This is the story of a wild adventure through time and space of 4 daring third culture kids living in Nepal. These four high school students are attending an international school in Kathmandu, and they call themselves third culture kids because they neither identify fully with the native culture of their parents, nor with the culture of the place where they are living. They are truly world citizens, third culture kids--not the old culture, nor the new culture, but the hybrid culture. Let me introduce you to them.
The Senior class student is from a mixed Arab and old Zoroastrian Persian family. His name is Sulayman Malik.
The Junior class student is from a mixed Irish-American and Chinese family. Her name is Claire Hunter.
The Sophomore class student is from a mixed Russian and Spanish family. Her name is Milagros Morales.
The Freshman class student is pure French, but while his father was from Paris, his mother is from Montreal. His name is Philippe Blanc.
One day this unlikely cohort of 4 high schoolers, sneak into the private lab of a Buddhist Physicist who teaches at their school who some administrators have been accusing lately of being a quack quantum mystic who has been stretching the idea of entanglement in quantum mechanics theory too far by suggest to the students that time travel is possible. Sulayman and Milagros believe him, but Claire and Philippe agree with the administrators that this is all ridiculous junk science that they should ever waste any class time discussing anymore. Over lunch Claire and Philippe got into a heated debate with Sulayman and Milagros over their devotion to the Monk Professor and his ideas, so to try to settle their argument they decided to sneak into the professor's lab to see what evidence they could add to one side of the debate or the other.
There they found a strange wheel-like gadget with four handles and a cell phone like devise with special pocket in the center. Above it they saw a note that read:
"When containing the precise elements or mixtures there of with X and Y half-lives, and when four souls of the primary elemental types of Airy Sanguine, Firey Choleric, Earthy Melancholic, and Watery Phlegmatic take hold of this wheel, they will be transported back in time to the precise previous sets of half-lives to the totem gate keepers ancient pyramid at the portal of X and Y wormhole."
"See that proves it!" Declared Claire angrily. There in black and white is the most ridiculous load of junk science anyone has ever come up with. "Indeed," parroted Philippe. Then, with his characteristic sarcasm, he added, "the only thing it's missing is that it should ask us to add Z piece of coprolite to the mixture of elements X and Y to complete the potion. After all, fossilized animal dung would fuel our journey backwards much faster, wouldn't it?" Claire liked that and laughed.
"Hold on just a minute you skeptics," Sulayman insisted. This is an interesting coincidence. I remember the ancient personality archetypes from Greek Philosophy elective last semester, and those four descriptions fit the four of us to a T. Let's just see what happens if the four of us take hold of the four handles of the wheel. There already appears to be a concoction in the center."
"Really," added Milagros, "It's not fair to ridicule the poor dear professor without even testing his instructions." "How will we ever know if his ideas mean anything if we don't even try?" she asked.
"This feels incredibly stupid," insisted Claire, "but just so you dreamy wishful thinkers finally snap out of all this irrational useless fantasizing, so we can get back to real work, let's grab hold and get this over with."
Following Claire's lead, they all grabbed hold of one of the four handles on the wheel and instantly they found themselves racing through a tunnel of light and streams of color. Before they to say or do anything other than opening their eyes wide in awe and amazement, the light was gone and they found themselves staring at each other around the wheel in the center of a little stone hut lit by torch light and a strange diluted natural ambient light as well. And thus their adventure began.
Outline: Start underwater at 0, 0 degrees at the intersection of the equator and the prime meridian at 1000 A.D. Progress year by year and space by space across the map through 1000 steps until reaching the year 2000 where Claire will finally discover how to fast-forward back to the present.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Master Mind Grid: The Mad Linguistic Neural Science Continues
As my plotting continues for memorizing the whole Arabic lexicon, I've expanded my three point system into four and come up with a grid that will be mirrored in a way on the macro-global scale and then on the micro-pyramid scale to encode visually for me 36 x 36 x 36 x 36 root consonant options. That should cover the ENTIRE Arabic lexicon (except for loan words, blast them, but those are mostly English cognates anyway, so who cares). Here it is, my Frankenstein:
You'll have to click on the grid to see it at full size, but basically, what I've created is a grid for the 36 consonants in Arabic, Persian, French, Chinese, English, Spanish and Russian all transliterated into Arabic and then matched to existing ancient numerology rules to produce a new alphabet for me for memorizing all the languages I want to learn. Of course, I'm starting with Arabic, but leaving myself room to expand later. I'll explain more later... or you can post a comment if you want to understand more sooner. Presumably though, these are mostly going to serve only as my thought evolution notes in the cloud for now.
