In Memoriam | Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.And yet death is the destination we all share.No one has ever escaped it.And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.They somehow already know what you truly want to become.Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs

commencement speech at Stanford University ,2005

Exhibitions | Columbia County Contemporary Art

Columbia County is well renown for the  mid-19th century Hudson River School, the art movement focused on the romantic interpretation and representation of the nearby landscapes. But a contemporary visitor can go beyond Olana in the timeline as Columbia County flourishes with contemporary art galleries. While in the recent years Hudson has seen the main galleries concentration, several galleries have recently opened in the town of Chatham.

My Chatham art galleries pick is the Thompson Giroux Gallery located in 57 Main Street. The gallery currently shows “Line and Color” an exhibition of works in different media, ranging from painting to drawings, sculpture and installation and including works by Emily Cheng, Jean Feinberg, Tom Hopes, David Paulson and Michael Tong.

Events | Linking Mind and Brain, lecture at CUNY Graduate Center

Tonight the CUNY Graduate Center hosted a conversation between the theoretical physicist (neurophysicist) William Bialek and the philosopher of psychology, Jesse Prinz ,author of the forthcoming book The Conscious Brain.
The conversation touched several topics ranging from quantitative biology and neuroscience to philosophy, visual illusions, pseudoscience.

Bialek started the conversation introducing that the focus of  theoretical physics as the mathematical analysis of nature, is often taken over by a qualitative description, able to fill the gaps left by quantitative methods. Jesse Prinz then introduced his philosophical investigations, which in opposition to Bialek methods, start from a very large scale  and then narrow down to physical analysis — from abstract generalizations to concrete cases.

Can consciousness  be explained as a series of brain processes? The human brain has over one-hundred billions of  neurons and only a small percentage relates to consciousness. Prinz then narrowed consciousness to visual experiences, more specifically to the retinal representations occurring  in the visual cortex referred to as V1, V2, V3, V4, V5 in the brain mapping.  Brain injuries have also a great role in explaining consciousness.
Another interesting phenomenon in the study of consciousness is in the interpretation of ambiguous such as the Kanizsa triangles. Subliminal advertisement also is based on the connection between perception and conscious interpretation of perception.
The conversation continued with the fascinating numbers involved in the description of the human brain:100 billions of neurons reside in the human brain and 1mm thick of the folded cortex contains 100000 neurons cells each with 5000 connections (axons).The conversation ended with a mention of the pseudoscience often present in writings on neuroscience from mainstream publications such as the recent NY Times article "You Love Your iPhone. Literally".
The conversation dealt with several visual topics and I would have appreciated a more visual presentations. Nevertheless the overall themes were introduced in simple terms to be appreciated by a general audience —simplicity and clarity which are often lacking in the many neuroscience related events which are becoming increasingly popular.

Events | Won Dharma Center Opening

Today the US facilities of the Won Dharma Center opened with an official ceremony and service, attended by almost a thousand of people, including pratictioners as well as
visitors; many practitioners come from this event from Korea, where Won Buddhism originated.

The center is located in the Hudson Valley, in the town of Claverack; it is only five miles from Sun Farm, and less than 100 miles from other main spiritual centers in this area, including Kripalu (Stockbridge, Ma), Tendai, Zen Mountain Monastery (Mount Tremper, NY), Tendai Buddhist Institute (Canaan, NY).
As Robin Andrews, the Claverack town supervisor mentioned in her ceremonial speech, the Claverack name is the contraction of the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" and the clover leaf has a widespread symbolism, welcoming the new center focus on peace.

The name Won Dharma Buddhism comprises the words Won meaning ‘circle’ which symbolizes the ultimate reality or our true nature. From the Won Dharma Center mission:

 The Three Jewels in Buddhism are:  Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.  These are the refuges where practitioners find true peace and freedom.
Buddha means the awakened one, the embodiment of the truth within ourselves.
Dharma is the teaching of the realized one; it is the path to restore our true self or inner light.
Sangha means the spiritual community or an assembly where like-minded people live, study and practice together for a common purpose.

