User:IndiAndy

'To see a world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower: Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.' - William Blake

About me:

My nickname is IndiAndy. I live in the beautiful & sunny Golden State of Southern California where I work as Equipment Engineer with a large Aerospace corporation. A military veteran having served in the U.S. Army - I've traveled around the world a little bit. I love the outdoors & can hardly wait for my next climbing, backpacking/fishing trip in the remote wilderness havens of the Sierra Nevada. I know what I like & I like what I know (you know). I'm a Big GENESIS fan.

I try to keep my mind & spirit fit & flexible by reading difficult (sometimes impossible for me) to understand books. I've enjoyed practicing martial arts in the past & am 25 year veteran of rock-climbing. I'm an autodidact with slightly more than casual interests in physics (cosmology, optics, Quantum Electrodynamics/Field Theory), mathematics (symmetry & group theories), & theology (12 step, vanilla Christianity). Now, by lazy I mean that I aspire for competence & comprehension but I'm not overly concerned if I don't get there. I just try to keep my mind open & fit by stretching it around difficult subjects. I'll keep chipping & plugging away it until I think I've exhausted my ability to stretch. I'm not trying to fool anyone into thinking that just because I try to understand all these deep & technical subjects & books that somehow my taste reflect my intelligence. I'm categorically incompetent in the mathematics which are absolutely necessary in order to completely comprehend & practice the physics which I like to investigate. I'm not even passably competent with basic college mathematics. But that's all I do - investigate, explore, & try to flex my mind in order to follow a path of continuous enlightenment & humility. As far as my interests in Theology, I'm attracted to concepts of real spirituality in action (see the last quote at the bottom of this essay). I strive for honesty, open-mindedness & willingness.

Following are quotes that help keep me teachable (i.e. humble):

'We dance around in a ring and suppose. But the secret sits in the middle and knows.' Josepf Joubert

'Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.' H.L. Mencken

'Denying, believing and doubting are to men what running is to horses' Blaise Pascal

'There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is contempt prior to investigation.' - Herbert Spencer 'Our faith prepares us for what lies ahead and tells us that it's a mystery to us, and we tremble before that mystery.' Author Unknown

'The most important thing we can know about a man is what he takes for granted and the most elemental and important facts about a society are those that are seldom debated and generally regarded as settled.' Louis Wirth

'As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds is as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.' Albert Schweitzer 'Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.' Blaise Pascal

'The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.' Tom Clancy

'So, as you would imagine, I grew up exuberant in body but with a nervy, craving mind. It was wanting something more, something tangible. It sought for reality intensely, always as if it were not there... But you see at once what I do, I climb.' Dr. John Menlove

'You can't think your way into right actions, but you can act your way into right thinking' Anonymous

that's it from me for now...