Let's hypothesize today that in a way, reality is like the Matrix.

If all people are really just souls, who normaly can move freely about the universe and possibly even other dimensions, those souls would need a way to interact with the world we live in.

So lets say that this world doesn't really exist, it's just a program. The souls that populate it do not have bodies, they are essentially just energy and thought. The reality of the physical world is able to generate situations and sensations that aren't possible anywhere else, including pain unlike that felt anywhere else. It is made of a complex program that makes reality seem real to the user by limiting how much of their being is "concious" to this physical world program. The rest of their "mind" is veiled or blocked from interacting with the program directly, but during times of sleep it can explore the memories of what happened that day, maybe even throw a little input into the mix.

I picture this bubble enclosing part of the soul where it connects to the hub of the program. Like in a dream, once the soul is connected to the program, time seems to slow (or time becomes a sensation that is part of their physical life). What takes years in the program passes in an instant outside of it. Even if the soul had a finite lifespan, as compared to the physical world it can inhabit, it would seem eternal.

While connected the soul is incredibly limited in it's experiences. Think early video games - rough graphics, limited color palettes, bleeping sounds, sometimes difficult to grasp controls. That is what the physical world inside the program feels like to an energy being - it is drab and strange by comparison, and though the cognition may be there to a degree it must adapt and learn to interact with this reality that is so limited.

Within the confines of this hypothesis, reality as we know it would exist only in the mind of it's users. There wouldn't really be an Earth, or possibly even universe, the very building blocks that make up our world could be nothing more than pixels to these energy beings who become us. Space and time not being real, created only by the parameters of the program, would mean that all the time we would be still and unmoving, the whole of our lives stretching out over a mere moment.

Looking at life this way - what we are as beings resembles ourselves here in no way, the existance in which we actually live bears no confines nor tragedy as we know it.

If we consider this as a truth of existance, can anything that happens in this universe matter so much as it does?

Minimalism

I happened upon this post - Beware of Leo Babautas Minimalist Lifestyle and it got me thinking.

I've been seeing debate all over the 'net about what is or is not minimalist and who is more minimalist than the next person or is it OK to have books or CDS or decorations on your wall and SO ON.

I feel like a massive point is missed time and time again when these discussions happen - the reason WHY someone is minimalist determines HOW they are minimalist.


Why am I a minimalist? I cannot stand to have too many things because I hate to clean them, I hate worrying about them being destroyed in a fire, and I hate to move them.

There is also that all the plastic crap is a massive drain on natural resources and a waste of space and time to produce it, and that my spiritual beliefs lead me to feel that possessing things is just plain wrong.

Let's say I'm a "you can't take it with you" kind of girl.


So, all the things I don't want to own are NOT mutually exclusive of the things I DO want to have in my life. I love video games. Always have, always will, some of the best times of my teenage years were spent in arcades. So yes, I have an Xbox, a stack of games (constantlly changes and yes we trade in what we're done with) and a rather large plasma TV.

But then again, I have 7 pairs of pants, 15 tops (including layering pieces, tanks and sleepwear) a skirt and two pairs of shoes that I regularly wear (the rest are going to be sold/donated). I don't use a lot of product on my hair or skin. I've lived nearly a year with out a microwave (and I'll never have one again). I have a single blanket and set of sheets for my bed. I own some books most of which are used for art reference (the rest are about Einstein, daVinci or are just quotes or fiction). I bought my car because it's a cute hatchback, manual transmission and tiny enough for me to park anywhere easily, yet it's so fuel efficient that I feel like I'm driving a hybrid.

I am anything but boring. My home reflects this. In fact, I've always got something that I'm doing (or want to do). Art, making jewelry, design, reading, playing games, watching movies, enjoying nature, visiting people, even just playing with my cat - I've always got something to do and having a ton of stuff did little more than annoy me.



I feel like the statement that "minimalism is boring" overlooks the point of minimalism.

