wookiedharma

@wookiedharma.bsky.social

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love, trees, dogs, water, mountains, stars, laughter… connection

Energy is never created or destroyed—only redirected. The energy that moves through me is not unique; it is the same ancient force that animates every person, every animal, every leaf turning toward the sun. We are differentiated not by origin, but by the channels energy moves through—like different sections of the same river. To recognize this continuity is what we call love: not affection, but alignment—an awareness that the motion in me is inseparable from the motion in you. Water does not merely carry energy; it holds it. In the brain, water is not a passive bath for neurons but an organized, liquid-crystalline lattice—storing information, stabilizing life against chaos, and preserving patterns amid constant change. Within this lattice of dipolar water molecules, billions of microscopic compass needles align in response to harmonics, turning the mind into a sensitive receiver that vibrates with the frequencies that move through it. Our brain waves subtly shift this spacing; dehydration collapses it. When the lattice is ordered, energy transfers with less resistance. Thought grows quieter, clearer, more coherent. What we call “flow” or deep meditation feels like crystalline clarity not because the mind has changed, but because the medium through which it moves has been brought back into alignment. Fear and judgment harden our boundaries in the name of protection. These walls slow our flow. Energy pools, stagnates. This separation is not a moral failure so much as a physical blockage—the "compass needles" lose their North, movement is trapped, perceptions are dulled, and empathy is numbed. Healing begins when we stop fortifying the walls and start softening them, allowing the lattice to reorganize. As the blockages dissolve, we feel the energy begin to move again. The boundary between self and other loses relevance—like a single drop moving in the ocean. The recognition that we are not isolated pools is older than the walls we learned to build. And here lies the
We are the intersection of our ancestral riverbed and the wave of consciousness moving through us. This riverbed is our DNA—a lithic floor carved by the floods and droughts of those who came before. It is a map of ancient stone that tells the water how to dance. Because the rocks remain, the water always flows the same; this is how the "Self" persists. We remember who we are not because we are the same water, but because we are the same pathway. The water itself—our cells, our atoms, our breath—is merely a temporary guest. Every few years, the river is entirely new, yet the shape of the flow remains. We are a molecular choreography, a pattern that holds its form even as its substance vanishes into the sea. But we are also the wave— energy in transit. We are a pulse that uses the water but is not of the water. We know that in the ocean, the water molecules stay in place, moving only in small, rhythmic circles, while the wave travels for thousands of miles. We are that travel. We are the energy moving through the stillness. When life is violent or beautiful, the wave surges and crashes against the ancestral rocks, grinding them down, carving new bends, and leaving scars in the stone. This is how we hold trauma: it is a change in the river’s architecture, a physical redirection of the flow that lasts long after the storm has passed. And when the river finally meets the horizon? The water stays behind, sinking into the earth or rising as mist. But the wave—the information, the frequency, that was "us"—does not cease. It diffuses into the fabric of spacetime. It becomes a rhythmic echo seeking a new shore, carrying with it the subtle shape of every rock it ever touched. We are the surge that remembers the stone.
where life finds root upon the stone— a seed grateful for driftwood's dust where the ancient cedar's journey ends in a final gift, upon a rock that knows only cold and sun. the forest's slow, eternal breath turns all things to soil, in faith of the seed that continually creates a new world from what was lost.
looking back in time, to when plants first learned to form alliances with bacteria and engineer buoyant networks where swarm-sensing creates a collective, a oneness that makes decisions based on signals from the fringe… just like mushrooms, social ants and the human brain
billions of years, echoing in vastness… nano-matter's drive to preserve is water only wet when enough?
image of coastal zone between ocean and forest with exposed rock giving way to the forest where several large driftwood trees, that are bleached and battered, decompose into the future soil. poem inspired by #oliver #eiseley #thoreau
picture of bay off cortes island this morning. the sun is not visible but is creating a heavenly glow within the low clouds and mists swirling through the evergreens on shore. there are multiple groups of different birds floating in the water singing songs to welcome the new day.
man kneeling down to love on his dog who is nuzzling into him. the setting is beautiful. both are on a wide mountain rock that overlooks the ocean in 270 degrees with mountains in the distance across the bay.
image of google scholar link showing the foundational 2012 paper on the subject: Floudas, D. et al. (2012). The Paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes. Science, 336(6089), 1715-1719.
short ~25 second video of the sunrise over the mountains and dancing on the calm ocean water from my view on this morning’s kayak adventure.
upside down view of sky, bay and granite rock from cortes island, bc while i am standing on a rocky bluff overlooking the bay and looking at the beauty upside down (between my legs) as i do a downward facing dog yoga stretch. its a beautiful, and dizzying, image!
video of a large douglas fir tree in kwas park. the video starts zoomed into the base of the tree where there is a break in the bark that looks like a portal to another world (a la narnia) and then the video climbs the massive tree vertically for about one minute never quite reaching the top. the bark has lots of holes in it from small winged animals that perhaps once called it home…
40 second video of boat ride to cortes island, bc. the video shows a 270 degrees view of the many mountainous islands covered in green fir trees and some of which have caught some happy fluffy white clouds.
Are aluminum adjuvants added to vaccines solely as a business decision to save money, rather than for scientific reasons? No, the primary reason for adding aluminum salt adjuvants to vaccines is a fundamental scientific one: to make them work effectively. The inclusion of an adjuvant is a critical step in modern vaccine development, especially for vaccines that use purified protein or subunit antigens (parts of a pathogen) instead of the whole organism. These purified antigens are much safer but are often not "visible" enough to the immune system to trigger a strong or lasting response on their own. The aluminum adjuvant acts as a crucial danger signal that alerts the immune system and attracts key immune cells to the injection site. This boosts the body’s ability to recognize the antigen and build a powerful, protective response. While the use of adjuvants can make vaccines more efficient and cost-effective by reducing the number of doses needed, this is a beneficial consequence of their core scientific function, not the primary reason for their use.
while the literal interpretation of the text might feel outdated in the face of industrial change —the concept of strategic patience seems to conflict with the reality of a world where being "slow" can mean being left behind. The "impatient" can indeed "run amok" and seize resources, opportunities, or power while others are waiting for things to "flourish." — its core principles can be re-evaluated to fit a modern context. It serves as a reminder to consider a different kind of strength—one that comes from flexibility, observation, and a long-term perspective, rather than just brute force and immediate action. The challenge is in figuring out when to apply this ancient wisdom and when to recognize that the rules of the game have changed.
bella, the 4 year old golden retreiver, mid-step as she trots along the sandstone near the shore at botanical beach. the black rocks and trees fading into the clouds serves as a beautiful background.
I’m hugging a large douglas fir tree and giving thanks for all the gifts it gives. i like to say thank you in my head while breathing in deeply and hugging the ancient being that makes the air i’m breathing. it’s very grounding.
A picture of my 4 year old golden retriever puppy named Bella who is standing on a narrow fallen tree in the woods as she looks up into the sun with her eyes closed and a happy smile upon her whiskery face. The tree she that she has all four paws on is covered in a verdant green moss. The nearby trees are fairly well spaced in what is a stand of mostly cedar trees. The angle of the sun is making long shadows in the early evening sun.
two closeup pictures of the same tree that has a multilayered bark that is peeling at different rates along the tree — with a rough outer bark and incredibly smooth and thin papery layer that is peach colored that peels and cracks in beautiful ways, and a third inner green layer that is cool to the touch (even on a hot day).
picture of a children’s illustration book called “everybody needs a rock” by Byrd Baylor. I like this book very much!
me and bella sitting on the ground near two large moss covered boulders amidst a stand of arbutus and oak trees in the early evening.
