Brace yourselves. A long blog post is coming...

I'm sure a lot of the links below are broken. I can keep editing it and improving it over time.

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

"We are feedback loops; we are the stories we tell ourselves..."~ Doc Jensen on LOST  

"He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder..."~ M.C. Escher

In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness. We all were one.

And then we said, "Oh hai, Let there be light."

And then we LOOK closer and more carefully. We could see that there was nothing. Which is a funny thing to say because sometimes words are inadequate, and sometimes words have two meanings.

And then expansion started... Wait!

And we added things. And the universe expanded. And we added more things. And the universe kept expanding to accommodate adding more things. And everything was awesome. Fundamentally.

It might seem like everything was added randomly. And perhaps that is the case. But that's not what we believe.

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

This idea was kept in the dark for billions of years. Instead, the reigning belief wasdetachment: "I don't really want to know how your garden grows, 'cause I just want to fly." And so, we lived forever...

...and life was but a dream. Edgar Allan Poe waxed poetic, "All that we see or seem... is buta dream within a dream." (Thanks Ankita!)

And we thought about the words of Rumi...

"We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust."

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."

"The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe would appear on the mirror of your

perception."

"They say there is a doorway from heart to heart, but what is the use of a door when there are no walls?"

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there."

And the Primitive Radio Gods whispered quietly in the corner...

Am I alive, or thoughts that drift away?

Does summer come for everyone?

Can humans do what prophets say?

If I die before I learn to speak,

can money pay for all the days

I lived awake but half-asleep?

Suddenly we woke up with a kick. And we were no longer detached when we woke up with the idea. Not to spoil Inception, but merely to praise Inception:

"What's the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules."

For our idea, Douglas Adams offered enlightenment. Specifically, Dirk Gently illuminated us.

I'm very glad you asked me that, Mrs Rawlinson. The term `holistic' refers to my conviction that what we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. I do not concern myself with such petty things as fingerprint powder, telltale pieces of pocket fluff and inane footprints. I see the solution to each problem as being detectable in the pattern and web of the whole. The connections between causes and effects are often much more subtle and complex than we with our rough and ready understanding of the physical world might naturally suppose, Mrs Rawlinson. Let me give you an example. If you go to an acupuncturist with toothache he sticks a needle instead into your thigh. Do you know why he does that, Mrs Rawlinson? No, neither do I, Mrs Rawlinson, but we intend to find out. A pleasure talking to you, Mrs Rawlinson. Goodbye. 

    -- Douglas Adams, Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency

And then Tim Berners-Lee -- or was it Dan Connolly? -- distilled the words to their essence:

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.

And then Jamie Zawinski reflected on the Vannevar Bush-influenced words of Ted Nelson:

Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged -- people keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable and sequential when they can't. Everything is deeply intertwingled.

And then the Internet developed its own connective tissue. Which itself is unsearchable.

And then I couldn't believe what happened next. Free association. Say what? We'll see.

And then there we were, all in one place, a generation lost in the fundamental inteconnectedness of all things, spinning in infinity. The eleventh dimension. The ten dimensions of reality. Pandas and lobsters. Insults. FFF numbers. Facebook grief.How the web was won. The search party. Google takes all. Cell 13 and the Thinking Machine. Penguins of destiny. Whales are the answer. Squid vs unicorn. Puking rainbows. The sky is blue. The World Wide Web. Conversations. Trilogies.Peripeteia. Jenny Holzer. It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). Pause, to part the Red Sea...

