NIAS – the only constant is change

Back again after an absence of nearly a year. Back to monitor the progress and performance of the final post tsunami and earthquake project, that is, the Multi Donor Finance / World Bank project to improve the livelihoods of the island's poorer communities through strengthening their organisational base by creating Farmers Groups, and helping them to increase the income generating potential of their rubber, cocoa and rice crops. Wow, what length (of the sentence). It could have been divided into more comprehensible sections. But I'll leave it as is.

Coming in from the airport—first Jakarta to Medan on Garuda, and then Medan to Gunungsitoli on a narrow-bodied prop plane operated by Wings—nothing seemed to have changed. Even the bad patches of road were still there, as were the churches every kilometre or so, the doorsmeer/doorsmer places to have your car washed (the meaning of the original Dutch word is 'oil change'), the sea on the right and the many mopeds overtaking cars on an outside bend. The office, however, had grown. There was a proper nameplate on the outside and many new faces inside.

And the next day life took up its normal routine of the short term project worker.

For lunch I went to my usual place, the BPK eatery, a mere three-minute walk from the office. The owner smiled broadly when we shook hands, and enquired whether I had come back. Yes, obviously, but that is of course not the proper way to respond to a friendly but meaningless remark. I placed my order and the staff even remembered that I took my terong belanda juice without sugar… The place was crowded, even at this fairly late lunch hour. The baby that a year ago was learning to walk on the cemented floor was now running, and a smaller version was carried around. The owner, a Karo Batak, was sitting in his customary place counting the customers' payments and dropping it into the drawer of his little des. Day in day out… supervising his staff, counting the money, greeting a customer, counting the money, supervising his staff… the only change from last year was a third item on the menu: instead of only roast pork and pork soup, there now was gold carp. No idea how it is prepared, grilled or in a curry or pan fried as I don't like the muddy taste of gold carp.

I wonder whether he is a first generation immigrant from the Karo lands on Sumatra just across the sea. That would have been the most important change in his life because till his now toddler son takes over he will be sitting behind his little desk supervising his staff, counting the money, greeting a customer, counting the money, supervising his staff. The restaurant has ten or so long tables with some 50 to 60 chairs. My guess is that each chair is occupied between four and six times a day. At an average of say 20,000 Rupiah per serving, the daily take would provide him with a pretty middle-class income.

But how does one spend that, how does one enjoy the fruits of one's work when for the next 20 or 30 years one is tethered to a daily routine and a desk. He is such a cheerful fellow so I suspect that he has found the answer.

Maybe I should ask him to start a blog to share his secret with all those unhappy rutinistas out there.

QUANTA – the vibrating energy we turn into particles, or, quantum physics translated for the common folk

Ever wondered where we come from, or what we are supposed to do here on this planet of ours?

Look no further…!

Remember what you learned in school: all things physical are composed of molecules, and these are in turn broken down into atoms—a water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom: H2O. And it does not stop at atoms, as the atoms are built up of protons, neutrons and electrons, while protons and neutrons themselves are built up of quarks. It is a bit more complicated than that, but as it is not my intention to dive into particle physics, let's stop here.

I'll go off on slightly different tangent as the subatomic pieces have some very intriguing properties: these subatomic particles do not behave like objects or pieces. For example, an object cannot be in two places at the same time. The laptop I'm using to write this post cannot at the same time be in my carry bag. Subatomic particles, however, can. Take for example an electron. We think of it as a small sphere circling around the core of an atom. And when an electron is shot at a television screen, a tiny point of light appears at the place of impact. Here the electron thus appears to be an object. However, when an electron is fired at a barrier with two slits in it, it can go through the two slits simultaneously. That means the 'object' is in two places at the same time.

No object can do that. But a wave can. Unlike an object, a wave has no exact location. It is spread around over space. It is a frequency, a vibration.

Subatomic particles can thus behave like an object and like a wave/frequency/vibration. They are not either a particle or a wave, they are both. Basically they are entities of energy, which scientists have called quanta. And quantum physicists believe that the universe is entirely made up of these energy units, these quanta.

Think about it. What we hear is frequencies picked up by our ears and decoded by our brain into sounds. Our eyes pick up optical frequencies that are decoded by our brain into images. The Hungarian biophysicist Georg von Békésy demonstrated that the skin, too, responds to the frequencies of touch. The brain thus appears to be a frequency decoder and we hear, see and feel the frequencies that quantum physicists maintain are the building blocks of the whole universe.

Fine, let's assume that that is true. But the question then pops up: when do these quanta behave like objects and when do they act like a wave? Or put differently, when do waves become solid? And this is the answer:

the only time that a quantum manifests as a particle, and thus becomes solid,
is when one consciously tries to observe it!

So only when we look at the quanta do they becomes an object, for all the rest of the time they behave like a wave. We thus see the quanta into solid existence! The action of looking at them makes them solid. That is quite something.

What you see is what you get. Does that also mean: what you don't see is what you don't get? Not really. When, for instance, seating yourself on a chair with your eyes closed, you do not end up on the floor. Seeing would thus need to be interpreted as seeing the object with your mind's eye, or knowing the object is there.

In respect of the questions posed in the first sentence, the where do we come from is the least interesting as we are nothing but a set of quanta arranged in a certain pattern. And whether this is due to the Big Bang or a Creative Force is not of major importance. The second question, however, is. What are we supposed to do here, what is our role in the universe. I expand the scope of the geographic are to 'universe', not only 'planet', as quantum scientists and a whole lot of thinkers before them have stated that As Above So Below[1]. So the quest becomes: what is our role in the universe?

As we are a set of quanta that give form to other sets o quanta around us, it can be argued that we are Sparks of the Big Bang, or Children of the Creative Force, and thus can influence, have a say in, our evolutionary processes—and that, of course, in the widest context, ie, including our planet and the universe.

OK, let's for the moment assume that this is correct, remains the question how can this influence be executed. Well, by seeing with the mind's eye, or course, in other words, by manifesting your desires. Admittedly not as easy as it sounds, but it can be learned. There are many gurus out there willing to teach you how to get what you wish for, some at a price and others for free. The basics are:

1-strong desire, 2-request, 3-believe that your request has already been fulfilled, 4-relax.

And of course this is not restricted to the pot of gold left at your doorstep by a kind-hearted pixy. Personal happiness and health, love and harmony, can all be included in the wish list. But so can peace and international harmony, environmental sustainability and welfare for all…

Try! And remember, if you don't see it (with your mind's eye) it will remain a frequency!

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[1] The concept was first laid out in The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, in the words "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing".