street photography

earth, a closed or open system

swingweb

After reading the below except from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Being Peace,

“…The human species is a very young species–we appeared on the Earth only recently. Before that, we were rock, we were gas, we were minerals, we were single-celled beings. We were plants, we were trees, and now we have become humans…”

I found myself pondering, “is life today the outcome of a recycling process of matter within a closed system?”

In a quick Goggle search (The earth a closed system) I found OERu, an amazing open educational site which offers a course, The Inspiring Challenge of Sustainable Development.  One of the lesson plans, CSF101, notes:

The Earth is a closed system for matter

The Earth is made up of chemical elements – think of the periodic table. That is a list of all basic elemental materials on our planet. Because of gravity, matter (comprising all solids, liquids and gases) does not leave the system. It is a closed box. And, the laws of thermodynamics, long agreed by scientists, tell us that it’s impossible to destroy matter. So the chemical matter we have on Earth will always be here. The important question is, how are those chemicals organised?

The Earth is an open system for energy

It is accepted science that the Earth is an open system for energy. Energy radiates into the Earth’s system, mainly from the sun. Energy is then radiated back into space from the Earth, with the flows being regulated by the Earth’s atmosphere and ozone layer. This delicate balanced transfer of energy maintains the surface temperature at a level that is suited to the forms of life that have evolved and currently exist.

While the course CSF101’s discussion centers on global warming and climate change it seems to correspond with Thich Nhat Hanh’s writings that at one time I was a tree, a rain drop, a cloud, a dandelion.

Today, a participant in Debbie’s Six Word Saturday.

Alphabet with a twist: ap

Is the water bottle an apparition?

apparition

The CDC notes that since plain drinking water has zero calories, it helps with managing body weight and, when substituted for sugar drinks, it reduces caloric intake. Water prevents dehydration, a condition that can bring about unclear thinking, mood changes, overheating, constipation, and kidney stones.

So…the appearance of water bottles within daily activities has me wonder if during the years when there were no marketed water bottles were most children impacted by various levels of  dehydration?   Why this question…because as I reflect back to my childhood, I cannot recall drinking water other than an occasional water foundation sip and a summer water hose gulp.

Koolaid, yes.  Water, no.

Image submitted in response to Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge

 

Views…

Our Enemy

Our enemy wears the colors of ideology.

Our enemy wears the label of liberty.

Our enemy carries a fancy appearance.

Our enemy carries a big basked filled with words.

Our enemy is not man.

If we kill men, with whom shall we live?

~Pham Day  (Thich Nhat Hanh, Call Me by My True Names)

viewdiamondsutra

…views themselves are ideas or perceptions.  Any perception has two parts: a viewer  (subject) and that which is being viewed (object).  A self view, a person view, a living-being view, and a life span view are all objects of perception. They are neither independently existing or permanent. Like everything else, they are of the nature of interbeing.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Diamond that Cuts through Illusion

No reset…

Each time we say or do something, write a line of poetry, disseminate an idea, send a letter, we go out in many different directions.  Once we have set out in these directions, there is no way we can pull ourselves back to the place we were before. 

~Thich Nhat Hanh (Understanding our Minds)

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consciousness

“…when consciousness manifests, it is not, at that moment, born. When it does not manifest, it does not, at that time, die. When consciousness manifests, there is differentiation and discrimination (vitalpa). Discrimination says, ‘this is self, and that is other than self.’ It is the sword that cuts and divides what is self from what is not self. But discrimination is not the truth. It is an imaginary construction, a fabrication of the mind. The Chinese ideogram for the term vitalpa means ‘universal comparing.’ To compare is to say, ‘This is inside, but that is outside. This continues to exist, but that ceases to exist.'”

~Thich Nhat Hanh, Understanding the Mind

consciousnessHanh