Albert Einstein
"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
Deepak Chopra
"Our thoughts are recycled information. Every thought we have is actually part of a collective database. All but the most original thoughts are recycled information, and even the most original thoughts are actually quantum leaps of creativity that occur from the same recycled bed of information. Intention, imagination, insight, inspiraton, meaning, purpose, creativity, and understanding have nothing to do with the brain. They orchestrate their activity through the brain, but they are qualities of the non-local domain, which is beyond space and time."
THIS CRAZY UNIVERSE CLASS
Lesson One
The Theory of Relativity Part I
Welcome to the Crazy Universe Class. Get ready to learn some amazing things about the universe. You are going to grasp concepts that you may at one time thought were beyond your reach. But trust us they are not. You are going to learn things that are going to turn your universe inside out and upside down. The way you view yourself and your place in the universe is forever going to change.
First we want to make sure you are aware of an important concept.
Have you heard the term Late Selection? Late selection refers to the fact that all information taken in by our minds (through all the senses) is processed by the subconscious mind first before reaching our conscious mind. You don't need consciousness to learn. (Wow, what did I just say?) The old belief was called Early Selection, in which information passed through the conscious mind before the subconscious mind and all non-essential information was discarded.
IMPORTANT: LATE SELECTION IS HOW OUR MIND OPERATES! Everything MUST go through the subconscious mind first.
Do you see how major that is? This finite, conscious mind you have will only be playing a minor role in your learning. You can put any securites aside, because the part of your mind that may be making you apprehensive, or unsecure, is of very little consequence. It has a right to feel unsecure and to question what it doesn't understand. But trust us your subconscious mind knows nothing of insecurity or doubt.
Are you familiar with the iceberg analogy? The mind is similar to an iceberg. Only a small portion of the iceberg is visible above the water. This is similar to the conscious mind. Most of the iceberg (sometimes well over 90%) is submerged below the water. This is similar to our subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind has so much more responsibility than our conscious mind. It controls our heart rate our breathing and just about every bodily fucntion needed to keep us alive. The subconsious mind holds our memories and emotions. It never forgets a thing.
Imagine the water line of an iceberg. This is spot at which the conscious and subconsious meet and communicate. This is where we imagine and dream. Imagination is one of the best ways to communicate with our subconsious mind. We tell our subconscious mind what we want through what we imagine. The stonger our imagination, the more vividly we can see the images in our mind and the stroger the emotions we feel, the more contact we have with our subconscious.
IMPORTANT: Don't forget communication between the conscious and subconscious is two way. Our subconsious sends infromation to our conscious as well, most of the time we just aren't aware of it.
We need to learn to listen to our subconscious.
Why? Our subconscious mind is in contact with a database of infinite intelligence, allowing you to solve any problem, obtain any solution to anything your mind can conceive. We all share one mind. There is nothing one person can learn that another can't. And one of the key aspects of learning is using your imagination.
Our conscious mind is at its best contact with the subconscious mind when we are dreaming. Make it an intent to remember your dreams. Replay your dreams in your mind and ask yourself what your subconscious is trying to tell you.
Fortunately we have a way to access and listen to our subconscious while we aren't asleep. Daydreaming! And they used to tell you daydreaming was bad. Hardly!
Did you know Post-It notes were invented because of a daydream?
Did you know Einstein constantly attributed daydreaming to his discoveries?
Everyone knows what it is like to daydream. You enter a trance like state. You beceome completely oblivious to everything going on around you. You are completely submerged in your thoughts.
The good thing about daydreaming (unlike MOST dreaming) is you can consciously choose the topic of communication between your conscious and subconsious mind. You initiate the process by imagining with your conscious mind then your subconsious mind will take over.
Like sleep, daydreaming can not be forced. The harder you try to make yourself daydream the less the chance you will enter the daydreaming state. You have to just let it happen. And it will. You have done it so many times in the past. So how do you just let it happen?