You'll have to click on the grid to see it at full size, but basically, what I've created is a grid for the 36 consonants in Arabic, Persian, French, Chinese, English, Spanish and Russian all transliterated into Arabic and then matched to existing ancient numerology rules to produce a new alphabet for me for memorizing all the languages I want to learn. Of course, I'm starting with Arabic, but leaving myself room to expand later. I'll explain more later... or you can post a comment if you want to understand more sooner. Presumably though, these are mostly going to serve only as my thought evolution notes in the cloud for now.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Coding the Entire Arabic Lexicon into Memory
Dear Fellow Memosphericists,
Given that Arabic is perhaps the world's most formulaic language, it seems possible to cube the alphabet to systemically explore and remember all the words in the Arabic lexicon. Virtually all Arabic words consist of 3 core consonants (called radicals) that form the root verb and core meaning of the word. Imagine that if this were the case in English, the word for chair would be sitter, or something like that, because it would have to come from sit. Actually, the world "seat" does work that way--the consonants stay the same, only the vowels change. That's how all words work in Arabic. So here is the basic formula:
Arabic words =
consonants "X" + "Y" + "Z" + (interlaced vowels and affixes in a predictable rule based manner)
If we create 3 memory models for each of these 3 letters and multiply them together we have a mental filing structure for all the words in the Arabic lexicon. We begin by considering all the possible "radicals" in Arabic root words. If you also add the four extra Persian letters to the Arabic alphabet for possible exotic imports to the language (perhaps from Rumi poety), we get a total of 32 Consonants. We then chose 32 locations around the globe to represent our first 32 letters. Then we follow the path of a compass from the center out along each of our branches in two step for each branch plus the center (1 + 16 times 2), as I'll explain in more depth later. This gives us another 33 sub-regions inside of our 32 major geographic regions. We added an extra location meaning "nothing" (the center) in case we have a short word like a preposition with only one radical. Finally, we plant a standard prefabricated Mayan pyramid model at our sub-region to split that spot into 33 more options for our final radical.
Here are the two maps and the compass pattern to consider for this "1, 2, 3 done" memorization device:
For Radical 1: The World divided into 32 regions for IPCC climate studies.
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch2s2-4-6-1.html
For Radical 2: We divide each of our regions up like a pie with a compass into 32 more sub-sets each:
Given that Arabic is perhaps the world's most formulaic language, it seems possible to cube the alphabet to systemically explore and remember all the words in the Arabic lexicon. Virtually all Arabic words consist of 3 core consonants (called radicals) that form the root verb and core meaning of the word. Imagine that if this were the case in English, the word for chair would be sitter, or something like that, because it would have to come from sit. Actually, the world "seat" does work that way--the consonants stay the same, only the vowels change. That's how all words work in Arabic. So here is the basic formula:
Arabic words =
consonants "X" + "Y" + "Z" + (interlaced vowels and affixes in a predictable rule based manner)
If we create 3 memory models for each of these 3 letters and multiply them together we have a mental filing structure for all the words in the Arabic lexicon. We begin by considering all the possible "radicals" in Arabic root words. If you also add the four extra Persian letters to the Arabic alphabet for possible exotic imports to the language (perhaps from Rumi poety), we get a total of 32 Consonants. We then chose 32 locations around the globe to represent our first 32 letters. Then we follow the path of a compass from the center out along each of our branches in two step for each branch plus the center (1 + 16 times 2), as I'll explain in more depth later. This gives us another 33 sub-regions inside of our 32 major geographic regions. We added an extra location meaning "nothing" (the center) in case we have a short word like a preposition with only one radical. Finally, we plant a standard prefabricated Mayan pyramid model at our sub-region to split that spot into 33 more options for our final radical.
Here are the two maps and the compass pattern to consider for this "1, 2, 3 done" memorization device:
For Radical 1: The World divided into 32 regions for IPCC climate studies.
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch2s2-4-6-1.html
For Radical 2: We divide each of our regions up like a pie with a compass into 32 more sub-sets each:
If we don't want to move in and out from the center to get thirty two points, we could expand fully:
Finally, for the 3rd radical we use my own special construction of a Mayan Memory Matrix:
As we start exploring these tools, I will explain my matrix further. For now, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment box below.
Salaam,
Tauth
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Vlog Blog 012: Arabic Transliteration, Baha'i Calendar, + Base 20 Mayan Matrix
Dear Fellow Memosphericists,
I've been working a great deal on perfecting our Mayan Memory Matrices. I've been inspired by discovering recently how well the Mayans themselves used their own pyramids as real life Mnemonic structures for conceptualizing and mastering their study of astronomy (for example, making steps equal to the number of days in their year for starters). Considering all of these things, I've come the conclusion that for Mnemonic reasons down the road, it's going to be more useful to develop a Base-20 numbering plan for sectioning out memory locations around (and on on top of) our pyramids rather than just using the four sides or the Base-10 Major System that we could have also used. One reason for this is that the verb conjugation systems of most of the 6 official languages of the United Nations (highly worth learning) often make different conjugations for verbs in one tense for far more than 10 different pronouns--Arabic uses 16 pronouns for example. We need a memory tool that conveniently clumps together up to 20 items easily in one location to be on the safe side, so that we don't have to run around the whole globe in our minds in the future to conjugate just one verb in one tense. It will be more enjoyable to mentally just walk around one pyramid to complete that task.
