WOWIO Goes World-Wide - A Request

You guys may or may not be aware but ITLAD - TESOWHWYD has been available for free download on the American website Wowio for around eight months now. The book has done very well with a large number of evaluative downloads taking place. The great news is that up until today this facility has only been available for people in the USA but within six hours or so the ability to download for free many current books will be open to everybody across the world.

Now this may seem too good to be true but it really is a win-win situation for all involved. Readers get a free book, the publisher and author receive a royalty payment from Wowio and advertisers have a site to advertise.

Now I am asking a massive favour here but you can really help me out (both financially and in terms of publicity) if you go to Wowio and download an electronic copy of ITLAD. You can place this on your computer and be able to search for those bits you love without going to the index. This will give you a superb reference tool when discussions on both here and the FORUM.

Indeed this is also the opportunity to have all your friends and associates understand what ITLAD is all about - whilst at the same time getting me a royalty payment (not a great deal but still worth having) and assisting in getting ITLAD into the WOWIO charts.

Indeed my next book will also be available on this site (again for free download) from mid September onwards.

Please check it out at http://www.wowio.com/ - just do a search for "Anthony Peake".

POSTSCRIPT: It seems that a download of ITLAD is not free. It will cost a dollar. Also I am amazed to see that my next book ... due to be published in September is also there so you can take a sneak preview (only a dollar!!!)

What the bleep do we know!?

I thought this is beautiful!
http://www.whatthebleep.com/crystals/

Leasowe Talk

Once again I have had the privilege of attending one of Tony's talks. This time the focus was the quantum physics aspect of ITLAD.


The audience was a small select group - most of us had heard Tony's lectures before. Nevertheless, it is all credit to Tony that people want to hear more of what he has to say and he never disappoints.

Because the group was relatively small, there was an intimate atmosphere that encouraged everyone to join in the discussion session. As always there were lots of amazing examples of how ITLAD can explain real experiences in people's lives.

I thought I would take a few photos to give a flavour of Tony's presentation.

It was the first properly sunny summer's day we have had on the Wirral this year, and maybe that affected the numbers of people attending. Perhaps the next session in Liverpool on Tuesday will attract a few more people!

Another Image by Andrew

Andrew asked me to place his latest work onto the blog. As you can see it is a fascinating play on Philip K Dick - Anarch Peak - Anthony Peake. As with the rest of Andrews work I am both impressed and flattered that he has spent time doing this. Maybe this is the start of a new form of art - Itladian Portraiture!

Thanks Andrew.

infants vs adults

Have you ever looked into the eyes of an infant and felt that you could jump in and go for a swim? They are so open and inviting it’s almost unnerving.
You can’t help but wonder how they see life; that somehow they experience a magical world beyond your vision.
Why do we feel that? It isn’t logical. If you couldn’t walk or feed yourself; if you were incontinent; if all you could do was roll over in bed; if you had no ability to speak or even think in rational verbal terms — wouldn’t you be considered disabled?
Why then are we so quietly envious of these little people? What magic do we sense in them? Does Buddha swim in the depths of those liquid eyes?

Perhaps there is a Buddha consciousness in these 6 month old, uninhibited, sometimes serene, often demanding, easily fascinated, bed-wetting bundles of joy. Why not?
Life is strange. Is it such a stretch that infants, despite all of their outward limitations, process abilities of perception we wish we had?
And since their limitations primarily set them apart from us, could it be that these limitations are their causative Buddha-factor?

The silent advantage of infants
Infants perceive their world in each moment, fully, deeply, and without bias. Us big people on the other hand, experience a verbal-thought-summation of what we see in the moment based on pre-established judgments. Adults perceive life through a template of fixed, albeit slowly changing, definitions. Infants have no template blocking their vision.
One of the reasons for this is that infants have no verbal language associated with their thought and perception.
Think for a moment about this vast mysterious world. Try to use all of your imagination to probe the depth and reach of its content. It’s impossible. And yet, we allow words to define our experience of it.

