Towards an inner connections

Kaballah

This is week one day two of my journey of inner contemplation. My focus is on the monad, colour white, the number one, circles and signs of authority. This journey of ten weeks embraces a greater awareness of synchronicity. So this morning I put on a white T-shirt with a big number one on it. I saw a message from a friend who left a link to the indian  music  Prabhujee (प्रभुजी): Chant of India. India played a significant role throughout the day through several unrelated coincidences. After registration for example I walked with the conference bag and an Indian lady asked me where the registration hall is....I showed her the way. So maybe old india with its rich spiritual heritage has something for me to learn from as I go along this journey.

Since it was only registration and the opening of the exhibition area I had sufficient time for meditation which put me in a mindset of focus on the inner journey that is reflected in my outer journey. I decided to go and explore the environment leaving my room at 13:00 to explore Sun City.

I decided to first draw a rune and see how the runes link into this journey. The rune drawn was Perdho which has an accurate reflection. Ralph Blum says about this rune “Perdho points to that which is beyond our frail manipulative powers. Powerful forces are at work, yet what is achieved is not easily or readily shared. The rune reminds us that the means of becoming whole is a profound secret. Perdho has a strong connection of being initiated. Nothing external matters except as it shows you its inner reflection. Perdho is concerned with the deepest stratum of your being, the bedrock on which your destiny is founded. If need be, let go of everything: no exceptions, no exclusions”. I could not ask for a more apt description of my journey.

The temperature is very warm, but it was fun to discover places and consciously seek for the symbols I mentioned above. It is amazing how one become aware of white…your linen, the cups etc all white. No great break through occurred but the day was significant. The atmosphere is not exactly one of spirituality...Sun City is about gambling and treating the senses to all kinds of experiences...maybe it is a good reflection of the world in general. The world does not promote the spiritual evolution within but often acts as a constrain. The mystical path is to discover the divine reflection in the world irrispective of how much it focus on senses only.

I registered for the conference and attended the opening of the exhibition area. I did my social networking and made two worthwhile connections…the start of new things which should inform my goals of establishing an Information Management Discipline.

Positive week blog challenge

Day 2 - Name Five Things You Love About Yourself

Positivity Week Blog Challenge by @Shining_Garnet
Day 1 - Tell about a day trip or vacatio that put you in a good mood.
I am on that trip right now. I am going to an Oracle User conference. Might sound boring but any trip is an adventure. New places to see, new people to meet. I had been to the infamous Sun City before but that was more than ten years ago. So it is for me a new adventure. I do not know what will happen...nor what I will learn. The door of possibility is open. I travel with six co-workers and it will be an opportunity to build better relationships. In the elder Futhark the rune Ing is connected with the Dane who travelled to new lands. Travel was perceived as an indispensable parrt of personal growth. Travel opens the mind for new thoughts to enter. The rune Reidho was also linked with travel but more with the means of travel. I have just start on this journey but I approach it s an adventure for me personally. The 11/11/11 was a start for me of ab elevenn week journey through the Tree of life or. Kabbalah. This journey will therefor not just be about work but it will give me opportunity to reflect on my life, my goals and who I am becoming. My thoughts are already fresh and I have several new themes to write about...to record this physical journey as the start of a longer journey. As above so below is a principle I embrace and this means the physical journey will only be a reflection on the spiritual journey. The eleven weeks journey is again ebedded in a lnger eleven month journey for the time when Saturn is still in Libra, my sun sign.I focused on understanding Saturnic energy over the last two years since the planet entered Libra. Finally some insights are reaching me and I understand the role of discipline and labour as part of a spiritual path. So this journey pus me in a positive mood because it is rich with possibility and will be the beginning of a final stretch of my time of focus on Saturn as an astrological arcetype.

Allowing opportunity to enter

#Contemplation

"When you open the door of #possibility, then #opportunity will enter"

This was the idea that popped into my head this morning while I was contemplating my model of the enneagram. We have to take action by becoming aware of all the possibilities. Often to  allow for new possibilities we have to let go of the things that provide us with a sense of comfort. We say people have to step out of their comfort zone. However not everybody does it and often they do not know how to do it or do it wrongly. Although it takes courage to step out of your comfort zone it does not always change your life. When you step out of your comfort zone you must have intent and awareness. Intent of why you step into the domain of the uncertain and awareness to be able to identify new opportunities.

If you step outside your comfort zone just for the sake of it, you might find yourself just in an uncomfortable position which might even be to your detriment. I do encourage you to look at what is outside your comfort zone and I do encourage you that you step outside of that comfort zone. However look at where you are going before doing so...you do not have to perform a blind leap of faith and hope somebody will catch you. When you do have the courage then be vigilantly aware of synchronicities and incidences that leads you to your purpose. When you adopt this approach you will find yourself on a new exiting adventure of discovering your true self.  For when you open the door of possibility, you can be certain that opportunity will enter.

