My Ongoing Exploration of Earth
My Ongoing Exploration of Earth
 A few days before Halloween I was driving through the several towns surrounding the University of Rhode Island. The roads in this area seem to have grown organically like roots with no forethought that humans might one day need to navigate them. Fortunately, my grandfather’s century-plus of experience living in the area guided us home. “Left, left, right, straight, right,” he said. I’m not sure how he does it.
This area has a strange mixture of urban and rural qualities. Everywhere we were surrounded by trees, but there were closely-spaced houses among them. The roads were narrow and winding, yet heavily trafficked. There was nowhere to safely stop and take a picture. The nine-foot, pumpkin-headed being depicted above was actually sighted on a separate trip several miles north of this area. Among the houses are numerous local businesses with creative signs and facades, reminding me of a fairy village. I started to imagine that I might have took a wrong turn into the fourth dimension somehow and I was now trapped driving in circles forever. Every yard had a stone wall going all the way around it. Some bordered right on the road. Some had fitted stones and were very neat. Others were sloppy. Some had jagged stones and some had rounded stones. Some were made of very large stones. There were even stone walls partitioning lots full of trees and boulders with no houses. One yard had a very deep valley running through it. The topography was always interesting. It seems like a cozy place to live. There were book shops, flower shops, and antiques dealers. Every other residence seemed to be selling hay, firewood, mulch, or eggs. Returning a few days later to explore, I was disappointed to find some of the stores still without power from a recent storm. Among the open stores was The Purple Cow Company, a gift shop selling clothes, jewelry, cards, joke books, incense, geodes, and various carved figures. I was intrigued by the locally-made mini-houses made from smooth beach stones stacked and glued. Glass was used for windows and doors. It was a fairy village within a fairy village. I also stopped to look at the Tillandsia plants, which look like cute Lovecraftian horrors. Next door is the The Green Line Apothecary, which in addition to selling drugs, supplements, lotions, and providing screenings and immunizations, also has a bar where they sell soda, ice cream, shakes, floats, coffee, tea, lime rickeys, and whatever the heck egg creams and cherry phosphates are. I was not in a sugar-mood (unusual for me) and so I just had iced coffee with milk. One day I shall return.
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This is a poem I wrote in 2015. I imagine all of my poetry set to music but I am rarely able to come up with my own tunes. This poem I imagine set to the tune of Hello by Adele. I met A girl last month She’s pretty, smart, talented, And we want the same out of life We grew Up in the same church Have the same taste in movies And boy does she know how to flirt I think She has nobody else We’re both getting older And this is such an empty house She laughs At most of my jokes We have fun together So why do I feel about to choke? Why do I feel sick inside? With a pain that I can barely hide? After all these years, you’re still in my heart And who’s left for you if I were to start…again? I haven’t Yet told her my past She hasn’t told me much either But I know she’s allergic to cats Somehow I haven’t yet scared her away She returns my messages And she calls every other day I feel Like we’re all running out of time I’ve been so lonely In ways I can hardly describe It’s nice To have someone to care about There is just this one thing So hard to figure out Why do I feel sick inside? With a pain that I can barely hide? After all these years, you’re still in my heart And what’s left for you if I were to start…again? They say to never lose hope Or give up your faith But how is it fair To make her wait? We're running out of time We're running out of time We're running out of time We're running out of time Why do I feel sick inside? With a pain that I can barely hide? Is she worth the work to tear out my heart? And how can we ever be if I were to start…again? If miracles are real, why don’t we see more of them? The problem is the definition of the word “miracle.” Miracles happen, but when they happen often enough for observers to discern a pattern and describe it, they are simply relabeled as science and no longer called miracles.