To this ends I've conceptually expanded our 12 month calendar out to 20 divisions (like the Baha'i calendar of 19 months and 1 intercalary period). Furthermore, while doing this I've also decided that since it's so easy at this point, I might as well memorize the basic outline of the Baha'i calendar to get started with something from real life. Even if you're not Baha'i and just interested in learning Arabic, don't worry this will benefit you too. It's part of the real life memosphere, so by definition, it's useful to us as a potential tool to make meaningful associations with. Remember, it's always best to overlay as much of the truly meaningful and real in our memory systems as possible and then only imagine completely contrived stories when necessary as extra mental glue. So here we go. We're going to get really intensive now:
Warning: to start with, you are going to need to know the order of the Arabic Alphabet as a pegging system, which I have previously created Mnemonics for with great success on one of my earlier blogs. I've conducted a few experiments with these tools and found that I can teach anyone all 28 letters of the Arabic Alphabet perfectly within 2 hours from scratch even if they've had no prior memory training, so please tackle this exercise with my specially draw pictures if you don't already know the Arabic alphabet in order perfectly, or even just to get familiar with the icons (or glyphs) that we'll be using. Here's the link:
http://arabicforpoets.blogspot.com/2010/10/1st-letter.html
Since inventing those Arabic Alphabet Mnemonics last October, I've had the chance to discuss my Arabic work with a university Arabic professor at Georgetown University who's written numerous books on Arabic herself, and she's recommended that I use (or invent) an Arabic transliteration system that only uses ONE LETTER on our European keyboards for ONE LETTER in Arabic. For example, the "th" sound in Arabic shouldn't be transcribed as "th" with Roman letters in Arabic because it's only one letter in Arabic, and if we use "th" we won't know if we mean "th" as one sound or "t" and "h" as too different sounds. Taking this wise advice, I've settle on the following Arabic transliteration system that includes the capacity to add extra Persian letters and other sounds that don't exist in Arabic. Since Arabic uses no capital letters, one of my most important distinctions is to use capital letters for the more emphatic version letters that generally cause the pronunciation of surrounding vowels to be darker and lower, like in "AUdible" instead of "Edible." Here's the system in the order of the Arabic Alphabet:
01) \' = \'alif with hamza (use only \ for \'alif only), pronounced variously in context
02) b = the "b" sound like in "bunny."
03) t = the soft "t" sound like in "test" and "toad"
04) x = the soft, voiceless "th" sound like in "think" and "Thoth." (Looks like a slanted "t")
05) J = the emphatic, dark, "J" sound like in "Jellyfish"
06) H = the emphatic, dark, "H" sound like in laughing diabolically "Ha, Ha, Ha!" or saying "Aha!"
07) K = the emphatic, dark, "Kh" sound in foreign names like Khan, or when clearing your throat
08) d = the soft, voiced, "d" sound like in "dolphin," and "double-decker ice cream."
09) X = the soft, but VOICED, "th" or "dh" sound in words like "that" and "dhole."
10) R = the emphatic, dark, "R" sound like in rolled Spanish "R's," or at the end of "better" in English.
11) z = the soft, voiced, "z" sound like in "zebra."
12) s = the soft, voiceless, "s" sound like in "scorpion."
13) & = the soft, voiceless, "sh" sound like in "ship" and "shark."
14) S = the emphatic, dark, "S" sound like in "Salt" and "Sawfish."
15) D = the emphatic, dark, "D" sound like in "Dock."
16) T = the emphatic, dark, "T" sound like in "Talk."
17) Z = the emphatic, dark, sound between "th" and "z," which doesn't exist in English.
18) A = the emphatic, dark, sound in the back of the throat that sounds like a straggled A
19) G = the emphatic, dark, rolled G sound like the French R sound
20) f = the soft, "f" sound like in "flamingo."
21) Q = the emphatic, dark, "Q" sound that pops in the back of the throat saying "Qatar."
22) k = the soft, voiceless, "k" sound like in "kangaroo."
23) l = the soft, "l" sound like in "lamb."
24) m = the soft, "m" sound like in "mouse" and "midnight," which is zero hundred hours.
25) n = the soft, "n" sound like in "noon," and at the end of the name of the letter Ayn (letter 18).
26) h = the soft, "h" sound like in "heat."
27) w = the soft, "w" sound like in "whale."
28) y = the soft, "y" sound like in "yak."
Now, to compress and add to this list of letters to make a base twenty system that we can use to somewhat replace the base-10 major system for learning foreign languages, we can make the following adjustments:
It's easy to remember "m" is both the 24th letter of the Alphabet and the perfect number for ZERO because MIDNIGHT is both, the 24th hour on the clock and the reset point to ZERO. So this will be our new 20-digit Mnemonic numbering system around our Mayan Pyramids (but not for number elements or countries or other long lists--don't worry, we'll still use regular numbers):
00) m -- because of midnight
08 = d = WATER, which is when we pray for water, to keep nature in PERFECTION (Kamal)
It starts to dry up in August and we miss the cool green of Spring, so we pray for a little more water.
09 = X = AUGUST, which is the end of August, the Baha'i month of Names (Asma)
When we go back to school at the end of August, we have to start learning new NAMES.
10 = R = FALL, which is the full return of the FALL SEMESTER for everyone, MIGHT (Izzat)
Now we have to summon all of our Might after Labor day to get back to hard work.
11 = z = SEPTEMBER, which begins a new Baha'i month at the end, WILL (Mashiyyat)
If you have the WILL to continue, you won't drop your college courses before the withdrawal date.
12 = s = OCTOBER, which ends with the Baha'i month, KNOWLEDGE (Ilm)
Since you didn't drop your college courses, you're now starting to get new KNOWLEDGE
13 = & = AIR, which begins with the Baha'i month, POWER (Qudrat)
You pray now that POWER of the Aroma of Thanksgiving will be great, and the family will unite.
14 = S = NOVEMBER, which ends with the Baha'i month, SPEECH (Qawl)
Your prayers are answered and the speech at Thanksgiving is warm and kind.
15 = D = WINTER, which begins with the Baha'i month, QUESTIONS (Masa'il)
Before WINTER BREAK you face semester final exams and you cram for al the QUESTIONS
16 = T = DECEMBER, which ends on New Years Eve with the Baha'i month of HONOR (Sharaf)
You celebrate during December holidays that you passed your exams with HONORs.
17 = Z = JANUARY, which ends with the Baha'i month of SOVEREIGNTY (Sultan).
Many people try to get greater Sovereignty over their lives with New Years Resolutions in January.
18 = A = FEBRUARY, which ends with the Baha'i month of DOMINION (Mulk).
You try not to let the snow and ice get DOMINION over you in February.
19 = G = EARTH, as March begins, so does the Baha'i month of LOFTINESS, (Ala).
You pray that the earth will thaw from the cold and that your LOFTY dreams for he new year will be fulfilled in God's providence.
In the next lesson, we'll build more on weaving these 20 divisions of time into our Mayan Memory Matrix more completely with direct links to the Arabic names and the Arabic letters of the Alphabet, but for now, this is a good start. See how easy it is to get down facts with a good system? At least, I hope that makes the Baha'i calendar as easy for you as it does for me. Let me know.
Salaam,
Sky
I've been working a great deal on perfecting our Mayan Memory Matrices. I've been inspired by discovering recently how well the Mayans themselves used their own pyramids as real life Mnemonic structures for conceptualizing and mastering their study of astronomy (for example, making steps equal to the number of days in their year for starters). Considering all of these things, I've come the conclusion that for Mnemonic reasons down the road, it's going to be more useful to develop a Base-20 numbering plan for sectioning out memory locations around (and on on top of) our pyramids rather than just using the four sides or the Base-10 Major System that we could have also used. One reason for this is that the verb conjugation systems of most of the 6 official languages of the United Nations (highly worth learning) often make different conjugations for verbs in one tense for far more than 10 different pronouns--Arabic uses 16 pronouns for example. We need a memory tool that conveniently clumps together up to 20 items easily in one location to be on the safe side, so that we don't have to run around the whole globe in our minds in the future to conjugate just one verb in one tense. It will be more enjoyable to mentally just walk around one pyramid to complete that task.
To this ends I've conceptually expanded our 12 month calendar out to 20 divisions (like the Baha'i calendar of 19 months and 1 intercalary period). Furthermore, while doing this I've also decided that since it's so easy at this point, I might as well memorize the basic outline of the Baha'i calendar to get started with something from real life. Even if you're not Baha'i and just interested in learning Arabic, don't worry this will benefit you too. It's part of the real life memosphere, so by definition, it's useful to us as a potential tool to make meaningful associations with. Remember, it's always best to overlay as much of the truly meaningful and real in our memory systems as possible and then only imagine completely contrived stories when necessary as extra mental glue. So here we go. We're going to get really intensive now:
Warning: to start with, you are going to need to know the order of the Arabic Alphabet as a pegging system, which I have previously created Mnemonics for with great success on one of my earlier blogs. I've conducted a few experiments with these tools and found that I can teach anyone all 28 letters of the Arabic Alphabet perfectly within 2 hours from scratch even if they've had no prior memory training, so please tackle this exercise with my specially draw pictures if you don't already know the Arabic alphabet in order perfectly, or even just to get familiar with the icons (or glyphs) that we'll be using. Here's the link:
http://arabicforpoets.blogspot.com/2010/10/1st-letter.html
Since inventing those Arabic Alphabet Mnemonics last October, I've had the chance to discuss my Arabic work with a university Arabic professor at Georgetown University who's written numerous books on Arabic herself, and she's recommended that I use (or invent) an Arabic transliteration system that only uses ONE LETTER on our European keyboards for ONE LETTER in Arabic. For example, the "th" sound in Arabic shouldn't be transcribed as "th" with Roman letters in Arabic because it's only one letter in Arabic, and if we use "th" we won't know if we mean "th" as one sound or "t" and "h" as too different sounds. Taking this wise advice, I've settle on the following Arabic transliteration system that includes the capacity to add extra Persian letters and other sounds that don't exist in Arabic. Since Arabic uses no capital letters, one of my most important distinctions is to use capital letters for the more emphatic version letters that generally cause the pronunciation of surrounding vowels to be darker and lower, like in "AUdible" instead of "Edible." Here's the system in the order of the Arabic Alphabet:
01) \' = \'alif with hamza (use only \ for \'alif only), pronounced variously in context
02) b = the "b" sound like in "bunny."
03) t = the soft "t" sound like in "test" and "toad"
04) x = the soft, voiceless "th" sound like in "think" and "Thoth." (Looks like a slanted "t")
05) J = the emphatic, dark, "J" sound like in "Jellyfish"
06) H = the emphatic, dark, "H" sound like in laughing diabolically "Ha, Ha, Ha!" or saying "Aha!"
07) K = the emphatic, dark, "Kh" sound in foreign names like Khan, or when clearing your throat
08) d = the soft, voiced, "d" sound like in "dolphin," and "double-decker ice cream."
09) X = the soft, but VOICED, "th" or "dh" sound in words like "that" and "dhole."
10) R = the emphatic, dark, "R" sound like in rolled Spanish "R's," or at the end of "better" in English.
11) z = the soft, voiced, "z" sound like in "zebra."
12) s = the soft, voiceless, "s" sound like in "scorpion."
13) & = the soft, voiceless, "sh" sound like in "ship" and "shark."
14) S = the emphatic, dark, "S" sound like in "Salt" and "Sawfish."
15) D = the emphatic, dark, "D" sound like in "Dock."
16) T = the emphatic, dark, "T" sound like in "Talk."
17) Z = the emphatic, dark, sound between "th" and "z," which doesn't exist in English.
18) A = the emphatic, dark, sound in the back of the throat that sounds like a straggled A
19) G = the emphatic, dark, rolled G sound like the French R sound
20) f = the soft, "f" sound like in "flamingo."