Out of the crooked timber of humanity, the beauty of our twists and turns, gnarled, knotted, and woodsy souls strengthened and weakened by our many cracks and fissures that grow in crooked lines, ever reaching for the sky and digging deep in search of resilience as our own abiding beauty rests in the shady thickets of our imperfections thankful, that no straight thing was ever made… written while listening to soul junction by the red garland quintet with john coltrane
a 4 year old golden retriever bounding joyously in the small waves at the beach with green trees atop brown cliffs to the left and the olympic mountains in washington state are visible in the far distance.
my non-mountain time has focused on exploring a floodplain along a bend in the nooksack river, for hours a day, jumping from boulder to boulder in an oldman’s taichi-parkour that causes neurons to sizzle as you find a ‘line’ and commit to it — you don’t learn to surf until you learn how to find the edge. then, you learn to find the edge almost everywhere… to find ‘the edge’ just requires moving faster than is comfortable, so that your primal limbic brain takes over from the cerebral cortex… initially you walk like frankenstein and only see flat areas to step, however with practice your monkey brain learns to see footworthy edges and points everywhere, and you’re eventually hopping from rock to rock eith elven dexterity. anyways, walking the rivers edge also trains you to see ‘into’ time — what was, and will be… because the rising/falling water level changes the landscape so quickly. its a really good training ground for the mind — sometimes you look upriver sometimes you look down river sometimes you get into the river sometimes you watch the river sometimes you turn and hike up the creek regardless, everywhere you look is so beautiful that it makes you feel like you’re falling in love with the world again and again, continually. this picture shows a small area of the nooksack river with boulders along the river’s edge that have been my playground. the top of mount baker is visible in the background. baker is still covered in snow, which is contrasted by the spring green of the trees in the foreground. this picture doesn’t include hawks/eagles but i have watched them play in the air currents above, sometimes as many as 11 of them divebombing each other with glorious aerial gymnastics. ahimsa.
Bella the golden retriever on a snowy damfino lakes trail on june 7, 2025. There is snow covering a vertical backcountry slope that a few locals ski down. This is around 3 miles from the trailhead. The pic is above the thick tree line but there are still some douglas fir trees in the background. I especially love the tree tops poking out of the snow. 😍
Trees release organic compounds through their roots (root exudates). These compounds include sugars, amino acids, and organic acids, which enhance the availability of nutrients and ions in the soil. —Root exudates stimulate microbial activity in the soil (near the roots). This increased microbial activity can lead to the breakdown of organic matter and the release of additional nutrients and ions. —The presence of tree roots improves soil structure by creating channels and spaces that enhance aeration and water infiltration. This can lead to better nutrient retention and availability. —Trees contribute to the accumulation of organic matter through leaf litter and decaying roots. This organic matter can enhance the soil's cation exchange capacity (CEC), allowing it to hold more positively charged ions (cations) like calcium, magnesium, and potassium. —Trees can resonate with certain frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The height and shape of a tree can influence its ability to absorb and respond to EM signals, similar to how antennas are designed to capture specific wavelengths. —The conductive properties of water within the tree and the presence of ions in the sap can enhance the tree's ability to interact with EM fields (from solar and geomagnetic phenomena). Trees grow ‘into’ the EM field, its why they spiral. And why trees exposed to EM radiation from power lines exhibit changes in growth patterns, leaf morphology, and overall health (trees growing near high-voltage power lines showed differences in growth compared to those further away) —The field of bioelectromagnetics explores the interactions between living organisms and electromagnetic fields. Research in this area has examined how plants can detect and respond to EM signals, including the potential for trees to act as bioindicators of environmental changes.
picture of my golden retriever sitting on bottom right looking down. she is sitting on a field of snow looking up a mountain. there are evergreen trees along the edges of the picture. the scene is of a wide creek that is still snowed over and is the lowest point that skiers ski down to before removing skis and hiking back to cars.
a picture of the spring time outdoors in northen washington in the early evening looking down from an elevated position over a small bed of purple blooms adorning the lupin plant’s explosive celebration of life with a swift flowing creek behind. the creek has boulders large enough to need to jump to them when exploring. the other side of the creek are a thin stand of young alder and maple trees. The bank I am standing on is about 10 feet higher than the creek. This place has a great view of mt baker (from low elevation). they’re is a young doug fir growing on the high near bank amidst the lupin. the sky is mostly cloudy with a bright blue day peaking through from above. frankly, the picture is too flat and does not convey the depth of the scene… depth is an interesting concept within sight. there’s a different sense when you can look past some things and/or focus on what is close while ignoring the further away stuff. the feeling of immersion. similar to the difference between being surrounded by a symphony of music and sounds coming from a speaker.
