V vs. UV: What's Your Reality?

Squaw Valley USA, CA: Snow Cats at Night

As we sat watching the mountain at night on a recent ski trip to Tahoe, my 3 year old son asked me "Daddy, what are those lights up there?"  I replied, "Snow Cats."  The look of wonder on his face as he repeated "Snow Cats?!?" reminded me of the time in life when it was my assumption that I knew so little and that there was so much to absorb and validate.  Every little fact or observation that came my way was up for investigation as a potential piece of the 'puzzle' of the Universe - an infinite 'puzzle' that was made up of the most magical pieces that you could ever imagine... and then I grew up.

Growing up is a wonderful journey in itself for we essentially validate that which the collective human consciousness has deemed as 'reality'.  There is physical matter, tangible facts and all sorts of agreement on how certain things work in the visible world.  In fact, there is so much agreement out there that it is easy to fall into the trap that what we agree on and what we have already validated is all that there is, that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are but children of the Universe.  In reality, we have truly just begun to explore and validate.

The empowering perspective is one where we believe that we have just begun our our validation process, regardless of our age or the amount of information that we have collected.  At any moment you are open to and joyfully anticipate a new discovery like "Snow Cats," looking forward to the process of investigation, assimilation and validation.  This is not 'blind faith', no matter how convincing your 'Daddy' might be :), but it is fun just the same.

How much of the Universe have you been able to validate (V) vs. what still remains un-validated (UV) for you?  I personally think that 4%* is being very generous. :)

All the Best,
Whitney
© 2011 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill

* Amazon.com Review

A Q&A with Richard Panek, Author of The Four Percent Universe

Q: What is the "four percent universe"?

Panek: It’s the universe we’ve always known, the one that consists of everything we see: you, me, Earth, Sun, planets, stars, galaxies.

Q: What’s the other 96 percent?

Panek: The stuff we can’t see in any form whatsoever. At a loss for words, astronomers have given these missing ingredients the names "dark matter" and "dark energy."

...

Q: So this is real. Astronomers actually believe that 96 percent of the universe is "missing"?

Panek: Yes. They call it the ultimate Copernican revolution. Not only are we not at the center of the universe, we’re not even made of the same stuff as the vast majority of the universe.

Q: What now?

Panek: Nobody knows! And for astronomers, that’s the exciting part. Again and again, at conference after conference and in interview after interview, I’ve heard astronomers say that they can’t believe how fortunate they are to be scientists at this point in history. Four hundred years ago, Galileo turned a telescope to the night sky and discovered that there’s more out there than the five planets and couple of thousand stars that meet the eye. Now astronomers are saying that there’s more out there, period—whether it meets the eye or not. Lots more: the vast majority of the universe, in fact.

Q: If this revolution is such a big deal, why haven’t we heard about it?

Panek: Because it’s just beginning. Only in the past ten years have scientists reached a consensus that what we’ve always thought was the universe is really only four percent of it. Now they feel that figuring out the missing 96 percent is the most important problem in science.

Q: Will finding answers make our lives better? What’s the payoff?

Panek: On an immediate, day-to-day, price-of-milk level, nothing. But Galileo’s observations starting in 1609 completely changed the physics and philosophy of the next four hundred years in ways nobody could have anticipated. As I argue in The Four Percent Universe, this new revolution is going to have the same kind of effect on civilization. The fun is just beginning.

Identity Is Established

Photograph of Zander Merrill by Whitney Merrill

LIFE TRANSITION TWO

ESTABLISHING PERSONAL IDENTITY (ages 2-4)

"The positive of this transition is self-identity and the negative is narcissism, which has to do with self-absorption. A child who is narcissistic believes in theory that he is separate but does not create an identity for himself in relationship to the parent. Children who do not complete this monad around the age of three in Western cultures and somewhat later in non-Western do not have a clear sense of their separateness and can experience serious emotional and psychological problems as they move into middle childhood. With a child who has not centered himself, there can be a constant internal conflict concerning where personal boundaries lie; and this struggle looks, to the external eye, as having a lack of focus or presence. On the other hand, young children who complete this transition with a clear sense of personal identity have sorted through who they are in relationship to the mother or primary caregiver, no longer believing that they are the mother.

