reading
The Avengers is one of the best superhero movies ever made. Like some other recent superhero movies, what made it so good wasn’t just the spectacular adventure, but the personal stories intertwined with that adventure. Real characters that develop as the story unfolds, adding a literary depth to the well-crafted adventure. In this case, a key theme was how a bunch of diverse and independent characters came together to battle something bigger than all of them, and how they ultimately succeeded. There’s was a success born not only from physical power, but from a paradox ultimately more powerful than even the tesseract. The seed for this paradox was planted near the beginning, during Loki’s speech. Continue reading
Kelvin's Clouds 