An ai cartoon anime image of my golden retriver, Bella, trotting down the country road we have been living off of the past two months. The road is lined by yellow dandelions and pink and blue forget-me-nots and towering cedar, fir and maple trees with a thick understory of every variety of fern you can imagine. Everything is blooming or has just bloomed and is now filling the air with a snowglobe flurry of fluffy seeds that dance in the low sun as if they are celebrating being alive! and even when resting on the ground, they are so attracted to Bella’s pure love that whenever Bella goes prancing by on her unrivalled adventures they get all excited again and swirl around her magnetic presence. This is the road that leads to a gorgeous trail that winds its way through patches of berry bushes toward the glacial blue nooksack river that is riding high with spring snowmelt. It is an insanely beautiful valley and I am filled with gratitude at being lucky to witness the full glory of spring as the symphony of plants continually replinishes my love in an ever-so-muted siren song that subtly heralds an ageless faith in a seed.
This picture shows a table of data of the direct instructional expenditures for undergraduates for the 12 public universities in FL. This data shows the per credit hour amounts for the the total (all disciplines) and for each discipline (based on two-digit CIP codes). This data is available from the annual expenditure analysis report that is available at: https://www.flbog.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SUS_Expenditure-Analysis-2022-23.pdf.
picture across the valley of river, snow, steep mountain and misty clouds. various peaks are visible through the mists. the gorgeous hike was made even more magical by the steady gentle rain… in the mid-90s, i went to the rainforest in peru during the wet season where it rained 15+hrs everyday… i became very comfortable being in the rain, and learned to be filled with gratitude for the miraculous nature of our rain — this is the only place in the known universe where it rains life-giving water.
sitting on the banks of the nooksack, recalling kimmerer’s chapter (in braiding sweetgrass) about the indigenous tradition of building a huge fire every fall on the shore as a beacon to help their salmon brothers find their way back, and then celebrate the salmon’s arrival in song and dance for four festival days before beginning the annual harvest… the gratitude and joyfulness of such a mythic legend of earth’s renewal fills my heart with immense love, despite the grief for what has been lost.
image of a double rainbow in the wilderness, with a small creek in the immegiate forwground and a hint of a bigger river behind it, and on the other side of the river bank is a vibrant rainbow. above the rainbow is another rainbow that is more faint. the sky is grey except under the smaller rainbow in which everything is illuminated by the sun in full vibrancy. it looks magical.
i get tremendous satisfaction interacting with land that might not get another human interaction for a week, or a month, or longer... having a connection with the land before time without any of the distractions that people cause fills me with gratitude... to many of the plants and critters who i meet in the backcountry, i am the only human they will ever know... i get to help the little bugs that land on me get to where they're going. i get to see little critters courageously leaving their homes and heading out into the big world, and watch their relief as they return to their sweet homes. i walk through stands of nursery trees with the utmost care not to damage any of the little babies... the word 'blessing' is an incredibly undervalued word.
our diet impacts our aging process and metabolic disorders: low calorie diets have important health effects for older bodies as calorie restricted diets reduce demands of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRPs) which allows the body to produce more sirtuin… the more DNA repair that is needed the more PRPs are needed, and the less Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD) is available to stimulate sirtuins. cultural learning also impacts our choices and how we perceive danger and how willing we are to disagree with others… some people do not worry about dangerous viruses while others actively try to avoid them. this decision (based on a combination of academic and cultural learning) significantly impacts the biological boundaries we experience… those who become deeply sick will have permanently weakened biological mechanisms and they will no longer have the same opportunities they previously had as their biological options have narrowed.