Yeah, some of us do not want to backpack around the world. Some of us do. I know if I were to do that (and I will to some extent when I'm ready) I'll do so with camera in hand and I will capture amazing things. I would LOVE to never have a "home base" again, but being an artist makes that kind of hard. Not impossible - I know better. Having to constantly re-buy brushes, paints, medium, gesso, resin, pigments, water cups, palettes, canvases, etc (and that's just for ONE of my hobbies) would be ridiculous. Travelling with a backpack would also require one of four things for my artwork - destruction, donation, sale, storage. I can never escape that list. I'm fine with it though, being an artist means I will always have a portfolio of sorts to keep with me, even if only in the form of a couple of double-backup hard drives. (though I'm just not willing to go 100% digital with my art, it's not the same as smudging pencil and paint with my fingers).


In short what I'm trying to say is that minimalism has become one of the multitude of ways that people can say "I'm better than everyone else". Let's face it - most new "things" or "lifestyles" or trends hit that plateau where the only people genuinely living the life are quiet about it and those who give the lifestyle a bad name are always the loudest. The true grit of minimalism (or any lifestyle) is held in the things that people AREN'T shouting about.


Minimalism isn't a fad, it's a need that comes from your soul.
Minimalism isn't frugality, it's buying whatever you need for whatever price you're willing to pay, and not buying things you don't truely need.
Minimalism isn't getting rid of all your stuff, it's considering which things mean the most to you.
Minimalism is deeply personal and NO ONE should follow anyone else's path.
Minimalism is learning you can do without, that the "norm" isn't what you want.

Minimalism is taking the time to recognize what you need and love, and getting rid of everything else. Period.

Slavery

You think that you are free, but you are a slave.


Your actions are dictated by the world around you, by what other's expect of you, by the things you think you want only because that's what you are told to want.




Stop a moment... and relax. Think about what you would most like to have with you on a deserted island where there were no other people around. I would want something that would allow me to paint or listen to music. What you want will be different.

In most cases, that one thing that you really want is not what you pursue on a daily basis. Instead you buy clothing, food, plastic things, magazines, shoes, kitchen gadgets, cell phones, etcetera. If you cut out all of the things you spend money on that are NOT the thing you most want (plus food/water/shelter), would you need to work as many hours as you do or stress out as much as you do?

But you won't stop because you have friends that have expectations of you, a boss who has expectations of you and a family who has expectations of you. Even that person down the street who you might walk past - they may have expectations of you that you feel the need to uphold.

So you continue on your path of voluntary slavery, letting the one thing that brings you joy slip away while you work away your life energy to the benefit of someone else.

Mother's Day

This morning in the space of 20 minutes I heard no less than three commercials from a certain advertiser. Each one was a segment or whole version of their Mother's Day commercials. It goes like this:

A woman is at a "peer" group talking about how she's getting her fix by reprogramming her husband's GPS to take him straight to (the store), wallpapering her kid's rooms with the store's catalog, and finally, rearranging the refrigerator magnets to spell out "Forget breakfast in bed, I want a store gift card" All the while her peer group friends are encouraging her and making appreciative noises.

Prior commercials from same advertisor recently have also included the peer group theme with a woman talking about spring fever and how shopping is a prescription for it.


Advertisers have completely given up on trying to hide what they are doing and just coming out and saying it, aren't they?

What these commercials say to me is that this company:

Wants you to value their product over your family
Wants you to program your children to think that buying things is important
Wants you to continue the idea that a marriage is built on what you buy each other rather than who you are to each other
Wants you to be addicted to their product
Wants you to feel ill if you haven't shopped in a while
Wants you to feel like it is OK to value money over something your family makes for you with their own hands
Wants you to think it's ok to be a princess in a tower for a day at the expense of the happiness of those around you, your own financial situation and the planet's very own health.


People hear these commercials and may think they are funny - and yeah they kind of are. But most people don't realize the damage that these commercials do.

Human beings are very likely to accept something as "the norm" or fact if they hear it from someone who is a peer. In other words, middle aged women (and many who are not) hear these commercials and even though conciously they may think "oh that's funny" or not pay any attention at all, subconciously they are understanding that stuff = happiness. They aren't innocent fun. Because of the way the subconcious works, they are genuinely damaging and ultimately, people will come to the mindset that yeah it's ok to put money ahead of your family. It's ok to have changing decor every few months because otherwise you don't feel like you're keeping up or you got "the itch".

You know who IS aware of this aspect of the human personality? Advertisers. They know that even if you ignore or dismiss that commercial there is a good chance some of it is going to stick with you. They also know that if you hear something enough times you begin to believe it is a fact or acceptable.



So, my Mother's Day message to you:

Moms: please ask for something handmade by your family or at least handmade by someone local. Ask for a donation made to a charity in your name. As for a fun trip, dinner, a night in watching movies.

Families: Make something. Buy something from an artist or craft person. If you're going to give the gift of "stuff" make it something that really has love crafted into it. If you don't want to give stuff, do something fun with her. Bake her a cake. There are a million ways to show someone you love them, and buying stuff is only one of them.

Four Stages

Today I was reading through one of the blogs I greatly enjoy (and which is often relevant to both my art and my life) and this post really spoke to me. [The blog is that of Luann Udell, who also happens to be a fabulous artist that really gets down to the roots of what art is and why it's so important. Because of that, her work really speaks to me both about human history and about human present and future.]


Luann's post discusses a concept she learned from her Kickboxing instructor. It details four stages of learning a new skill :

Inception - Unconcious Incompetence
Deception - Concious Incompetence
Transformation - Concious Competence
Identity - Unconcious Competence



I had never realized it until now but I go through these four stages in each painting I create. In fact, I go through these four stages in not only all of the new skills I learn, but also in the period of a week or a month or whatever cycle I happen to be on at the time. This really shows up everywhere and I've never even thought about it before.

Every painting cycles through these stages, a pattern which I've only recently begun to recognize.

I start out at inception with just laying the foundation and setting the mood of the painting. I have no expectations here and I certainly don't plan on any of these brush strokes actually being a part of the finished painting. It's never pretty and I don't worry about that.

Then I begin building up the painting and laying out where I want things to be and roughly what color they are going to be. The background becomes more detailed and then I ram into a brick wall - every single time - I step back, look at the painting, and I realize that I absolutely hate it. I've hit Deception and everything feels wrong. It's not going at all like I thought it would, I feel like I've made horrible mistakes in the foundation of my painting that I'll "never" be able to fix, and so on. Thankfully over the years I've come to realize that this is a phase that I go through with every single painting and that I have to keep going or that painting will be set aside forever. If I need to I'll sit it aside for a day, a week, or however long it takes, but I constantly remind myself that if I put more work into the painting it will become amazing. I had created a necklace over a year ago that I was very displeased with. Just a few weeks ago I picked it back up and realized it would make an amazing cuff bracelet - and look much better that way.

Whenever I finally start working on the painting again, Transformation happens because I sit down specifically to make it better, recapture the raw beauty that was there in inception but in a more refined and directed manner. I do just that, start to feel a lot better about the painting and work at it a bit madly trying to get it all down in paint.

Finally I hit Identity - this painting is not done yet, but it is what it is going to be already. All that is left to do is add finishing touches, highlights and details. I don't have to majorly rework any of the elements of the painting or fix a whole lot. I'm just polishing it and that requires nothing more than confident brush strokes and attention to detail. This is the most relaxed part of the painting next to Inception - I've climbed the mountain and now I'm just setting up camp.

It's amazing what you don't know about yourself until someone points out the obvious. Then, and only then, can you begin to truely know yourself.

That's right- it takes close interaction with others to discover who YOU really are.
Solitude is also necessary. How much of each (and anything else) depends on you.

How to be Who You Are, Against All Odds, Pt 6 - Closure

In this final post, I just want to touch on some last thoughts I have on the subject, and kick your butt a bit to motivate you into fixing the only thing you can fix - yourself.