21) Q = the emphatic, dark, "Q" sound that pops in the back of the throat saying "Qatar."
22) k = the soft, voiceless, "k" sound like in "kangaroo."
23) l = the soft, "l" sound like in "lamb."
24) m = the soft, "m" sound like in "mouse" and "midnight," which is zero hundred hours.
25) n = the soft, "n" sound like in "noon," and at the end of the name of the letter Ayn (letter 18).
26) h = the soft, "h" sound like in "heat."
27) w = the soft, "w" sound like in "whale."
28) y = the soft, "y" sound like in "yak."
Now, to compress and add to this list of letters to make a base twenty system that we can use to somewhat replace the base-10 major system for learning foreign languages, we can make the following adjustments:
It's easy to remember "m" is both the 24th letter of the Alphabet and the perfect number for ZERO because MIDNIGHT is both, the 24th hour on the clock and the reset point to ZERO. So this will be our new 20-digit Mnemonic numbering system around our Mayan Pyramids (but not for number elements or countries or other long lists--don't worry, we'll still use regular numbers):
00) m -- because of midnight
01) \' (+ w + y) because these are all semi-vowels and Arabic substitutes these letters for each other
02) b (+ p) because "p" is said with closed lips like "b" but voicelessly
03) t
04) x (+ f) because people who don't have "th" sounds in their native language use "f" instead
05) J
06) H (+ h) because it's really hard for English speakers to tell these apart.
07) K (+ k) because English speakers mispronounce names like Khan using the soft "k"
08) d
09) X (+ v) because people who don't have "dh" sounds in their native language use "v" instead
10) R (+ l) because "r" and "l" sound the same to many East Asian English speakers.
11) z
12) s
13) & ( + c, for he "ch" sound) because "sh" and "ch" are easily confused in languages with only one
14) S
15) D
16) T
17) Z (even though this is pronounced as a dark "dh" in perfect Arabic, many accents use Z)
18) A (+ n) because we need something to go with this letter, which rarely exists in other languages
19) G (+ Q) because many Arabic speakers pronounce "Q" as "G" in their dialects.
Now for the magic, let's expand our 12 month year conceptually to 20 periods along these 20 new Arabic digits, seeing how quick and easy this can be. I'm going to add two sets of 4, the names of the seasons (summer, fall, winter, and spring), and the 3 phases a matter plus energy like the ancient 4 elements for another 4. That gives us 12 + 4 + 4 = 20. Here we go:
00 = 0 = SPRING, because we Spring forward through our intercalary days (a period with no month)
01 = \' = MARCH, which ends with Baha'i month #1, Splendor (Baha)
We march forward with a new spring in our steps as the splendor of life returns to earth.
02 = b = FIRE, because we pray for the return of the fiery sun in April showers, #2 is Glory (Jamal)
The Sun is the GLORY of the skies, which is why we miss it and pray for it's return.
03 = t = APRIL, which ends with Baha'i month #3, Beauty (Jamal)
When the Sun finally does return at the end of April, we say, "wow, this is beauty."
04 = x = MAY, which ends with Baha'i month #3, Grandeur (Azamat)
With all of the May flowers in full bloom, we see the Grandeur of Spring at it's greatest.
05 = J = SUMMER, because summer breaks starts in May or June, and #5 is Light (Nur).
Summer break is the LIGHT at the end of the tunnel for many students and teachers!
06 = H = JUNE, which ends with the Baha'i month #6, Mercy (Rahmat)
At the end of June, many people enjoy the mercy of a vacation.
07 = K = JULY, which ends PERFECTLY with the Baha'i month #7, Words (Rahmat)
We don't have to study on vacation in July, the calendars line up and differ only in WORDS
08 = d = WATER, which is when we pray for water, to keep nature in PERFECTION (Kamal)
It starts to dry up in August and we miss the cool green of Spring, so we pray for a little more water.
09 = X = AUGUST, which is the end of August, the Baha'i month of Names (Asma)
When we go back to school at the end of August, we have to start learning new NAMES.
10 = R = FALL, which is the full return of the FALL SEMESTER for everyone, MIGHT (Izzat)
Now we have to summon all of our Might after Labor day to get back to hard work.
11 = z = SEPTEMBER, which begins a new Baha'i month at the end, WILL (Mashiyyat)
If you have the WILL to continue, you won't drop your college courses before the withdrawal date.
12 = s = OCTOBER, which ends with the Baha'i month, KNOWLEDGE (Ilm)
Since you didn't drop your college courses, you're now starting to get new KNOWLEDGE
13 = & = AIR, which begins with the Baha'i month, POWER (Qudrat)
You pray now that POWER of the Aroma of Thanksgiving will be great, and the family will unite.
14 = S = NOVEMBER, which ends with the Baha'i month, SPEECH (Qawl)
Your prayers are answered and the speech at Thanksgiving is warm and kind.
15 = D = WINTER, which begins with the Baha'i month, QUESTIONS (Masa'il)
Before WINTER BREAK you face semester final exams and you cram for al the QUESTIONS
16 = T = DECEMBER, which ends on New Years Eve with the Baha'i month of HONOR (Sharaf)
You celebrate during December holidays that you passed your exams with HONORs.
17 = Z = JANUARY, which ends with the Baha'i month of SOVEREIGNTY (Sultan).
Many people try to get greater Sovereignty over their lives with New Years Resolutions in January.
18 = A = FEBRUARY, which ends with the Baha'i month of DOMINION (Mulk).