Can you imagine what it might be like to have no words entering your mind as you perceive and think about your world? How would that change your world-view?
Also, because everything is new to them, infants judge less. They haven’t yet acquired the experience to know what to accept and what to reject. How would it change your life if you could selectively suspend judgment to facilitate a more dynamic view of circumstance?
Science Daily recently featured the research of Lisa Scott, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The articles reported her findings on the perceptual development of infants. Of infants 6 months or under, Lisa says, “During this time the brain is sensitive and responsive to the surrounding environment.”
But after 6 months of age, Scott concludes, “what is most intriguing about these findings is that they collectively suggest that typical perceptual specialization and development is characterized by the gradual decline of abilities"

Scott is suggesting that we loose our dynamic responsiveness to the world after 6 months of age, in preference for a selective focus on the essential elements of survival and satisfaction.
In the Association for Psychological Science, an article titled, New study shows that infants have mind-reading capability describes the work of Luca Surian, a psychologist at the University of Trento in Italy.
Luca’s research is primarily concerned with the ability to reason about the mind. According to the article in APS, his findings indicate that psychological reasoning skills enabling us to predict another’s behavior are in place in infants, independent of environmental or learned behavior. Surian explains that, “this is mind reading proper, however rudimentary.”Is it possible that infants have perceptual and intuitive abilities, and that we have lost some of those attributes? It appears so. Can we reclaim them?

(taken from the article `LITTLE BUDDHA WALKING`BY ZEN MOMENTS)

Through the 10,000 Barrier

I am sure that you have all noticed but today saw the Blogsite crash through the 10,000 'visits' since late February. I have no idea how successful other Blogsites are but I am sure that very few have this level of traffic. Congratulations to all involved.

The New Tao of Physics - New Scientist

F. David Peat has a PhD in theoretical physics, and worked with David Bohm (of Imax fame *chortle*) and co-authored 'Science, Order and Creativity' with him, among many other serious Quantum treatise. check them out here: http://www.fdavidpeat.com/bibliography/books/books.htm

So it is with great delight that I found this story of his discovery of indigenous ways of being, 'coming-to-knowing' and direct experience of things, that we might call science, and his positive take on how much there is to learn from the non-western point of view.

He has even created a more holistic approach to the reading of the book, which is not simply fact after fact, but is cleverly written to require some rumination, some fine wine or abbotts ale, to fully digest and take in the deepness and subtlety of the ideas and mull over the contrasts of ways of being between western and indigenous peoples. More than once it made my head stretch (or was that the wine? ;-)

Worth a look!

Aloha

Gary

PS Times Literary Supplement said: 'Peat finds constant parallels between the wisdom of ...elders and Heisenberg and Bohm'

Now this is really weird!!!!

Last night I found that I couldn't really sleep. I had lots of things going through my head. My mind drifted to thinking about the Blog. I then thought about the weird coincidences I described in my "Postcard from Tony" kindly posted for me by Karl.

(http://cheatingtheferryman.blogspot.com/2008/06/postcard-from-tony.html

As I thought about in in my minds-eye something struck me. I thought about how it had been possible for me to send to Karl the photograph I took that very evening (23rd) and how he had placed it on the blog. I then woke up fully. I realised that I had not sent any photo to him because I emailed him on my phone a few hours before. It was impossible as I had not taken the photograph then, but a few hours later, and yet I was sure that Karl had posted my actual photograph. I emailed Karl this morning and he confirmed that he had selected a picture at random that he found on the web that was of my hotel - he chose, quite by chance, one that was virtually identical to the one I was about to take (check it out - the one above is mine). This was taken from our room. Of the fifty or so rooms in the Hotel Belvedere only two have balconies that have this view so the chances of Karl picking a photograph at random that was exactly my view as I wrote a posting for the blog on...now what was the subject? Oh yes, weird synchronicities!!!!

