Tom Thaves's Frank & Ernest comics (1-29-2014)

What Happens When You Fall Asleep, Descartes? On November 10, 1619, at the age of 23, Descartes had three dreams— swept away by a whirlwind and couldn't reach his college for refuge, then hurled to the village square where a maiden hands him a melon— Descartes analyzed these symbols while dreaming and realized he should embrace the wisdom melon than the collegiate knowledge he had amassed. A thunderclap wakes him in his second dream, his room filled with scintillating light— frightened by sparks in the dark, he prays to God not to give him more nightmares. In his third dream, Pythagoras appears showing him a giant old wisdom book inspiring Descartes to invent analytic geometry and Cartesian philosophy. Cogito ergo sum— "I think, therefore I am."— a cornerstone of Western philosophy coined by Descartes, one of my mentors, but Anthony tells me "It's the reverse."— The rishis say: "I am, therefore I think." I am the waker, dreamer, and sleeper, for sleep is more real than the waking state since sleep is more subtle than the gross. This world is manifest when we're awake but is unmanifest when we're in deep sleep. No need to wait for the end of the universe as we experience emptiness every night. How wonderful that Nature teaches us waking, dreaming, sleeping, are temporal and the fourth state Turiya is eternal like water, essence of steam, liquid, & ice. When Moses asked for God's name— the reply was "I am THAT I am"— Tat Tvam Asi— "That thou art". Beethoven reminds us of THAT in his 5th Symphony with his opening notes— dun-dun-dun-Dun!             — Peter Y. Chou                 Mountain View, 1-29-2014