This series is part of an extensive essay I wrote to explain theraputic methods I have myself used and have taught to my friends. I think a lot of people out there have no idea what they really want or who they really are, because we have all been trained so long to follow the herd and trends and authority. Those walls need to be broken back down so that your true self can grow and flourish, and you can find true happiness from within yourself.
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Stop. Making. Excuses. If you've gotten this far and worked through all of the prior posts, and you are still making excuses why you can't or won't follow your heart, then you are relying on old habits and trying to stay safe. It's ok. You may not yet be ready to unleash your full potential, but DO NOT STOP trying. Continue to journal and work through things and when the time is right, the world had better look out because you're going to rock it. There is a time and a place for everything, and all of the universe has an ebb and flow to it. Your time will come, but it is up to you to prepare for that time.

But I don't want to hear any excuses. I can't tell you how many excuses I hear ALL THE TIME, that grow ever tiring because they are just a repeat of the same thing over and over...

I can't change my life, I have kids! You can't do that with kids!
I can't let (insert person name) down, they would be so upset.
I don't have the money to make any changes.
I've already done this for this long, if I stop now everyone will get mad.
I'm too tired/exhausted/busy. (this is evidence you NEED to make changes)
And so on.

There are prominent bloggers who changed their lives even though they had kids or had to go against their families wishes or who were in horrible debt or who cast off society all together or who thought they would never escape the life they had lived. Nothing is impossible, we only tell ourselves that to relieve ourselves of the responsibility to make a change.

Let me say that again.

An excuse is a way to relieve yourself of responsibility. You make excuses to yourself more than you do to anyone else, because an excuse stops you from feeling like a failure. If you make an excuse and never try, you may not feel like a failure but you sure as hell are NOT going to feel like a winner, either.


Instead of making excuses, just admit the truth to yourself. "I am not ready for this now. I want it, but I have to work on it slowly." Even better - the truth you admit to yourself may something you can address. It may be "I am afraid to step outside of what I've always known" - that can be addressed so that you CAN step outside of the world you've known. After all, if you are even considering it then deep down you want a change.


There is something incredibly cleansing in speaking the truth, even if it is only aloud to yourself. Tell the truth, not an excuse. After all, the truth will set you free.



In closing...

The reason that these techniques work is because in the human mind, if something is not spoken aloud, written down, witness or known to anyone other than you, it is in essence NOT REAL. You can push it around, avoid it, ignore it, stomp on it, pretend you don't hear it, stick your fingers in your ears and swear to GOD that you were thinking about flower arranging not "that thing", and you can completely get away with it. No one else knows, so it is your thing to believe or NOT believe.

When you sit down and write down that thing it is real. You see the words with your eyes, you feel the pen in your hand (which is why I personally prefer to actually write on paper), you can smell that faint smell of ink on the paper, hell you can ball it up and chew it if you want. The point is you can no longer escape the truth. This is therapy in the form of facing your demons and figuring out how to conquer them, instead of hiding from them your whole life.

I don't know what you want, because only you know that. What I can tell you is what I want - I want to be free. Free from fear, from lies, from stress, from heartache, from processing memories that are painful over and over because I shut down every time I start. I don't want to get to the point where I'm crying those gut-wrenching-barely-able-to-breath-beet-red-face tears over "nothing". I don't want to carry around ghosts anymore, hoping they never show themselves in the light of day to the people around me.

I want to be able to focus on my creativity and growth, to encourage the small seedling within me to grow into a great giant redwood tree that is unmistakable and impossible to hide.

And, I want all of that for you, too. I want you to be happy, to be content, to feel completely at ease in your skin and in your soul. It won't be easy getting there, and it's not going to be all kittens and pancakes once you're there either. I think I've stated several times "ITS GOING TO HURT. LIKE HELL. BURN BABY BURN!" or something like that. But I've also repeatedly said its utterly, completely, absolutely, "yelling-"I'm Free"-from-the-hilltops" WORTH IT.


I wish you all the best in the future and in your self discovery!

How to be Who You Are, Against All Odds, Pt 5 - Permission, Naysayers, Fear

This series is part of an extensive essay I wrote to explain theraputic methods I have myself used and have taught to my friends. I think a lot of people out there have no idea what they really want or who they really are, because we have all been trained so long to follow the herd and trends and authority. Those walls need to be broken back down so that your true self can grow and flourish, and you can find true happiness from within yourself.
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Permission to Embark

I'm giving you permission. You have every right on God's Green Earth to be the person you were meant to be. Why? Because you were born to be this person. God designed you this way, you chose this life, and here you are. Attempting to fight how you really feel every day will do NOTHING but make you miserable and will make the people around you miserable by proxy. Love yourself for who you are because you are the only person who will always be there, who will always love you and who will do your best to keep you safe. No one can understand you better than you understand yourself, so NO ONE deserves to tell you how to live your life. Don't feel like you have to impress people or meet their expectations, they do not have a right to impose such things upon you. While I do believe you should set your own goals and constantly work to improve yourself in areas you feel are important, this process is not something that should ever be dictated by anyone else. This is YOUR life. You are the only one who has to live with yourself at the end of the day, so do what makes YOU feel good, productive, healthy and happy. Be the best you that you can be, for yourself and no one else.



The Naysayers

No matter what path you choose in life, SOMEONE is going to disagree with you. The path that you choose is really only differentiated by how many people disagree with you and how loud they are about it. It is quite likely that in order for you to lead a happy life, you will defy the people you care about and possibly estrange them. Bottom line - if they cannot be supportive of your decisions then they do not have your best interests at heart. You can still love them, but I suggest you do it from afar. Don't let what they say get to you, it is their own fear talking. Fear of something different, fear of losing you, fear of their lifestyle being "wrong" if they admit that yours is OK. Some people will never accept you but remember that the only person whose acceptance you NEED is your own, and if you cannot accept yourself because you are playing by other people's rules, you are going to stay unhappy.



Fear

We all have it. That tiny voice that tells you that you're taking too many risks, that you should just be part of the crowd, that safe is best, and that maybe, just maybe, you've gone completely insane. Shut. It. Down. Argue with it if it helps (and it may). Make it your mission to debate with that voice rather than to automatically do what it says. That voice wants the safest way out. It doesn't understand that you absolutely have to be unsafe in order to grow. It doesn't want to grow, because growth isn't safe. Sure, you could stay the little seed inside the seed pod for the rest of your life, and there is no chance you'd ever get mowed down by a lawnmower if you did that. But you'd also never see the sun, feel the rain, or feel alive. The risk is worth it. It is always worth it. One of the biggest motivations of the little voice in your head is fear of loss - loss of your life, your possessions, your very mind. The little voice is fear - and fear should never motivate what you do in life. Fear is what makes women stay with abusive men, makes politicians push the little red button, makes people hoard and stay indoors all the time, it stops people from living their lives and it causes tragedies. Let it go. Realize that you will be afraid - but like the pain you feel, the only way to make it stop is to walk through the fire and out to the other side. You cannot go around, dig a hole to china or just hide behind it. You must walk through, and the fire will burn like hell, but it will burn away the weakest parts of you.

Fear will play into your life in another way - the fear from others. If you do the impossible, people will be afraid of you. Why? They are afraid it makes them weak, means that they have to do it too, afraid that they aren't capable, afraid they are wrong, afraid their entire life has been a lie. And, sadly, in many cases it has. Anyone who goes through life acting on other people's beliefs and rules is living a false life. There is a difference between finding someone who believes things that you know in your heart to be true and banding together, and following the herd because... well, it's what people do. If someone reacts to the changes you are making with anger, hatred or negativity, understand that they do so not because something is wrong with you but because something is wrong with them. Something in their hearts has echoed what you've said or done, and scared the shit out of them.

