What it is to be a Substance? and What it is to Exist? We need to establish knowledge about the man and the world on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with an external reality. We have to make the fundamental distinction between the living and the non-living matter. The scientific advances of the 19th and 20th centuries reinforced the materialistic position concerning the basic similarity of organic living and inorganic physical matter. The man is viewed as a product of natural evolution and is thought to be subject to the same laws of Physics and Chemistry or mechanistic principles.
We need a methodology to study philosophy and to understand philosophical statements. Logical Positivism, also known as Scientific Empiricism aims to clarify concepts in both everyday and scientific language. It describes analysis of language as the function of philosophy. This analysis of language and of concepts is important to understand questions of belief and ideology which affect what we think we ought to do individually and socially. I would use this method of ‘Applied Philosophy’ to analyze the concept of Spiritual Optics, the Spiritual dimension of biological coloration, and the phenomenon of changing Seasons and the behavior of organisms described as Photoperiodism.
The fall equinox arrives on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 2:49 AM Eastern Time. The equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide. Fall begins in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring begins in the Southern Hemisphere.
The word “equinox” comes from Latin aequus, meaning “equal,” and nox, “night.” On the equinox, day and night are roughly equal in length.
During the equinox, the Sun crosses what we call the “celestial equator”—an imaginary extension of Earth’s equator line into space. The equinox occurs precisely when the Sun’s center passes through this line. When the Sun crosses the equator from north to south, this marks the autumnal equinox; when it crosses from south to north, this marks the vernal equinox.
Spiritual Optics – Photoperiodism – September Equinox or Autumnal Equinox:
SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – PHOTOPERIODISM – SEPTEMBER EQUINOX. SPRING OR VERNAL EQUINOX AND AUTUMNAL EQUINOX ARE TWO POINTS ON THE CELESTIAL SPHERE WHERE THE PATH OF SUN’S APPARENT MOTION IN SKY OR ECLIPTIC AND THE CELESTIAL EQUATOR INTERSECT. BUT THE SEASONAL CHANGE IS NOT INFLUENCED BY SUN’S REAL MOTION AROUND MILKY WAY GALACTIC CENTER.
In my view, all natural phenomena require the operation of an unchanging condition that gives the opportunity to experience the change that is manifested. The change called Day and Night, and the changes called Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer Seasons are manifested because of an unchanging condition; the fact of Sun shining with its full brightness 24-hours, and at all times.
The rhythmically recurring phenomena called biological rhythms are manifested for living functions operate under the influence of an unchanging, vital, animating principle called Soul, or Spirit.
Photoperiodism is described as the behavioral or physiological reaction of an organism to changes of duration in daily, seasonal, or yearly periods of light and darkness. The changes in activities occur on daily basis as well as with a consistent pattern when the seasons change. For example, the Autumn or Fall season in the Northern Hemisphere includes the months of September, October, and November. Fall is the season of the year in which many trees change in their appearance; the color of their leaves changes and then trees lose their leaves. Autumn is the season that comes between Summer and Winter seasons. In the astronomical year, the Fall season is the period between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice.
The characteristic of Fall is the beginning of a decline in activities of several living organisms to prepare for subsequent changes expected to come in future. Daily periods of light and darkness determine to a great extent when seasonal activities occur.
An important prerequisite to the response to light that occurs in Winter and Spring is exposure to short days or long nights in Autumn. This phase of the annual cycle is called the Preparatory Phase. This preparation is important for the subsequent response. Under experimental conditions, it is shown that the failure to complete the Preparatory Phase will undermine the organism’s subsequent response to changes in the next phase. Hence, Autumn is a season of preparation for the arrival of Winter and Spring seasons. This preparation has the characteristics of planning and designing the responses of organisms to forthcoming events in the future.
This ability to connect the activities of past and present with activities that occur in the future requires the operation of an unchanging principle that is not influenced by changes of time. The colorful changes that we witness during the Autumn season relate us to the works of a Whole Designer, a Whole Architect, a Whole Planner, and a Whole Artist.
Daily periods of light and darkness determine to a great extent when seasonal activities among living organisms occur. The man exists on the surface of planet Earth experiencing the daily alternating periods of light and darkness and marks his calendar as seasons bring changes with marked regularity.
