Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Truth Being Stranger Than Fictions..


I have often said here and at Intangible Materiality that the prosaic in of itself is paranormal in relation to the thin membrane of correspondences that define it, hence, there is more statistical probability that what we consider paranormal is normal from another perspective and that our view of the world from a personal view is in essence, naive.Our history confirms this. To me it's a matter of whom has the greater grasp of the imagination. The positivist or the skeptic? To this knotted lunacy, Krishnamurti suggests that "You can only be afraid of what you think you know."

Consequently, if you take the larger view of the historical world that surrounds us, this naivety is exponentially compounded into consensus mythologies that are also deeply entangled in a sort of pragmatic deniability that a shoe is a shoe. Yet our defining of shoes is not only theoretical but it's a moving target, in continual verb like process of redefinition. We no longer "believe" in Dragons that will swoop down over our heads, but we also redefined what dragons are, if you catch my drift. I have termed language as the transient theology of what is essentially and starkly unknown. We need a soundtrack for this post and here is your correspondents selection..the Three Little Pigs and the use of language as a defensive shield. that is analogous in my own mind to "Who Is afraid of The Big Bad Universe?" Also..the indeterminate nature of the edicts that language uses. Notice the descriptor of a pig that is gay. Glass Houses made out of language. Who possesses the most sturdy architecture? The curious diversions of the human condition can make veritable folk tales a science for rubes, shills and hoaxers. As in the paranormal, so it is in the normal.



I have also opined that without the prosaic nature of  this naive reality, we would not have what we define as anything paranormal to it as a sort of living testament to the uncertainty principle. So, I thought I would share this compendium of excellent essays from The New Scientist that take on this dynamic headlong to see where it will lead or confound us or both.

From a very early age and as I approach stepping into my grave at an accelerated pace, the one defining principle that has been my bane and boon is that I live in a fairy tale. In this public diary, I asked why so few dare to expose their the source of curiosity toward the paranormal in more profound terms to them personally and that sharing them might be a healthy exercise in a round table discussion. Well, there was no comment or discussing to be had as a result, so I took "the bull by the horns" and exposed my own in the post "An Indecisive Universe?" I will let Gurdjieff end this post with yet another fairy tale that could be socio-political, psychological of biologically a determinate of Nature's purposes. It is for you to term. Perhaps it is A, or is it B, or all of the above? Perhaps it's a trick question whereas the actual answer is none of the above. Hansel and Gretel come to mind. Perhaps leaving breadcrumb trails are a psychological crutch, a quirk..I leave to you.
There is an Eastern tale which speaks about a very rich magician who had a great many sheep. But at the same time this magician was very mean. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a fence about the pasture where his sheep were grazing. The sheep consequently often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines, and so on, and above all they ran away, for they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and skins and this they did not like.
At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his sheep and suggested to them first of all that they were immortal and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned, that, on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant; secondly he suggested that the magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them; and in the third place he suggested to them that if anything at all were going to happen to them it was not going to happen just then, at any rate not that day, and therefore they had no need to think about it. Further the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all; to some of them he suggested that they were lions, to others that they were eagles, to others that they were men, and to others that they were magicians.
And after this all his cares and worries about the sheep came to an end. They never ran away again but quietly awaited the time when the magician would require their flesh and skins.

8 comments:

  1. Hey Bruce,

    Wonderful post as usual. That said, I believe that the senses are more accurate at even describing the `paranormal' and that the dragons of old are NOT the UFO's of today.

    Anyway, the vast majority of UFO's IMO are Orbs - a probable different set of spaces.

    Rick

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  2. Hi Rick
    Good to hear from you. We are on pretty much the same page in relation to the correspondences between ghost phenomenon and unidentified aerial phenomenon, especially close encounters with a variety of recombinant humanoids.In another post here I listed many such correspondances. What is of specific interest to me is the relationship between ghost objects and ghost humans and host "extraterrestrials" that are not extraterrestrials. This is something that Keel concluded as well as you probably already know. Have you seen his research notes that they posted on line? If you need \ want a link, let me know. One of the most strange cases was originally found by Jerry Clark. Back at the turn of the century, what were called interlocking towers were the equivalent of air traffic control for the railroad ( where two rail lines crossed). Sober, logical individuals had to know schedules, keep in communication with dispatch and route trains by class, and deal with operational problems. In this case, an entire ghost train passed through an interlocking. There are what are incident reports called ironically enough "unusual occurrence reports" that document what was out of the ordinary in operations. I am trying to see through a historical society if there was one issued for that strange event.
    Cars, boats, even ghost plane crashes ( which I referred to in another post) even trains seem to cross our categorical boundaries. Certainly provokes.
    Best Wishes
    Bruce

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  3. Love the articles as always, Bruce!
    I hope you are doing well,
    Devin

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  4. "I have termed language as the transient theology..."

    Bruce,
    Not that you need more examples, but are you aware of the language-basis for our perception of colors?

    http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070430/full/news070430-2.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguishing_blue_from_green_in_language

    It also reminds me of how the Dalai Lama had no understanding of the word "guilt" for quite some time as there is nothing close to the word in Tibetan.

    Great post as always.
    Sean

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  5. Sean
    Those are some apt examples.
    Thanks on all counts
    Best Wishes
    Bruce

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  6. Hi again Bruce! I feel so stupid- forgot to answer your
    question about why people are so fascinated by the paranormal.
    I think I may have mentioned it before- but here it is again and I always come back to it. I often hear that it is a step towards some sort of enlightenment.
    I come back time and again to the 'paranormal' because of the fact that ALL of everything is paranormal, much as you state so eloquently!
    The 'why' is there anything here at all continually gets my mind going and makes me feel that perhaps our lives do indeed mean something-even if we can't scry their immediate meaning.
    all the best to you my friend,
    Devin

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  7. Devin
    The older I become the more I understand what Krishnamurti meant when he said "the truth is a pathless land." Consequently, it's easy to fall into fantasy, romanticism, self comforting mythologies, even a sort of functional madness of obsession and simply entertaining oneself for the sake of diversion where speculation has no consequences tied to it. I think we can keep our eye and the ball and yet balance it with the explorers mindset, to ( if anything) explore our environment..the good, the bad and the ugly. Everything seems to be contingent in nature, one phenomenon placed inside another..without any direct path unless we only see the surface of them. False conclusions, associations, yes, and language. Theres no mountain climbing gear for this. Sometimes it's hard to tell if this is an ascent or a descent but thats a valuation thats is also contingent, hence the title of the blog. I wonder as I wander.
    Best Wishes
    Bruce

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