Is moving something without touching it a miracle? It is unless it happens all the time in a mathematically consistent way. Then it’s just called gravity. What about moving around matter by the power of the mind? We do this all the time when we lift a finger. It has been relabeled neurophysiology. What about mixing air, dirt, and water together into a living figure that dances and sings? That’s called biology. Plants combine air, dirt, and water all the time to build themselves up and are in turn eaten and absorbed by dancers and singers. What about using positive visualization or prayer to heal the body? It is unless it happens often enough to be measured. Then it’s called a placebo effect. What about creating something from nothing? Can science explain that? At the subatomic scale, particles pop in and out of existence all the time according to certain statistical laws. These “virtual particles” are how forces are thought to be mediated. Negative mass-energy is also possible when there are attractive forces. For example, a hydrogen atom has slightly less mass-energy than the sum of the electron and proton that make it up because of the electromagnetic force holding them together. In cases where negative mass-energy exactly balances positive to add up to zero, there is no limit on the positive mass-energy that can spontaneously exist. Mass is equivalent to energy through the relationship E=mc^2 and so it is possible for any amount of matter to pop out of nothing so long as the attractive forces holding it together add up to an equal amount. According to some estimates, the amount of mass in the observable universe is equal to the amount of negative energy in gravity it has, meaning that the entire universe might have zero net mass. In other words, the entire universe could have literally popped out of nothing without violating physics, all explained without resorting to intervention by supernatural entities. The standard model of particle physics is incomplete because it predicts the mass of each fundamental particle and the sum of the quantum vacuum energy fields between them to be infinite. This defies observation. Some have suggested that the universe we see is only a tiny fraction of an infinitely dense sea of reality. In one sense, we no longer need God to explain physics, but what if the infinite quantum vacuum energy is God? Who is to say it isn’t? Something of that complexity would certainly be capable of thought – and probably many other activities far beyond our comprehension. There is no way to predict with any certainty what the nature of an infinitely complex energy field would be. It would mediate all forces and sustain the physical laws through continual intervention (Colossians 1:17, Acts 17:24-29). From this infinite reservoir energy could be added to and taken from the universe we see. Since known physics derives from this deeper physics, occasional violations of what we think of as normal physics could occur and these would be called miracles. It would also explain the evidence of intelligent design we see in creation. In conclusion, science has already found proof of miracles and may even have found God, but it knows them all by other names. The conflict between science and spirituality is one of semantics. I grew up in New Hampshire, but my mother grew up in Rhode Island. Every time my parents would take me to visit my mother’s parents still living in Rhode Island, we would make sure to stop at Allie’s Donuts for their glazed crullers. These are real treats. The exteriors are thick with sugar and oil with just a bit of crunch. We never really tried their other donuts, but after you’ve had their crullers there is really no reason to ever eat anything else…maybe with the exception of vitamin supplements…you don’t want to get scurvy. They are best warm. Visiting again is like an adventure in childhood memories.
Allie’s has been in business since 1968 and is famous throughout Rhode Island. As out-of-staters, they used to be our little secret, but we keep meeting people from all over the country with the same secret. They only take cash and have only one location. They make a variety of donuts, including giant donut “cakes” in all shapes and designs. More about them can be found on their Facebook page. I visited Rye Preserve in Parrish, Florida recently and walked along the creek. It was a pretty nice place even if a bit small. There were cicadas, dragonflies, and grasshoppers everywhere but only a very few mosquitoes – and oddly passive ones at that. In one place the trail rose high above the creek and I found a nearly-hidden beach.   The sand was covered with shoeprints and bare human footprints, but no one was there at the time. It seemed like a nice place for sunbathing. I have encountered many creeks that twist out of sight making me wonder what lies around the corner. They are like trails themselves. Many have high banks covered with impenetrable vegetation and I have imagined wading barefoot down the middle of them for miles, but most of them are too deep, too dirty, or are filled with obstacles such as logs. In contrast, this creek was nearly perfect. However, I still wanted to see the rest of the preserve and I had no good way to carry my shoes. I moved on.  I followed the trail across the road to where it met the creek further upstream. It was shadier there. I crawled to the other side of the creek on a log and followed another trail away from the brook. This is where I found a picnic table, a cemetery, a dumping ground for all kinds of garbage, and then the trail kind of dissolved into the forest. I also found some red fungi. I eventually did get my feet wet just for a minute when I returned. The mud sucked – literally. Then I took off my shirt and just sat for a while watching the perpetual ripples before heading back to the car.   This is a poem I wrote in 2015. I imagine all of my poetry set to music but I am rarely able to come up with my own tunes. This poem I imagine set to the tune of Thank You by Led Zeppelin. Sometimes I stay up at night Thoughts in my head they play and fight And I wonder how it is I know That I'm sure I love you so What if it turns out I've lied? What if this feeling dies? And when I can't decide I hold my fears deep inside So many days have passed, so long So many risks, can I take them on? Shall I hang around when you want me gone? Abandon you in the middle of my song? So much hurt of so many kinds And no solutions around for me find Where can I turn, no one to help You know I want no one else Whatever now can I do? To be sure my love is true? It seems there's always more to learn Another layer down below that churns Until then I'll do what I can I'll always be your loyal man And so I choose to love you so And this is how I know You never really know how much love you have until you need it.
What I mean by that is you may believe you love someone more than life itself only to find out otherwise when you are actually put in a situation forcing you to make the choice. Likewise, you may be undecided about someone only to discover when the time comes that you do take those risks. I have been on both sides of this and it surprised me both times. Love is meaningless without action. Without work, love – like faith – is dead. The older I get, the more I learn about what true love is and how it differs from selfishness. Many times I thought I had it finally figured out only to learn my love was still not quite perfect. Don’t worry about how much it is that you love someone. Simply love them the best you know how at this moment. |
AuthorMy name is Dan. I am an author, artist, explorer, and contemplator of subjects large and small. Archives
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