Is this fascinating or just a little bit scary!

Time Perception

Another synchrodipitous radio moment:

While driving from a visit this afternoon I came across the repeat of Tuesday's "All In The Mind" programme on Radio 4. This included an item about a time perception experiment that seemed particularly ITLADian. I'm not sure about the overall conclusions, particularly in respect of schizophrenia, but it's interesting anyway.

I couldn't give it my 100% attention because I was driving, so I'll listen again.

You can access the programme by clicking on "All In The Mind" Tuesday 22nd July.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

FORUM BACK UP

Okay, we are all back on line and working fine. I note that there are five "guests" on at the moment. So either the other95 decided to go and do something else or it was one of those inexplicable things that happens from time to time.

Thanks to Jan Kiermasz of JK Computing Services for sorting this out.

By the way my Gremlin doppelganger was called Stripe!

ANNOUNCEMENT - FORUM DOWN

Hi folks.

As many of you are aware there seems to be a problem with the Forum. I have spoken to my web designer and she informs me that the problem was that over 100 people tried to log on at roughly the same time. This caused the server to crash. She is working to try and sort this problem out.

I am not sure if I am pleased about this or not. Clearly it would be great news that over 100 people were clammering to look at the Forum but seeing as the previous record was six I am worried that somebody has deliberately tried to make it crash.

I doubt whether we have offended anybody so I am putting it down to 'gremlins'.

I have my fingers crossed that we have not lost any of the fantastic contributions made thus far.

My apologies

Tony

p.s. Way back in Christmas 1984 I took a young lady to see the Movie Gremlins. I recall that she had a fit of the giggles because she considered that the chief Gremlin (whose name escapes me) had a similar hairline to mine - i.e. a grey spiky bit at the front! (thanks for the memory Liane! - you could call it a trip down Memory Liane - sorry, awful pun!)

The Acute Dying Experience (ADE)

Thanks to Dr. Perera of Melbourne I spent last night reading an article that I had missed in the last edition of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. This is the academic journal for professional members of the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS). Many of you may recall that it was an article by me in this journal a few years back that started the whole CTF/ITLAD ball rolling. For this I have to thank Professor Bruce Greyson, editor of that august journal.

So why am I so excited? Well most of this edition is taken up by a fascinating article by Dr. Michael Sabom entitled "The Acute Dying Experience". This article is profoundly itladian in its content and absolutely full of first-person reports of experiences that support CTF. I have contacted Dr. Sabom and I am hopeful that he may make a contribution to this forum.

I would like to open up a debate about the contents of this important article. Clearly there is simply not enough space to precis it all here so I suggest that any of you that wish to join in should request a copy of the article directly from Dr Sabom himself at: 100 Wing Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30350 or by email at Msabom2@aol.com. (I would be really grateful of you could mention involvement with CTF when requesting the re-print). There may be a small fee involved but I am sure that you will find the article well worth it.

Dr. Sabom has added another TWA (three word acronym) to our nomenclature. He considers that the ADE (Acute Dying Experience) is a phenomenon that preceeds the NDE (Near-Death Experience)and is quite distinct from it. However for us itladians the ADE clearly contains many elements of CTF and neatly explains how such a state of hyper-consciousness comes about. He discusses in some detail how the ADE mirrors many of the sensations described by ketamine (no surprises there, eh guys!)

It is my intention that all public discussions regarding this artical should be on the Forum. However I am more than happy that discussions can also take place here once the overall impact

Copenhagen Interpretation

A few weeks ago Karl posted a video to do with the Many Worlds Interpretation. Personally I feel the Copenhagen Interpretation makes more sense (so to speak, as they're both very odd). I was recently listening to Richard Feynman's lectures and it reminded me of an experiment called the Double Slit experiment. I have attached the video to explain it. The experiment is basically a way of showing that nothing is real, unless it is being observed.

