The Universe! My Idea!

My Universe! My Idea!

 

When I gaze into the night time sky, and see what is in this spectacular image of the Milky Way galaxy above, It sets my heart, and mind on fire!

 This is my Universe in which I live in! Though only a small portion of it, nonetheless it's mine!

 

  I started writing these blogs not to long ago! I had no idea what to do, or how to do it! I am by no means a writer of any kind, nor am I all that great at being very correct with my literacy skills, But I try!

 

 As I have stated in some prior blogs everything in our world had started from an idea! Everything ever created, Built, Painted, Written, and even destroyed! All from an idea!

 

  As I stated with being correct with literacy, I was nervous to begin, and had no idea what blogs were even about? But I thought of all the people with certain handicaps, and still made it somewhere, Like Einstein as an example! Failed math! Worked out pretty good for him in the long run! So just maybe, I have a chance! Or so I thought!

 

  I am very passionate about several things, but mostly the Paranormal end of the spectrum! Although Space is my one and only true love!

  I look at images and lose myself to fantasy! I go outside on a clear night, jump in my boat, head out to the middle of nowhere! I just lay back and stare at the clear night sky, I cannot even begin to tell you what happens! So many ideas race through my head! I feel at times as though I just may have all the answers to what it's all about! The answers to the Universe! All from an idea!

  I find myself debating what is what? and the how comes as well? Sometimes, For all of a sudden, I completely understand everything to do with physics, And know why everything is the way it all is!

  Why the Universe works the way she does! Why all the matter in the Universe works in a simian nature of sorts!
  My idea is that it is all connected! Everything is working together just as a machine that has it's purpose! With all the cogs, and gears, and spinning gizmos! There is a purpose! and there is more in store, whether it's what we want, or hope is not for us to decide! It will happen despite Humans will, or involvement!

 

  First off you have to understand I'm no scholar by any means, nor do I try to make myself out to be one! I'm far from ignorant, but at times I can struggle with what I really want to say, Or better yet word it the way it probably should be! But like the rest of all the smartest people out there in the world, they all had an idea! An idea that might change the world! Change it for the better? Or maybe not!

 Create something that will do something that has actual meaning for all man kind? Or maybe their idea was something that would bring humanity to the brink of disaster! But it was an idea, and started somewhere!

 

  Flying to outer space was an idea! And a pretty crazy one at that! After all, although when we gaze into the beautiful night sky, Or see all those amazing images from the big telescopes, my God who wouldn't want to go?

  Well wait a minute! Space! The most hostile environment anyone could possibly imagine! The first step out the front door could be certain death if not properly prepared! Hostile! Space is a vile, unforgiving, Freezing, Airless death trap for us puny Humans!

 

  But we have managed all from an idea! Although be it several different, and many ideas! They all came together and humans have started the process of the idea to traverse through space!

 

Look at the possibility of the dimensional theory! Yup that's right an idea! An idea that I guarantee is going to pay off! I know because I to have some ideas! Ideas on why it will happen! We will find there are several dimensions, and our Universe is just one of many! It has always been my idea! Way before they ever started showing us, and talking about the possibilities they think of now!

 

  I had these ideas 30 plus years ago that this is how it all is, and will be! I had an idea that the Universe was so huge we would never be able to roam around the whole of it! Not by any easy means at least! So this is when my ideas of dimensions started running through my head!

  When I stare into space I think of all the grand splendor of all that has been created! It has to be there for a reason! It just can't be there because this is what has happened! That makes no logical sense!

  When people ask, and wonder if there is life out there in our Universe, Well all I can say is in my Universe there is life everywhere I see! 

  I see the Sun, a massive nuclear reactor exploding with a life so massive nothing compares! I see Jupiter with it's massive weather system swirling around, and then the giant red spot, a storm so massive spinning with life like a monster ready to devour everything In it's path! 

 

  Can you not see all the life out there? The creation of it all? The living breathing planets, and stars! All alive with their own types of atmospheres and storms! Even their own internal power plants like a heart just spinning, and breathing, some gasping for air because the atmosphere is so volatile, but nonetheless alive just trying to survive all the wicked elements that are trying so hard to destroy them!

 Yet they keep on, keeping on! Spinning breathing, and alive with the will to survive, despite all that's working against it all!

 

  This is my Universe! It's teaming with life! The beauty, the wicked, the black holes that swallow life just like a lion devouring it's next victim! Whole stars and there living reactors being eating alive and ripped from their shell! Until finally even the soul of the Star will succumb to the lions pride!