Photoperiodism was first reported in 1920 when the flowering of certain plants was demonstrated to be controlled by the daily duration of light. The photoperiodic response of plants may actually depend on the duration of the darkness. Some of the conspicuous activities of animals closely correlated with certain seasons of the year or with changes in day length are bird migration, reproduction, and changes in coat and plumage. In most birds, mammals, and other vertebrates, breeding is seasonal. For species such as brook trout, deer, sheep, and goats breeding begins in Autumn. The light stimulates the release of special hormones from the brain which in turn stimulate the pituitary gland which secretes the hormones that function to control the growth of the reproductive organs.
The length of the dark period and the ratio of light to darkness are important factors in determining the reproductive response. Practical applications of knowledge of photoperiodism are common in poultry management, for the length of daylight affects laying, sperm production, and the bodyweight of the fowl.
The most conspicuous seasonal change in coat and plumage occurs in those mammals and birds that are white in Autumn and Winter and brown in Spring and Summer.
The seasonal change in the coat is conspicuous in this hare which is brown during Spring and Summer, and changes to white during Autumn, and Winter.
Photoperiodism – Biological Rhythms and Biological Clock:
Organisms have synchronized their living functions to their rhythmic environments and have become periodic in diverse aspects of their physiology and behavior. Periodic biological phenomena fall into two distinct, different categories: 1. Those correlated with periodic changes of the planet or geophysical correlates, and 2. Those correlated to an internal timing mechanism often called the ‘Biological Clock’.
The living things to some extent behave like ‘Living Clocks’; 1. A timing capacity geared to the rhythmic variations of the natural environment, the alternating periods of light and darkness called day and night, and 2. A timing capacity that operates in response to the flow of time as the planet Earth spins and moves without providing sensory stimuli of its motions. Timing information continuously flows in from the environment and no organism can exist under constant conditions of life. All life exists on planet Earth which exists in a constant state of motion as a member of the Solar System which also exists in a constant state of motion. The biological rhythm results in part as a direct response to the environment and in part as an indirect response via the complex clock-timed organization.
There are two kinds of biological responses or rhythms. 1. The activities like Sleep and Wakefulness are related to the fluctuations of the physical environment such as darkness, and light, or night and day variation, and 2. The rhythms such as heartbeat and respiratory rate occur without external geophysical correlates as a consequence of the movements of the Earth.
The man’s biological functions are influenced by Earth’s Rotational Spin. A man has the sensory awareness of an environmental change called Day/Night. Otherwise, man is blissfully unaware of Earth’s Motion that happens all the time. The man is always influenced by the flow of time and his existence is measured as if there is a precise internal clock.
Spirituality Science – Earth’s Rotational Spin – Reality vs illusion:
Earth’s Rotational Spin is a unique mechanism that is indissociable from Life itself. While the Sun shines with all its brightness 24-hours all the time, Earth’s Spin allows the man to experience alternating periods of light (Day), and darkness (Night) to plan his physiological functions and activities in the external environment. There is this equally important aspect of Earth’s Spin; the man’s existence on the surface of planet Earth depends upon the lack of direct sensory awareness of the linear and angular speed/velocity of Earth’s motions.
Biological Clocks time the Solar Day, the period of Earth’s spin or rotation relative to the Sun. While Earth spins or rotates, man experiences the illusion of Sun’s apparent motion across the path called Ecliptic and exists on the surface of Earth in a state of blissful ignorance of Earth’s Angular Speed, and Linear Velocity. The daily rhythm of about 24 hours’ duration makes it appear as though the organism is keeping track of each day and behaves as if it is a Living Clock. Light appears to be the dominant Phase Setter as it synchronizes activity pattern during the 24-hour cycles. The 24-hour rhythms are called Solar Day, Circadian, Diel, Daily, Diurnal (day-active), and Night-Active rhythms. Plants show their daily rhythm in sleep movements such as the daytime raising and nighttime lowering of their leaves, and the timing of flowering activity. In man, the daily alternation of sleep and wakefulness is accompanied by many chemical and physiological changes that include the activities of the nervous, endocrine systems, and the liver and kidneys. Daily variations occur in the body temperature, in the heart and respiratory rates, and in blood pressure and composition of blood. There are daily variations in chemical syntheses and in cell divisions. The Living Systems display a timing capacity and behave as if they contain a highly dependable clock. The specialized properties of this clock suggest that it involves some unique biological mechanism indissociable from life itself.
The ‘immutability’ of Soul or Spirit can be observed as its operations are not influenced by time or external geophysical correlates.
Simon Cyrene
The Rudi Connection at Whole Foods 