A thought occurred to me after my post about recycling.
I proposed a system where rockets, fueled by hydrogen and oxygen, would take our trash into orbit, to be processed into new materials, and then returned to Earth for us to use.
It would be easier, cheaper, and faster to use a rail-gun instead. Sometimes called a linear accelerator, a linear electric motor, or another name that escapes me at the moment, it works on the same principle as a magnetic-levitation train. Essentially, it's a long, flat electric motor, with rails like those used for trains, and the payload is accelerated along its length, until at the end, the rails turns upward, and the payload is shot into the air, and if powerful enough, into Earth orbit.
To recap the concept, solar and/or wind power, which is basically free to use after installation, makes electricity, which is then stored in a giant mega-capacitor, until a launch is scheduled. At launch time, the capacitor is discharged into the rail-gun, and the payload of trash is accelerated down its length, and then upward into orbit, where the solar furnace and plasma printer are located. Then, in a manner resembling our current space shuttle, the launch vehicle glides to Earth with the newly-made materials on-board.
So much easier than rocket launches. A much cleaner method of getting stuff into orbit.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
What Do You Want?
I'm looking around at other people's blogs, and a question occurs to me. What do you want? You, the reader. Most of the blogs I see resemble someone's vacation photo albums or something like that. Honestly, I am hoping to post a few blogs of some relevance. That is, I want to express ideas that I think are important, that have meaning to more than just me. I'm probably taking the whole thing too seriously. Do you want to see pictures of my cats, and stuff like that? Or do you want more substance from my blogs? Someone let me know, please.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Ultimate in Recycling
I put a few ideas together to form a new technology. It's my hope that someday we as a planet will actually do this. It would literally transform the world we live in.
In various places around the world, experiments have been performed where solar power is used to boil water to make electricity. They call it a solar furnace. Generally, the way it's done is to use thousands of mirrors to focus sunlight onto one spot. This causes an incredible amount of heat to build up in a small area. This heat is then used to boil water, to make steam, to run steam turbines in the usual way of making power. The technology works, however, it still suffers from problems like intermittent sunlight causing interruptions in operation. But the important point here is, it works.
Solar furnaces easily generate enough heat to boil water. If the furnaces are designed properly, they can get hot enough to do more than that. In fact, solar furnaces can be made so that they reach temperatures of thousands of degrees, far more than is needed to boil water.
All matter, all material things, will vaporize if they are heated sufficiently. This is called ionization. Any physical thing can be vaporized with enough heat. Solar furnaces can get hot enough to vaporize any material thing on Earth. Imagine it. A large array of mirrors, all aimed at one focal point, can generate so much heat that anything, ANYTHING AT ALL, that is put in that focal point will turn into a hot gas, a vapor.
Here is the beginning of true recycling. Take anything that you consider trash, and feed it into a solar furnace, and that item of trash will be totally vaporized by the power of the sun, which means essentially that it happens for free. By that I mean that it doesn't use any kind of fuel to make the intense heat, only sunlight. Obviously there is infrastructure to be maintained, so that nothing is completely free. But my point is clear. Pure sunlight can turn all our trash into a vapor.
This is the first step. Collect the trash, get it to a solar furnace, and all the trash will disappear into a gaseous cloud. You may think, well that's great, but what about the toxic cloud that is caused by all that trash? It's not toxic anymore, you see. When matter is heated sufficiently, all chemical bonds break down. In other words, all chemicals that go into the solar furnace are broken down into their individual atomic elements. If you put paper into the furnace, what comes out is carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. If you put plastics into the furnace, the plastics are reduced to their atomic constituents, typically hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. Dangerous, poisonous chemicals put into the solar furnace come out the same way. They are no longer dangerous, because they are completely broken down by the incredible heat, and all that comes out the other end are elemental atomic gasses.
So far, what we have a very hot furnace, that can take any THING and turn it into a gas. At the very least, it is a clean method of getting rid of all trash, including toxic waste products. Now comes the question, what do we do with all these clean, hot, atomically-pure gasses?
