We believe that electricity exists, because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it,  but we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires.

—Dave Barry, American humorist

Benjamin Franklin ran out in the electrical storm with a kite and a key in 1746.  Can you imagine his wife running after him saying “Come back in here, you crazy guy, you’ll catch your death out there!”

Franklin was a busy and intensely curious individual.  His natural interests led him to question whether lightning was a natural occurring electrical current.  Franklin is considered to be the first American physicist because he characterized two kinds of electric charge, which he named positive and negative.

Other inventors, Michael Faraday with the electric motor and generator, and Thomas Edison who of course invented the electric light bulb, were also interested in electric phenomena.  Edison invented the first light bulb in 1879 utilizing a carbon filament which burned for only 40 hours.   Just two years later, Edison used a bamboo filament and it the bulb burned for 1400 hours.

Franklin, Faraday and Edison were men who were curious about this amorphous element, light, and they studied light as did Einstein, Planck, Bohr, and Shockley.

The study of light has not just given us more time to stay up at night, but most recent inventions can be traced to this series of critical discoveries.   Fundamentally, light has changed humanity and our living conditions within and without.  The understanding of light, electrons and related physics has taken us from the dark ages into a whole new era.  Maybe even toward the famous Age of Aquarius.

It was only 100 years ago when we first got electric generation for industrial and home use.  Before that, water wheels were used as a primitive power source.  If you wanted electricity in your home in the early days, you had to have your own generator.

Before electricity heated and lit our homes we used kerosene lamps or candles, ice boxes or no refrigeration for our food, rooms (or caves) were warmed by coal or wood…  There was reading by candlelight or stories from the elders, singing and the study of the stars.  Time moved more slowly.  We were closer to nature, to the food we ate, the land.

But still, we understood plenty and invented more.  We had silence.  So, with that pressing silence we gazed at the stars, wondered at the sky, watched animals and horticulture.   We invented music, art, mythology.

We invented agriculture, astronomy, writing, navigation, mathematics, architecture, and science.  We searched deeply for the mysteries of the universe, of God and the origin of life.  The study of human existence led us to analyze morals and invent codes, religions and belief systems.

People watched the stars diligently and calculated the precession of the equinox and understood its mathematical precision.   They invented calendars and clocks to measure infinitesimally small increments of time because they felt it was deeply important.

There were mysteries to be solved and mystery schools for the initiates of deeper wisdom.  The wise ones thought it best to keep their universal secrets to themselves until they feel that mankind was ready for it.

There are still artifacts of ancient civilizations who call out to us that they were here.  Some believe that there were very advanced civilizations before the biblical flood who may have had much of the same or even better technologies than we have today.   It is hard to say, and even harder to prove when there are few traces left.

It is clear that even this antediluvian generation of mankind is older than the 5000 years of recorded history.  The cave paintings widespread in Eurasia date to 20,000 BC.  Agriculture in the fertile crescent dates to before 10,000 BC.  By 8700 BC they were metalworking in Mesopotamia.  And at 7000 BC we have discovered that people used cloth woven from flax.  In 5000 BC beer and bread were a mainstay of the diet in Egypt.  Archaeologists uncovered a stone paved street dating to 4000 BC.

The earliest use of clay bullae in Sumeria date to 3500 BC where we have found envelopes bearing marks corresponding to clay tokens inside. This is thought to be the precursor of the Sumerian writing system.  The earliest cuneiform markings representing words are traced to 3100 BC in Sumer, giving us the first language-based writing system. Sharpened reeds are used to mark clay tablets, which are then dried in ovens. While cumbersome, many survive today.  In Egypt, the earliest instances of hieroglyphic writing appear on slabs of slate in chapels and tombs dating to 3000 BC the same time rice was first cultivated in India.

In 2800 BC the Egyptians introduced the lunar calendar of 365 days.  The earliest known pyramid was built in 2640 BC, a step pyramid.   Ink is in use for writing in both Egypt and China by 2500 BC.  A shipyard in India was in use by 2400 BC.  Currency is used for trading by 2000 BC.

