A new creation from my mind to your eyes.

It is the year 2525.

And these are the chronicles of the Intergalactic Cruiser,  Galaxy-One.

GO to Galaxy-One

With the recent ruling about schools teaching creation theory only if asked, I thought I’d bring something to the attention of those folks that think it’s a good idea.

In all of our studies of science, from the smallest critters on Earth to the furthermost reaches of our universe, one thing is crystal clear. So far, humans seem to be the only biological entities that has the ability to contemplate their mortality. In other words, most of us at sometimes in our life, think about death, where we came from, are we alone in the universe and of course the most popular, is there a God.  The majority of us humans accept the idea that there is indeed a creator, a God, which is something that nature seems to oblivious to. Why?

Now, one may say, “but Stan, how do you know that a dog doesn’t think about God?” I can’t say for sure that it doesn’t, but I’ve never seen my pooch build a Church and invite his pals over for Sunday morning worship. Nor have I’ve ever seen a geranium pray, or witnessed a herd of cows building a Temple to their creator. (except on “South Park”) As far as I can tell, all other living creatures, be them plant or animals, seem oblivious to a creator. Apparently the “norm” in nature is a complete absence of any acknowledgment of God. It only stands to reason that if humans doesn’t follow this pattern, then we must not be a true part of “nature.”

Our bodies may have evolved from nature, but our spirit, our consciousness, our awareness of a Supreme Being that most of us have, must have evolved from some other source than what we consider to be “nature.” This human awareness implies a belief system, which also seems to be lacking in nature. Your puppy may like one type of food over another, or prefer a certain place to lay down, but that implies intelligence, not a belief system. (it also implies your pet has you well trained)  I’m talking about wild animals that operate on instinct, not belief.

Yes, I know Elephants have a “burial ground” and do act as if they’re mourning their loss when one of them dies. In fact, I do believe most animals can feel happy or sad. But I don’t believe Elephants are burying their dead as reverence to God. I feel that is programmed into them through instinct because their “burial” of a “loved one,” never has a reference to a creator. I simply don’t see any evidence that their actions indicate a belief system.

Belief, that’s the key word. What other creatures on Earth “believes” in something? Belief is a word that pertains only to humans. Why? According to Evolutionist, humans are nothing more than a manifestation of nature, we evolved from nature. Okay, I can buy that, as a person with a scientific mind I simply can’t ignore the fossil records of human evolution. But there’s still that gap, that elusive “missing link”where someway, somehow, humans diverged from nature and acquired a belief system. And from that belief system came another term that is exclusively human. Worship.

Now, I know my pooch worships the ground I walk on, but I’m not talking about the anticipation of a Milk Bone. I’m referring to reverent worship, prayer, giving thanks and turning our lives over to our creator.  Across the globe, at least once a week, nearly every human on Earth publicly or privately worships what he or she believes to be their creator, their God. Most engage in some form of prayer, usually a time set aside to become connected with their spirit world. And this has been going on since human consciousness began. Why?

How did this happen? Why are humans the only animal in nature that has this ability to believe. Was it a mutation, a “freak of nature?” If you just look at it statistically, the odds that out of the zillions of creatures on Earth, only humans would evolve with a belief system, is incalculable. The odds are totally against this ability to believe to have come from what we consider “nature.” Nature just doesn’t seem to have this ability, so why do we?

Could it be that there is some greater force at work here? After observing nature, it seems far more likely to me that a creative intelligence set this universe in motion and “nature” came as a result of that interaction, than it is for me to believe that nature “just happened” and somehow, someway, humans evolved from a system that seems to be void of these abilities, our ability to choose and question. It’s like a fig growing on an apple tree. It’s possible, but highly unlikely.

To me, this one fact is something that places a feather squarely in the hat of creationism. Until science can explain how nature “just happened,” it seems far more plausable to me that it “happened” because of some intervention by a supreme being, a creator, God. I’m not saying that we didn’t indeed evolve from Chimps or Gorillias, but if so, it’s my belief that God created them.

Most of us think of time as either the past, present or future. And as humans, we experience time only in the present moment. But what is the “present moment?” Is there really such a thing as “now?” The answer is yes, but we humans will absolutely never experience it. The best we can ever hope for is an “echo” of what actually happened a few milliseconds ago.

It’s a bit easier to understand why this happens by using the sun as an example. The light from the sun takes roughly 8 minutes to reach the earth, so you can never actually see the sun as it appears in your present moment. The same applies for any celestial body in space.

It takes nearly 8 hours for light to reach us from Pluto. At the farthermost reaches of the known universe, we observe stars that were formed just a few million years after the Universe began. That light has been traveling toward us for over 13 billion years! So looking up at the night sky is like looking into the past.

The same thing happens to us on a minuet scale as we experience the world. Although tiny, it still takes time for your senses to gather information, send that info to the brain and form the experience of “now.” By the time all that happens, the “now” you thought is “now” is in reality long gone.

It’s the relative slow speed of light that prevents us from ever really knowing what’s happening “right now.” Since the fastest our brains can process is the speed of light, and since it’s the ONLY thing in the universe that is unchanging, we’ll always see the world as it was a fraction of a second ago.

And in reality, all those images are “old news” because of one of the basic laws of physics - there can NEVER be instantaneous actions at a distance. (Albert Einstein referred to it as “spooky” actions at a distance) Albeit very small, there still is distance between your eyes and brain, meaning it takes time for your eyes to see and your brain to react. No matter how hard we try, that process will never be instantaneous.