 

  My Ideas, My Universe! Is it so far off track? When you see this image can you not see a living breathing piece of something greater then yourself?
  Teaming with life, and death! How can you have the death of a star if it was never really alive? Make sense now?
  Of course our whole Universe is one massive living, breathing organism just trying to excel further into the vast unknown, doing so just to survive, and stay alive! Grasping, pushing, faster and faster trying to excel like a vine on a wall clinging for life! Just trying to excel further, and further into the vast unknown!

  Are we so arrogant that we discount the creation of all this life we see being created in our Universe? So we don't classify it as life because it has no eyes, or ears? Maybe because it doesn't resemble the life we want it to resemble therefore it's not life!

  We need to see intelligent life like us! Not the massive birth of a whole solar systems! If this is the case we should stop referring to the death of things such as stars, solar systems, and planets! How could they die if they were never classified as alive! And don't give me that figure of speech thing!

  Before any organisms started on this planet we call Earth it was very much alive! Alive with all of the geological factors this planet needed to create what it is to this day! The Earth finally filled her lungs with oxygen, which in turn created more forms of life! then even more complex forms of life followed, and so on!

 This is the idea of what people want to see! It's the idea of complex forms of life being somewhere in our Universe!
  Well take my word for it, There is life everywhere! This is my idea, in my Universe!
  If those out there are to blind to see the grand idea of our involvement they are the one's that will be truly lost and alone when things they once thought not possible come to light!
 
 The time will come, and I truly have an idea it will! Though I know not when, but at least I will be prepared, and not as shocked as those that thought the world still flat, and everything in it's proper place! These are the people that have no idea!
 No idea of their existence, no idea of why they are here, No idea or cares except planning their next vacation! These people will be the one's looking for those with an idea on what to do?

  It truly is amazing how much power is behind an idea! I think it's something that hopefully will become contagious, because I know of a few people, and Countries  that could use an idea, or two! Or at least that's an idea of mine!

 





Cultures and Ghosts!

The Chinese living with ghosts!

There are many ghosts in Chinese culture; they have been worshipped by the Chinese for a few thousand years. Even Confucius said, "Respect ghosts and gods, but keep away from them." While many people believe in ghosts, there are others who don't. The Chinese people often say, "If you believe it, there will be, but if you don't, there will not."
  The ghost is a classical image in Chinese culture, i.e., the young woman whose face is covered by long black hair, who dies due to misfortune, then comes back for revenge.
  The word "ghost" for many Chinese conjures up similar images. Often the ghost is a beautiful young woman. The sudden switch from a beautiful girl to a frightening ghost is striking. The seemingly fragile, helpless and beautiful women turning into fearless killers is a favorite theme among Asian movie directors and storywriters.

  Chinese Ghost Festival Just as the West features Halloween for ghosts and ghouls, the Chinese have a holiday to honor the departed spirits of the underworld -- the Chinese Ghost Festival. It is said that ghosts roam the world every year for one lunar month. In some areas of China, visitors can see small roadside fires, where believers burn paper money and other offerings to appease the restless spirits that have temporarily been released from Hades. The
 Chinese Ghost Festival is also called "Half July" (Lunar). It is a popular occasion celebrated throughout China on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. Historically, families offer sacrifices of the newly harvested grain to departed ancestors on this day, which also coincides with the Buddhist Ullambana (Deliverance) Festival and the Taoist Chinese Ghost Festival.
 Since each of these traditions in some way honors the spirits of the departed, the seventh lunar month has come to be known as "Ghost Month" and is a time when the "Good Brethren" (ghosts from the underworld) come back to earth to feast on the victuals offered by the living. Over time the Ullambana Festival and Ghost Festival have melded together to become the present-day Chung Yuan Putu or "Mid-origin Passage to Universal Salvation."

 The Chinese believe that the dead become ghosts between heaven and earth. Spirits without descendants to care for them are summoned during the Ghost Festival so that they may also enjoy the warmth of life among the living.
 This custom -- an extension of the traditional Chinese ethic of "universal love" -- has been woven together with the didactic legend, "Moginlin Saving His Mother From Hades." It lends the Ghost Festival a positive spin as a time for remembering the importance of filial piety. People now have inherited releasing river light as an important activity. It is said that river light can comfort and warm homeless ghosts.