the truly cool thing is that we’re capable of learning enough to change our biological boundaries! our diets are the perfect example of how this self-learning phenomenon enables people to study how behavior impacts health and then make future decisions that cause biological changes… what you eat is the expression of free will and the culmination of all that you’ve learned and of all the cultural habits you’ve picked up along the way… diet is the synergy of nature and nurture — you are what you eat. for example, our diet impacts which nutrients/toxins are available to our body (and gut microbes)… our diet influences how stimulated our immune system might be… our diet impacts our brain’s neurotransmitters… our diet impacts how clean the pipes are within our cardiovascular system… our diet can influence our metabolic processes including cancer/tumor behavior bc cancer cells crave sugar… our diet even has epigenetic effects that impacts which genes are expressed or silenced…
nature vs nurture is a false dichotomy. we are all filled with a countless number of protein-machines that ceaselessly execute our respective genetic codes and produce protein outputs that go forth and do innumerable things, or they don’t… whether these proteins enable you to grow normally, whether they enable you to have all senses to experience, and to metabolize foods and absorb vitamins and maintain fluctuating hormone levels and to be able to learn things (the first time or the 100th time)… and whether you have strength or speed… all of this frames how you experience life and how you learn… whether you have the biochemistry to be filled with anxiety, fear, depression, or anger about the world… or, are filled with eagerness to explore the unpredictable beauty of the world… or, whether you are an addict and don’t have the ability to stop drinking alcohol or having sex… or, whether you feel like a boy in a girl’s body… whether you feel like two different people or not… etc… all of these factors shape who you were, who you are, and who you will become… in this way, free will is bounded by biological boundaries… however, there is still an infinite amount of free will within those boundaries… similar to the infinite amount of art that can be placed inside a frame. this picture — of baby trees growing along a lazy creek in a field of rocks resulting from a historic flood years ago of the nooksack river — reinforced this idea of biological determinism in my mind… because most humans are so mobile, we often ignore this lesson that plants teach us about how location (and by extension biological attributes) matters… ✌️
45 second video of my golden retriever dog eating snow on hike of the heliotrope ridge trail yesterday. the camera pans to about a 50ft waterfall disappearing into the snow.
close-up picture of my golden retriever’s nose with water droplets on her snout from her morning sniffs amidst the grasses and flowers.
The first pic shows me standing on the left of the image on a snow bank (that is the remnants of an avalanche that buried the trail) looking over the valley to the opposing mountains that have such a steep massivebess that it creates a bit of an optical illusion and makes it seem like I am standing next to the mountain, but i’m really very far away from it. illusion aside, i’m in a john muir pose (whatever that means) and am leaning on my hiking pole deep in thought about the beauty that surrounds me.
a closeup picture of many rocks of different sizes, shapes and colors lying on the ground. not shown: the rocks are near a river of glacial blue waters joyously coming off mt baker in northern washington state in the water’s rapid transition from snowy peak to ocean droplet as it deposits the mountain’s long held minerals into the ocean to feed the plankton and then the entire marine ecosystem and then into the salmon that swims the minerals back into the mountains for the bears and all the mountain critters until it travels into the dirt and becomes plant over and over again… notably, several of the picture’s rocks are cracked and are ever so slowly splitting even further as they display various degrees of fracturing in this moment — beauty because of its impermanence despite its seemingly infinite scale of time… this is pure trail magic✨ that doubles as a reminder to see the setbacks of the day with a similar eye towards appreciating the inspiring beauty of that which is imperfect, broken, fracturing and crumbling… invoking a reverent gratitude that enables you to surf the awe all around you and duckdive the gnarly waves that may come your way with a grace that recognizes how others are frantically trying to escape the undertow of their own imperfections… even volatile emotions can be seen as a blessed testament to the miracle of being alive… everything is treasure! #ahimsa
A picture of a man kneeling on the snow as his golden retriever snuggles into him. The picture is taken in the backcountry ski area on mt baker on the trail to artist point with a beautiful background of muktiple snowy mountain peaks and some nearby evergreen trees.
happy golden retriever standing on grass in foreground with mt baker in the background illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.