So the next time you hear some self-help guru tell you to “live for the present moment,” you’ll know that they’re full of themselves. Although objectively, there is a “present moment,” we poor pitiful humans will never experience it.

There is no such thing as the “now.” We always have and will forever, live in the past.

The Sunset

This is an oldie but goodie that was recorded at my studio, TMPS Audio, in the late ’80’s. This tune came to mind while I was out at the Oasis, a beautiful restaurant overlooking Lake Travis, having a drink and watching the sunset. Later, I went to my studio and recorded the piano phrase that had been rolling around in my mind for hours. While there, my great friend Larry Seyer stopped by and added some licks of his own. (Thanks Mr. Larr!) We finished the song in about an hour and this is how it turned out. I hope you like it.

Stan and Joel discuss the new “Star Trek” movie.

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Stan and Joel discuss fan films

“Starship Exeter” and “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.”

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I loved the Andy Griffith show. And NOBODY but Don Knotts could ever be as funny as Barney Fife. Barney was not only hilarious, but once in a while he’d come up with some pearls of wisdom that can help everyone in our daily lives. “Nip it in the bud” is one of them.

For me, I began applying  N.I.I.T.B. about a 2 years ago. For the first time in my life, I had fallen into a funky depression. It seemed every single day something bad would happen. It was like what Peter said in the movie Office Space… “each day was worse than the day before.”

With each mounting disappointment I began noticing that my attitude about life was changing. I was becoming cynical and angry at the world. My strong faith in God was slowly eroding and yes, I soon found myself saying “the WORLD is against me!” And looking back at all the absolute pointless crap that was happening to me at the time, I really can’t say that I blame myself. It was both bizarre and devastating.

But luckily, I slowly started realizing that I couldn’t stop most of the bad things that were happening. The best I could do was “ride them out.” None the less, it was still very difficult for me not to succumb to the ravages of disappointment every time something disappointing would happen.

One afternoon while in a very depressed mood,  I turned on the TV to see if there was something on that could cheer me up. And there was Barney saying “nip it, nip it in the bud.” Now, I’d seen this episode a zillion times, but this time, his words hit a chord. “Nip it in the bud” I thought. Could that work for depression too? Why not give it a try?

I began to analyze what was happening and why I became depressed.  What I discovered is my ears would hear the words, my neural system sends those words to my brain, which causes me to become depressed, which leads to self-doubt and before long, my brain is having a pity-party that my emotions just can’t overcome.  I knew this had to stop. Thank you Jesus for allowing me to see this pattern.

So, I implemented the self-imposed “nip it” program. The MOMENT my ears heard something disappointing, I would try my best to nip that feeling before it had a chance to take hold. And timing is THE crucial element. As the saying suggest, you must do it immediately or it doesn’t work.

First, you have to consciously slow down that process where your ears hear something, that message travels to your brain and a reaction takes place. You have to stop it before the brain can start sending out invitations to the pity-party. It’s in those milliseconds, while the message is on the way to the brain, where you have the chance to “nip it in the bud.” And like Barney, you have to be a good cop. You have to be diligent in pulling over that disappointing message while it’s still on the freeway to the brain.

Believe me, at first, it’s not easy. Those messages travels down the brain freeway at warp speed, so they’re really hard to catch the first few times. But like Barney, you also have to be a good detective. You have to recognize the pattern of hearing certain words or phrases and knowing they will trigger a depression message any millisecond that will soon be speeding it’s way to your emotional core. You have to be ready at all times to intercept but I guarantee, the first time you’re able to pull over that depressing message and “nip it,” you will notice a sense of power and a feeling of authority, much the way Barney did.

So the next time you hear something that you know will disappoint you or throw you into depression, try the “nip it” program. Nip that bad feeling in the bud before it can root in the fertile soils of your emotions. I believe anybody can do this, it just takes diligence and practice.

And to get you started, turn on the tube to TV Land and watch a few episodes of the “Andy Griffith Show.” I find it’s really hard to be depressed when you’re laughing.

Stan and Joel talk about Star Trek bubble gum cards from the ’60’s.

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Well, now I’ve heard everything. Apparently scientist have discovered that a good number of interstellar gas clouds scattered about the universe are made mostly of alcohol, the exact same alcohol found in beer.

Huh? One of these gigantic breweries located in the constellation Aquila, is called G-34.3 and this thing is gigantic - 1000 times the size of our Solar System and choc full of brewskies. There’s enough alcohol in this cloud alone to supply 300 PINTS OF BEER PER DAY, TO EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET FOR THE NEXT BILLION YEARS! That’s a lot of hangovers!

Apparently these clouds start off as nothing more than a loosely organized collection of dust. But these dust particles are lonely, so they begin to seek out each other and clump together. This attracts the even lonelier molecules of water, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Before long they’re all clumped together, like a football team in a huddle, arm in arm, singing Cum-Ba-Ya.

Once this molecule “chain” is formed a metamorphosis takes place. The chemical reaction of their bonding cause this “chain” of molecules to become one, known as a complex molecule.  And guess what complex molecule these clouds are made of? You guessed it, ethyl alcohol, the exact same alcohol found in beer.

But as with all things, there is a drawback. This “beer” isn’t “pure.” Although these clouds are around 90% alcohol, the other 10% is made up of stuff like hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and several other really nasty chemicals that would kill you, or at least give you a really bad headache.

Sorry, Homer Simpson.

Stan and Joel discuss the new Kirk and Spock.

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