You try not to let the snow and ice get DOMINION over you in February.
19 = G = EARTH, as March begins, so does the Baha'i month of LOFTINESS, (Ala).
You pray that the earth will thaw from the cold and that your LOFTY dreams for he new year will be fulfilled in God's providence.
In the next lesson, we'll build more on weaving these 20 divisions of time into our Mayan Memory Matrix more completely with direct links to the Arabic names and the Arabic letters of the Alphabet, but for now, this is a good start. See how easy it is to get down facts with a good system? At least, I hope that makes the Baha'i calendar as easy for you as it does for me. Let me know.
Salaam,
Sky
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Mayan Memory Matrix I am Inventing
(UPDATE 4/12/11: the lists below will undergo some listing revision in relation to the layout of months and cardinal directions as I am now working on a BASE 20 number system like the Mayan's used, but using transliterated Arabic letters rather than the Mayan slashes and dots. However, the long lists of 1-100 will stay the same for the Names of God, the Elements, the Basic & Historical Associations, and the Geography.)
Dear Friends,
So hear it is: this is where I am going with all of these warm up we've been through. I call it my Mayan Memory Matrix. You can see the file at this link, or read about it below:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6OkB5BRdDPLNWQ4YzBlNjgtMWE4YS00OWIyLWI3NzktNDc3ZjY1MjhkMzU1&hl=en
Dear Friends,
So hear it is: this is where I am going with all of these warm up we've been through. I call it my Mayan Memory Matrix. You can see the file at this link, or read about it below:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6OkB5BRdDPLNWQ4YzBlNjgtMWE4YS00OWIyLWI3NzktNDc3ZjY1MjhkMzU1&hl=en
From a Body of Earth, to the Fire of Gut, to the Flowing Heart & Soul in Time, breath Spirit: The Good.
The Mayan Memory Matrix in the Mountains
The Mayan pyramids give us an ideal means with which we can visually synthesize the insights of memory acquisition found in the Roman Room Method, the Major System Method, and the Principles of Chucking developed in Modern Neural Science. The Roman’s taught us that we need to tape into our ability to visualize memory laid out in orderly three dimensional spaces. The Maya Pyramid is such a space. The Renaissance scholars taught us we needed to tap into the latent power of our efficient number system and link ideas to steadfast numbers and numerical patterns. The Maya Pyramid gives us a times table layered in space with four sides, divided in three parts each around central staircases into twelve, and then added up with four corners at the bottom we get to 16, and then adding the four sides at the top we get 20. It is perfectly even all the way through, it is perfectly numbered; and it is perfectly symmetrical. Modern Neural Science teaches us that if we chuck information in groups of 3-5 parts we will be able to hold an manipulate those groups of information in our conscious train of thought in the hippocampus more easily and adroitly. The Mayan pyramid gives us that too. We climb straight through to 20 in groups of 3 and 4 parts only multiplying our way up. In all these ways the Mayan pyramid structure works as a perfect central structure around which to build out themes in our memories.
We must know also that NO IDEA is ever an island unto itself in our human minds. The brain is a web, and network, a system. The brain’s system cannot work with ideas in isolation. Therefor we layer information intentionally over and over and over again in a systematically associative manner to build strong permanent memories. Find connections to bring things into your mind and they will be yours forever. In the following carts you will see a proposal for how to begin making each of the 12 spaces streaming down the sides of a Mayan pyramid in your mind meaningful. It is important to start with the oldest memory foundation, the Roman Room method and work out of physical and geographical space first. From there you could begin to taste the fruits of your efforts by building the periodic table of the elements off of that, or you could jump to the major system. The list of ideas a the end are optional.