#Pagan #art

The blot

My son had to do a project about....depicting a ritual through art. Knowing our Nordic and Germanic heritage he chose an Asatru ritual called a #blot, the most common ritual they use to honor the Norse Pagan gods. The blot is a blessing and represent a change of gifts between man and the divine. In this Pagan #heathenism the gods are not above man but rather the god's and man is walking alongside each other...each according his/her own nature. During the blot they will fill a horn with mead, a type of honey wine. The horn is then past around...and each person reflect and/or commit to a Norse gods e.g. Odin, #Thor, Freya, Sif etc.  The actual mead is just a symbol  of the gift they give to the god or goddess, which is their devotion loyalty and remembrance of the principles represented by the deity. Finally the horn is held up in the air as a final gift before the gods before it is poured into the ground.

In Norse tradition a gift received must be answered with a gift. So the gods will return a gift. In return the god's give them things like courage, inspiration and wisdom etc. To receive the gift the horn is again filled with mead and lifted high so that the gifts of the gods can be poured into the mead. The #mead is then poured into a bowl and sprinkled with a sprig onto the people as symbol of the god's gifts. The mead, that is left, is poured out onto the ground.

In the painting the hand with the Hammer of course represent Thor the Norse War god. The valley in the background is to show that it is a nature religion. The horn with the mead flowing out onto the earth is on the right bottom. Finally the tree on the left with the exposed roots represent the tree of life called Yggdrasil. 

What is important for me is that we strive to define the divine....and then to make it part of our life.  I am not trying to promote this as an answer or religion but we can certainly learn about humanity's need to feel infused and connected with the divine. We do it in different ways following different rituals. The blot is a lovely ritual irrespective of whether you share the belief or not. The point is that we can look at a religion and respect it and appreciate what the people are trying to do. 

Well done Xanga

Xanga - Mobi

I must congratulate @the_Xanga_team on the changes made to the Beta #mobi_site. If you have not experimented yet with mobile blogging on #Xanga, then I can certainly recommend trying it out. The layout is much cleaner and easier to navigate. Thanks to @bob and the rest of the team for the effort to take Xanga into the mobile phone market. I will certainly be more inclined to update my Xanga more often and also read more of the writings of my Xangan friends.

Presenting my PhD proposal

#Studies

Yesterday morning I made final touches to my PhD proposal for a doctorate in #Industrial_Engineering. Small cosmetic changes but crucial for communicating progress and showing how a line of logic flows through my presentation. I changed some of the order of slides. I planned for enough time to ensure that I can go through the presentation at least twice. I felt confident when I got into my car to go to the university.

I met with my professor a his offices. He was still busy sending away an e-mail so I sat and chat with another PhD candidate. He is 56 years old and doing a PhD, defining a three dimensional knowledge cube with which he can improve a commercial success event - the likelihood of making a sale when a potential buyer of a product make the decision to buy. He hopes that by defining and using this cube he would be able to better predict the likelihood of a successful sale. In the mean time Prof finished and the three of us first went for a lunch in a quaint little shop in the outskirt of Stellenbosch. I enjoyed the time to get to the know them a bit better on a personal level. What a person orders from the menu and the way they address the waiter is always tells something interesting about the person. We drifted between small talk and the upcoming presentations. After lunch we headed to the venue where we met with one of the panel members. 

The panel already had a morning of listening five proposals for dissertation for a Masters degree in Industrial engineering. What was left for the day was our two PhD proposals and one more presentation for a masters's dissertation. The presentation for the masters was very ambitious. The young man wanted to investigate three very huge areas of Innovation, Knowledge management and Strategic alliance to investigate how it overlap. I recommended that he rather choose one of these areas and then look at how that area can be improve the using the other areas. His current proposal would be too wide and lead to nothing. Other people also commented on his presentation ... all in a positive manner with the aim of showing him how he should change his proposal to ensure better success in delivering his dissertation. 

My fellow #PhD candidate did his presentation in terms of the knowledge cube.  Although he did an excellent job, they pointed quickly to a flaw in the methodology...an area he agreed was lacking. He will have to go and rethink his hypothesis...to incorporate the better the emotional decision making side of the buy decision. His cube mainly focused on product characteristics and not on the influence of the decision maker's state at the point of the success event.

I did my presentation in full Toastmaster mode...filled with energy, eye contact...pauses, gestures etc. etc... I gave a short but comprehensive historical review of how Industrial engineering developed as a discipline to address the type of problem I will be addressing. At completion the head of the Head of the Department's immediate comment was that it was the best presentation they have heard.... Of course that left a big smile on my face. Lots of positive comments followed. They could not find anything wrong with the proposal but express valid concerns about how I would validate the final end result and requested that I make sure my hypothesis place the focus on the reference framework I want to deliver and not on the improvement of democratic processes....since the latter would be difficult to proof. Another panel member made an excellent proposal on how I can approach the validation in a more structured way. It is a good suggestion which I will look into when finalizing the proposal. 

