Cordoba

This has been posted as a reply to my recent blog. However I feel that it is so important that it should be placed on the front page to ensure that it is not overlooked.

Michael Houlder said...
Monday 16th July 2007

Tony,
As you requested in your e-mail to me, I've posted the letter I sent to you (see below) after our meeting at your lecture on Thursday 5th July at Bolton Central Library. I've also posted Vivienne's "predictive e-mail" from the evening before the event, as I refer to this throughout letter. Also, as well, I've appended your e-mail reply to my letter, as it adds more detail about your own 'Córdoba convention' at the SMN meeting the following weekend.

If you really are 'staggered' by our Córdoba coincidences, as I broadly outlined them to you on the phone (and in the letter), then wait until you hear about the fine detail and precision timing of them. From your own experience the following weekend, you are obviously beginning to realise that this phenomenon (whatever it is) is real. We do have a web-site pending about all of this, where we will describe these events in detail, and show illustrations of the physical evidence relating to them. You and your readers can register for e-mail notification when it is published, at our temporary announcement page at
"Córdoba Exploration ... at ... mysite.orange.co.uk/cordobaexploration/index.html
____________________________

The 'predictive e-mail' from Vivienne, referred to in the letter to Tony (further below) follows.

Viv____@_____.com
Subject: FW: Peake's 414
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:40:38 +0100

M
Got all 3 messages thank you, read and enjoyed all – wow what a very impressive 414 page!
I understand your reaction to his material now. It’s uncanny but I suppose that is what we are growing to expect so don’t lose your nerve. I wonder if he has visited Córdoba? I can see you both collaborating somehow in a future book as I think you may hold a piece of his jig saw puzzle. If only you could muster a bit of passion about your work he could be citing you in a future prologue. Have you ever tried writing a screen play?
Well it’s getting late and I’m almost ready for the dream time. Hope Mark comes along tomorrow – I feel his presence is required somehow.
See you tomorrow
Namaste
V

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael [mailto:m____@________.com]
Sent: 04 July 2007 20:20
To: Viv______
Subject: Peake's 414
V
I just thought you might be curious
M


______________________________


Original letter sent from Michael Houlder to Tony Peake, on Monday 9th July follows
(unexpurgated except for personal contact details):-

"Something's happening here ... what it is ain't exactly clear ..."

Hello Tony

I enjoyed your lecture at Bolton Central Library on Thursday evening (5th July), and speaking to you briefly afterwards, both in person during the book-signing -- and later on the mobile, about our shared enthusiasm for Córdoba. As I mentioned at the time, Mark refused to tell me who it was that I was calling. I guess he thought it might spoil the surprise. He simply told me to dial the number and mention Córdoba to the person who answers. Although I suspected that it might be you, I did think that it could be another member of the audience, who happened to share my (our) fascination with that amazing city. That it should be you, and a fellow Dick-head (as you efficiently describe us), adds a new dimension to our long history of Córdoba weirdness here in Bolton.

It was obvious, from your presentation, that you are a long-time CSNY fan, so I assume you'll have no problem placing the lyrics above. I know it was originally about the State suppression of political protest in the 1960s … but I think it is a useful anthem for the state of mind/minds that my friends and I have been in for some time.

I wish that there had been time for a public Q+As at the end of your lecture, as there are a number of issues arising from your ideas which intrigue me deeply, but about which I think I need some clarification. I had already had chance to download and read your article Cheating the Ferryman in close detail before attending the lecture, and I finally obtained a library copy of your book only two days before the event, so I had some chance to scan your ideas in the book, but may have misinterpreted one or two points. Now that I have bought my own copy of your book, I will study it in much closer detail, at my leisure, before troubling you with any simple misunderstandings. I assure you, though, I will be asking questions later! Hopefully, I may have chance to address these through e-mails, or even in person if we do have the opportunity to meet-up again soon, as you suggested on the phone. I'm convinced that we will have a great deal to compare notes over. I will take a week or two, to really consider your book, before asking you for any detailed clarification.