Background Canvass (Countries to Capitols) DUE NORTH: Winter Physical Inanimate (Our Bones) Stripes – String Theory Δ NE face & staircase NNE: December (GL) – Capricorn’s Sled NE: January (NY) – Aquarius’s Ice Rod ENE: February (DC) – Pisces’s Fish Bowl 01-Mexico - ICON Mountain to Capital 02-Guatemala 03-Belize 04-El Salvador 05-Honduras 06-Nicaragua 07-Costa Rica 08-Panama 09-Columbia 10-Venezuela 11-Guyana 12-Suriname 13-French Guyana 14-Ecuador 15-Peru 16-Brazil 17-Bolivia 18-Argentina 19-Paraguay 20-Argentina 21-Uraguay 22: Greenland 23: Ellesmere Island 24: Axel Heiberg Island 25: Ellef Ringnes Island 26: Prince Patrick Island 27: Melville Island 28: Bathurst Island 29: Devon Island 30: Banks Island 31: Victoria Island 32: Prince of Wales Is. 33: Somerset Island 34: Baffin Island 35: Bylot Island 36: King William Island 37: Southampton Island 38: Yukon 39: Northwest Territories 40: Nunavut 41:Newfoundland & Labrador 42: British Columbia 43: Alberta 44: Saskatchewan 45: Manitoba 46: Ontario 47: Quebec 48: New Brunswick 49: Prince Edward Island 50: Nova Scotia 51: Washington 52: Idaho 53: Montana 54: North Dakota 55: South Dakota 56: Minnesota 57: Wisconsin 58: Michigan 59: New York 60: Vermont 61: New Hampshire 62: Maine 63: Oregon, & the Trial 64: Wyoming 65: Nebraska 66: Iowa 67: Illinois 68: Indiana 69: Iowa 70: Pennsylvania 71: New Jersey 72: Connecticut 73: Rhode Island 74: Massachusetts 75: California 76: Nevada 77: Utah 78: Colorado 79: Kansas 80: Missouri 81: Kentucky 82: West Virginia 83: Virginia 84: Maryland 85: Delaware 86: Arizona 87: New Mexico 88: Oklahoma 89: Arkansas 90: Tennessee 91: North Carolina 92: South Carolina 93: Texas 94: Louisiana 95: Mississippi 96: Alabama 97: Georgia 98: Florida 99: Alaska 00: Hawaii | Star Born Elements (Pureness to Presence) DUE EAST: Spring Autonomic biochemical (Our Brain Steam) Light – from the Sun Δ SE face & staircase ESE: March (VA) – Aires’s Bag of Apples SE: April (GA) – Taurus’s Peaches SSE: May (FL) – Gemini’s Lemons 01: Hydrogen (H) - ICON Geology to Physiology 02: Helium (He) 03: Lithium (Li) 04: Beryllium (Be) 05: Boron (B) 06: Carbon (C) 07: Nitrogen (N) 08: Oxygen (O) 09: Fluorine (F) 10: Neon (Ne) 11: Sodium (Natrium Na) 12: Magnesium (Mg) 13: Aluminum (Al) 14: Silicon (Si) 15: Phosphorus (P) 16: Sulfur (S) 17: Chlorine (Cl) 18: Argon (Ar) 19: Potassium (Kalium K) 20: Calcium (Ca) 21: Scandium (Sc) 22: Titanium (Ti) 23: Vanadium (V) 24: Chromium (Cr) 25: Manganese (Mn) 26: Iron (Ferrum Fe) 27: Cobalt (Co) 28: Nickel (Ni) 29: Copper (Cuprum Cu) 30: Zinc (Zn) 31: Gallium (Ga) 32: Germanium (Ge) 33: Arsenic (As) 34: Selenium (Se) 35: Bromine (Br) 36: Krypton (Kr) 37: Rubidium (Rb) 38: Strontium (Sr) 39: Yttrium (Y) 40: Zirconium (Zr) 41: Niobium (Nb) 42: Molybdenum (Mo) 43: Technetium (Tc) 44: Ruthenium (Ru) 45: Rhodium (Rh) 46: Palladium (Pd) 47: Silver (Argentum Ag) 48: Cadmium (Cd) 49: Indium (In) 50: Tin (Stannum Sn) 51:Antimony(Stibium-Sb) 52: Tellurium (Te) 53: Iodine (I) 54: Xenon (Xe) 55: Caesium (Cesium Cs) 56: Barium (Ba) 57: Lanthanum (La) 58: Cerium (Ce) 59: Praseodymium (Pr) 60: Neodymium (Nd) 61: Promethium (Pm) 62: Samarium (Sm) 63: Europium (Eu) 64: Gadolinium (Gd) 65: Terbium (Tb) 66: Dysprosium (Dy) 67: Holmium (Ho) 68: Erbium (Er) 69: Thulium (Tm) 70: Ytterbium (Yb) 71: Lutetium (Lu) 72: Hafnium (Hf) 73: Tantalum (Ta) 74:Tungsten(Wolfram-W) 75: Rhenium (Re) 76: Osmium (Os) 77: Iridium (Ir) 78: Platinum (Pt) 79: Gold (Aurum Au) 80: Mercury (Hydrargyrum Hg) 81: Thallium (Tl) 82: Lead (Plumbum Pb) 83: Bismuth (Bi) 84: Polonium (Po) 85: Astatine (At) 86: Radon (Rn) 87: Francium (Fr) 88: Radium (Ra) 89: Actinium (Ac) 90: Thorium (Th) 91: Protactinium (Pa) 92: Uranium (U) 93: Neptunium (Np) 94: Plutonium (Pu) 95: Americium (Am) 96: Curium (Cm) 97: Berkelium (Bk) 98: Californium (Cf) 99: Einsteinium (Es) 00: Fermium (Fm) | Icons 1-33, & 1934-2000 (Basic to Major System) DUE SOUTH: Summer Motivations & Emotions (Our Limbic System) Spots – Tear Drops Δ SW face & staircase SSW: June (TX) – Crab’s Cowboy Hat SW: July (NM) – Lion’s Sombrero WSW: August (AZ) – Virgo’s Phoenix Feather 01-Tree Double & Triple Majors 02-Light Switch 03-Stool 04-Car 05-Glove 06-Gun 07-Dice 08-Roller Skates 09-Cat 10-Bowling Ball 11-Goal Post 12-Eggs 13-US Flag 14-Ring 15-Paycheck 16-Candy 17-Airplane 18-Voting Booth 19-Golf Club 20-Glasses 21-Black Jack Card 22-Tutu 23-White Sheep 24-Watch 25: Quarter 26: Alphabet Soup 27: Euro 28: Saturn 29: Moon 30: Chocolate Kiss 31: Pumpkin 32: Ice Cube 33: Prayer Beads 34: Toothbrush 35: Blond Wig 36: Helicopter 37: Great Wall 38: Boots 39: Tank 40: Pears 41: Snowman 42: Smoke Stack 43: Pentagon 44: Boats 45: Mushroom 46: Plowshare 47: Olive Branch 48: Compass 49: Cornerstone 50: Shield 51: Bear Trap 52: Empty Chess Board 53: Gun Holster 54: Atomic Piggy Bank 55: Blue Helmet Antenna 56: Two Hump Camel 57: Electric Transformer 58: Fish Tank & Shelf 59: Sputnik 60: Magazine 61: Parachute 62: Belgium Waffles 63: Bark Armored Zebra 64: Cypress Tree Shrubs 65: Safe on a Unicycle 66: Siamese-twin Gorilla 67: Star of David 68: Boomerang 69: Space Suit 70: Clear Plastic Balloon 71: Panda 72: Hammock 73: Cap & Tassel 74: Snow Plow 75: Bell Tower 76: Scroll 77: Manatee 78: Hanging Chad 79: Blind Fold 80: Syringe 81: Hive 82: Falcon 83: Rocket Launcher 84: Salwar Kameez 85: Ethiopian Injera 86: Cooling Tower 87: Hairspray 88: Turban 89: Brick 90: Leg Irons 91: Dust Devil 92: Solar Panels 93: Irrigation Lines 94: Gold Medal 95: U-Haul 96: Plastic Wrist Band 97: King Kong 98: Dust Bin 99: Elevator Lift 00: Football | Fresh Mountain Breeze (Mountain Top Names) DUE WEST: Fall Prefrontal Existentialist (Our higher Cortex) Dark – Space’s Mystery Δ NW face & staircase WNW: September (OR) – Libra’s Wagon NW: October (WA) – Scorpio’s Ash Pit NNW: November (BC) – Sagittarius’s Saddle 01: Ar-Rahman - ICON V+N The All-Compassionate 02: Ar-Rahim The All-Merciful 03: Al-Malik The Absolute Ruler 04: Al-Quddus The Pure One 05: As-Salam The Source of Peace 06: Al-Mu'min The Inspirer of Faith 07: Al-Muhaymin The Guardian 08: Al-'Aziz The Victorious 09: Al-Jabbar The Compeller 10: Al-Mutakabbir The Greatest 11: Al-Khaliq The Creator 12: Al-Bari' The Maker of Order 13: Al-Musawwir The Shaper of Beauty 14: Al-Ghaffar The Forgiving 15: Al-Qahhar The Subduer 16: Al-Wahhab The Giver of All 17: Ar-Razzaq The Sustainer 18: Al-Fattah The Opener 19: Al-'Alim The Knower of All 20: Al-Qabid The Constrictor 21: Al-Basit The Reliever 22: Al-Khafid The Abaser 23: Ar-Rafi' The Exalter 24: Al-Mu'izz The Bestower of Honors 25: Al-Mudhill The Humiliator 26: As-Sami The Hearer of All 27: Al-Basir The Seer of All 28: Al-Hakam The Judge 29: Al-'Adl The Just 30: Al-Latif The Subtle One 31: Al-Khabir The All-Aware 32: Al-Halim The Forebearing 33: Al-'Azim The Magnificent 34: Al-Ghafur The Forgiver + Hider of Faults 35: Ash-Shakur The Rewarder of Thankfulness 36: Al-'Ali The Highest 37: Al-Kabir The Greatest 38: Al-Hafiz The Preserver 39: Al-Muqit The Nourisher 40: Al-Hasib The Accounter 41: Al-Jalil The Mighty 42: Al-Karim The Generous 43: Ar-Raqib The Watchful One 44: Al-Mujib The Responder to Prayer 45: Al-Wasi' The All-Comprehending 46: Al-Hakim The Perfectly Wise 47: Al-Wadud The Loving One 48: Al-Majíd The Majestic One 49: Al-Ba'ith The Resurrector 50: Ash-Shahid The Witness 51: Al-h Haqq The Truth 52: Al-Wakil The Trustee 53: Al-Qawi The Possessor of All Strength 54: Al-Matin The Forceful One 55: Al-Wáli The Governor 56: Al-Hamid The Praised One 57: Al-Muhsi The Appraiser 58: Al-Mubdi The Originator 59: Al-Mu'id The Restorer 60: Al-Muhyi The Giver of Life 61: Al-Mumit The Taker of Life 62: Al-Hayy The Ever Living One 63: Al-Qayyum The Self-Existing One 64: Al-Wajid The Finder 65: Al-Májid The Glorious 66: Al-Wahid The Only One 67: Al-Ahad The One 68: As-Samad The Satisfier of All Needs 69:Al-Qadir The All Powerful 70: Al-Muqtadir The Creator of All Power 71: Al-Muqaddim The Expediter 72: Al-Mu'akhkhir The Delayer 73: Al-Awwal The First 74: Al-Akhir The Last 75: Az-Zahir The Manifest One 76: Al-Batin The Hidden One 77: Al-Walí The Protecting Friend 78: Al-Muta'ali The Supreme One 79: Al-Barr The Doer of Good 80: At-Tawwib The Guide to Repentance 81: Al-Muntaqim The Avenger 82: Al-Afu The Forgiver 83: Ar-Ra'uf The Clement 84: Malik al-Mulk The Owner of All 85: Dhul-Jalali Wal-Ikram The Lord of Majesty + Bounty 86: Al-Muqsit The Equitable One 87: Al-Jami The Gatherer 88: Al-Ghani The Rich One 89: Al-Mughni The Enricher 90: Al-Mani' The Preventer of Harm 91: Ad-Darr The Creator of The Harmful 92: An-Nafi The Creator of Good 93: An-Nur The Light 94: Al-Hadi The Guide 95: Al-Badi The Originator 96: Al-Baqi The Everlasting One 97: Al-Warith The Inheritor of All 98: Ar-Rashid The Righteous Teacher 99: As-Sabur The Patient One 00: Allah |
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