Tattoos & Trails

Something From Nothing

I’m going to continue to wax on the subject of creation for a while. Stay with me here, there is something I’m working towards. I’m not asking you to agree, just to come along for the ride and see where it goes. You may want to polish your power crystals as shit’s gonna get weird.

So, let’s suppose it all began from nothing. An unfathomable explosion of material and energy. Expanding at an unimaginable rate. Let’s just agree that magic occurred, just this once. Things cooled, coalesced, and expanded further and further apart. Cosmic dust formed stars, gravitational pull clumped elements together, things cooled, planets formed, and somewhere along the way the Earth came to be. To the best of our knowledge at the moment the universe it said to be 13.75 billion years old and the earth a mere 4.54 billion years old.

Then, about 3.8 billion years ago simple cells (prokaryotes) began to form. Suddenly we’ve got life on Earth. It took a while but about 2 billion years ago we end up with complex cells (eukaryotes). After another billion years we end up with multicellular life, 600 million years ago we jump to simple animals, 500 million years ago there were fish, 475 million years ago there were land plants. As you can see, this timeline seems to be increasing it’s speed. The jumps and changes start occurring more frequently. At 400 million years ago there were insects and seeds, 300 million and we hit reptiles, 200 million and finally we’ve got mammals. At 150 million years ago there were birds and roughly the same time flowers. The dinosaurs dies out 65 million years ago. 2.5 million years ago our genus came to be. Then, only 200,000 years ago anatomically modern humans arose. Only 25,000 years ago Neanderthals disappeared.

If we look at these figures there definitely seems to be a pattern of acceleration. Now that we’ve agreed that a magical explosion created all that exists can we agree that there is a constant drive towards complexity? I for one am going to agree with that. And, as that complexity gets more complex (for lack of a better word) the speed at which it evolves continues to accelerate. The building blocks get more and more complicated and can then help to create that next even more complex block at an even faster rate. Makes sense doesn’t it?

So, up until a certain point this creation/change/move towards complexity was all very unconscious. Even at its ever increasing pace it still took very long periods of time (by human standards) to make leaps from one point to another. Then there was a shift from unconscious creation to conscious creation.

At some point our minds made the leap that we could shape/change out surroundings to better our situation. This must have been monumental. For the better part of 4.5 billion years things progressed and moved forward without cognitive guidance. Then, if we are to use tools as the benchmark, about 2 to 2.5 million years ago the changing of elements to fit our needs came into being with certain Homo habilis specimens. There’s no definite date or occurrence but at some point someone made the leap from just being a part of the process to actually influencing the process. From there the acceleration gets bizarre.

A shift occurred. From unconscious evolution through extreme lengths of time to consciously manipulating the world around. Is this what the drive toward complexity has been aiming at? And we are not the only species to be doing this, crows and primates are great examples but dolphins, elephants, octopus, and many others have been witnessed using tools and manipulating their environments. Perhaps we just got there first, there may be more on the way.

This, in its essence, is an act of creation. Changing your surroundings. Using the mind to figure out how to change those surroundings and think ahead to how this will benefit you. A rudimentary form of creation by our current standards but it was a major step to be sure. The first acts of creation were for the betterment of survival. Eventually we reached a point of comfort wherein creation could become a pastime. Be it the creation of myths in attempt to explain this wild ride, to cave painting, to adorning the body … these all seem like acts of creation motivated by something else. Creation for the sake of creation rather than the sake of survival. I hypothesize that the act of creating is an integral part of what makes us “human”. Without it where would we be? In the grand scheme of things, from the prokaryotes of 3.8 billion years ago to our complex human brains I see a straight line aiming toward instilling the drive to create.