NDE Book with the Austrialian Psychiatrists

You may recall that a few months ago I was approached by two Australian psychiatrists requesting my involvement in a new book outlining the NDE experience for Australian physicians and medical professionals.

Yesterday this became a step closer to reality. I will be meeting one of the them (Dr.Mahendra Perera) in his country of origin, Sri Lanka, in early December. We plan to discuss the viability of the project and exactly what my involvement will be. At present it has been suggested that I write a chapter on the history of the NDE phenomenon - applying at the end the suggestions of CTF and ITLAD. I will also be part of the editorial team.

(Indeed I have just received an email from Mahendra - he is travelling on a highway near Ayres Rock!!!)

I am very excited about this. as far as I am aware ITLAD has yet to be published in Australia so this will assist in getting it better known in that country. Indeed this is strange in that I have many readers in Australia and I have had two articles published in Australian magazines.

Philip K Dick Letters

As an advance taster to what you are likely to find in my next book I would like to discuss the subject of the last chapter ... a gentleman that you all know seems to have some peculiar link with both ITLAD and possibly even myself (viz the Anarch Peak character in "Counter Clock World").

Throughout his life PKD called his Daemon many names but the one that he settled on was the Vast Active Living and Intelligent System, or VALIS. However it was not until 1981 that he was to write a novel by that name. Driven by the fact that his precognitive skills were telling him that he did not have long to live – again a precognition that was to prove correct as he was to die a year later of a stroke – Phil was keen to get his theories down on paper. For years he had been writing a narrative of his philosophy that he was to call Exegesis. However this was virtually unpublishable so Phil decided that he would write a fiction around the facts of his life.

For those of you who have read my first book Is There Life After Death? - The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When You Die, (ITLAD), 'Valis' makes a simply fascinating read. Yet again we have Dick embroidering a state of consciousness that I argue is more real than reality itself into a barely disguised biography.

Right from the start Dick wants it made clear that he is two personalities. The main character is the curiously named Horselover Fat. Curious only if you don’t understand basic Greek and basic German in which case the pun is fairly clear. ‘Horse lover’ in Greek is translated as Philos Hippus and Fat is English for the German word Dick. So there you have it. Clearly Horselover Fat is Phil himself. However we soon discover that the narrator of this tale is a sober science fiction writer by the name of Philip K. Dick. We are already in the land of duality twins and doppelgangers that Dick was so fascinated post March 1974. However writer Phil expands on many of the other themes that had filled his life for seven years.

Horse Fat is convinced that reality is an illusion. He has come to this conclusion after years of reading Gnostic texts. Narrator Phil is not convinced of this belief but agrees to join Fat on a journey to Northern California to find a band called Mother Goose. Whilst there they meet a young girl by the name of Sophia. Clearly the name was picked by Dick to show that this girl is some form of Gnostic deity. Indeed this proves to be the case when she brings about the fusing of Fat and Dick into a single being. This is a clear reference to Dick’s belief that his personal amanuensis fused his Daemon and Eidolon in March 1974.

This fusing of his two personalities allows the narrator to perceive reality as having two versions;
Fat perceives the ‘Matrix’ whereas Phil has always existed within the confines of the ‘Black Iron Prison’ of the Demiurge.

Sophia brings about the joining together of the two aspects of Phil’s personality because she is the embodiment of a ‘VALIS’, as we have already seen this is an acronym for Vast Acting Living Intelligence System. This is a form of metaphysical DNA that can replicate itself inside the brain. Like a virus it can spread through the cortex and in doing so open up that persons consciousness to perceive the reality of the ‘Matrix’. Once this takes place the person becomes a ‘homeoplasmate’ or a unified being that perceives the Matrix as true reality.