The development of the computer led to the development of the computer printer. That technology is almost old now. It's as commonplace as water. Recently this idea of the printer has been used for other applications. Most remarkable are two innovations. One, the so-called 3-D printer, uses plaster or clay instead of ink. These 3-D printers can literally print physical matter. Complex shapes are manufactured, one thin layer at a time. Some units even use plastic resins, that are sprayed out in a mix that hardens almost instantly. It is a small miracle to watch a physical form emerge from nothing but a fast-drying liquid and a handful of programming. THINGS can be printed-out. As well as inanimate matter, new designs of printers actually spray-out living tissue. That's right, special printers are able to print-out skin tissue. They can even print more complex living things, like organs. We live in an age where it is possible to use computers to PRINT human organs.
Let's bring it all together. We have tons and tons of hot gasses, from all the tons of trash being fed into our solar furnace. These gasses are so hot, in fact, that something special happens to them. If gasses are heated enough, the electrons are stripped-off the nucleus of the atom. What this means in layman's terms is that the gasses can be thought of as a sort-of magnetic gas. Because the gasses are IONIZED, they can be affected by electrical and magnetic forces. If you take a stream of hot, ionized gas, a superheated gas, and hold a magnet near it, the gas stream will bend because of the influence of magnetism. Ionized gasses can be "steered" by magnets. Because ionized gasses can be directed by magnets, the gasses can be put where you want them.
I've already described three types of printers that exist right now. One, the computer printer. Two, the 3-D printer. Three, the human-tissue printer. The point is, printer technology can be used in many different ways. I'm proposing a new way to use printer technology. Design a printer that can use hot gasses, ionized gasses, controlled by magnets, to print matter from the rapidly-cooling gasses. In other words, take the hot gasses, "print" them out, and as they cool, they take the shape determined by the printer.
Do you see what we've done? We tore apart an automobile, and we ended up printing out sheets and rods of pure iron. We gasified the plastic seats and dashboard, and printed out atomically-pure carbon. We collected the elements that remain gaseous when cool, and we now have pure hydrogen, pure oxygen, and pure nitrogen. We vaporized the windshield, and we printed out pure silicon from it. We took a whole car, shredded it, fed it into the furnace, and we printed-out atomically-pure raw materials, to be used again for another purpose.
I find this concept remarkable, and revolutionary. The idea of taking any and all things we call trash, putting that trash into a magical furnace/printer assembly, and receiving on the other end pure, raw materials, of better quality than can be made today.
Problems solved! From this point on, there is no such thing as trash or garbage as we have traditionally known it. ALL THINGS can be recycled this way, completely. There is no waste anymore. You don't throw out your trash as you've always done, to be forgotten in a landfill until it poisons the water supply. Instead, you decide what you want, and what you don't want, and send the unwanted things to The Furnace to be recycled. If you plan ahead a little bit, you can have a network in place to print-out materials in shapes that are known to be needed. So, you put trash into the furnace, and what comes out the other end are new items, ready-made to be put to work. Complete, total recycling. An end to waste. No more trash. The word "recycle" now comes to mean trash removal AND manufacturing, in one step.
Only one more thing remains to be done. As I said earlier, solar power operates only when the sun shines (duh!). If a Furnace in Arizona suddenly gets cloud cover, the Furnace shuts down momentarily. This is more than inconvenient, it's impractical. You can't operate a 10,000 degree furnace on-and-off that way. It wouldn't work efficiently. The only thing to be done is to secure a source of solar power that's available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That only happens in one place- space. To complete the picture, we need a space-transport system to get the raw material (trash) into Earth orbit, where the furnace would be located, and to get the finished products (or recycled stock materials) back to Earth for use and consumption. This would seem to be insurmountable, but of course, I have an answer for that, too.
Much has been said about hydrogen power. Typically, the argument is made to use water as the source of hydrogen. Often it's said that hydrogen-from-water is not efficient. What's not often said, is that the reason for this is that the oxygen from splitting the water is thrown away (that is, vented to the atmosphere). This represents a tremendous waste of the electricity that's used to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The solution is, use the oxygen, too. Start with an array of solar- and wind-power, essentially making free electricity, and use that electricity to split water. Save the hydrogen AND the oxygen, and later, re-combine them. Many people know that hydrogen and oxygen together are called ROCKET FUEL. Here's your answer. Use sun and wind, to split water, and use the H2 and O2 together, as rocket fuel, to send rockets loaded with trash into orbit, where the trash is reconverted into usable materials. The rocket exhaust is, of course, water, which disperses into the air, to fall as rain and be used again in another rocket launch.
Some day we will have a new job title. I don't know exactly what it will be. Trash man, garbage man, recycler, manufacturer, printer, rocket scientist. Combine them all into one, and I don't know what you'd call it. Maybe World Savior would be the appropriate title. As far-out as these ideas seem, they are do-able nonetheless. I don't think I've talked about any technologies that are impossible, or even really that challenging, except for bringing it all together as one. Material things still would not be free, for there is always costs involved in any business endeavor. But I would be willing to pay for a clean planet, with no trash (because it's all in orbit!), and real, true recycling of all the things we use every day. Ready-made products would glide to Earth from the Orbiting Furnace, to the department store of the future, for us to buy and use and recycle again and again.
What are we waiting for?
In various places around the world, experiments have been performed where solar power is used to boil water to make electricity. They call it a solar furnace. Generally, the way it's done is to use thousands of mirrors to focus sunlight onto one spot. This causes an incredible amount of heat to build up in a small area. This heat is then used to boil water, to make steam, to run steam turbines in the usual way of making power. The technology works, however, it still suffers from problems like intermittent sunlight causing interruptions in operation. But the important point here is, it works.
Solar furnaces easily generate enough heat to boil water. If the furnaces are designed properly, they can get hot enough to do more than that. In fact, solar furnaces can be made so that they reach temperatures of thousands of degrees, far more than is needed to boil water.
All matter, all material things, will vaporize if they are heated sufficiently. This is called ionization. Any physical thing can be vaporized with enough heat. Solar furnaces can get hot enough to vaporize any material thing on Earth. Imagine it. A large array of mirrors, all aimed at one focal point, can generate so much heat that anything, ANYTHING AT ALL, that is put in that focal point will turn into a hot gas, a vapor.
Here is the beginning of true recycling. Take anything that you consider trash, and feed it into a solar furnace, and that item of trash will be totally vaporized by the power of the sun, which means essentially that it happens for free. By that I mean that it doesn't use any kind of fuel to make the intense heat, only sunlight. Obviously there is infrastructure to be maintained, so that nothing is completely free. But my point is clear. Pure sunlight can turn all our trash into a vapor.
This is the first step. Collect the trash, get it to a solar furnace, and all the trash will disappear into a gaseous cloud. You may think, well that's great, but what about the toxic cloud that is caused by all that trash? It's not toxic anymore, you see. When matter is heated sufficiently, all chemical bonds break down. In other words, all chemicals that go into the solar furnace are broken down into their individual atomic elements. If you put paper into the furnace, what comes out is carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. If you put plastics into the furnace, the plastics are reduced to their atomic constituents, typically hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. Dangerous, poisonous chemicals put into the solar furnace come out the same way. They are no longer dangerous, because they are completely broken down by the incredible heat, and all that comes out the other end are elemental atomic gasses.
So far, what we have a very hot furnace, that can take any THING and turn it into a gas. At the very least, it is a clean method of getting rid of all trash, including toxic waste products. Now comes the question, what do we do with all these clean, hot, atomically-pure gasses?
The development of the computer led to the development of the computer printer. That technology is almost old now. It's as commonplace as water. Recently this idea of the printer has been used for other applications. Most remarkable are two innovations. One, the so-called 3-D printer, uses plaster or clay instead of ink. These 3-D printers can literally print physical matter. Complex shapes are manufactured, one thin layer at a time. Some units even use plastic resins, that are sprayed out in a mix that hardens almost instantly. It is a small miracle to watch a physical form emerge from nothing but a fast-drying liquid and a handful of programming. THINGS can be printed-out. As well as inanimate matter, new designs of printers actually spray-out living tissue. That's right, special printers are able to print-out skin tissue. They can even print more complex living things, like organs. We live in an age where it is possible to use computers to PRINT human organs.