It was a great compliment you gave me on Thursday, when you said on the phone that you would like to send me a draft copy of the first chapter of you latest book. I am grateful for that. I would be delighted to provide any feedback you might find useful. I should warn you, however, that my own interest in quantum physics, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, Córdoba, Philip K.Dick, Bob Dylan (if that rings bells) etc. etc., can only be described, at best, as those of an advanced amateur. I have no professional involvement in any of these fields of research. I do have a MA in Philosophy, and did specialise in the Philosophy of Science, but I do not teach these subjects academically. It was just a deep and prolonged hobby. Any research or study I undertook was extensive, but not professional, and simply the result of a desperate need to try to figure out what on earth is happening to the reality I once thought was so “unproblematic“.

With that caveat in place, I would certainly be very pleased to meet you again, and discuss our mutual enthusiasms for PKD., Córdoba, and for the vast range of subjects that impinge on what it is to be a conscious something in this weird old world of ours; particularly as your arrival in Bolton, to deliver your lecture, seems to have had a far wider coincidental/providential context for my friends and myself, than you can currently understand.

As I said on Thursday evening, I completed my final MA dissertation (back in 1997) with the title:

David Bohm’s Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Theory as a Modern Logos Doctrine”.

It is not only his concepts of Implicate/Explicate Order and the Holomovement that interest me, but also his later notion of ‘Active Information’ (a development of his earlier ‘Quantum Potential‘ concept), which is somehow encoded within the implicate order, and in-forms wave-particle entities with superpositions and characteristic states. I see this as a clear parallel to the ancient Logos concept of Heraclitus, the later Stoics, and in Hellenistic theology and philosophy. Earlier in the MA course I also wrote a module essay on the implications of the EPR Paradox for our conception of time and space. Less directly related to the philosophy of science, but also of some relevance to your theory, I think, I also did a study of Plato’s concept of the contingent immortality of psyche (mind/soul), and Aristotle‘s concept of ousia (‘substance’). In addition, I also have continuing interest in the British Empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, Hume) in regard to perception and theories of causation, and Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, who’s notion of the Transcendental Self and transcendental ideality of space and time, may also be of relevance to your theory.

I have been attempting for quite some time (perhaps too long) to develop a comprehensive framework for relating Bohm’s theory, cellular automata in computer theory, and human consciousness, as well as some key concepts in western philosophy and theology. Not least among these, in the context of your theory. It includes a cybernetic interpretation of personal resurrection (or should that be re-erection -- if a caller to one of you phone-in shows on your website is to be followed). This is not a purely abstract or speculative attempt, but a genuine and rational response to the unfolding weirdness of my own life, and increasingly the weirdness of those around me (the weirdness of their experience, that is, not the weirdness of them as people - that‘s beyond explanation). I have posted some of these ideas to a website, but have not formally launched it. I will be pleased to give you the URL at a early later date, perhaps after we have had the chance to talk through some of our mutual ideas in person.

As well as this brief survey of my intellectual interests (and how they may have some significance to your theory as I currently understand it), I think I should also give you some idea of the impact your arrival in Bolton has had on myself and my friends who attended your lecture on Thursday ... particularly with regard to the enthusiasm that you and your wife appear to have for Córdoba. I would normally be extremely hesitant to mention these things to an almost complete stranger, but many of the key issues which you have obviously spent considerable time researching, and marshalling into your book, are the very issues which have preoccupied me and my friends for several years now, and with increasing urgency. Precognition and prescience, the significance of meaningful coincidence and 'synchronicity', even your central concern with the encounter with death, have all imposed themselves increasingly on us for several years. It has been over twenty years, in my particular case, since I was shaken from an attitude of 'militant agnosticism' about any such issues. I would once have dismissed them outright as 'New Age' nonsense. I remain deeply sceptical and rational in my attitude to these phenomena, but I cannot easily dismiss them now, especially as such experiences seem to have extended to my friends, like a virus. Central to those experiences have not only been my personal visits to Córdoba, but also a wide range of extraordinarily precise 'coincidences' relating to Córdoba which have targeted us all.

Initially it was only myself who had experienced these 'Córdoba coincidences', and I attributed it to some kind of ‘synchronistic’ response to my interest in the cultural and intellectual heritage of Córdoba. But now it seems to have propagated itself to my friends, once they became aware of it. This troubles me. It is not entirely unlike the reaction of characters in The Three Stigmata to the central “character” of Palmer Eldritch. At least they are not yet growing chromium plated, stainless-steel hands and eyes. However, it is almost as though Córdoba itself, or some spirit of Córdoba, is imposing itself on our consciousness. As enthusiasts for the city, I'm sure you and your wife will be fascinated by our stories.