As the human brain has evolved even further we are no longer bound by the physical restraints of evolution. With the creation of language we’ve dissolved the synesthetic boundary. We can create images and sensations in others just by making sounds with our vocal chords. I can describe an event, an image, something you’ve never seen, and you can create a mental image based on my sounds. I can transfer what’s in my brain directly into yours. I’m doing it right now with these words. Take a moment to digest what we take for granted most every moment of most every day. Language, both spoken and written, is awe inspiring when you really think about what’s going on. We can transfer ideas to each other, there is no material here, just the transfer of information. But we can also take that information and create objects in the physical realm. Plucking objects from the ethos and manifesting them into this realm. If we look at what we’re manifesting and the rate at which its complexity is increasing the whole concept seems limitless. In my short lifetime the changes that have occurred are mind boggling. With the advent of the internet we can now communicate and exchange ideas with most anyone in most any location. A hive of thought has been created and we’re all plugging into it. The pace increases, the complexity accelerates. The acceleration gets compounded to the point where it almost seems instantaneous. As the growth curve moves ever towards vertical it will eventually verge on a point of singularity wherein as soon as it’s thought it is manifested into physical reality.

And this is where I make an even greater leap. We, in our rudimentary human mind state have the ability to create all that is around us by beginning with a thought. A thought, which has no physical form and is essentially “nothing” somehow turns into a computer, a car, a building, all of which are astounding creations. Of course there are many steps between the thought and the final product but those steps get faster and the creations get crazier. So what are we doing here? Essentially we are creating “something” from “nothing”. Does this sound familiar? Kind of like what we describe as the beginnings of our universe? All that exists began as nothing at all and by some magical factor came into being. Could this magical factor be based on a thought and an act of creation? If we look at the pace in which our minds have evolved it’s not as though that pace will slow or that the pinnacle has been reached. A lot of us like to think that the goal has been scored, it’s done, we are the ultimate. We may be the top of the heap on Earth, but that’s just at this instant in time, it’s not as though 13.75 billion years of movement towards complexity had the end game set at 2012 the land of iPhones and internet porn.

So, would it be so preposterous to think that the end game of our ever evolving minds and mental capacity to manifest the immaterial into the material realm just might be the creation of universes? Why would it be unfathomable that this ever increasing complexity and ability to manipulate reality may not eventually reach a point of wherein creation gets so very grand as to bring into being other dimensions/universes/realms in which the thread of creation and complexity can then grow and move forward in a never ending fractal miasma of thought and love and creation? I’m not proposing that you or I have this capacity, but as the mind evolves, given enough time the possibilities are truly limitless.

There you have it, a thought experiment encompassing all that exists and all that may exist. No big deal, just figuring out the unexplainable here. Hope you’ve enjoyed the ride, like it or leave it, at least I got to put ideas directly from my mind into yours. Keep on creating in your own way, you might just be participating in the essential act of existence, or maybe not, but it’s definitely fun to think about.

Creation, Complexity, & Living the Imagined Life

Lately I’ve had a few thoughts that continue to rattle around in my head. I’m definitely not the first to have such thoughts but maybe I can add something, pass it on, and keep adding to a larger/expanding bank of people having similar thoughts This may not be related to either tattooing or biking, but it is my blog and I’ll make the rules around here.

I keep thinking about the act of creating something, creating absolutely anything. We’ve reached this evolutionary point in which we can have a concept, a thought, something that has no physical form, and we can manifest that non-physical idea into the physical world. This simple concept blows me away when I really think about it. We are living in a world created by our imaginations. For the most part we’ve separated from nature and live in these small thought experiments known as cities and towns. Within those cities are our homes, within them are all of our belongings … all of these objects/structures began as nothing at all; nothing more than a firing of electrical pulse somewhere within our little brains. Through all of our human ingenuity these ethereal ideas are now existing in the physical realm. What is going on here?

We take it all for granted. We pass things off as “oh, it’s just your imagination”. What does that mean? It’s all “just our imagination”. And now we’re testing the waters and manipulating nature on a more intricate level. Modifying plants and animals. We’ve taken control of our immediate human environment, what comes next?