Let's bring it all together. We have tons and tons of hot gasses, from all the tons of trash being fed into our solar furnace. These gasses are so hot, in fact, that something special happens to them. If gasses are heated enough, the electrons are stripped-off the nucleus of the atom. What this means in layman's terms is that the gasses can be thought of as a sort-of magnetic gas. Because the gasses are IONIZED, they can be affected by electrical and magnetic forces. If you take a stream of hot, ionized gas, a superheated gas, and hold a magnet near it, the gas stream will bend because of the influence of magnetism. Ionized gasses can be "steered" by magnets. Because ionized gasses can be directed by magnets, the gasses can be put where you want them.
I've already described three types of printers that exist right now. One, the computer printer. Two, the 3-D printer. Three, the human-tissue printer. The point is, printer technology can be used in many different ways. I'm proposing a new way to use printer technology. Design a printer that can use hot gasses, ionized gasses, controlled by magnets, to print matter from the rapidly-cooling gasses. In other words, take the hot gasses, "print" them out, and as they cool, they take the shape determined by the printer.
Do you see what we've done? We tore apart an automobile, and we ended up printing out sheets and rods of pure iron. We gasified the plastic seats and dashboard, and printed out atomically-pure carbon. We collected the elements that remain gaseous when cool, and we now have pure hydrogen, pure oxygen, and pure nitrogen. We vaporized the windshield, and we printed out pure silicon from it. We took a whole car, shredded it, fed it into the furnace, and we printed-out atomically-pure raw materials, to be used again for another purpose.
I find this concept remarkable, and revolutionary. The idea of taking any and all things we call trash, putting that trash into a magical furnace/printer assembly, and receiving on the other end pure, raw materials, of better quality than can be made today.
Problems solved! From this point on, there is no such thing as trash or garbage as we have traditionally known it. ALL THINGS can be recycled this way, completely. There is no waste anymore. You don't throw out your trash as you've always done, to be forgotten in a landfill until it poisons the water supply. Instead, you decide what you want, and what you don't want, and send the unwanted things to The Furnace to be recycled. If you plan ahead a little bit, you can have a network in place to print-out materials in shapes that are known to be needed. So, you put trash into the furnace, and what comes out the other end are new items, ready-made to be put to work. Complete, total recycling. An end to waste. No more trash. The word "recycle" now comes to mean trash removal AND manufacturing, in one step.
Only one more thing remains to be done. As I said earlier, solar power operates only when the sun shines (duh!). If a Furnace in Arizona suddenly gets cloud cover, the Furnace shuts down momentarily. This is more than inconvenient, it's impractical. You can't operate a 10,000 degree furnace on-and-off that way. It wouldn't work efficiently. The only thing to be done is to secure a source of solar power that's available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That only happens in one place- space. To complete the picture, we need a space-transport system to get the raw material (trash) into Earth orbit, where the furnace would be located, and to get the finished products (or recycled stock materials) back to Earth for use and consumption. This would seem to be insurmountable, but of course, I have an answer for that, too.
Much has been said about hydrogen power. Typically, the argument is made to use water as the source of hydrogen. Often it's said that hydrogen-from-water is not efficient. What's not often said, is that the reason for this is that the oxygen from splitting the water is thrown away (that is, vented to the atmosphere). This represents a tremendous waste of the electricity that's used to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The solution is, use the oxygen, too. Start with an array of solar- and wind-power, essentially making free electricity, and use that electricity to split water. Save the hydrogen AND the oxygen, and later, re-combine them. Many people know that hydrogen and oxygen together are called ROCKET FUEL. Here's your answer. Use sun and wind, to split water, and use the H2 and O2 together, as rocket fuel, to send rockets loaded with trash into orbit, where the trash is reconverted into usable materials. The rocket exhaust is, of course, water, which disperses into the air, to fall as rain and be used again in another rocket launch.