In this way the real Philip K Dick explained to his readers what had happened to him in 1974. For Sophia/Valis read my Daemon. I contend that although involved in Dick’s life from a very early age the Daemon could only communicate with its Eidolon in a more directing way when Phil’s brain structures became open to the communication. This may have been brought about by the onset of temporal lobe epilepsy in his later years. It is possible that Phil’s contention that when a young man he was diagnosed with schizophrenia was why the messages were garbled and unclear until 1974.

If my theory is right then Phil Dick’s Daemon, under the pseudonym VALIS, made a concerted attempt to have its famous writer Eidolon set out in fictional format the philosophy of reality that I was later to describe in my book Is There Life After Death? Literally everything is there. However Phil was to misunderstand the message and confuse some of the elements. However a careful reading of his work in the light of mine may bring you to some startling conclusions.

But there is one really fascinating proof of Dick’s Daemon and its precognitive abilities. I believe that I have discovered evidence that his Daemon gave Phil an image of his own final moments.

As you may recall I have discovered a thus far unpublished treasure trove of letters sent by Phil to a pen pal in the early 1970s. As I was looking for a suitable ending to this chapter I came across one written on February 25th 1975. This letter carried the following fascinating postscript:

I was up to 5 a.m. on this last night. I did something I never did before; I commanded the entity to show itself to me – the entity which has been guiding me internally since March. A sort of dream-like period passed, then, of hypnogogic images of underwater cities, very nice, and then a stark single horrifying scene, inert but not still; a man lay dead, on his face, in a living room between the coffee table and the couch."*

On February 18th 1982 Phil’s neighbours become concerned that they had not seen him that day. They knocked on his door then forced their way into the apartment. They found Phil lying unconscious in the living room. This was a place that Phil in 1975 would not have recognised. It is likely that he would have been found in exactly the position and location described so clearly in Phil’s Daemon-evoked hypnogogic almost exactly seven years before. Phil was not dead at this time but clearly in his dream-vision Phil could not have known if the man was actually dead or unconscious. He was to die about a week later without really gaining consciousness.

Now please note that Phil was quite precise in his command to his Daemon – he requested that it show itself. I believe that that is exactly what the Daemon did. It showed a future Phil in the last few moments of his conscious awareness before the stroke severed his links with ‘reality’ as he perceived it. In doing so the Daemon implied that it was Phil himself in the final moments of his life – existing in the half-life described in Ubik and explained in my first book.

Could this be another Daemonic clue that we do, indeed, Cheat The Ferryman?

*Dick, Philip K Letter to Claudia Krenz - 25th February 1975.

Sunday Service Sabbatical

To All ITLADic Students

Owing to a combination of factors there will be no Sunday Service this week, for which I apologise.

.

.
All being well, normal service will be resumed next Sunday towards the collective ITLADic studies.

All students are thus encouraged to enjoy their day off!
*smile*

A Dark Professor
Karl L Le Marcs

All Along The River

On Saturday afternoon I was guest of honour at a performance of "All Along The River" - a stage extravaganza written and directed by playwright and poet Bev Clark.

The performers, school and community groups from the Wallasey area, showed the depth of talent that Wirral has and was a magnificent contribution to the Liverpool Capital of Culture celebrations. Over 150 children and adults were involved in this massive undertaking and all concerned should be congratulated.

After the performance was completed I was asked onto the stage to present a series of prizes to local school children. Although seeing me and listening to my short speech was probably something of an anti-climax for the audience I was delighted to be associated with it all.

The photograph above is one of the prize winners, Allanah Bruce, wondering who on earth the guy standing behind her is!

As a great fan of Itlad, Bev will be placing a link on her website to our little blogsite here and the Forum - so who knows how many new itladians, both young and not-so-young, that we may attract.

Full details of the performance can be found on Bev's website:

http://www.handinhandtheatreproductions.co.uk/

Our lives played back - What about dreams?

Just a quick pondering. Within the Imax, when our lives are replayed, are our dreams replayed? Or do they alter in the subtle ways that our lives go on to aswell?

