William Belote: Messages From Radio Willstar

The truth is out there . . . also.

// June 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, Personal Stories, Photos

OK – let me tell you about “The Integratron”, a bit of science fiction come to life.  Built starting in the  late 40’s by George Van Tassel, an aviation scientist with stints at Hughes and Lockheed, the building/device  took 18 years to complete, and he passed away on the day it was to be tested.

Sitting on a mysterious geomagnetic vortex and originally designed as a healing device, it functions now as an incredible acoustic chamber where the sisters who now own it perform ‘sound baths’ for individuals and groups using crystal bowls to caress the purest tones I’ve ever heard outside of a synthesizer generated sine wave.   Located in Landers, CA., just north of the city of Joshua Tree in the high desert, the Integratron sits like a resting spacecraft from another civilization.    As it turns out, Van Tassel was a major UFO enthusiast.  He told of experiencing contact with aliens who inspired his work.  What I find undeniable is the beauty and intrigue of the Integratron itself and the hallucinatory experience of a sound bath.  Highly Recommended!

ASCAP Expo Rocks

// May 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, Music, Personal Stories, Uncategorized

Four days of full immersion into the world of music, from concert music and jazz, to hip hop and country.  There was a tremendous tribal feeling among all participants, and the chance to hear from legends like Quincy Jones and Bill Withers was an honor and a treat.

I came away fulling buzzed and inspired.  I promptly wrote two songs and ordered a traveling guitar.  It literally folds in half, and when full erect (sorry) it sounds pretty amazing.

Why Einstein?

// March 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, Einstein, Personal Stories, Photos, Politics

If one were to choose a single person who advanced the evolution of the species, can you do much better than Albert Einstein?  He was intellectually advanced, obviously, but he was also a political progressive with strong pacifist tendencies, and a deeply philosophical and spiritually practical man.  “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”  In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to “experience the universe as a single cosmic whole”.  The work of physicist David Bohm and his followers has been to illuminate the science behind this beautiful thought which echos from ages past in the ancient texts of the sages.

What impresses me perhaps most of all is the creativity with which he pursued his scientific quest.   His powers of visualization and intuition were the envy of any artist who ever lived.  He said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”, and “Logic will get you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere”.   He would ‘see’ a new level of reality in the multi-dimensional space of his mind, and then work very hard to describe the new reality in the language of mathematics.  Experimental proof would often take decades to manifest, but when it did, an unsurprised Einstein had already moved onto new challenges.

As revolutionary as his breakthroughs in science, his courageous humanitarian political stance points the way to a future without war, if we can only learn.  He was strongly considered a leading candidate to be Israel’s first President, though it was probably a romantic notion on the part of Israel’s new leaders.  It took the rise of Nazism to convince him that the world wasn’t yet ready for the pure form of nonviolent philosophy he cherished.

At home in the library. I like the sweater!

Sequoia days

// August 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog, Personal Stories, Photos

Hard to completely capture one!

It had been many years since Julie and I had visited the Sequoia National Park.  The forests and vistas of high Sierra rock formations are stunning to behold.  The too brief trip gave us a small taste of the deep quiet that is to be found in unmolested nature, and it stimulated my appetite for more backpacking experiences, where one can really sit for a long time in the peace.  We stayed at the Stoney Creek Lodge just outside the Park; it did not earn our recommendation for return trips, but it served the basic necessities.

Looking towards the high Sierra

Sadly, pollution from the lower elevations robs this view of some of its’ clarity. Still, from this vantage point (part way up Moro Rock) there is much beauty to be seen. Climbing Moro Rock btw is a great semi strenuous little hike.