The earliest known samples of Chinese writing date to 1800 BC.  The Babylonians were using an early form of the abacus to count and keep track of numbers in 1800 BC.   By 1500 BC the water clock was used in Egypt, cementing the idea of consistent and linear time into human affairs.  In 1500 BC we find the earliest organization of the Vedas, an orally transmitted collection of sacred literature, chants and hymns in Asia and India.  The Chinese were using primitive books made of wood or bamboo strips bound together with cords by 1800 BC.  The earliest surviving Phoenician inscriptions, an early alphabet, probably the ancestor of the Greek alphabet date to 1800 BC.

1000 BC brings us the first pen used by Chinese calligraphers. In 750 BC. Brahmin, the ancestor of modern Indian writing systems springs up.  The first examples of Greek writing are found around 750 BC.  In 710 BC. the Egyptians invent the sundial as a means to keep time. A library was organized in Ninevah in 660 BC. marking the first systematically organized repository of written works anywhere, born in the Middle East. By 500 BC. the pre-Columbian civilizations are using paper, and have developed simple mathematical notations.

360 B.C.- Aristotle’s school, the Lyceum, becomes a center of philosophy but he ends up executed by the State for a sort of heresy.  Early Hebrew dates to 300 BC.  In 280 BC. the museum in Alexandria was founded by Ptolemy. The Library of Alexandria gradually became the most important center of gathered knowledge until the Renaissance.  The Julian calendar was perfected in 50 BC by lengthening the Egyptian solar calendar of 365 days to 365 1/2.

In 105 AD the Chinese developed a process for making paper which reaches Central Asia by 751 and Baghdad in 793. Paper is not introduced to Europe for another 1000 years. Parchment is developed in Asia Minor in 160 as a response to an embargo on exported papyrus from Egypt. The Mayans invent a system of hieroglyphics in 300.  The earliest “illustrated” Chinese scroll, the forerunner to the narrative type, are used to depict moral lessons in 350.  The Chinese develop block book printing by 500, carving the proofs for pages in wood.  The astrolab is developed in 550, reaching Europe from the Islamic world, and proves among the most versatile and important instruments. By 700 wood engraving is widespread in China.  Musical notation was first developed in Europe about 750.  830 sees the foundation of the Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, an academy which contains a library with a large collection of materials on a wide range of subjects. In China, the first printed book came out in 868, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, and is produced using carved blocks of wood. Talmudic academies in Babylon and Palestine complete an authentic text of the Old Testament that synthesizes oral tradition.

In the next millenium, 1000, the French introduce a type of abacus, in which numbers are represented by stones bearing Arabic numerals.  By 1050, Europe introduces the system of Arabic numerals, which greatly facilitate mathematics and started the first University at Bologna, the oldest in Europe. The magnetic compass is in use in China and the Mediterranean by 1190.  The Inca are using the quipu, an elaborate accounting apparatus by 1200.  THe quipu consists of a long rope that carries a number of knotted cords representing units, tens, and hundreds.  Cartography begins with the Portolan chart in 1296 which plots coastlines in a way that will allow navigational distances to be measured by means of rhumb lines. The first recorded patent for an industrial invention is granted in 1421. Guttenberg produces the first printed bibles in 1455. The Mercator projection allows cartographers to plot navigational bearings as straight lines in 1569. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1578 maintaining the coincidence of calendar and seasons

1600 -Galileo performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede 1608- A Dutch lens grinder Lippershey applies for a patent on the telescope. 1614- Scotland publishes the first table of logarithms, based on the principle that addition and subtraction are easier to compute than division and multiplication. 1627- Kepler establishes a schema of planetary positions later used for the tables calculating planetary orbits. 1675- The Greenwich Observatory is founded for navigational purposes to establish longitude by star positions. It is the first scientific institution established in England. 1687- Newton developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus

1710- John Locke publishes a Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. 1765-  Semaphore towers, set ten miles apart, carry messages from Lille to Paris in two minutes using telescopes and flagbars. 1783–Flight in a hot air balloon. 1795- France adopts the metric system. 1798- Noah Webster undertakes the compilation of a book to be called A Dictionary of the American Language. It appears in 1828 in its final form as An American Dictionary of the English Language.