It is because of the ’ubiquity’ (?!) of these recurring coincidences, that Mark approached you at the very end of the evening on Thursday, to find out if Córdoba held any significance or meaning for you. The fact that you have been there, done that, and literally worn the T-shirt (and continue to do so you told me) was astonishing, but I have to say, not surprising! Such has been the power and presence of these 'Córdoba coincidences' in our lives. As I mentioned to you while on the phone on Thursday, my friend Vivienne told me that she had sent an e-mail to me late in the evening of the previous night (Wednesday), in which she wonders whether you, too, may have been to Córdoba. I hadn't checked my e-mails on Thursday, since she’d sent it, and I only read her e-mail myself for the first time on the day after our meeting and phone-call. I have attached a copy of this e-mail as a JPEG screenshot - it seemed the best way to be sure that the date/time stamp of her first sending of it stayed on it (those things can change depending on which mail-server one uses, if I just sent it as a ‘forwarded‘ or ‘reply‘ to the e-mail). It is important that you see that she did send it on the evening before your lecture, and before our meeting. (Wednesday 4th July at 11.40 pm).

Vivienne's reference in her e-mail to the '3 messages' are to 3 e-mails which I had previously sent to her earlier on Wednesday. I had (I admit my guilt) scanned and e-mailed the Prologue and Epilogue from your book, which I had only obtained on loan from Bolton Central Library the previous evening (Tuesday). I apologise now for any copyright infringement and abuse of your intellectual property, but I did want her to read something of your book, in order to be primed for the lecture the following evening. I also wanted to show her just how closely my literary (PKD) and scientific interests (Bohm, QT generally, neuroscience, etc) matched your own. Hence her comment about my “reaction to his material”. The 'enjoyment' she mentions, from reading those messages, are regarding these sections of your book, and her response must be genuine, as she certainly wouldn't have expected a copy of her private e-mail to me to find its way to you like this. She agreed to my request to send you a copy of the e-mail now, as she realises how important it is that you are aware of the significance of our Córdoba-mania, and her own 'intuition' about your possible (likely) visiting of Córdoba. That was some kind of prescience, and is a measure of the presence Córdoba has in the minds of our little group. Her suggestion, in the same e-mail, that you and I may possibly have some basis for a collaboration is also remarkable, considering your kind offer to send me a draft of the first chapter of your latest book. Further, she also clearly expressed her concern that our friend Mark should also attend your lecture, as there was some doubt that he might, due to illness within his family. In the end circumstances “nudged” his decision to attend. His attendance did prove to be ’required’, as it was only his unprompted query to you, about whether Córdoba meant anything to you, which revealed your obvious affinity with it. Vivienne’s remarkable prescience in these three matters shows how significantly your own attempt at a framework for understanding precognition and prescience is taken by us.

You may be tempted to begin to start to suspect that her e-mail to me was a post-facto fabrication by us to impress you, but I assure you it was not. As one Dick-head to another, I know you will accept the reality of this phenomenon. Something really is happening here …even if it’s not entirely clear what it is.

Vivienne’s other reference to “a very impressive 414" refers to the fact that I also sent her a scan of page 414 of your book, which is an index page. I sent this as something of an ‘in-joke’, but this highlights another key sequence of coincidences which have developed for us over the last three years, the recurrence of the number 414 in extraordinary circumstances, and on several occasions in direct relationship to Córdoba! I know this may seem like an imitation of the recent Jim Carey film 'The Number 23" but I assure you that our experiences with 414 were occurring long before that flimsy was released, and we have documentary evidence of that too. These 414 coincidence have had a precision and significance far beyond those of the number “23” in the film. Our coincidences with “414” is probably 18 times more than that of the number 23 (cryptic joke intended - but do the math/s)!!

We have many examples of documentary and physical evidence relating to these coincidences. We are all very aware of that much general chatter about "coincidence" is often simply anecdotal, so we have all been very keen to obtain any physical evidence we can to document and prove these occurrences. We are accruing quite a significant archive about these matters.

We have other threads of coincidence which seem to have revealed themselves too. We even had a flurry of coincidences about "coincidence" itself, which began with my randomly dipping into a book on the shelves of the local Weatherspoon’s pub, and the very first words that I see on a random opening of the book were:

“Coincidences usually have the air of practical jokes on the part of Providence.”