First let's go back and talk a little more about the brain.
Your brain operates on different frequencies. Look at the chart below.
When you are awake your brain operates on a frequency between 14-30 Hz. This is known as the Beta state.
When you are alseep your brainwaves are around 1-3 Hz. This is know as the Delta State.
When you are daydreaming you are either in the Alpaha State (9-13 Hz) or the Theta State(4-8 Hz).
The deeper you can go, the slower you can make your brain waves without actually drifting into the Delta (sleep) state, the more conscious contact you can have with your subconscious.
You have experienced different levels of daydreaming. Sometimes you may be slightly aware of your surroundings (Alpha) while other times you are so lost in thought (Theta) that a little tap on the back startles you back into full consciousness.
Obviously you can't concentrate on entering a daydreaming state. Concentration will only increase your brain activity, increase your brain waves and keep you in a Beta state of alertness.
To get into a daydreaming state start with the following steps:
- Decide before hand what your topic of conversation is going to be with your subconscious. What do you want to daydream about? What images are you already seeing in your mind?
- Get in a state of homeostasis (balance). Make sure you aren't hungry, go to the bathroom, drink a glass of water.
- Find a place where you will not be interrupted.
- Relax your mind. Take a few deep breaths. Now just concentrate on your breathing, in and out, in and out, in and out.
- Next concentrate on slowing your breathing down. Don't hold your breath. Just longer inhales and exhales, in... and out..., in... and out..., in... and out...
- Now start acting out, in your mind, the topic of conversation you want to have with your subconscious. For example, if you want to find out what your subconscious has to say about you playing the piano, you might picture yourself playing a song on the piano in front of some of your friends. View it in your mind just like you would a movie. At first you consciously decide what is going to happen. What song are you playing? What is the reaction of your friends? What are your friends saying to you and to each other? Use your imagination as vividly as possible. Put feeling into it. How does playing this song make you feel?
- The more you use your imagination the easier it will be for you to slip into the daydreaming state (Alpah-Theta, 13 to 4 Hz).
- Eventually your subconscious will take over. It will literally become like you are watching a movie in your head that you have no control over. This is when your subconscious is talking to you.
- Eventually you will snap out of the daydreaming state. The reasons could be numerous. Something external distracted you, a completely sepearte thought may have found its way in and disrupted your daydream. Perhaps your conscious mind has said all it wanted to at this time.
- This is the point where you absolutely MUST, stop and review your daydream. It is fresh in your mind. If you don't review your daydream NOW, you will forget important details later. It may even be helpful to write down a detailed description of your daydream as soon as you come out of the daydreaming state.
- After reviewing your daydream ask yourself what your subconscious was trying to tell you. Did anything change from when you consciously had control to when your subconscious took over? Were you playing a different song? Was the reaction of your friends still the same? Did the daydream switch to something completely different than what you initially intented? For example did the daydream end with you still playing the piano with your friends or something not even remotely related?
- Understand that no one is more qualified to interpret your day dreams than you. You subconscious mind is telling you something and it has told it to you in a way that you are meant to understand. Nobody knows you better than your subconscious.
Many times in the day you will find yourself slipping in and out of a daydream state? When you find yourself coming out of a daydream be sure to take advantage, RIGHT THEN, of the opportunity to learn from your subconscious.
If you find you are having trouble daydreaming the following may help...
This technique can help you get into an alpha state of mind.
- Look straigt ahead and pick out an object directly in front of you. Make sure it is close enough to you not to be blurry.
- While you continue to look at the object in front of you also notice another object in your peripheral vision to your left.
- Staying aware of the two objects notice an object in your peripheral vision to your right.
- Next, notice an object inbetween you and the first object directly in front of you. You should now be aware of four objects.
- Finally, notice one last object anywhere in your peripheral vision. You should now be aware of five objects.
- You will actually find the sensation of doing this pleasurable. Your eyes will probably glaze over. This is fine. The main point to remember is to stare aware of all five objects.