1804- France devises an automatic loom in which the woven pattern is controlled by punched cards. The locomotive becomes a phenomena creating cities out of nowhere. 1814- The Times of London is the first newspaper to begin printing newspapers on a steam powered flatbed press, which permits production of 5,000 copies an hour. 1820- The first commercial calculator, the arithmometer, is produced in France. 1822- Charles Babbage builds his difference engine, a computing machine based on finite differences. 1825- Joseph Henry performed extensive fundamental studies of electromagnetic phenomena and devised the first practical electric motor1826- Niepce produces the first permanent photograph from nature and Morey invents the internal combustion engine. In 1834 we got the early refrigerators. In 1837 Morse gave us the telegraph. 1830- English mathematician invents the first slide rule.  In 1849 we get the telephone.  And in 1873 Levi Strauss give us jeans.

Now about here comes electric generation and light in 1880.  After this, look at the explosion into the industrial age.  It is as if time itself has sped up.  We make more progress now than ever.  People’s lives are forever changed, hopefully for the better.  By 1888, Max Planck had formulated quantum theory and explained wavelength distribution of black body radiation.  In 1889 Daimler and Benz invented the automobile with a 1.5 horsepower gasoline powered internal combustion engine.

The 20th century was filled with drama, violence, change and progress. Just about the beginning of the century was when Albert Einstein explained Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect, then later he contributed to theory of atomic spectra and formulated theories of special and general relativity.  In 1903 the Wright Brothers took the first manned powered heavier than air flight.  Niels Bohr was given a Nobel prize for his contributions to understanding the nature of atoms, their nuclei and their physical and chemical structure in 1922.  His concept of complementarity shows how deeply the changes in the field of physics have fundamentally affected our scientific outlook.  The consequences of this change of attitude reach far beyond the scope of atomic physics and touch the whole spectrum of human knowledge. In 1928, we get antibiotics. In the 1930s were new materials like nylon and rayon. By 1940 William Shockley co-discovered the transistor.  From here we get the semiconductor and it produces radio, television, computers, high speed networking and instrumentation. 1953 starts the human biology explosion affecting medicine and pharmaceuticals when Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA forever changing cell biology.  And the laser comes along in 1960, another derivative of the use of light.  Packet switching fuels the growth of communications in 1971 with the amazing Arpanet which later then becomes the commercial Internet by 1990.

And now we have all this stuff.  Miniature devices.  Cellular.  Microwave.  Xray.  Spectrometry.  Television captivates some. Social networks replace personal relationships.

Time speeds up.  We are so busy with our lives.  We can’t keep track of all of the inventions.  And we have practically destroyed our earth with pollution, greed and disregard for nature.  The world is still at war and poverty and suffering is all around us.  We are in some ways farther away from our natural roots than ever.  Are we advanced, or more primitive?  It is hard to say.

Now it is all rock and roll.   And it was all because of light.

“I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence.

Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it.

There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.”

—Thomas Alva Edison, 1847-1931

Edison’s is a man who changed everything for everyone through his fascination with light.

Furthermore, His life will give you another simple insight into a “thoughtful” life, where stunning results stem from contemplation and reliance on intuition and instinct.  He was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio.  If Thomas Edison were alive today, I like to think that he would be living next door to me because he would fit right in with the inventors and entrepreneurs who form the nucleus of Silicon Valley society.

As you well know, he was a high tech inventor in high gear. In addition to my personal favorite invention of his, the incandescent light bulb, his list of accomplishments includes the stock-ticker system and printer, mimeograph, phonograph, a quadruplex telegraph allowing four messages transmitted simultaneously on one wire, and alkaline storage batteries.   A number of his inventions laid important groundwork for the microphone, telephone, X-ray machine, movie camera and projector, and electric wheel chair.