After all, if they've followed the stupid rules all their lives, why the hell don't you have to?


Next Post: Closure

How to be Who You Are, Against All Odds, Pt 4 - Accepting Yourself

Photo: What we keep hidden


This series is part of an extensive essay I wrote to explain theraputic methods I have myself used and have taught to my friends. I think a lot of people out there have no idea what they really want or who they really are, because we have all been trained so long to follow the herd and trends and authority. Those walls need to be broken back down so that your true self can grow and flourish, and you can find true happiness from within yourself.
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Most people do not realize how much we all have in common with each other. This lack of understanding between humans leads to fear of rejection and a lot of hiding in the corner. The fact is, other people are afraid of things, have desires they feel aren't met, have places they want to go and dreams that are unfulfilled. They have self esteem issues too, self image issues, and most people feel like there is at least one person whose expectations they haven't lived up to and whose opinion they value. Everyone has fallen, everyone has sinned, everyone has done something bad and has a guilty secret they'd prefer that no one knows. We've all screwed up, hurt other peoples feelings (even when we didn't mean to) and done things that we regret. There are a lot of people you probably think are great who have done something they think is absolutely horrible to someone else. NO ONE escapes from this and the people who claim they have absolutely no regrets and aren't ashamed of anything they've ever done are lying. Everyone is fallible and everyone has doubts about something.

First things first - allow yourself to understand and accept the things you have done that make you feel like a bad person. Allow them to come to the surface, do not hide from them. Yes, it may make you feel crappy but the next step should help - address each one (in a journal will help as well) and examine it. Determine your base motives for what you did (a lesson comes later as to how to do this) and accept responsibility. Say or write to yourself - yes I did this, it was not an ok action to take but I did so, it was my action and I am responsible for it. I regret that it happened but I cannot change that it happened as the past is gone. I absolve myself from further guilt stemming from this action, carrying the guilt harms no one other than myself.

Once you have sat down and recognized an action/fault, accepted responsibility and knowledge of your wrongdoing, and then FORGIVEN yourself for it, you can let it go. There is no need for this to hang in the back of your mind any longer. You've forgiven yourself, which is almost as good as erasing the past. There is one more thing you can do, and that is to confess this secret to someone. it does not have to be in person, it can be online, a note to dear abbey, even an email to me. I can assure you that emails I receive will be read, possibly responded to in a kind manner, and then will be deleted and what has been said will never be shared or thought about further. It is not my business to judge you, I only wish to provide a gentle shoulder to help you with your burdens.

It will take time, but if you continually work through the guilt and things that plague you, eventually it will be mostly gone and you'll be much freer than you have ever felt. This will give you a clean slate, and instead of going into new relationships, friendships, occupations, etc with a guilty conscience you can go in as a free being who has nothing to hide because you understand that the past is gone, it cannot be changed, and who you WERE is not who you ARE.


Next Post: Permission, Naysayers, Fear

How to be Who You Are, Against All Odds, Pt 3 - Defining your needs, wants, loves and desires

Photo: Leaving a Mark

This series is part of an extensive essay I wrote to explain theraputic methods I have myself used and have taught to my friends. I think a lot of people out there have no idea what they really want or who they really are, because we have all been trained so long to follow the herd and trends and authority. Those walls need to be broken back down so that your true self can grow and flourish, and you can find true happiness from within yourself.
__________________________________________________



Don't deny yourself your true feelings. Acting on them may or may not be necessary, but what is absolutely necessary is admitting to yourself that you have them. It is the only way to make a decision on what to do about them and clear the playing field.

When working on what you desire and really want, journaling again is a great way to help yourself out. Write down desires, don't be afraid to write the deepest darkest ones, and as doubts surface making you feel fearful or embarrassed, write them down too. Try to pinpoint why you feel that what you want is not for you to have, down to something that was said to you or taught to you, or something that is generally not accepted in society. Make your way to the source. Examine the source. Pick it apart. Write how you feel about the source honestly. Is it someone/something you genuinely trust and love, or is it an authoritarian figure in your life you feel obligated to listen to?

