Michael Sternbach

The problem is that others will perceive us through their own filters. Yes, they may see things about ourselves that we are not aware of, yet be overly judgmental. Of course, they will be projecting their own shadow on us... Funnily enough, what one acquaintance admires in us, another might find deplorable. In truth, there are no good and bad traits - only perception makes them so. So you must go beyond the dualism of right and wrong, and see your characteristics in their suchness. To redeem your shadow self, you must accept and understand it first of all. Only then will you be free to choose your own course.

The Hatha Yoga I was taught by an advanced Indian practitioner was not much different from what, to my knowledge, is commonly practised in the West. There are also books written by Indian authors along the same lines. Of course, there will be Western instructors tailoring the original material toward specific ends (Yoga for pregnant women etc) or synthesizing it with other ideas (i.e. Pilates). I don't think that's a problem - at least as long as practitioners understand what's going on.

Your understanding of yourself as a being unbound by time and space might express itself as psychic/clairvoyant experiences. Whether you seek them or they occur spontaneously, they are very common during certain phases when following a path of spiritual awakening.

The Dao De Jing, ch. 42 goes: Nungungungu, you are the most Daoist non-Daoist that I have met so far.

Whenever you arrive at the reconciliation of two opposite forces within your psyche, a new balance and expansion will be the result. From the union of the two, a third one is born. Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis

Talking about particle mass... Surely, some of you still remember how CERN scientists measured neutrinos travelling at superluminal speeds? It was big news even in the general media, and to say that the scientific world was shocked would be an understatement. Of course, the equipment used was thoroughly examined, and, lo and behold, some loose cable was found! The screws were tightened, the measurements repeated and the result was: Neutrinos move exactly at the speed of light! Some professors had to take their hats for spreading such "BS" (a harshness that, by the way, really encourages unorthodoxy in science ) and Einstein's Universe was saved... Now, I do have a couple of objections: It was actually not for the first time that neutrinos were observed to move at superluminal speeds. Earlier, although less spectacular and prominent measurements had already led to the same result. (Just do a search on arxiv.org.) The conclusion that neutrinos move at c is an averaged result derived from a number of measurements; obviously, some of them must still have shown neutrinos to travel faster. Nothing but inaccuracies? But here comes the biggie: The statement that neutrinos travel exactly at c is quite as incomprehensible as any superluminal speed! Why? Because it has been proven years ago that neutrinos can "change their flavour"; that's physicists' parlance for expressing that they can turn from one kind into another. But that would be impossible if (like photons) they had no rest mass! And (as has been mentioned on this thread) no object with a rest mass can move exactly at c, or so says Einstein. I am not of the opinion that SRT is completely wrong, there is too much evidence supporting it. But maybe Relativity is in need of some relativization...

The way I see it, c defines the boundary of the physical system. The latter is not the only system, and there are several ways to get around the speed limit that c poses, at least in principle: Hyperspace, wormholes, space warps, quantum tunneling... But to simply neglect c, or, for that matter, the physical Universe as a delusion won't get you anywhere, imo.

A small massage ball might help. I got one for enhancing my practice, especially as done in a horse stance. They are available in sport stores, from Amazon etc. http://www.centerworks.com/foot-care-tips-for-quick-easy-do-it-yourself-foot-pain-relief-for-sore-tired-and-achy-feet-with-a-mini-massage-ball/

Nikolai, thanks for your elaborate reply. Make sure you keep me posted. Brian, regarding your request, do you have any particular topic you want me to look into? Always at your service...

Also to understand that what matters in a conflict is not who is right but who is left. That is going to be interesting.

Stosh, you just made my day! Actually, the text you are quoting goes on: So, what makes the time of travel for the astronauts on board of the ship shorter is a relativistic contraction of the space between Earth and the distant star. I had considered this possibility myself - but Brian's last comment to me took the wind out of my sails. I wonder if that contraction is somehow related to gravitational spacetime distortion as described by the General Theory of Relativity? I am still puzzled by the mutual observation of time dilation by both the astronauts and the people back on Earth, respectively, however. Using the example from the article (and since I love to visualize things in a dummy prove fashion): If the astronauts stayed in touch with Earth during the trip, they should observe three New Year eves happening there. But by the time they arrive, "suddenly" ten years have passed back on Earth. Maybe because signal transmission between the ship and Earth is limited to c, that modifies the picture somehow, but I don't seem to be able to resolve this riddle at the moment.

So, Brian, are you saying that zapping towards a star at a speed almost as high as the speed of light, we still measure the time passing on board to approximate the star's distance in light-years? (We neglect the phases of gradual acceleration and deceleration we may need, assuming that the supertechnology we are using allows us to do so.)

We generally assume that there is a general time flow quite independent from us. I think that Relativity implies that, instead, we are moving through time, much like we are moving through space. It's not time which moves.

Begin where you are.

I have a more simple solution: Let's just observe what happens when we move nearly at the speed of light!

But I do try to keep my calm...

Brain, I agree with you that we must be careful to think of ANY of our theories as THE truth. Actually, we already know situations in which the speed of light limit does not apply. (We may talk about those later, let's stick with time dilation a little longer.) Bottom line: Even though there is a lot of evidence in support of the Theory of Relativity, I suspect that it will eventually turn out to be no absolute truth but a subset of a yet more encompassing theory. So it may be relatively true. Well, one way to evaluate the (relative) truth of a theory is to study whether it is at least consistent. I have heard many times that a trip at a velocity near c would mean that a watch on board of the space ship will considerably slow down relative to a "stationary" one back on Earth, so that (given that we could build such a ship), distant stars or even galaxies could be reached within the lifetime of the daring crew. Of course, as seen by an external observer, the trip would still take just a little longer than light would take to travel that far. According to this, the astronauts, when arriving at their destination, will find that back on Earth thousands of years have passed. But now you are telling me that for the astronauts, the external universe would slow down. So when arriving, less time will have passed in it than in their ship. Unless their watch mysteriously jumps forward once they come to a stop, this just doesn't make any sense.

Marblehead is the stationary observer here. He will watch us all slow down as we go faster and faster.

Don't give up. The faster we go, the more we will all slow down.

Very interesting, Brian, although I will need to reread it in part... Meanwhile, let me try to ask you a simple question. If I would go on a round trip at nearly the speed of light while you remained on Earth, and we would compare our watches after my return, whose watch would show more time to have passed? I would assume, yours.

Hi Nikola, Here you have the results of my astrological analysis. Interpreting a chart and formulating one's findings is a rather demanding and time consuming task, so I present what I came up with so far with no claim to completeness, but as a base for discussion and, hopefully, further insight. In your natal chart, most planets are in the right hemisphere, which shows that you are more strongly relating to others than to yourself. Especially since four of the most personal planets are in the seventh house whose theme is relationships. In line with the "gestalt approach" to astrology that I am taking, I further notice that several planets form a triangle ("kite's head") by way of their aspects: Moon and Saturn, Pluto, and Neptune. The condition of the Moon is particularly important consideration in a psychologically oriented chart analysis. The Moon stands for the subconscious mind, one's childhood conditioning and relationship to the mother. Moon in Leo as such suggests a cheerful, confident, perhaps even somewhat boastful child. This picture is being modified to a degree due to the Moon's close conjunction with Saturn, a hortatory psychological force that represents order and structure. His position in Leo is often a little problematic, as it is in the nature of this sign to experience life to the fullest, not being overly concerned with the consequences. That Saturn is conjuncting the Moon tells us that emotional self-discipline and restraint were stressed when you were a child, likely as a requirement for the acceptance and emotional security provided by your mother. Social conformity was rewarded by her and later by females in general (interrelations in a social context is one of the things that the sixth house represents). Besides to the development of reliability and other social skills, this also led to some inhibitions to your self-expression and creativity. Moon and Saturn stand in an exact aspect (a sextile) to Pluto in Libra. Pluto's innate themes of power, sexuality and deep emotional transformation are here reinforced by his position in the eight house. Possessiveness in relationships will be experienced both actively and passively, in connection with the theme of emotional security. Also, some kind of hypnotic power and an inclination to uncover dark secrets are among your traits - quite in line with your education as a psychologist. Connected to Pluto and the Saturn/Moon conjunction is Neptune - a very prominent planet as he is the "ruler" of Pisces, your rising sign and the planet highest above the horizon in this chart. It is not surprising then that spirituality plays such an important part in your life! Neptune softens and transcends all psychological borderlines as he stands for infinite space. Although his connection to the Moon and Saturn by a trine is of a harmonious nature overall, he can at times be detrimental to the sense of identity and self-definition represented in different ways by the latter two. Most of all, he can tempt you to suppress certain difficult themes by withdrawing into a "state of grace". If we now look at the green planet symbols surrounding the circle of the natal chart in the diagram above - the transiting planets, or the planets in their current positions - we see that transiting Saturn is in the vicinity of and moving toward a conjunction with natal Neptune, while transiting Neptune is on his way to form an aspect (a quincunx) to natal Saturn and natal Moon. By the way, the desert is an excellent symbol here, as it combines Saturn's dryness with Neptune's sense of expanse and mystery as well as with the oceanic feel associated with the latter and with the Moon. Both Saturn and Neptune are moving slowly, so they will continue to activate (to varying degrees) the whole aspect triangle for quite some time to come. No quick fix to be had here, rather a very important phase in the psychospiritual development of your personality as you work with what the triangle contains. Both challenging and potentially very rewarding. After having considered all this, I felt that something was still lacking. So I calculated another predictive chart showing your so called progressions. These are mutations of your natal chart occurring over time, but this is not the place to go into technical details. The following diagram shows the natal chart again, surrounded by the progressed planets. I found what I was looking for right away: The progressed Sun (the centre of the conscious personality) is approaching natal Pluto which he will reach in about a year. Already, you are feeling how your enlightened conscious self is stirring toward meeting your shadow self. It will shatter your understanding of yourself but, if you endure, leave you with far deeper self-knowledge and a new emotional foundation eventually. A motion picture says more than a thousand words... Watch this from 1:30 on, and you get the idea. Challenging? For sure. But remember that any spiritual progress would come to a halt if you would avoid the confrontation with your dark side indefinitely. Well, so much for tonight. I look forward to your comments and/or questions. By the way, folks, if some of you want to order a professional reading from me, please contact me via PM or the contact form on my blog.

You see, that's the part I have a problem with. Logically, if you see my watch as ticking too slowly (whereas to me, it seems just fine), I should be seeing your clock as ticking too fast. Only that would help to explain why travelling at nearly the speed of light also means a time trip into the future, as I have repeatedly heard. I also heard, over and over again, that time dilation would allow astronauts to reach distant stars within a (for them) comparatively short time span. What amount of time would be required depends on how closely c could be approached; one particular calculation I saw suggests that the approximately two and a half million light-years to the Andromeda galaxy could be traversed within twenty-five years of board time. And since velocity is simply length divided by time, those brave astronauts should be measuring a speed of no less than 100'000 times c. Please help me to clarify this. And your reply should better be a good one because otherwise

The people who are afraid of death are the people who are also afraid of life ... Warriors we must be! - Elvis Presley

Nope. You explained it very well. But I already knew all of this. Perhaps I didn't pose my questions well. Let me try again, one at a time: Let's say that I am flying to the Sun at a velocity very close to c. You, sitting on Earth and watching me by a strong telescope, will observe me taking a little over 8 minutes to get there. But I will measure almost no time passing while traversing the 150 million kilometres to the Sun. So, from my view, I am travelling at many times the speed of light.