To learn more visit the Won Dharma Center site

Vernissages NYC | Chelsea September 30

 Rico Gatson's "Three Trips Around the Block" @ Exit Art

 Performance by Irvin Morazan @ Asya Geisberg

Exhibitions NYC | IBM THINK

At Lincoln Center, on the corner of Broadway and W. 65th Street, you encounter a remarkable exhibition: IBM THINK

THINK celebrates IBM Centennial, exploring the potential of science and information technology to make the world work better. The exhibition includes several displays, interactive in varies forms.
A 123-foot digital wall installed at street-level digital streams real-time data from sensor placed in the area surrounding Lincoln Center; the data visualize several urban life realities, from traffic to air quality to water consumption and potential of solar energy in NYC. Following the wall you can enter the exhibition area which requires tickets, free of charge and available at the exhibition entrance.

The interior exhibition features a 12-minute film and interactive experience across 40 digital screens 7-foot tall,  narrating how technology can transform and improve our lives. The film presents images from space exploration, weather prediction and personalized medicine; it also include sequences from the 1968 documentary "Powers of Ten" by Charles and Ray Eames.

 After the film the digital screens turn into touchscreen media panels, where the visitors can find a concise, yet well documented and visually clear, information (often displayed as a timeline) on the history of scientific discoveries and inventions which transformed our life. The explored themes are Seeing Understanding Mapping Acting.

The visitor exits the exhibit viewing Icon of Progress, where several (static) panel illustrates the milestone of the hundred-year IBM history from his funding to today, with all the implication of computing from credit cards to the space missions.

IBM THINK

September 23 - October 23, 2011; 

information on free tickets and hours of operation can be found at www.THINKexhibit.com

Events NYC | Occupy Wall Street

Since September 17 thousands have been gathering in Liberty Square in a non-violent protest.
Who is Occupy Wall Street? A concise answer from the movement website :

Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.
The original call for this occupation was published by Adbusters in July; since then, many individuals across the country have stepped up to organize this event, such as the people of the NYC General Assembly and US Day of Rage. There'll also be similar occupations in the near future such as October2011 in Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C.   

For calendar of events and more information visit  Occupy Wall Street 

Events | Lecture by Tibetan Bon Lama Tempa Dukte at the Spencertown Academy

Today the Spencertown Academy hosted a lecture presented by Eight Branches Healing Arts:

The Intimate Mind: Illuminating Emotion & Transformation. Public Talk & Book signing With Tibetan Bon Lama, Tempa Dukte. The Intimate Mind is our natural potential to provide space to let everything manifest in its own way. It is the practice of Open Presence through which we can experience the miracle of each moment. However, our divided mind creates obstacles that do not allow us to abide in this experience. Tempa Lama will talk about overcoming these obstacles through a practice of gentleness and awareness.  Tempa Dukte Lama is an ordained Tibetan Bon lama. He is an artist, poet and writer, and the founder and spiritual director of Olmo Ling Tibetan Bon Center in Pittsburgh, PA. He trained in Menri Monastery, India under the guidance of H.H. 33rd Menri Trizin, the spiritual head of Bon. He teaches in the US and Europe on healing and other Bon practices, being with dying, meditation, and the path of compassionate beings.

Tempa Dukte Lama, a soft speaking Tibetan Monk, engaged the audience with his smile and kindness. These are the topics which I found most captivating:

• Everything comes to an end. 
• Accept impermanence of life and being here and now. 
• Search for happiness finding your own personal meaning and needs. 
• Embrace flexibility. 
• There are three demons: attachment anger ignorance. 
• To change your life change your thinking into positive. 
• Express joy and happiness in what you do. 
• The mind is consciousness. 
• Be patient. 

An uplifting lecture, greatly needed after the sad and unsettling event of the past week.