Saturday 26 April 2008

Just read ITLAD - first impressions

Hello - thought that I would make a first post. These will be impressions rather than deep reflections, but here goes.
I discovered ITLAD through an interview on Astraea Radio, and the ideas interested me and struck a few chords. Tony has brought together a number of theories regarding the nature of time that have been around a fair time (Dunne, Ouspensky etc) with more recent scientific work in physics and neuroscience, and the results open a number of doors.
I wonder if anyone has come across the work of Stan Gooch? I don't know a lot about Jayne's work, but I read some of Gooch's books some years ago. Briefly, he thought that the cerebrum and cerebellum provided a more fundamental split in consciousness than the two brain hemispheres, with a system of awareness focussed in the cerebellum operating beneath our 'normal' consciousness and having similar abilities to those assigned to the Daemon.
With regard to the two brain hemispheres, I was unsure exactly how this connects to the Daemon/Eidolon polarity. Is the Daemon connected with the right hemisphere or the dominant hemisphere? In my case, I suspect that it is the right brain that is dominant. I see the rotating dancer in the video posted on the Ferryman site as moving clockwise, and I remember someone once giving me a series of psychometric tests as part of a job application and concluding that I was 'slightly right-brain dominant'. I would guess that there are more left brain dominant people in our society, but I am only guessing.
The idea of multiple personalities rings true. ITLAD suggests that they are projections of the Daemon. But so is the Eidolon. In Jung's autobiography 'Memories, Dreams and Reflections', he describes an early dream in which he saw a meditating yogi who had his own face. He realised that the yogi was dreaming him, and that he would 'die' when the yogi awoke.
I remember a dream I had in 1979, when I was on holiday in Rhodes. I went to bed after drinking, and had a very vivid dream in which my personality was pictured as a project run by a company. There was a Board of Directors, having a meeting to discuss progress. They felt that things were going badly, and were arguing. There was one figure whom I called the Managing Director. Whilst the others were arguing, he left the meeting to run the project himself. Did my life change from this point? Not that I am aware of. I have had powerful dreams both before and since.
The idea of some of these inner personalities being parts of people who have lived rather appeals to me, and provides what to me is a possible explanation of some reported experiences of past life memories.
I hope to add more considered reflections in due course.

6 comments:

Anthony Peake said...

PATRICK: Welcome to our little group. Your comments and contribution is most welcome.

The name of Stan Gooch has been mentioned to me a few times. I have read nothing by him but, on your advice, I will do so. I am very excited about the suggestion that the Daemon/Eidolon may be found in the cerebellum and cerebrum respectively. This is an interesting alternative to the right-left hemisphere argument. I guess that for me the evidence from split-brain patients seem to support the hemisphere split but I am open to other alternatives.

In general I suggest that the Daemon is 'located' in the non-dominant (usually right) hemisphere with the Eidolon in the dominant (usually left) hemisphere. However maybe this was too easy an assumption to make.

I was in Rhodes in 1978 (Lindos) and I recall having some strange dreams whilst there. Maybe its the atmosphere of the Greek Islands (my favourite place on Earth) that is so special.

Thank you again for your contribution. I look forward to many more.

Karl Le Marcs said...

Patrick;
I echo Tony's welcome and I would advise that having just read ITLAD you should spend some time reading some of the fabulous posts within this blog, which is surely the Undiluted ITLAD (UITLAD - new term for the Glossary?????).

Karl Le Marcs said...

On second thoughts, NO!
UITLAD would be Tony's first, unedited, draft of ITLAD; this blog would be ITLADextra
*smile*

ra from ca said...

Patrick:

Thanks for your post. I found your ideas and dream most interesting. I hope to read more.
Thanks again.

Seraph said...

I've also tried that 'spinning dancer' exercise. I found that within a couple of seconds of practise - hardly any time at all - I was able to have it switch back and forth at will. Interestingly, we tried an exercise where I contacted and had a conversation with one of the boys here: when I was looking inward and talking with them, the dancer appeared to hop from side to side at times, sort of swaying, without spinning at all. I have very little idea of what this means, unfortunately (perhaps that I am more in sync with the whole of my brain due to Dmitri and co?), but a non-plural friend of mine couldn't willfully change the direction, and he couldn't make the dancer hop/sway. I also have had some success at getting the image to slow down and speed up.

Interesting post. I like the idea of Jung's dream quite a bit.

Seraph.

Karl Le Marcs said...

Seraph, and ALL,
YES, I too seem to be able, after a short time, to reverse the dancing silhouette and even make it hope from one leg to another at times by using my brain to calculate Mathematical problems whilst watching it and then changing my thought patters to planning and structuring my writing.
This seems to reverse the direction as the theory of left-right brain dominance would suggest!