Sunday, October 21, 2012

Death, Dreams and Neurology



Measuring Experience

“The Copenhagen Interpretation is sometimes called "model agnosticism" and holds that any grid we use to organize our experience of the world is a model of the world and should not be confused with the world itself. Alfred Korzybski, the semanticist, tried to popularize this outside physics with the slogan, "The map is not the territory." Alan Watts, a talented exegete of Oriental philosophy, restated it more vividly as "The menu is not the meal.” 

-Robert Anton Wilson


Language is a measuring stick and the literal measuring stick has no reality of it's own except for it's use to make comparisons and it seems prescient to suggest an old axiom, that Dreams are the little brothers of  Death. Perhaps we can introduce one to the other formally by taking Kurt Vonnegut's advice as it was he who observed that ,""We must be careful about what we pretend to be."
Of course science has not come to any agreement whether there is cross talk between Death and Dreams as many a human experience suggests and so, as a result, we now we come full circle back to the issue of measurement. One could say all this is about is the measurement of experience as well as memory.
 Is memory as an biological genome have an equivalence that is stored elsewhere?
This has been the exploration of many a post here from quantum plenums to Borge's Library of Babel and all stops in between on our passage through the linear references of language, which , of course, these entrails do not suffice for the description of the multi-dimensional feedback of direct experience..
My old friend Ibn Al Arabi put it more bluntly when he said " No two people will experience heaven alike.."
The neurologists step forward and compare how large the wholes are in their knowledge, or at least thats how I view this interesting report from the merry go round of "scientific" debate.

http://monkeywah.typepad.com/paranormalia/2012/10/proof-of-heaven.html

The Liquid Measuring Stick



There is, of course, another perspective which is shared by Robert Anton Wilson, Gurdjieff and Krishnamurti as well as to many other explorers of experience, which simply put, is that we mostly live in a state where we dream we are awake. Of course, if they are correct this would make any measurement of a NDE, let alone waking "consciousness" a grand delusionary entanglement of referential guideposts. In another words, we are largely incapable of divided attention. What is divided attention? Simply put the watcher is incapable of watching his or her self while watching. Whether you call this self observation, self awareness, or the root of consciousness, perhaps the old "I think therefore I am" might have a variant, which is "I think, therefore I dream I am thinking." However even illusions as states follow contingent traffic laws inasmuch the trees in our yard will not likely get disgusted and simply walk away. I think this is a bone thats buried very deeply. One that drove Einsteins close friend, Godel into many a fugue state, which is how far does entanglement reach? How many strings that are pulled that we are unaware of, both without and within us? The strings will not stand still, remain in a predictable state for their group portrait.
This is the dilemma of measurement as well as that of those who research the anomalous is it not?

Physics seems to explore beyond this monkey see, monkey do but unfortunately, physicists are monkeys as well, let alone their being within a membrane of territorial ownership which to me is is a game of arguing over who owns the yardstick. R.A Wilson tagged this behavior as a contest of who has the better language, which is, in a deeper sense, beyond the shallow end of the pool, entirely beside the point of the game itself.
Another whirlygig.



“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.” 
― Lao Tzu

I wonder as I wander. Poe whispers in my ear..."A dream within a dream?"


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Looking Away For The Return Of Innocence