As the personality develops, the family icon begins to become more apparent as the child learns that if he behaves a certain way, i.e., “the curious one” or “the entertainer” that he will receive approval from the parents. Even when the icon is more negative, the parents still expect the behaviors associated with it, and the child learns that he is seen in a certain way and in order to be accepted in the family he must act according to the iconographic projection. This correlation between the icon and the developing personality is an integral part of the new persona as the child uses it to interact with both the parents as well with as the world at large"

c.2011 Victoria Marina-Tompkins All Rights Reserved

Excerpted from Spiritual Turning Points: A Metaphysical Perspective of the Seven Life Transitions, by Victoria Marina-Tompkins

Available at:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BooksOnBoard

LOA for Today: Your Ever-Improving Story

"If you will let your dominant intention be to revise and improve the content of the story you tell every day of your life, it is our absolute promise to you that your life will become that ever-improving story. For by the powerful Law of Attraction—the essence of that which is like unto itself is drawn—it must be!"

--- Abraham 
Excerpted from the book "Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Welath and Happiness"

LOA for Today: Feeling Good On Your Way

"The reason you want every single thing that you want, is because you think you will feel really good when you get there. But, if you don't feel really good on your way to there, you can't get there. You have to be satisfied with what-is while you're reaching for more."

--- Abraham

Excerpted from a workshop on the book The Law of Attraction: The Basic Teachings of Abraham

Who is Watching?

When I was a child I was told the story of the man-in-the-moon.  I would often picture that there was someone up there on the moon watching me and everyone else on this planet - looking down at us through a big giant magical telescope that allowed for a view into every aspect of life.  It was somewhat comforting to think that someone was always watching me but due to the physical separation and inability to 'talk' to the man-in-the-moon, it felt very observational.  No Action and No Communication, just Vision and Seeing.

During my teenage and early-adult years this observation became more earth-bound with parents, teachers and other members of my community watching me - sometimes very closely (for good reason)!  This was also comforting, although as a teenager I never would have admitted it! :)  But eventually, there was a desire to cut-the-cord and remove myself from this lens of familial and societal observation, in order to have the freedom to experience life out of True Personality. This took some doing, but eventually I found myself one night under the stars and the moon and I realized that no one was watching, but Me.

I noticed that this was not the little 'me' but the True Me - the one that included everyone that had ever supported, loved, watched, guided and observed me.  It was inclusive of the All and also very private.  Then came the question, "Now what do I do?"  I've spent years focusing on that question (still very much in-progress) but what I did ultimately figure out for myself is that there is True Power in watching ourselves.  Specifically, in every choice that we make we have an opportunity to watch ourselves before, during and after we take Action or Communicate by using what I call a 'Vision of Me'.   

What I do when I come to a choice or a fork in my Path is to visualize 'Me' in the future telling the story of my current choice (now in the past) to someone that I am now watching.  For myself, I imagine 'Me' telling the story of my choice of 10 years ago to my now teenage son in my role as supportive parent and father.  I ask myself which story would provide the most wisdom and guidance to the 'Me' in the future, and then I use that insight to guide my choice in the Now.

When I see 'Me' telling the story in the future I often notice that the outcome of the choice is usually the least important part - it is more about the process of the choice and how I was being.  'Good outcome' or 'bad outcome', I am still a 'Vision of Me' and Watcher of someone I love, sharing an experience and hopefully wisdom, love and support.  What I find extremely powerful about this exercise is that it enables you to put your ego in '3rd position' in the Now, giving you the opportunity to make your current choice from the broader and more grounded perspective of Essence.

The next time that you have a moment to yourself under the stars and the moon, simply ask yourself - "Who is Watching you Right Now?"

All the Best,
Whitney
© 2011 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill