Books
If you want to explore some of my assumptions, you may consider the following:
Anthem, by Ayn Rand. This short book describes the terrible toll that collectivism imposes on personal freedom, responsibility, achievement and self respect. I find that all of Rand's books inspire me to pursue the wonderful possibilities that life provides.
Cracking The Bible Code, by Jeff Santinover. This book is the reason I decided to go back to school to take Statistics. This excellent book describes Equidistant Letter Sequences found in the first five books of the Old Testament, The Torah. This book is far more thorough, scientific, credible and entertaining than the alarmist best-seller by Michael Drosnin, "The Bible Code." Discussions include statistical proof of the bible code (a.k.a. the Tanakh cipher), biblical tradition and scholarship, Jewish mysticism (Qabbalah), wartime code breakers, forays into future technological breakthroughs, and questions of free will.
The Physics of Immortality, by Frank Tipler. This book attempts to prove GOD through physics, with cross references to philosophical and religious doctrines. Tipler's proof of "the Omega Point Theory" ultimately relies on the Universe contracting. Einstein's Theory of General Relativity requires that the Universe ultimately contract, although very recent studies have concluded that there is insufficient matter to slow down the current expansion under our current understanding of physics. (Possible sources for the required extra matter include neutrinos, previously thought to have no mass, and unseen microscopic black holes.) Tipler's GOD will not occur until the end of time, but at the end, time will disappear as a separate dimension to enable a conscious, personal GOD to "come back in time" to our present. Ultimately for Tipler, GOD will be born of life itself, and will choose to bring all past life "back to life" in a vast computer emulation in its efforts to become all-knowing, and (in my opinion) as thanks for its existence.
Toward a Science of Consciousness: The First Tucson Discussions and Debates, Edited by Stuart Hameroff. Chapter headings include Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, Medicine, Experimental Neuroscience, Neural Networks, Subneural Biology, Quantum Theory, Nonlocal Space and Time, Hierarchical Organization, and Phenomenology. Among other things, there is a 34 page paper by Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose (in the Quantum Theory chapter) concerning the cellular structures known as "microtubules" and the special properties they have. It seems these microtubules have the ideal size to allow quantum mechanic effects to take place inside! The possibilities arising from bringing the probability-based quantum world to our scale of existence is truly staggering, since this would provide the physical mechanisms for psychic phenomena! I have a number of crossover issues that I need to correlate with these subjects, such as superconductive monatomic elements (such as the white powder of gold) and ancient civilizations. I have only glanced through the book to date so there will be further comment as I keep reading.
The Velveteen Rabbit. A children's story about a stuffed rabbit that becomes real through the love of a little boy. Very metaphysical. Read it aloud to your child, but you will have problems reading through the tears. If you like this story, also try The Little Match Girl, I'm Going to Love You Forever, and Where the Red Fern Grows.
The Little Prince. This book, named on one list as Best Book of the Century, is found in the children's section. This story tells of the magical power that love has to convert the everyday to ecstasy. "To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you - the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she I have put under the glass globe; ... because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."