There’s been a long standing idea of separating humanity from nature. We can be down on humanity all that we want but it all pushes towards more and more complex systems. Our human brains are by far the most complex creation of nature on this planet. We’re taking the abstract and making it physical. We’re evolving at a bizarrely fast rate. The gene is no longer the quickest form of coding out there. The thought has taken over. The idea of Dawkins’ meme as the vehicle for transferring information is a far more direct and explosive passage of information than the physical process of reproduction. The gene is the physical transfer (which takes generations), the meme is the non-physical transfer (which takes the time for light to reach your eyes or sound to reach your ears). And the ideas can be passed on quicker and quicker (through all forms of media) to an ever expanding audience, which continues to speed up the process exponentially. We take it for granted and just accept these changes but let’s take a step back and look at life ten years ago, twenty years ago … could we have imagined where we are now? We can communicate our every thought instantaneously to people on the other side of the earth through text messaging, the internet, the telephone, facetime, and so on. We’re all getting more and more connected, the hive is buzzing at an ever increasing rate.

Still, our technology is cumbersome in comparison to nature but we’re getting smaller/faster at an ever increasing rate. Nature has it down far more than we usually give credit … DNA is by far the greatest information storage device out there. A single human contains an astounding 200,000,000,000,000 meters of DNA (that’s 2 x 10 to the 13^th power). That is the equivalent of nearly 70 trips from the earth to the sun and back. We usually feel as though we have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on but truly we only understand 2 or 3 percent of what that DNA is coding for. The other 97 – 98 % is known as “junk DNA”. Our technologies unconsciously mimic the structures seen in nature, the patterns are eerily similar. It all seems to be heading somewhere. Not in the sense of a master plan orchestrated by one mind which is conscious of all the results/possibilities. We all play out little role which ends up adding to something far greater.

The idea of humans versus nature is a common one. Ultimately we are a creation of nature. The ever increasing complexity, the manifestation of physical forms stemming from non-physical thought patterns, the speed of transferring information. These all seem to be the unconscious aims of humanity, they also seem to be the unconscious aims of nature. Of course there are uncountable ills created by our incessant urge to move forward … in a lot of ways we are destroying our planet. It all starts to seem like a race. The evolution of our thoughts is racing against the greed for resources (which out thoughts have created). The optimistic view would be that at some point our knowledge will surpass out greed and we’ll be able to exist in whatever utopia our thoughts create next. It’s a stage of transition and it all seems to be ramping up at an ever increasing rate. This life things continues to get more an more interesting.

Having said all of that, I’ll go back to creating on my own very small, very personal scale. From mind to paper, it’s such a perfect and rudimentary example of all that I’m talking about.  

 

Balancing Act

 I’ve started to come to the realization that I have a personality that tends to obsess over things. In small doses this can be beneficial. There seems to be a fine line between the definitions for passion and obsession. Somehow one of these words tends to carry a bit more negativity than the other, I suppose that would be the controllable versus the uncontrollable aspect of it all. Depending upon what you do with such passion or obsession these patterns have the possibility of being healthy or unhealthy. I think I’ve been lucky enough to have passion for (or even obsess over) healthy pursuits.

I’ve always had an uncontrollable urge to create. When I don’t create for a while it starts to well up as an energy that needs release. I know not where this comes from but it’s always been there. For the longest time this was contained in the realm of drawing or painting. I dabbled in sculpture and photography and then spent a good amount of time focused on printmaking. Somehow I enjoyed the structure and craft of printmaking. There were rules and steps to follow, a nice framework in which to create. At the time I didn’t know where all of this would take me. Ultimately, in any moment I don’t think we truly know where any of it will lead. My life has become a testament to this, especially in the past few months of tumultuous change and growth. Looking back it can all seem to be a very clear path but it’s also nice to sit back and marvel at the “how the fuck did I end up here?” aspect of it all.

So now this obsession with creating finds its venue in the realm of tattooing. It seems quite appropriate in a way. There is definite framework to work within but enough creativity to feed the obsession. The framework can be set by the tools we use or by the client’s instructions. However the framework constantly shifts and changes. Every individual’s skin is slightly different, every spot on the body has a new challenge to delve into. The imagery is endless. Sometimes I’m thankful that I’m just the tactician. I don’t have to come up with endless ideas, just execute the ideas of others. This has been my obsession for about four years now and I’m not even beginning to get a handle on all of it. Seems to be the perfect fit, there is no limit, there’s always another level to aspire to.