Some day we will have a new job title. I don't know exactly what it will be. Trash man, garbage man, recycler, manufacturer, printer, rocket scientist. Combine them all into one, and I don't know what you'd call it. Maybe World Savior would be the appropriate title. As far-out as these ideas seem, they are do-able nonetheless. I don't think I've talked about any technologies that are impossible, or even really that challenging, except for bringing it all together as one. Material things still would not be free, for there is always costs involved in any business endeavor. But I would be willing to pay for a clean planet, with no trash (because it's all in orbit!), and real, true recycling of all the things we use every day. Ready-made products would glide to Earth from the Orbiting Furnace, to the department store of the future, for us to buy and use and recycle again and again.
What are we waiting for?
Coast to Coast AM
From the City of Angels, this is Coast to Coast AM, with George Noory.
From the High Desert, this is Coast to Coast AM, with Art Bell.
This show has gone through changes, but it's more the same than ever. Coast to Coast AM is the most addicting radio show ever conceived. Many years ago Art Bell began the program. Now George Noory is at the helm. On the weekends, Ian Punnett and George Knapp take over. Seven nights a week, someone is there, filling the air waves with bizarre ideas. Ideas like ghosts, UFO's, bigfoot, alien grays, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, conspiracies, poisons in our food, extraterrestrials in our government, demons in our bodies. Coast is the show that talks about the taboo. Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask, that is their motto.
I discovered Coast to Coast AM by accident, in 1999. (I wonder if anybody discovers it on purpose?) I was working as an electrician, on the night shift, at a satellite-TV company. One of my fellow co-workers was listening to the show. Art Bell was the host of the show then, and the guest was talking about human origins. He had the idea that we were created by an alien race of beings, and that we were made to be slave workers to mine gold. I had never heard such a thing, and it shook me to my core. And strangely, I suddenly felt the most overwhelming sense of connection to all the other people on the face of the earth.
And that began my love affair with Coast. Now I listen seven nights a week to the live show. I also listen to many of the repeats of the show, both before and after the live show. As if that isn't enough, there is a once-a-week sister-show called Unknown Country, formerly known as Dreamland, that I hear through my computer. Finally, older shows featuring the legendary Art Bell are played once a week in a show called Art Bell: Somewhere in Time.
I spend a lot of time listening to Coast.
Of course, I take it all with a giant grain of salt. I believe that there is a great deal of highly important information coming through Coast. I also think there is a lot of silliness and distraction on the show, if you listen carefully and with discernment. It's up to each of us to take away from the show what we think is important.
But there is nothing else like Coast.
Usually they don't talk about politics. I don't think they ever talk about sports, much to my relief. They do have science shows, and I just love that. I grew up being a big fan of science. Only later in life did I start to turn away from it. When I ran into the wall of what science didn't know, I began looking elsewhere for answers.
That's why Coast is so dear to my heart.
Ultimately, what Coast has taught me, is that many of the answers I seek are actually inside me. I never knew I was so big inside. As I listen to my cosmic-college education each night, I put another piece of the puzzle in place, and I step back to look at the big picture. At this point, what seems most important to me is to laugh. Laugh at everything, laugh at it all. Laughter is next to a loving heart. Laughter means you have a light heart, that you have laid down your cares. The ancient Egyptians taught the importance of having a light heart to gain access to the afterlife. I'll bet the ancient Egyptians laughed. I'll bet they laughed a lot.
I love Coast. I laugh with Coast. I live for Coast. Coast is my salvation.
So become a member of our family in Coast. Sure, it's on late-at-night, but it's on so many radio stations, that surely there's one near you that fits your schedule. Of course, you can record the show for later, if you must. Or you can do as I have, and get a night job and listen to the show while you work. (Alright, if you don't want to quit your job, you can also listen on your computer.) We are 10-20 million listeners strong, every night of the week. You can call in to the show, too, if you have something to say. They offer open phone lines at some point in almost every show. I myself have called in many times over the years.