That line is not from The Celestine Prophecy, or some other New Age hand-book as you might expect, but a line from a Lord Peter Wimsey novel of 1926, by Dorothy L.Sayers (Clouds of Witness, p.125). These ’coincidence coincidences’ culminated in my stumbling on the sole remaining copy of a novel called ‘Coincidence’ by David Ambrose, in a remainders bookshop in Bolton, and was on the very same day that the Dingbats (a picture puzzle) in the Bolton Evening News was of an arrangement of the letters of the word ‘coincidence’ in the form of a smiling face (“A happy coincidence!”.) Not only that, but on the following day that week’s New Scientist was published, with a feature article titled “How to make Coincidences”. This doesn’t exhaust the ‘coincidence coincidences‘, the documentary evidence for which I will happily show you at a later date. It was as though the very notion of ‘coincidence’ itself was being forced upon our attention. You can imagine my interest (but ultimate disappointment) when Vivienne directed me to the book “The Celestine Prophecy”. The ‘coincidences’ that so excited James Radfield are extremely thin compared to those we have been experiencing here in Bolton.

So you see, several of us here in Bolton have had a very pronounced sense of 'expectation' (even prescience) in regard to your lecture in Bolton. This sort of prescience and coincidence has been quite typical of experiences of our little group her in Bolton over the past five years. As Mark evidently mentioned, we are just a group of friends and acquaintances, who have known each other since school. We are not a self-selecting cult obsessed with weirdness. However, although we have know each for over 30 years, it is only in the last five to seven years that these phenomena have become so pronounced. Indeed, there have been periods of years, sometimes of a decade, when we hadn’t seen each other, or expected to see each other again. But we do seem to have been brought together again over these past few years, by some extraordinary coincidences, or the practical jokes of Providence. For what purpose this ‘gathering’ may have occurred I’m unsure.

As I mentioned to you on Thursday evening, I found the publicity leaflet about your lecture as I was walking out of Bolton Central Library with a copy of PKD's Ubik in my hand. I had actually finished reading it, and had been in to the library to renew the book, in order to show some of my friends certain content in it that I knew they would find amusing. To reassure you of the authenticity of this story, I’ve attached a scan of the cover of the library copy of UBIK, which I still have on extended loan (until 16 July), together with the self-service receipt for the original loan period, which has the book title and loan period printed on it. You will see that the original loan period ended a week before your lecture.

Not only that, but the PKD. book that I read in March, immediately prior to UBIK, was VALIS, the two books which you highlighted on your power-point presentation as being the most significant in regard to your own theory. I have been an admirer of PKD writings for many years (without being too obsessive a fan). I read other of his books, such Man in the High Castle, Palmer Eldritch, Scanner Darkly, Do Androids Dream..?, and many of his short-stories, over a period of fifteen years and more. Choosing to read Valis and Ubik this year was simply a matter of getting around to them now. Or so I thought. I now realise that the timing was in someway contrived, somehow, as a primer for your lecture and perhaps our future discussions. When those two books appeared on your screen on Thursday I very nearly laughed out loud at the outrageous coincidence of it.

As I said, we have all become very conscious of obtaining any physical evidences of coincidence, or fulfilled precognitions and presentiments, where possible, because we all still retain a "show me scepticism" about these matters. We are all reasonably intelligent and rational people. We are all quite sceptical of much so-called ‘New Age…’ so-called '…thinking'. But we are also open-minded and have had any knee-jerk cynicism about these matters knocked out of us. As you will appreciate, once the philosophical implications of some of Dick's ideas and themes have lodged themselves in one's brain, there is no theory about the ultimate nature of reality that is too far out-there to at least be given some consideration. We are both obviously aware, as Dick was, that there is far more to this weird reality we seem to find ourselves in than “meets the eye” (or even “fits the brain” probably). A degree of rational and scientific integrity is vital however, if we are not to float off into the realms of unsupported New Age speculation.