This technique will help you get into a relaxed, calming alpha state. It will help clear all the clutter of your conscious mind and help you communicate with your subconscious mind.
You might also want to consider brainwave entrainment.
It really is quite simple AND SAFE. Entrainment is the syncing of two vibrating systems. Here we are referring to your brain and an audio recording that simulates the waves your brain produces.
Once your brain enters an alpha-theta stage, all the unwanted, crazy noise of your conscious mind begins to fade making it easier for you to communicate with your subconscious mind.
Entrainment is most often accomplished by one of two methods - binaural beats or isochronic tones.
Binaural beats require the listener to wear headphones. A different tone is heard in each ear. The brain interprets the differnce as a pulse or beat. For example one ear may hear a 200 hertz frequency and the other ear a 210 hertz frequency. The brain interprets this as the difference and hears just a 10 hertz frequency.
Isochronic tones turn a tone on and off to simulate the desired frequency. Isochronic tones are actually becoming more popular. Evidence is showing them to be more effective. Plus you don't have to use headphones. But headphones are often recommended to eliminate background noise.
If you would like more information on acquiring isochronic tones check out this site.
Now for the moment you have been waiting for!
Remember the key is to use your imagination.
We can't over emphasize this point. Don't just read the material and have a vague image in your mind. Vividly picture everything we are telling you. When you read a paragraph DON'T go on to the next paragraph until you can clearly see in your mind the image we are describing to you.
It's not hard! We have made the images very easy for the mind to see, using things like school buses and baseballs.
You will notice we have not included any pictures or charts to aid our explanations. This is on purpose. This is to help you develop your imagination. You must learn to transfer the words you see to a crystal clear movie playing in your mind. We don't want to influence the picture. This will only hinder you in the long run. When you learn to make the pictures in your mind your own, you will learn at a pace you never thought possible.
IMAGINE THIS.
You are a kid again. You are riding on a school bus. Disregarding all rules of safety you stand up in the middle isle and jump straight up into the air.
Where do you land? A few seats forward? A few seats backward?
If you jumped straight up in the air you land in the exact same spot you were at before you jumped.
Now imagine you are standing on the street and you see the bus coming towards you. This time a friend of yours is jumping on the bus. You can see him or her through the window. At the moment your friend is right in front of you he or she jumps into the air. But notice when he or she lands she is now farther down the road from your perspective.
When you are on the bus from your perspective you appear to be jumping up and down. When you are on the street and see your friend do the same thing from your perspective your friend is jumping forward.
Next picture yourself sitting in the school bus and watching the scenery go by as you stare out the windows. It is as if you are sitting still and everything outside the bus is moving even though the bus is actually what is in motion.
If we covered all the windows of the bus would you be able to even tell if you were moving?
No!
As long as the bus stays in uniform motion, which means it stays at a constant speed and direction, no sudden turns, no speeding up or slowing down, then you would not be able to tell if you were moving.
You could continue to jump straight up and down but you would always land in the same place. You could toss a coin up into the air and it would land in your hand. There is absolutely nothing you could do to prove you were moving unless you uncovered the windows and even then it looks as if the outside objects are moving past you.
Now let's say you've determined the bus is moving and that it is moving at 25 miles per hour. Sitting on the bus your body is also moving at 25 miles. Again disregarding safety you stand up in the middle of the isle and walk towards the bus driver, the direction the bus is moving. You walk at 1 mph. Your body is actually moving at a speed of 26 mph, your walking speed plus that of the bus.
25 mph bus speed + 1 mph walking = 26 mph total
When you turn around to walk back to your seat you are now walking opposite, or against, the busses motion and this time you must subtract your walking speed from the bus to see how fast you are actually moving.
25 mph bus speed - 1 mph walking = 24 mph total
Also consider this. You are on the bus still going 25 mph you look out the window and a car speeds by at 50 mph. From your perspective the car will only appear to be moving 25 miles per hour.