 This is just an example of one of many types of cultures where their society has held firm in their traditions and beliefs of such things!
  In ancient Japanese culture ghosts are seen as suicide victims who come back to reek havoc on the living. Japanese culture produced story of a ghostly woman who told men to torture and kill a man she blamed for her murder. Another traditional story suggest that a warlord was haunted by many people he killed. The Japanese believed that ghosts are everywhere and easy to conjure.

Mexican culture
 There is extensive and varied belief in ghosts in Mexican culture. The modern state of Mexico before the Spanish conquest was inhabited by diverse peoples such as the Maya and Aztec, and their beliefs have survived and evolved, combined with the beliefs of the Spanish colonists.
 The Day of the Dead incorporates pre-Columbian beliefs with Christian elements. Mexican literature and movies include many stories of ghosts interacting with the living.

After death the soul of the Aztec went to one of three places: Tlalocan, Mictlan, and the sun.
 The Aztec idea of the afterlife for fallen warriors and women who died in childbirth was that their souls would be transformed into hummingbirds that would follow the sun on its journey through the sky. Those who drowned would go to Tlalocan, the first level of the upper worlds.
 Souls of people who died from less glorious causes would go to Mictlan, the lowest level of the underworld, taking four years and passing through many obstacles to reach this place.
 
 The Cihuateteo, spirits of human women who died in childbirth, were not benevolent. On five specified days of the Aztec calendar they descended to earth and haunted crossroads, hoping to steal children whom they had not been able to have themselves.
 
The Cantares Mexicanos is an important collection of lyric poetry transcribed from Náhuatl into Roman letters around 1550 CE, about 30 years after the fall of Tenochtitlan.
 In his 1985 edition of these poems, John Bierhorst interprets the poems as "ghost songs" that were intended to summon the spirits of dead Aztec warriors back to earth to help their descendants under Spanish rule.
 If the songs were successful the ghosts would descend from heaven fully armed and ready to fight, demanding payment in human sacrifice.^[ This interpretation is, however, controversial.

Maya beliefs 

The traditional Maya live in the continual presence of the "(grand)fathers and (grand)mothers", the usually anonymous, bilateral ancestors, who, in the highlands, are often conceived of as inhabiting specific mountains, where they expect the offerings of their descendants. In the past, too, the ancestors had an important role to play, with the difference that, among the nobility, genealogical memory and patrilineal descent were much more emphasized. Thus, the Popol Vuh lists three genealogies of upper lords descended from three ancestors and their wives. These first male ancestors - ritually defined as "blood letters and sacrificers" - had received their private deities in a legendary land of origins called "The Seven Caves and Seven Canyons" (Nahua Chicomoztoc), and on their disappearance, left a sacred bundle. In Chiapas, at the time of the Spanish conquest, lineage ancestors were believed to have emerged from the roots of a ceiba tree. Comparable beliefs still exist amongst the Tz'utujiles.

 Looking at how the Chinese honor the thought of their dead is strikingly familiar sounding to the customs of the Spanish in South America! These type of events date back thousands of years! Way before either society had met to examine each others cultures and ways of life! When reading below about  how they celebrate the "Day of the dead" in South America keep in mind how the Chinese had done their honoring as well!

--Day of the dead--

Families tidying and decorating graves at a cemetery in Almoloya del Río in the State of Mexico

Main article: Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead (Spanish: El Día de los Muertos), is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans living in the United States and Canada.
 The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2).
 Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.
 Due to occurring shortly after Halloween, the Day of the Dead is sometimes thought to be a similar holiday, although the two actually have little in common. The Day of the Dead is a time of celebration, where partying is common.
The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2500–3000 years.
 
The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the god.^[8] known as the "Lady of the Dead," corresponding to the modern Catrina.

 People go to cemeteries to communicate with the souls of the departed who are paying a holiday visit home. The descendants build private altars, containing the favorite foods and beverages, as well as photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them.

 In most regions of Mexico, November 1 honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 mainly as "Día de los Inocentes" (Day of the Innocents) but also as "Día de los Angelitos" (Day of the Little Angels) and November 2 as "Día de los Muertos" or "Día de los Difuntos" (Day of the Dead).

 So there was a few examples of cultures and ghost! As we stated a few paragraphs ago about the similarity of how they honor their dead doesn't it seem strange that societies separated by thousands of miles of oceans have a similar belief and system of doing things?
 