We bound both his feet and tucked his front legs as close to his belly as we could and using two long ropes tried to roll him over so he was not facing uphill. He would raise himself only to fall back under his own weight. Being blind in one eye, he turned his head to look at me when I spoke to him. Alert but weak.
The night before, he had fallen and literally slid down this hill about fifty feet to the edge of a large pond, which is where we found him at 6 a.m this morning, in the dark, after a prolonged search. At first, upon spotting him, we thought he had died, but he pulled his head up as we approached as if to try and see who it was, and it would happen, his one good eye was facing the ground. He was given a injection with a mild pain killer and after several attempts taking over three hours, he got back on his feet and while unsteady, my daughter led him back into his corral where food and water awaiting him. He was hungry and drank and his rear quarters were somewhat shaking. All of this occurred after we had found him in his stall, wedged into a corner, his legs to stiff to maneuver his way out and the Vet was called. An all night vigil with injections through the night gave us the impression he had turned a corner and now this. .
I stood at the top of the hill , chain smoking, and all this was sinking in as if the space I had occupied had vanished, and was thinking of Joni Mitchells lyric, "I was I had a river I could skate away on". All of us agreed he wanted to live, and the Vet was so impressed as we were, that despite his ailments of age, he was not in pain and had, as always what we would call " a sweet disposition"
Life in of itself is a miracle.
I knew that this situation was not about our feelings but our aged patient, Applejack, the lesson horse for children. As I write this my heart is welling up, I feel this in whatever, whomever I think my self to be.
I was going to stay and work on a truck but it was just too cold to be practical and we had to prepare for another all night vigil to watch over him while he seemed fairly active, all of us knew it could happen again.
I had to go to take care of our other "critters". As I left, I was hoping against hope he would improve, and a positive approach in his care was vital. All of this cost money, and none of gave a damn about money.
I was home for about an hour and my wife called. He had fallen again and the vet was again summoned as his legs gave out again. There was no other choice in terms of compassion but to put him to sleep and so now he lays out in his field, a tarp covering him as a truck was summoned in order to bury him. I could not bear to see him taken. To see him go. Not one more death, not one more parting or so we say. And as I age, this becomes more felt, as life itself as a gift becomes a deeper cup to drink from.
My son, before he passed away, in his illness simply asked that I not forget him. That river I could skate away on I see off in the distance glimmering, shrouded and leading in my mind where we all roam free. Perhaps I am pulled toward the past in this.
I suppose there are worse delusions. You drink to empty the cup to be refilled.
Homeward bound through the fog seeking the return of  lost innocence. Hoping to be surprised when somehow I feel in my bones, I know as Thomas Wolfe opined, you can't go home again. It will never be the same way twice, even as I blink my eyes.
A hail and farewell to a good companion. Look away if you can.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Measurement of Anomalous Microclimates In Mind and The Environment

The Mind and Body Divisions Between Plasmatic Orbs and Ball Lightning 



Is Separating The Chicken From The Egg, a Wise Choice?

The divide between the body and mind as an odd sort of historic conceptual model  as an woebegone artifact belonging in a museum, that fits into a Gurdjieffian description of some similar concepts being akin to " a two thousand year old frozen turkey", in that in terms of the presumed singular root of consciousness falls into the chicken or the egg game of linear causation, where anyone who takes the time to raise chickens knows, it's a rather silly way to view reality. I am prone to term reality in the plural as contingent realities. That is to say, reality depends on the scale of comparisons I use. The general idea being that everything both seen and unseen is interconnected and any two manifestations  are contingent upon the other like the architecture of legs and the pull of gravity. Is the observation and research into the paranormal prone to using categorical divisions based upon too few measurements? Who is haunted, the locality or the observer? Is it solely the environment that plays incessantly upon itself, or do anomalous activities happen when they are unobserved, like the tree falling without anyone to witness it? We simply do not know without the observer doing either outright or inadvertent tampering with it.

The Plural Realities of Luminous Spherical Membranes

This game brings to mind plasmas, orbs and anomalous spheres seen in the sky, regardless of altitude, and how resemblances shared by these garden varieties may be helpful in understanding how energy, let alone a presumption of sentience within them, are manifested and as a consequence observed.
In a previous post I shared the observation that lower humidity levels and corresponding drops in ambient air temperature combine to create a micro environment that is a precursor to observed energetic gaseous states known as orbs. Although everyone I know of does not bother to measure one half of this equation and as a result, we cannot measure this relationship. Further, we need to measure this microclimate to determine the composition of the gases. This to me seems elementary. Further, all these quirky devices that are used to detect atmospheric charge should be replaced by a high quality magnetometer. More on this further on.