The bus now comes to a stop and you step off the bus.
The bus drives away at 25 mph. If you are standing still you will see the bus driving away at 25 mph. If you walk towards the bus at a rate of 1 mph you see the bus driving away from you at 24 mph. If you walk in the opposite direction of the bus at a rate of 1 mph and look behind you, you will see the bus driving away at 26 mph.
What all of this tells us is Einstien's first postulate.
All uniform motion is relatvie to an observers state of motion. There is no absolute well defined state of rest. There is no priviledged reference frame.
This does seem counter intuitive. But if a car zooms past a man on the street a 100 mph. It is just as correct for the man in the car to say the man zoomed past me at 100 mph as it is for the man on the street to say the car zoomed past me at 100 mph.
It might help you make sense of it all if you realize there is no one fixed point in the universe with which all motion can be compared. You may think you are standing still on the road. But you are actually hurtling around the sun and the sun is moving around the center of our galaxy. You have to say you are moving relative to something.
Now let's talk about light. Here is where things start to get strange. You can consider light to be a wave. Picture throwing a rock in a pond and you see the circular waves that expand from the spot the rock entered the water.
You can also consider the light to be a particle. Picture a stream of tiny pellets being shot from a BB gun.
Here comes the strange part.
The speed of light is constant it never changes.
Why is that strange?
Picture it this way. When you are standing on the side of the road and you see a car pass you at 60 mph it seems to go a lot faster than if the car passes you on the road while you are driving another car at 55 mph. When you are standing on the road the car zooms by you at 60 mph when you are in another car driving at 55 mph the car only seems to be moving 5 mph relative to you.
Now if the car was a wave or particle of light you would not only see the car zoom by you at 60 mph when you were standing on the street but also zoom by you at 60 mph when you were driving at 55 mph.
So something had to give here. And it was Einstein who came up with the radical assumption that perhaps it was time. That just like uniform motion was relative to the observer so was time. And he was correct.
Now let's bring the bus back. Imagine you are standing on the street watching the bus pass by. Two of your friends are standing in the middle of the bus. As the bus passes you by you see one friend throw a baseball to the front of the bus and one friend throw a baseball to the back of the bus at equal speeds. Since they are in the middle of the bus, as you would guess each baseball hits the front and back of the bus at the same time. This can be confirmed by your friends on the bus and you outside the bus.
Now let's turn the baseballs into photons of light with a constant speed and throw the balls again. Since the baseball/photons have a constantly speed your friends will see each baseball/photon hit the front and back of the bus at the same time. But what will you see?
When the thrown baseballs were actually baseballs and not photons of light their speed was increased if thrown in the direction of the moving bus and decreased if thrown against the direction of the moving bus.
But now they are photons and remember photons don't increase or increase their speed with a moving object. So while you friends on the bus will see the baseball/photons hit the front and back of the bus at the same time, you will see the baseball/photon hit the back of the bus first. The back of the bus is moving towards the baseball/photon. Later in time you will see the baseball/photon hit the front of the bus. It had to go a farther distance since the front of the bus was moving away from the baseball/photon.
But how can that be?
How can your friends on the bus see the baseball/photons hit the front and the back at the same time and you see the baseball/photons hit the back first and then the front?
Who is correct?
Are you ready?
Both you and your friends are correct!
How can you both be correct?
It all goes back to all uniform motion is relative. Both you and your friends are correct from your own perspectives. There is no priviledged reference point.
This week let what we have just discussed sink in. You will probably find yourself going back over the material to rationalize it again. You will need this next week to really let it "cement" in your brain before we tackle the next section.
As you have already seen we have come to some amazing conclusions as far as time is concerned. But as we will find out in next weeks lessons, we have only skimmed the surface. Next week we are going to turn your universe inside out and upside down. The way you view yourself and your place in the universe is forever going to change.