 So we will share a few more cultures in the next blog and then we will look at the darker side of how these cultures have looked at the ghost factor! and the things that have been tried, and done, and believed! With communicating with these cultures dead ancestors!

 We wanted to add a few of the Spanish version ghost stories as well!                                                                                                

Modern ghost legends

La Llorona

"La Llorona" is Spanish for "The Crying Woman" and is a popular legend in Spanish-speaking cultures in the colonies of the Americas, with many versions extant.
 The basic story is that La Llorona was a beautiful woman who killed her children to be with the man that she loved and was subsequently rejected by him.
 He might have been the children's father who had left their mother for another woman, or he might have been a man she loved but who was uninterested in a relationship with a woman with children, and whom she thought she could win if the children were out of the way.
 She drowned the children and then, after being rejected anyway, killed herself. She is doomed to wander, vainly searching for her children for all eternity. Her constant weeping is the reason for her name. In some cases, according to the tale, she will kidnap wandering children or children who misbehave.

La Planchada

"La Planchada" is Spanish for "the ironed lady". Contrary to what people may assume because of the legend's title, La Planchada was not a woman who was crushed, rather it is similar to La Llorona. However, legend says it was a nurse who was attracted to a doctor and he rejected her, or a disgruntled nurse, or a nurse who killed her patient.
  Many variations of how she was created exist, but one consistent theme is that her ghost appears in many hospitals, though mainly in the metropolitan areas, especially in Mexico City.

  Many hospitals such as Hospital Juárez claim she appears there in her old 1930s/60s nurse uniform, which is perfectly ironed (hence the name "La Planchada") and heals patients in the emergency sections. Just as there are claims about how she was turned into a ghost, there are many others in which eyewitnesses claim she appears.
 Some say she emits a sort of glow. Others say she looks like a normal nurse. Others say she floats, while others say she walks normally, but her steps are never heard.
 This happens at night and the next morning patients feel better and are taken to another room for further recovery.
 When asked why they feel better, patients say that "a nurse came in and healed me", but no one in the hospital was either guarding the room or no nurse came at the time the incident happened.

Vanishing hitchhiker

In the Mexican version of the Vanishing hitchhiker urban legend, the hitchhiker is a beautiful woman, who chats with a stranger in a taxi.
 When she leaves as a normal person she leaves her address.
When the person tries to reach the woman at her home, he is informed the woman is dead and that it is also the anniversary of her death.

Cemetery hauntings

Often there are ghost legends associated with the older cemeteries. For example, the Panteón de Belén (also Santa Paula Cemetery), a historical cemetery located in Guadalajara, Mexico is the site of legends and night tours. The cemetery was opened in 1848 and it was formally closed in 1896. Legends that are part of the local folklore include the Vampire, The Pirate, The Lovers, The Monk, The Child afraid of the Dark, The Story of José Cuervo, The Nun and many more.

 It's almost as the dead aren't dead but rather just in a different place where we can still communicate and so fourth. Which is the actual belief!  but does that mean their classified as ghost? Or passed on spirits? Or are they the same as they always were but just somewhere else? We'll let you know in the next blogs so stay tuned!

Death!---And then---

Death!---And then---

 

 

  I just had a close friend pass away the other day and it really hit me harder then I care for! We as in humans are bound to have tragic events happen at some point of our lives.
 Death is one I have a difficult time with! In a perfect world I would like to live a long and fruitful life, But most of all I would like to pass before any family, And friends! It just doesn't work this way though!

 

 

  With the passing of my friend it brings on many thoughts, And feelings!
 This isn't something that is any different from anyone else, Nor am I looking for any special sympathy or kind treatment! It just gets my wheels turning.

 

 

  One would assume with what I do for a living things like death are just another daily event! Well it is, And it isn't!
 We as humans have one of the most complex works of intelligence ever known, Or understood for that matter! 
 The human psyche is all of our brains power, Of our conscious, And unconscious thoughts! The human psyche rationalizes, Determines, Reacts, and much more! Quicker then the blink of an eye!  
 We actually have answered a situation in our mind way before our collective conscience had the time to spit it out of our lips!

   In all reality it's the most non-understood part about us!
 One of the problems are is that we use such a small percentage of our brains capacity, That If we were to unlock it all, Well in my mind I think it could be scary!
 I say this because of the uncertainty of what the outcome would be? I believe  someday when we start using more of our noodles that we won't even need to use speech to communicate! Everything will be done telepathically.