I hope to hear you on Coast!
From the High Desert, this is Coast to Coast AM, with Art Bell.
This show has gone through changes, but it's more the same than ever. Coast to Coast AM is the most addicting radio show ever conceived. Many years ago Art Bell began the program. Now George Noory is at the helm. On the weekends, Ian Punnett and George Knapp take over. Seven nights a week, someone is there, filling the air waves with bizarre ideas. Ideas like ghosts, UFO's, bigfoot, alien grays, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, conspiracies, poisons in our food, extraterrestrials in our government, demons in our bodies. Coast is the show that talks about the taboo. Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask, that is their motto.
I discovered Coast to Coast AM by accident, in 1999. (I wonder if anybody discovers it on purpose?) I was working as an electrician, on the night shift, at a satellite-TV company. One of my fellow co-workers was listening to the show. Art Bell was the host of the show then, and the guest was talking about human origins. He had the idea that we were created by an alien race of beings, and that we were made to be slave workers to mine gold. I had never heard such a thing, and it shook me to my core. And strangely, I suddenly felt the most overwhelming sense of connection to all the other people on the face of the earth.
And that began my love affair with Coast. Now I listen seven nights a week to the live show. I also listen to many of the repeats of the show, both before and after the live show. As if that isn't enough, there is a once-a-week sister-show called Unknown Country, formerly known as Dreamland, that I hear through my computer. Finally, older shows featuring the legendary Art Bell are played once a week in a show called Art Bell: Somewhere in Time.
I spend a lot of time listening to Coast.
Of course, I take it all with a giant grain of salt. I believe that there is a great deal of highly important information coming through Coast. I also think there is a lot of silliness and distraction on the show, if you listen carefully and with discernment. It's up to each of us to take away from the show what we think is important.
But there is nothing else like Coast.
Usually they don't talk about politics. I don't think they ever talk about sports, much to my relief. They do have science shows, and I just love that. I grew up being a big fan of science. Only later in life did I start to turn away from it. When I ran into the wall of what science didn't know, I began looking elsewhere for answers.
That's why Coast is so dear to my heart.
Ultimately, what Coast has taught me, is that many of the answers I seek are actually inside me. I never knew I was so big inside. As I listen to my cosmic-college education each night, I put another piece of the puzzle in place, and I step back to look at the big picture. At this point, what seems most important to me is to laugh. Laugh at everything, laugh at it all. Laughter is next to a loving heart. Laughter means you have a light heart, that you have laid down your cares. The ancient Egyptians taught the importance of having a light heart to gain access to the afterlife. I'll bet the ancient Egyptians laughed. I'll bet they laughed a lot.
I love Coast. I laugh with Coast. I live for Coast. Coast is my salvation.
So become a member of our family in Coast. Sure, it's on late-at-night, but it's on so many radio stations, that surely there's one near you that fits your schedule. Of course, you can record the show for later, if you must. Or you can do as I have, and get a night job and listen to the show while you work. (Alright, if you don't want to quit your job, you can also listen on your computer.) We are 10-20 million listeners strong, every night of the week. You can call in to the show, too, if you have something to say. They offer open phone lines at some point in almost every show. I myself have called in many times over the years.
I hope to hear you on Coast!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Love to Mother
Here is my first blog, and where shall I start? I'll start with beginning, and ending.
Mom gave me a beginning in 1964. Mom's life ended just a few weeks ago.
On June 16, 2011, Ruth Enid Swiger left this world. We can only speculate about where she is now, if she is anywhere at all. I've spent most of the last twenty years thinking about what happens to us when we die, and after all I've heard, I've concluded that in some form or fashion we continue to exist somewhere else. I think we have another body that co-exists with our physical body. That body is called a soul. It can mirror our physical form, but it is not made of matter as we know it. I don't know what it's made of, it may be only the "idea" of us, a mental construct, just a memory. I imagine that the soul resembles a Fourth-of-July sparkler, a point of light radiating in all directions, and when that soul is in a body, it "expands" to fill the body, as air expands in a balloon. And when the balloon pops, at the time of Death, the soul keeps the shape of the body, at least for awhile thereafter.