I can see this same pattern in other pursuits. Mountain biking has been a huge part of my life for the past couple of years. Again, no limit to the challenges. Again, the only ceiling is based upon you and your individual skills. There have been times where this is all I think about. One passion vying for time and energy over another. Somehow they’ve both coexisted quite well. Perhaps because they are such different pursuits.

I continue to find myself with new passions and pursuits. Be it on a personal, professional, or pastime level I guess the key to it all is making sure they balance and compliment each other rather than overtake and dominate.

A Small Bit of Blog Neglect

So I’ve missed a few updates over the past few weeks.  Life takes some twists and turns along the way.  Somehow it all seems to give you back what you put in.  The negatives are always balanced by the positives.  At the moment I find myself in the positive upswing after some pretty negative times.  I’m in a very happy and productive space at the moment; in all aspects of my life.  Thus, my excuse for neglecting this blog.  Seems pretty valid to me.

I won’t delve into the personal aspects of it all but I will talk about the creative and professional side of it all.  

I feel like you reach certain benchmarks along the way in the learning process of tattooing.  At the beginning these benchmarks tend to come along rapidly and closely spaced.  There’s so much to learn and you might have small breakthroughs almost daily or weekly.  As time progresses these new plateaus become more and more spaced out.  Months (or numerous months) may pass before you feel like you’ve gained some knowledge or proclivity at the craft.  These gaps get longer but there’s always that next level to aspire toward.  Somehow in the past three weeks I’ve felt that little bump, that level up.  Perhaps it’s coincidence, perhaps I was due, or maybe I’d just put in my hours and it was a natural step.  But somehow a more positive outlook and overall happiness has spilled over into my work life and my creative energies.  Things continue to move forward, and I’m only putting in positives these days so that’s just what I tend to be getting back. 

Along Came Winter…

Disclaimer - This is likely of no interest to you unless you ride or have ridden a bike down a mountain.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting out for some great rides so far in 2012.  With new living conditions and a move back to East Van I now have to drive to the North Shore in order to ride.  Yeah, not as convenient as riding out your front door, but realistically I’m driving less as my commute to work consists of a seven minute walk.  It’s also reopened my mind to other options for riding.  Fromme was so convenient that I rarely rode anything else for the past few months.  Suddenly it’s the same distance to Seymour as it is to Fromme.  Cypress, well, you’ll have to wait until I have more shuttling options.  

Once again the Slayer has been amazing.  It used to be a grunt/push up Old Buck and a push across the Baden Powell just to get to a few minutes of DH.  Now, I’m enjoying the up as much as the down, and the across is great too.  It has all become rideable.  Of course there is an accumulation of skill involved but shaving fifteen pounds off the bike helps a lot too.

In the past days I did loops that all included the up Old Buck and across Baden Powell option.  The down was different every time including C Buster, Severed, Boogieman, and my favourite (which includes a bit more up) Dale’s to Aftertaste.  All of these were finished with varying distances back across Bridal Path and down Empress Bypass.

A year ago I never would have thought that cross country could be fun.  I’ve changed my mind a bit.  Of course, once the bike park reopens I’m sure my tastes will swing back dramatically to the DH.

So yes, all was well on the North Shore.  I felt as though I was going to continue to get a bunch of riding in over the next few weeks.  Friday hit and so did the snow.  Saturday evening consisted of much of the same.  Today, I didn’t even bother heading over to check out the trails.  At some points in the past I would have ridden regardless of conditions.  Somehow I’ve reached the point where I draw the line at accumulated snow.  Rain with spots of snow/ice I can deal with.  Completely covered trails, no thanks.  I’m spoiled as it is.  I live in the birthplace of freeride with three world class mountains to choose from.  I can deal with a week or two off the bike.  I’m pretty sure I’ll survive.