So we have:
1. The electromagnetic field
2. The gaseous composition of the microclimate
3. The humidity level of same.
4. The ambient temperature of same.
5. The measurement of Ions in the microclimate.

The question is one of one manifestation as I listed them in relation to all the others. Like a lock with several tumblers, perhaps all tumblers must be opened in their contingent relationships to one another just as a tree requires water, atmosphere earth and sunlight to appear. Take one out, and we are missing an aspect that all the others are dependant upon. Or so it seems.



All of which brings us to orbs of various natures. We could say all orbs are like planets in that they are round and yet if we look at the composition of planets, they are quite similar and yet dissimilar at the same time.
And so we come back to our division of body from mind. This theory suggests that one form of orb is all in the mind, separating the proverbial egg from the chicken. Served with a twist of Descartes.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/05/17/2899845.htm

Another theory says that these originated in a electrical field via a gaseous medium that acts as a membrane that becomes itself conductive while not requiring a conduction by ferrous or other materials associated with electromagnetism. In this essay that refers to research we find ionised atmosphere as a result of this process.
If so, then the de-humidification and corresponding decreases in temperature in the climatic  micro-environment wherein these spheres are observed,

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/10/12/3609694.htm

Feedback Loops and Place Markers As A Circular Path

Somehow these theories, much like those that separate the mind from the body or, in this case, the environment from the observer seem to talk past one another. The question is, we seem to be prone to term things as demonic just as our forebears did without defining such a word with clarity, or for that matter our terminology driving the result, with or without any self awareness of this looping feedback coming from without, from the environment although we placed a marker there. Carts before horses and the nature of echoes. It cannot be me causing this. Well... yes and no. It seems we are stuck  In trusting what our animal senses and witting and unwitting drives and desires define for us. Demons have strikingly similar characteristics to human animal desires and of course, this is entirely coincidental, isn't it?  Again the emphasis is on a sort of anthropomorphic bias projection. Again, it can't be us, so. it must be them. Off the hook and into a house of mirrors.

Coordinated Parallel Measurement Versus Provoking Ourselves Into Dead Ends

I think it reasonable to suggest, we need more parameters measured, and more remote and less participative and primitive observance of the effects of these microclimates. One word, contamination. Yes, folks the body has an electrical field. However, this leads us into the body and the effect of the environment on same. Very simple, we can easily measure changes in the skin electrically, as this is the basis of the polygraph. We can also measure body temperature. Its called a thermometer.
We can also measure the brain itself and it's electrical activity. We need bodily parameters and not just atmospheric readings. So, what is to be done?

We need a new instrument that records in real time these parameters and coordinates them ( a task that is largely missing) that I see looking somewhat like a polygraph with permanent and  parallel tracings each with it's own set of parameters according to what is measured.

Why is not anyone doing this? Seems elementary Watson.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

A Statistical Ignition Of Coherence


This is an example of word play that follows that proverbial White Rabbit who lurks persistently while mocking us on the other side of our binocular animal senses. A strange creature devoid of time. Traces in a popcorn trail through an energetic space that bades us to pursue a corkscrewed staircase, wherever it may lead us, that is burrowed through through the void of our Looking Glass  like a untraceable laser beam.

Or so it seems.

The below posted link takes us there. A case of a globally based coincidence or a unusually tightly focused attenuation of field energy? Evidence of quantum coherence in bundled information physics? One of the themes of this blog has been the limitations of language as well as a modality of communication that does not require verbiage and this is ( to this writer) a classic example of non verbal and \or non-written information being passed from observers and directly to a state of superimposition, creating a visible and measurable effect.

Away from the maddening crowd, silent random number generators spin to align themselves in space organised in space to tightly coordinate with equally aligned mass attention on a single event. The moment of ignition. That. is to say..felt as an effect over the circumference of the Earth.  Recorded. Familiar themes in high strangeness.. Stay tuned.

Some forty years ago, a friend by the name of Larry Berg impressed on me that modality precedes communication. Larry, you may have been right, wherever you are.

http://www.noetic.org/mindatlarge/

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.