What then? I ask. So she goes on from here, what does that mean, just where is she? Another dimension, a new life ahead? I've concluded she has a new body, so she must have a life to go with it. That's all I've got, really, anything more and I'm guessing about where she might be now. All I can do is take solace from this, that she lives and she's happy and healthy.
When my father died, more than twenty years ago, all I could feel then was anger and confusion. Because of his death, I have dwelt on the subject, so I've spent time preparing for Mom's death. Now that she's gone, I'm not angry, nor confused nor wishing that things had been different. We did all we could to make use of our time, on the phone, and in person, and by mail. In the end, I just miss her, and all I feel now is a sadness that we'll never talk again.
And this brings me now to this moment in time, in the life that I find myself living. After all that has happened, I must ask myself, what's important, what lessons do I take from this? The important thing is, that I'm not all alone, and I must be with my family while we still have time. Since we're all going to die, let us not waste our time, and let's talk while the phone lines are still open. Maybe we live after Death, as I feel, but we still must not squander this moment.
While my family's important, I've also come to see that a new "family" is waiting to be born. It's a family of friends, and of colleagues and neighbors, and it's just as real as my kin is. Thank God I was born here, where we all can be family, even though we all have different parents. From my mother's passing, I take with me this lesson, that here-and-now I'm in a family called American. Thank you, Mother, for the gift of my life, and for your life, given in sacrifice. Know this, then, that you have succeeded, that you've taught me the best lesson of them all. That by giving away myself, I will find myself, and more, I'll find family, and they're all around me, everywhere.
Mom gave me a beginning in 1964. Mom's life ended just a few weeks ago.
On June 16, 2011, Ruth Enid Swiger left this world. We can only speculate about where she is now, if she is anywhere at all. I've spent most of the last twenty years thinking about what happens to us when we die, and after all I've heard, I've concluded that in some form or fashion we continue to exist somewhere else. I think we have another body that co-exists with our physical body. That body is called a soul. It can mirror our physical form, but it is not made of matter as we know it. I don't know what it's made of, it may be only the "idea" of us, a mental construct, just a memory. I imagine that the soul resembles a Fourth-of-July sparkler, a point of light radiating in all directions, and when that soul is in a body, it "expands" to fill the body, as air expands in a balloon. And when the balloon pops, at the time of Death, the soul keeps the shape of the body, at least for awhile thereafter.
What then? I ask. So she goes on from here, what does that mean, just where is she? Another dimension, a new life ahead? I've concluded she has a new body, so she must have a life to go with it. That's all I've got, really, anything more and I'm guessing about where she might be now. All I can do is take solace from this, that she lives and she's happy and healthy.
When my father died, more than twenty years ago, all I could feel then was anger and confusion. Because of his death, I have dwelt on the subject, so I've spent time preparing for Mom's death. Now that she's gone, I'm not angry, nor confused nor wishing that things had been different. We did all we could to make use of our time, on the phone, and in person, and by mail. In the end, I just miss her, and all I feel now is a sadness that we'll never talk again.
And this brings me now to this moment in time, in the life that I find myself living. After all that has happened, I must ask myself, what's important, what lessons do I take from this? The important thing is, that I'm not all alone, and I must be with my family while we still have time. Since we're all going to die, let us not waste our time, and let's talk while the phone lines are still open. Maybe we live after Death, as I feel, but we still must not squander this moment.
While my family's important, I've also come to see that a new "family" is waiting to be born. It's a family of friends, and of colleagues and neighbors, and it's just as real as my kin is. Thank God I was born here, where we all can be family, even though we all have different parents. From my mother's passing, I take with me this lesson, that here-and-now I'm in a family called American. Thank you, Mother, for the gift of my life, and for your life, given in sacrifice. Know this, then, that you have succeeded, that you've taught me the best lesson of them all. That by giving away myself, I will find myself, and more, I'll find family, and they're all around me, everywhere.
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