He was awarded 1,093 U.S. patents.  Can you believe how prolific he was?

What he achieved was no more amazing than how he did it.  As a child, Edison was only occasionally schooled, but his family had a library where young Thomas explored the world within the pages of books, becoming familiar with the works of scientists, philosophers, novelists, and playwrights, an eclectic assortment of ideas after which he patterned his thinking.  He found the library and his own explorations of the world to be more satisfying than the constrictions of formal education.

Later when Edison worked in his own laboratory, he still relied upon his own explorations and determinations about what was possible and impossible.  But, he didn’t do it alone.  He would eventually employ over 60 people, all of whom shared his belief that the only limitations on possibilities in technology were the limitations of their own imaginations.

Edison created what we today call a “corporate culture” based on supportive enthusiasm, where his staff was free to interact with him and each other, and freewheel with their thoughts.

When inventing, he would sit at his drawing board and sketch a component for his staff to consider.  While his staff was studying the sketch, he would wander away, deep in thought.  He would read for a while and then return to his lab, where he would delightedly sort through component parts, arranging and rearranging them in seemingly mindless configurations.  Then he would nap, where many people close to him contend that he got clarity.

Edison was living proof that much more information is available when the mind is relaxed and clear.  He would return to the lab after lunch, and review the original sketch, make any necessary modifications, and then work with his team until the project was completed, no matter how long it took, no matter how difficult the solutions were.

From the first rough sketch to successful completion, Edison was single minded and laser focused.  He loved his work passionately.  In fact, he sometimes actually lived in his lab.

He was famous for his ability to concentrate and block distractions, much to the annoyance of his neglected friends and family.  He was totally committed. And completely successful.  He was intelligent, interested in the way things work and his heightened awareness was tuned into super-consciousness.

I want to point out ten of Edison’s traits that are common to almost all successful people:

1.  He read a great deal.  The books he selected represented a variety of topics.  His base of knowledge was broad.  The point is that you never know where the source of your ideas is going to originate or where the information will lead you.

2.  He was analytical.  Although he was reliant on instinct and intuition, he was logical thinker who integrated every mental tool available into this work.

3.  He had great passion for his work.  When you’re doing what you are meant to do, when your thinking is clear and when you have slipped past the lions at the gates of consciousness, Paradox and Confusion, who stand sentinel at the Gateway of Truth, then you function with the highest joy and in the highest integrity.

4.  He worked with a group of like-minded people who shared his passion. He trusted them and valued their input.  He shared his energy with a team.  Together they made things happen.

5.  He knew how to think and made time in his day to do it.  Edison acknowledged the value of sending and receiving clear thought, and tuning in to clear feeling.  The only way to do that is to create quiet and be ready.

6.  He saw himself as a problem-solver.  He knew how to combine and recombine information until something made sense.  How did he know when it was right?  He knew.

7.  He understood the roles of rest and relaxation in the process of seeking answers and solutions.  Not only is a rested, relaxed mind more clear, but the very act of relaxation puts you into a state to send and
receive more easily.  Naps are a wonderful idea.  But if you’re unlike Edison, and you can’t sneak a little nap, then try rising from sleep a little more slowly and give yourself time for gentle contemplation. Or meditate.

8.  He was focused.  He knew how to block distractions.  He didn’t cloud his “receiver” with a lot of static.  He knew how to create and use quiet.

9.  He was disciplined.  Edison was a man with a plan and a man on a mission.  Clearly and surely.

10.  He was tenacious.  He worked until a project was complete.  Failure was not in his vocabulary.  I would be willing to bet you that he understood that failure is the balance to success, and that every failure merely eliminates one more thing that doesn’t work on his way to a success.

If the list seems daunting, don’t worry. While we all aren’t just like Thomas Edison, he sure can teach us a lot about how the mind works.

Perhaps, for us, it will all fall into place as we learn to use our mind’s full capacity, to eliminate self doubt and trust our self as much as Thomas Edison did.