  Do you find that so far fetched? Well if you do you might want to know that I'm not the only one with this thought!
 Matter of fact some that do share this thought are in a lot better position to sell the idea then me! Like some of the brightest minds in the world! 
 The reason it might sound scary is because it is different to us. Not the norm so to speak!


  I wonder at the time when we unlock our true mental capacity will we then be able to speak, Or even see the dead? Maybe we will just be able to rationalize it better!
 With all the investigations I have been involved in over the years the fact of  death being involved really didn't impact me! The things we are seeking in most case's are those that have died!


   So why would death affect me so? Was it because I knew the person? Had a connection in life? The list goes on but the answers do as well!
 The problem is there is no easy answer! We just have to keep going on! And live as it is just a thing!


  Years ago I had written several articles for a magazine. A friend of mine was the editor and had a fascination with the things I was into in the paranormal research area.  He had asked me to contribute some of my own ideas at the time.
  One of the articles I had written was titled "Gary's philosophy on life, Death, And people's reactions!" To summarize it, Everything just come's to an end when we die! Everyone is saddened and then a few days go by and things start going back to how they should be! Eventually over time you are forgotten, And nothing but an image remains of you, Much like a ghost!


   I was a very young man when I had written most of these things, And in a very much different world it seems like! I really don't think I would have changed a thing in it! Even with all I have encountered, And been a witness too after all these years.
 At the time I had thought it was a little morbid and wouldn't be taken in the right context! But it ended up being one of the best articles I had written with a lot of praise and acknowledgment from people!
 My thoughts were, people probably related to the story! So therefore it made sense!  

   I think that closure is one of the hardest things to deal with when someone passes on. Sometimes people are able to be around when someone they care for is slipping away into the abyss.
 Then there are the times when it's out of the blue and sudden! How can you really acquire any kind of closure then?
 This is what has been affecting myself the most with this recent tragedy! In a way I think this is one reason why I felt I needed to write about this! In a way I hope it will bring me some type of closure!

   The big thing I had left out was how he died? There was a reason I hadn't brought it up! But it shouldn't have mattered and I let it!
 Anyway he had overdosed on heroin! This was another reason that it has bothered me so much! All over drugs! How I wish that he could of come to me and say he had a problem!
 In all honesty I knew he use to do drugs years ago! But he had gotten clean and I had helped him through it, Why not now?
 I think maybe from his own personal embarrassment! I will never truly know now!


  He had passed away at only 34 years of age! I had known him for 16 years back when he was 18 and right out of high school!
 He had come to me looking for a job, So I wanted to give the kid a break and hired him! He had been into some stuff in which my wife and I helped him through and would of gladly again!
 I guess it had only been a few months since he had gotten back into these bad habits, But I never even had a clue!


    Even after all these years he still came by my house to visit us at least once a month and sometimes more! He would just drop in and visit and see how we were all doing! 
 I had last seen him right before New Years and he led on to nothing being out of sorts, Nor did he give any signs of things being odd or strange! Only if!


  Death is nothing we can change! It's coming and this is the one for sure thing about life!
 How, and what we do with our lives' is what defines who we are! As friends, Partners, Lovers, Families, Human beings, Etc!
 By no means is he the first person/Friend I have known die! Nor will he be the last, Unless I beat everyone else to the punch anyway!
 I will truly miss his visits though!

   Oddly enough I have shared my thoughts on what happens to most when we die! Though I do not believe everything we were, And will be is lost!
 I believe our energy will always carry on our true being. I at least hope anyway!
 Like most of the world I wish there is more than just this! I have seen, And heard things that should not be, But we still don't really understand how, Or why? This is why I do what I do! I want answers!
 Can you really imagine that when everyone dies our energy goes nowhere? It stays right here on planet earth along with every other living creature with the capacity since the beginning of time?

   That means we would all eventually be ghost! Maybe that's what really happens to all? And the only reason we can only hear and see a certain amount is because not all have the capability to communicate with the living. 
 Or maybe it's the livings fault and some just don't have the capacity to hear and see what is all around them?
 The questions and theories could go on! But there will only be one true answer and someday we may know!
 Until then we will keep on doing what we do! You will do what you do! Terrorist will keep causing terror! Squirrels will keep burying their nuts! Hauntings will still be causing a mystery! And so on!
 We will only be able to hold on to memories of good times until it's our time to find out the truth!

   Live a good life, As a good person! Love life as a responsible person! It's very short, And very fragile!