...continuing. LOOK. We didn't start the fire. America, fuck yeah. Freedom isn't free. Terrible Disney lessons. The virus of faith. 2000" TV. You're the man now, dawg. Blue ball machine. Facebook is a lobster trap, and your friends are the bait. True happiness comes from within. It comes back to you, you're gonna get what you deserve... lovin' is what I got, remember that. The ride does not require an explanation, just occupants. Imitation of life. Noah's photos. I'm expressin' with my full capabilities, now I'm living in correctional facilities. Now let me welcome everybody to the wild wild west... California love... Regulators!!! I want it all: brand new socks and drawers. Why do I live this way? Heeeey, must be the money! Alright stop, collaborate and listen. How can I find a woman like that? Guitar: impossible. French bulldogs. OMG pwnies. Ready, set, bag. Speak with me. Meditate. Mediate. Kick.Things that make you go hmmm. Show me how to dance. Alejandro. Ra ra ra ah ah ah roma ro ma ma gaga ooh la la. Cameron Diaz dances. Stephen Hawking rocks.Time travel is horrifying. Outer space sucks. Crumbling cities. Pink houses. Iconic bras. Mad men. Ah, l'amour. Disney perversions. Episode 200. And 201.Freedom. Unconscious trumps free will. Disney deaths. Serial killers. Corporate slogans. At-at. Canned unicorn meat. What if you're wrong? The purpose of purpose. The empathetic civilization. Emma Bates. Qualia. Reid Hoffman. Hegel's philosophy of history. The unexplainable. Time-traveling brandy thieves. Life on Mars. LOST. The Little Prince.

I love The Little Prince. Which reminds me of some of my favorite words that Robbye Bentley has posted recently...

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." ~ Antoine de Sa int- Exupéry"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars." ~ Og Mandino"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr."Life and Jah are one in the same. Jah is the gift of existence. I am in some way eternal, I will never be duplicated. The singularity of every man and woman is Jah's gift. What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth." ~ Bob Marley"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey." ~ Stephen Covey

Thank you, Robbye. I have some favorites of my own, too.

The words of Rumi echo in eternity, "The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe would appear on the mirror of your perception."

Walt Whitman whispered, "Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes."

Which takes me full circle...

"Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." ~Henry James

"Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for..." ~ Bob Marley

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right. You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." ~ Marilyn Monroe

"If success or failure of the planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do... How would I be? What would I do?" ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

"We are all connected to each other, in a circle, in a hoop that never ends. How high can the sycamore grow? If you cut it down, then you'll never know..." ~ Colors of the Wind

So it goes.

And Scott Adams said, "The best you can hope for in this life is that your delusions are benign and your compulsions have utility."

So it goes...

 

And then a lot of peoples' brains exploded. Such is rock n roll.

And then we rested. Or at least, we tried to relax and breathe and reflect...

And dream of no more "and thens". And butterfly effects.

And appreciate that nothing can ever be truly, fully understood. Seriously.

At that point, when all are one and one is all...Remember to be a rock and not to roll.

Still, three fundamental questions remain:

1. If everything is everythang, are being and becoming just limited beings' perspective of the oneness?
2. If happiness is part of the oneness, why is it so difficult to be here now and connect to that happiness?
3. If lessons are repeated until they are learned, is learning just finding the right connection to the oneness?

And are there things we can never learn? We'll see.

If some connections cannot be made, perhaps there is no spoon at all.

If Internet is the substrate for interconnectedness of all things, perhaps The Architect knows.

And are there things that cannot be taught? Richard Feynman refuses to explain how magnets work. Feynman concludes, I really can't do a good job, any job, of explaining magnetic force in terms of something else you're more familiar with, because I don't understand it in terms of anything else you're more familiar with.

Breathing is neither learned nor taught. It just is. And yet sometimes we must remember to breathe. And to be here now. And to be grateful for every breath.

And then when that gratitude gets us reflecting about the meaning of life, we learn to let it go; this too shall pass...

It's one who won't be taken, that cannot seem to give, and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live, sang Bette Midler.

So it goes.

Savor every second; enjoy every sandwich, as the dyingWarren Zevon put it.

So it goes.

You need to live before you die, said Steve Jobs...

"You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference."

So it goes...

It is through death, too, that we make a connection with Randy Pausch... Con te partiro.

In the end, there is no greater job than enabling the childhood dreams of others.

And in the end, everything will be okay. If it's not okay, it's not the end.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

And in the end, only kindness matters.

So we dance. And LOOK. And simplify. And reflect. And breathe.

Which takes us back to the beginning.

And then... Bazinga!

Tweeted 116 times. 23 comments...

Five lessons on how to treat people:

http://itstimtime.tumblr.com/post/1331369369/five-lessons-on-how-to-treat-people

My experience with the oneness, by Jordan Grader:

http://www.jordangrader.com/post/1130892415/my-experience-with-oneness

‎"...And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life..." -- American Beauty

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. -- John Muir (via @oliviajune)

Is Google God?