One of the panel members from another university said he was overall impressed by the quality of the presentations...It is much better than that he experienced at the other university...I think the professor was happy with that comment. 

I felt tired afterwards. (The previous night I went to bed at 3:00 am and got up at 6:00.) The rest of the evening I did nothing...just relaxed and replenished my energy levels. I am satisfied that I am one step further down the path towards this goal that eluded me for such a long time. I still have to make another presentation to an external panel of experts before I can say the proposal has been adopted. Small steps finishes the journey.

Meeting the professor

PhD 

This morning I went to see Prof. Du Preez to discuss the presentation of my proposal for my #Doctorate research in #Industrial_Engineering. I am focusing my #PhD research on information management in #parliaments in order to support democratic processes and collaboration between parliaments. This morning I wanted to focus on the methodology I am proposing. I was uncertain if I included sufficient detail and clarity. The meeting was salubrious with the professor providing feedback on how he understood my proposal. I then commented on the feedback by pointing out both differences and points of agreement. He confirmed that the methodology I want to follow is sound and made two contributions.

Firstly he requested that I start a bit more on a theoretical basis than what I anticipated. I have to show how reference models like the Zachman framework and other enterprise architecture models developed as an attempt to provide tools for engineering an enterprise or an industry. He also helped me a lot to give credibility to my methodology by reflecting how the methodology relates to an Enterprise architecture approach where the architect moves from a generic model to a partial model to a specific model and finally to an implementation instance.

Although his input did not change the fundamental academic methodology it did add considerably my methodology by showing that the methodology is also a sound engineering problem solving approach. In terms of the further discussions he advised that I highlight how I am mitigating the risk areas of such a project such as: Timeline, costs, practicality etc. We also discussed how I will formulate the contribution that this PhD will make on several levels. I still have some preparation to do and changes to make to the presentation for tomorrow. I am glad that the professor felt enthused by my proposal and that he expressed his confidence in the proposal. 

Quick update

Journal style entry

I have no new insights or things to share. I have a few minutes just to log something of what is happening. On Friday I am presenting my PhD proposal so that has moved to the front of things to concentrate on. Tomorrow that will most definitely be the focus point to finalise my preparations for the presentation. In terms of the abstract I submitted two of three reviewers were happy and one reviewer asked that certain questions be addressed. The initial feedback is good.

In terms of my work I have summarised in detail everything that had been delivered by my office between 1 April and 31 October 2011.  Although much still need to be done before the end of this financial year, I am happy with progress. I just need to to one person's performance assessment then all the performance assessments for mid-year is completed. I hope that my ideas for performance management through business intelligence remain on the priority agenda and get approved before the end of the year.  I had done a lot to position the proposed solution and put it in the correct context. The process is now out of my hands and I must trust that the process will go its full course.

I am finally gaining a handle on the 24 movements of Tai Chi that we are learning. I started later than the class and as a result never caught onto the forms as I should. I concluded that it is important whenever you learn something to take time to learn the basics first. You can not rush the basics. Once the basics are mastered then one can accellerate your learning on a firm basis. I always followed this type of reasoning but it is a bit of wisdom that was re-emphasized for me today.

#Dream #Journal

Summary notes

7/10/11 - I am oranising a major event, focusing on its promotion.

10/10/11 - I am protesting against fracking for oil in the Karoo by writing letters to the authorities on wagon wheels. There are three layers of messages each with its own way of structuring sentences. I had the help of a white poodle dog.

11/10/11 - I had a sexual dream...(Details sensored)

13/10/11 - I participate in the price giving of a debate competition. (Note: I was a judge at a debate competition the previous evening)

14/10/11 - I put together a team of 5 people to assist me with research. I focus on a strategy of starting with the simple and moving to the complex (Note: I took time off for my PhD research in this period)

15/10/11 - FDH (I can not remember what FDH stands for...it is all I could remember)

17/10/11 - I pay a visit to the cave of Vahala where all world affairs are managed by the Nordic Gods.

19/10/11 - A romantic dream. I saw two lovers making love in a cave next to the sea. I stand amazed by the beauty of love. I offer the male advice on how to court his female lover. My advice is to find a place where he can pretend to drown so that he can be saved by the maiden. Afterwards I left the lovers making love on a flat rock next to the sea.

24/10/11 - I design personal protection services in three layers of defence.

25/10/11 - I traffic chickens across a border. I am an expert in hiding things inside the chickens to get things across the border undetected. (Note: I am not sure if it was illegal trafficking for a good or bad purpose)

27/10/11 - I fight physically with my dad over some type of tool which I borrowed from him. He gave me a few powerful karate kicks leaving me lying on the ground.

28/10/11 - A kinky sexually oriented dream... (Best to be sensored - Did something I never thought of before)

30/10/11 - I am playing chess with my middle daughter

31/10/11 - I am writing a manual on the laws of battles. Specifically writing a paragraph: "Know where to target your enemy"

Dream Journal 19/09/11- 7/10/11