I do try to avoid, at least at the moment, any theory of ultimate and/or subjective reality that may lead to the 'tar traps' of solipsistic closure. Like ‘tar traps’, once you step into a solipsistic interpretation, there is no pulling yourself free. That way lies psychosis and self-implosion. That is one of the difficulties I do currently have with your theory. However, just because I’d like to think that this reality I seem to inhabit is not solely the product of the hallucinations of my dying brain doesn’t mean it isn’t. I have honestly considered, in the past, that I am lying Matrix-like in some VR environment, generated in a vast supercomputer in some high-tech prison (or rehabilitation facility) in the 25th century or beyond, and in this atheistic secular future, this supercomputer is probably housed in the Mezquita-Cathedral in Córdoba to keep it cool. Hence the system's own attempts to make me aware of my “true home“ with constantly programmed references to Córdoba cropping up in my VR world. Either that, or your theory is correct in every detail, and my dying brain is currently wedged under a bus on the Roman Bridge in Córdoba, probably beneath the statue of Raphael (the archangel of healing and my Being-in-White), and all of this is a replay. Perhaps, even, you are the Daemon to my Eidolon, come to Bolton to guide me home to my fatal destiny in Córdoba. That would explain why we seem to share so many cultural and scientific interests. They are the exact same interests. My interests.

As you know, reading too much PKD can seriously damage one’s ontological frame-of-reference. Buffalo Springfield were bang on the money …

"Paranoia strikes deep ... Into your life it will creep ..."

Best wishes for the rest of the lecture tour. ...

I hope to speak to you again soon, and look forward to meeting up with you, perhaps in Liverpool. I have been thinking of paying a visit to the “Gormleys” on Crosby beach, so maybe we could tie it in with that. However, I’m sure that Vivienne and Mark would be very pleased to meet you again here in Bolton, to tell you their own tales of prescience and coincidence.

I’m sure we’ll sort something out.
Regards


Michael - or Mick (but never ‘Mike’)

__________________


Anthony Peake's reply (Tuesday 10th July 2007) to this letter follows:-

Mick,

Wow, wow and thrice wow!

I am simply staggered by the significance of all this. You may or may not be aware but I was away for the weekend at the annual gathering of the Scientific & Medical Network (www.scimednet.org). I am a member of this organisation and they had requested that I do a short presentation of my Cheating The Ferryman theory. The SMN is a fascinating organisation and has some very powerful intellects involved. (indeed in the audience for my talk I counted five university professors at seven PhD's!!). Now what is interesting is that over dinner on Friday night I got chatting to those on my table about the curious synchronicities of Thursday night. There was great interest and, get this, of the five people on the table three had been to Córdoba in the last two months!!! Indeed for the rest of the weekend many of the delegates got involved in collecting what became termed 'Córdoba moments' and we had many lively discussions regarding Jungian synchronicity. It was both strange and a little disturbing. This has to be significant but of what I am unsure.

And then I receive your email. What can I say. It is like an episode from The X Files. I hope you don't mind but I have fowarded it to a few of those delegates who were particularly interested in Córdoba. I await there responses with interest.

Now, you may or may not be interested but as well as the list of talks below I will be doing a presentation at the North West Group of the SMN on Saturday 8th September. This will be in Rawtenstall. It would be great if you could get along. I can introduce you to some really interesting 'fellow travellers' along the road towards rational understanding of the borderlands of science and mysticism. We (i.e. The SMN) are keenly looking for new members and I think you and your friends are ideal candidates. Check out the website and see what you think. My talk in Rawtenstall will focus on the quantum physics of Cheating The Ferryman and will be identical to a talk I gave in Geneva in February. If nothing else I am sure you will find this interesting.

I would be really grateful if you could do me another favour. As you will see below I also have a blogsite. I can give you full access to be able to start you own blog thread - rather than just replying to somebody elses. Now I would be really pleased if you joined as a member and placed on there your letter to me (taking out any personal details such as your address and phone number. There are, again, some really interesting people who are full members of this blog and it is really international. It has Canadians, Americans, Australians and even Philippinos. Some of this are internationally renouned experts in their field so you comments will be read, I am sure, with great interest. Again let me know and I will send you a formal invite.

As discussed I have attached a copy of the first chapter of the original version of my first book. It describes in detail some of the weird synchronicities that took place during my research. Let me know what you think.

Look forward to hearing from you

Tony
_________________________

END-NOTE TO BLOG POST:
Tony:-- I hope this is helpful for you. As mentioned at the top, any of your readers can register for e-mail notification about our Córdoba coincidences web-site when it is published, at our temporary announcement page at
"Córdoba Exploration ... at ... mysite.orange.co.uk/cordobaexploration/index.html.

Your own Córdoba convention will now obviously be a significant entry. I look forward to hearing more about it.
best wishes,
Mick

16 July 2007 12:20