#1
2001
Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A space Oddysey is one of my favourite movies ever.
It's the science fiction movie that sets the standard for all SF movies to follow.
The first scene of '2001' shows a group of apes and a mysterious black monolith. The time is
hundreds of thousands of years ago, when we were still apes. Then suddenly we shoot
through time, to the 20th century, to the present time. In the present a space ship researches
the same black monolith. Most of the movie takes place in the present time, but at the end of
the movie one of the astronauts accelerates (in space and time?), and the astronaut falls into a
hole, and arrives in a totally different world, one where things don't make sense. We see an
unborn baby.
My explanation of what's meant by these 2 transitions in time is the following: even if the apes
could look into the future, they would never understand it. They would be scared of, or curious
about our computers, they would not have a clue what electricity was. It would be impossible
for them to describe our world in their words, or even in their thought, in their mind. Things just
wouldn't make sense to them.
Now, if we look into the future, we might have the same experience. We might not be able to
understand anything around us, events might happen that we could not even describe if we
wanted to. Our language would be too limited. Its like being a baby again, not knowing
anything.
This last scene of 2001 shows exactly what happens when you enter the K-hole. Obviously,
the visuals are much more colourful in the movie (what would a movie be without them?), but
all the major aspects of a voyage into the K-hole are present: there's the astronaut 'falling' in
space, just like you 'fall' into the K-hole; there's an unknown new world: the 'quantum
universe' in the K-hole, and there's the unborn baby, which signifies re-birth, which is exactly
what happens if you enter phase 3 of the K-hole.
Language vs Reality
What '2001' might tell us is that the future can not be described in our words. This is an
interesting thought. Even in our world language is a limiting factor. If we look up and say we
see a "blue sky" then we are limiting the millions of aspects of this blue sky has, to just two
words.
Describing something non-physical like a feeling, a smell, an emotion, is even harder. We might
recognise a smell, it might trigger emotions if they are connected to some event in the past, but
even then, it might not be possible to properly describe the smell, or the emotion.
We could say that languange limits our reality. Even worse: we might confuse our language for
reality. In our western world language actually defines our reality. Of course this 'reality'
defined by our language is only a small part of the whole reality: there's much more to the
world than the reality described by our words. Considering the fact that there's words in other
languages that have no counterpart in our language, it's easy to see that language is indeed
a limiting factor.
Actually it's even worse than that: knowledge is a limiting factor. If we have learned what a
cloud is, we see it as a 'cloud' and are not able to see it for what it actually is. We are full of
'prejudices' about the world around us, even though we don't realise it.
Buddhism
Buddhism deals with this issue. One of the major statements in Buddhism is exactly the fact
that language is limiting. The aim of a Buddhist is to be able to let the language go, and just
EXPERIENCE the world around us AS IT REALLY IS, and not as it is described by our words.
To do so, a Buddhist needs to meditate. People often live most of their lives in the past or in
the future, worrying about things that have already happened or things that are still to come. If
you wanna experience the real world, live in the HERE and NOW, it's important to let go of
language, and therefore let go of all your thoughts, worries and ideas. Only if you manage to
completely let go of everything you learnt, you can experience the world around you.
A state without thoughts, without language, without any limiting factors, is a state where
there's only conscious left. A conscious that experiences the world, without trying to analyze
it, without trying to describe it. This is exactly the state of the 3rd phase of the K-hole!
The Quantum Universe
So what is this world we 'see' while in the K-hole? I called it a quantum universe. Why? Well,
first of all the laws of old physics seem not to apply. When I say old physics I mean Newtonian
physics and Einstein's relativity, the physics where one event can not take place at two
different places, nothing can go faster than the speed of light and time moves in just one
direction.
In Quantum Physics these limitations do not apply: things can be at 2 different places at the
same time, things can move faster than the speed of light, and time seems not to be
one-directional. It's impossible to imagine this world of quantum physics in our world of old
physics, just like it was impossible to describe the future with our knowledge (as in 2001), or
like it is impossible to describe reality with language.
So what is this quantum universe? Is it a different universe? Is it a parallel universe?
In my opinion the quantum universe and the K-hole are simply different projections of our
reality. If you look at the world with X-rays or heat sensitive cameras, you could say you see a
totally different world, but in fact it's nothing more that our own reality seen in a different way.
How come we can see this world in a K-hole? Well, ketamine affects processes in the brain
that involve perception. The world around us probably exists of signals we are fully aware of
(sounds, light, smells) and signals that we are totally unaware of, because we are not tuned to
the right fequency. Ketamine acts on the brain like changing the frequency of a radio, and thus
we recieve a different signal, which might be noise or a different station. Those different
stations might be exactly what people mean when they say they have met aliens, or
extra-terrestials!
Will we ever be able to see this quantum universe without the use of ketamine? Well, who
knows. A few centuries ago people wouldn't have a clue what ultraviolet light was. They
couldn't see it, they didn't have any equipment to detect it. It simply didn't exist to them.
These days we can see ultraviolet light with special cameras. We can translate this 'invisible'
light into a signal that we can see (visible light). It's is possible that some day we maybe be
able to make a machine that can pick up the signals that nowadays we can only see in a state
like the K-hole. Until that time, I'll be travelling into the K-hole.
Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A space Oddysey is one of my favourite movies ever.
It's the science fiction movie that sets the standard for all SF movies to follow.
The first scene of '2001' shows a group of apes and a mysterious black monolith. The time is
hundreds of thousands of years ago, when we were still apes. Then suddenly we shoot
through time, to the 20th century, to the present time. In the present a space ship researches
the same black monolith. Most of the movie takes place in the present time, but at the end of
the movie one of the astronauts accelerates (in space and time?), and the astronaut falls into a
hole, and arrives in a totally different world, one where things don't make sense. We see an
unborn baby.
My explanation of what's meant by these 2 transitions in time is the following: even if the apes
could look into the future, they would never understand it. They would be scared of, or curious
about our computers, they would not have a clue what electricity was. It would be impossible
for them to describe our world in their words, or even in their thought, in their mind. Things just
wouldn't make sense to them.
Now, if we look into the future, we might have the same experience. We might not be able to
understand anything around us, events might happen that we could not even describe if we
wanted to. Our language would be too limited. Its like being a baby again, not knowing
anything.
This last scene of 2001 shows exactly what happens when you enter the K-hole. Obviously,
the visuals are much more colourful in the movie (what would a movie be without them?), but
all the major aspects of a voyage into the K-hole are present: there's the astronaut 'falling' in
space, just like you 'fall' into the K-hole; there's an unknown new world: the 'quantum
universe' in the K-hole, and there's the unborn baby, which signifies re-birth, which is exactly
what happens if you enter phase 3 of the K-hole.
Language vs Reality
What '2001' might tell us is that the future can not be described in our words. This is an
interesting thought. Even in our world language is a limiting factor. If we look up and say we
see a "blue sky" then we are limiting the millions of aspects of this blue sky has, to just two
words.
Describing something non-physical like a feeling, a smell, an emotion, is even harder. We might
recognise a smell, it might trigger emotions if they are connected to some event in the past, but
even then, it might not be possible to properly describe the smell, or the emotion.
We could say that languange limits our reality. Even worse: we might confuse our language for
reality. In our western world language actually defines our reality. Of course this 'reality'
defined by our language is only a small part of the whole reality: there's much more to the
world than the reality described by our words. Considering the fact that there's words in other
languages that have no counterpart in our language, it's easy to see that language is indeed
a limiting factor.
Actually it's even worse than that: knowledge is a limiting factor. If we have learned what a
cloud is, we see it as a 'cloud' and are not able to see it for what it actually is. We are full of
'prejudices' about the world around us, even though we don't realise it.
Buddhism
Buddhism deals with this issue. One of the major statements in Buddhism is exactly the fact
that language is limiting. The aim of a Buddhist is to be able to let the language go, and just
EXPERIENCE the world around us AS IT REALLY IS, and not as it is described by our words.
To do so, a Buddhist needs to meditate. People often live most of their lives in the past or in
the future, worrying about things that have already happened or things that are still to come. If
you wanna experience the real world, live in the HERE and NOW, it's important to let go of
language, and therefore let go of all your thoughts, worries and ideas. Only if you manage to
completely let go of everything you learnt, you can experience the world around you.
A state without thoughts, without language, without any limiting factors, is a state where
there's only conscious left. A conscious that experiences the world, without trying to analyze
it, without trying to describe it. This is exactly the state of the 3rd phase of the K-hole!
The Quantum Universe
So what is this world we 'see' while in the K-hole? I called it a quantum universe. Why? Well,
first of all the laws of old physics seem not to apply. When I say old physics I mean Newtonian
physics and Einstein's relativity, the physics where one event can not take place at two
different places, nothing can go faster than the speed of light and time moves in just one
direction.
In Quantum Physics these limitations do not apply: things can be at 2 different places at the
same time, things can move faster than the speed of light, and time seems not to be
one-directional. It's impossible to imagine this world of quantum physics in our world of old
physics, just like it was impossible to describe the future with our knowledge (as in 2001), or
like it is impossible to describe reality with language.
So what is this quantum universe? Is it a different universe? Is it a parallel universe?
In my opinion the quantum universe and the K-hole are simply different projections of our
reality. If you look at the world with X-rays or heat sensitive cameras, you could say you see a
totally different world, but in fact it's nothing more that our own reality seen in a different way.
How come we can see this world in a K-hole? Well, ketamine affects processes in the brain
that involve perception. The world around us probably exists of signals we are fully aware of
(sounds, light, smells) and signals that we are totally unaware of, because we are not tuned to
the right fequency. Ketamine acts on the brain like changing the frequency of a radio, and thus
we recieve a different signal, which might be noise or a different station. Those different
stations might be exactly what people mean when they say they have met aliens, or
extra-terrestials!
Will we ever be able to see this quantum universe without the use of ketamine? Well, who
knows. A few centuries ago people wouldn't have a clue what ultraviolet light was. They
couldn't see it, they didn't have any equipment to detect it. It simply didn't exist to them.
These days we can see ultraviolet light with special cameras. We can translate this 'invisible'
light into a signal that we can see (visible light). It's is possible that some day we maybe be
able to make a machine that can pick up the signals that nowadays we can only see in a state
like the K-hole. Until that time, I'll be travelling into the K-hole.