If it is society - you don't have to listen to them.
If it family - you don't have to listen to them.
If it is friends - you don't have to listen to them.
If it is your boss - you don't have to listen to them.
If it is the government - you don't have to listen to them.

Not listening to any of the above parties has consequences. Most likely, those consequences are why you have avoided breaking the rules and following your heart. Think about what the consequences are... write them down. Are they so terrible? In some cases, I'm sure that they will be. If your deepest desire is to kill someone, I don't reccommend "trying it out" as the consequences are life threatening... and personally I feel that act is immoral. However, much of the time you will find that the consequences you are hiding from aren't all that bad. If you're going to make someone angry, they will get over it in time. If it will alienate your family, do you really want them in your life if they can't let you be who you are? After all they were there when you were young and had some part in making you who you are. Are you afraid of disappointing someone? Their disappointment is their own - they should not have held expectations over your head for you to fit their idea of you. If you won't be accepted as part of the crowd anymore - one, do you want to be part of a crowd if you have to wear a mask all the time? That cannot make you happy. two - you'll find a new crowd, and if you're being yourself it will be a crowd who appreciates you for who. you. are.

So the challenge is to weigh the action and the consequence objectively. Remember that you are weighing your right to be who you are against your will to please others. If you follow your will to please others, it is the only part of you that will be real and not fake.


Next Post: Accepting Yourself

Circles in the Sand

Crop circles. Intensely controversial, used for advertising, of debatable origin and meaning, a subject which occupies my brain occasionally.

It should come as no surprise when I say crop circles have always fascinated me. It seemed like there was a big boon in interest in them in the late 90's early 2000's, but for at least six or seven years now I have heard very little about them. When the public eye became less focused on them the circles seemed to pick up the pace and intensify in their design intricacy and imagery. I picked the subject back up about a year or two ago and found that the simpler circles and lines that I had known before had become amazing and highly involved images including birds, jellyfish, owls, and dragonflies.

When crop circles were much simpler the explanations were easy - they were manmade, diseased crops, even hedgehogs mating (that's not a joke) but now they have grown so complex that explanations are much harder to believe. The vast number of circles that show up every year include both manmade and questionable origins. There are times it is blatantly obvious when a circle is manmade, particularly when it is advertising a product or event. There is also the difference in the crop itself - it has been found that some circles are made by pressing down the crops (manmade) and some are made by a means that makes the plant "grow" in the new direction rather than just lay down. Supposedly there has also been some type of leftover energy at these sites but how provable that is, I don't know.

If you are interested in seeing recent crop circles (or all of them for the last many decades) check out http://www.cropcircle-archive.com - they have both photos and digital drawings of most if not all of the circles that have happened.


Like with most things, I think that we have no way of knowing the real answer, and that makes the questions the important piece here. Having an open ended puzzle like this gives us the opportunity to explore possibilities and imagine solutions in a limitless way. We can formulate and examine numerous theories and, essentially, be imaginative. The same way we can be about all of outer space... because we don't know what's out there.

In a way, the unknown breeds hope. We don't know what is out there or what may come, but we have the opportunity to believe that it will be beneficial and beautiful. We can consider the possibilities freely and in any light which we chose.

I myself have moved around through several theories regarding crop circles, and I don't view any as more or less likely than the others. They are just possibilities and I'm not trying to prove any of them right or wrong. They are floating out there, adding to the quality of our collective imaginations.


My theories include that the earth itself is sentient and this is it's language, that something underground was placed quite some time ago that has been causing these "signals" that are spelling something out which we do not understand, that somewhere far away is a race that has the ability to cause this to happen on earth and is trying to contact us (and will know we are able to comprehend their contact only when we figure the circles out and respond).

I may talk about each of these further in future posts, but this post is just about considering the possibilities - it's your turn.

What do you think they are?