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/opinion/is-google-god.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

The Internet is my religion.

http://pandawhale.com/post/104/the-internet-is-my-religion

(from lxt in the previous link)

From Jim Gilliam's talk at the Personal Democracy Forum: "God is just what happens when humanity is connected...We all owe every moment of our lives to countless people we will never meet. Whether it’s the soldiers who give us freedom because they fight for our country, or the surgeons who give us the cures that keep us alive. We all owe every moment of our lives to each other. We are all connected. We are all in debt to each other...I have faith in people, I believe in God, and the Internet is my religion."

Video and more extensive quotes: http://www.jakelevine.me/blog/2011/06/the-internet-is-my-religion/

That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.

http://ifindkarma.posterous.com/omar-ahmad-i-miss-you

You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.

http://ifindkarma.posterous.com/you-become-responsible-forever-for-what-you-h

The connectedness of all things.

http://pavellas.com/2010/03/17/darwin-natural-selection-and-the-connectedness...

Interconnectedness...

Facebook picture:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150234970790415&set=a.425940705414.201129.500040414&type=1&theater

“The greatest thing that I have learned is probably the simplest thing any of us can learn: I am who I am.” - Sonny Barger (via Kristine Schneller)

http://www.facebook.com/adam.rifkin/posts/10150233228425415

They will be beyond our imagining because the level at which they are enabled is hard for us to picture. In large groups the laws of statistics take over and our brains have not evolved to do statistics. The amount of data tracked is inhuman; the magnitudes of giga, peta, and exa don't really mean anything to us; it's the vocabulary of machines. Collectively we behave differently than individuals. Much more importantly, as individuals we behave differently in collectives.

This has been true a long while. What's new is the velocity at which we a headed into this higher territory of global connectivity. We are swept up in a tectonic shift toward large, fast, social organizations connecting us in novel ways. There may be a million different ways to connect a billion people, and each way will reveal something new about us. Something hidden previously. Others have named this emergence the Noosphere, or MetaMan, or Hive Mind. We don't have a good name for it yet.

I've used the example of the bee before. One could exhaustively study a honey bee for centuries and never see in the lone individual any of the behavior of a bee hive. it is just not there, and can not emerge until there are a mass of bees. A single bee lives 6 weeks, so a memory of several years is impossible, but that's how long a hive of individual bees can remember. Humanity is migrating towards its hive mind. Most of what "everybody knows" about us is based on the human individual. Collectively, connected humans will be capable of things we cannot imagine right now. These future phenomenon will rightly seem impossible. What's coming is so unimaginable that the impossibility of wikipedia will recede into outright obviousness.

Connected, in real time, in multiple dimensions, at an increasingly global scale, in matters large and small, with our permission, we will operate at a new level, and we won't cease surprising ourselves with impossible achievements.

My prediction is that in the coming years our biggest surprises -- the ones that aren't predicted -- will be the result some new method of large scale social interactions. While we will get good at predicting the next advance of technological innovation, we won't get very good at predicting what happens with the hive mind. And exploring the hive mind -- the thousands of ways in which we can connect and reconnect ourselves -- will be the chief activity of our civilization in the near term. If I am right then we'll have to get better at believing in the impossible.

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/08/why_the_impossi.php

Be who you are, as hard as you can.

http://ifindkarma.posterous.com/be-who-you-are-as-hard-as-you-can

‎"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it." ~ William Arthur Ward

http://www.facebook.com/adam.rifkin/posts/10150351289380415

The world wide web is indeed interconnected.

http://scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web

Long live the Web!

Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. ~ Nikola Tesla

http://ifindkarma.tumblr.com/post/13838809265/thank-you-lisola-from-thisway-i...

Creativity is just connecting things. ~ Steve Jobs

https://plus.google.com/108325036468578880406/posts/EWJCjeHRUZp

Linda Harrison liked this post.

Interconnected kittehs!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifindkarma/6651767523/

Helen McMurphy liked this post.

The 12 Laws of Karma:

http://pandawhale.com/convo/539/the-12-laws-of-karma

The most astounding fact in the universe - you are not only in it, and a part of it, but the universe is a part of you. ~Neil deGrasse Tyson

I had to scroll down to the bottom really fast before finishing reading everything so I could give a ♥♥♥

Thank you for the hearts, Pamela!