Dream Theater Album - More Synchronicities

Posted using the "Doppelganger Facility" for "Peter R"

I was looking at the cover of the Dream Theater video (which according to the internet was released in April 2001 and I assume it is the original cover.

The main picture is of an impassive face but look closer and there are lots of individual photos of different people. I still have a copy of
'The Times' for the 15th September 2001. This has the complete front and back pages covered in photographs of some of those who died (other papers probably did something similar). I also recall relatives and friends pinning up pictures of the dead and missing near the scene.

The top left hand corner is also interesting. The white picket fence is a very similar visual image to the bottom half of the famous picture of the metal ruins (page T15 of my newspaper.)

I also think that I can see a plane about to crash into a building. OR
THEN AGAIN PERHAPS ITS JUST MY IMAGINATION. or perhaps it wasn't just the album cover that was prophetic.

Finally it is fascinating to note that the Dream Theater album “Scenes from New York - Scenes from a memory' has a track listing which includes the following itladian titles: 'Strange Déjà vu’ and 'Fatal tragedy'

There's a theme emerging here Watson.

Daemon turns a sceptic into an ardent Itladian!

Posted using the Doppelganger Facility.

I received this email yesterday from "Peter R". Peter has agreed that I can place his words on this site using the Doppelganger Facility. I have tidied it up a little bit but it is very much the email Peter sent. This is absolute proof, if ever it was needed, that even sceptics can be brought round to the absolute power of ITLAD and CTF. All is needed is a little Daemonic prodding.

Hi Tony,

I must write this while it is fresh in my mind. A little background first. I woke up during the night last April and heard you talking on LBC Radio in London in April. Mum had died in January and I found the subject and the science behind it interesting and I stayed listening.

Since then I have dipped in and out of your book and whilst I find the science interesting(and I must admit a little bit incomprehensible) I have, over a period of time, grown more sceptical about your theory. Anyway about a week age I acquired a computer after not having one for a few years after my old one broke. I took the opportunity to download the LBC interview that you did on Adrian Allen's show over the weekend and again found it interesting. Background over.

I like mooching round charity shops for music and films,dvds etc. Yesterday (Sat morning) whilst mooching I picked up a video. This was the band Dream Theater's "Scenes from New York" . I had never consciously heard of them - I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM! Anyway I convinced myself that they were probably rubbish- just another US power rock band. I didn't buy it.

Today (Sunday) I thought I'd see what was on You Tube. I saw the first of your talks, which I again found very interesting. After watching your video I switched off the computer and went away.

Later in the day I put the computer back on and was wondering what Dream Theater were about so put their name into YouTube. I listened to a track called Headlined Metropolis. Pretty good, I thought and thought that I should have got the video.

IMMEDIATELY afterwards I something made me decide to hear the second of your YouTube talks, which as you know is on Deja Vu (or "deja vecu as call it). When you showed the picture of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center with smoke billowing from the top my sceptical side kicked in and although the picture was very reminiscent of tv and newspaper pictures I recalled seeing, I thought "there's no plane, no flames". I suspected that you were configuring the picture to fit the events.

"Ha" I thought, I don't believe a word of any of it!"

But then you suddenly said that a group called Dream Theater had brought out an album on the day of the attack called 'Live in New York' with a picture of the towers on fire!

To say my jaw dropped is an understatement! It was as if my scepticism was immediately riposted(is that is word) with an amazing proof of synchronicity!

I immediately looked for Dream Theater on ebay and saw the video I had seen on Saturday was on there for decent money. Rubbing the bruises after kicking myself, I knew that the charity shop was open on Sundays - and seeing as its only a five minute walk from my home I decided, more in hope than expectation, to go and see if the video was still there.

When I arrived at the shop I could see that quite a few videos had been sold - at 7 for a £1 that is no surprise! I hastily scanned the shelves and I couldn't see it. I just knew it wouldn't still be there.

But when I stopped looking for it, I saw it - on its own in front of all the other videos. As I only wanted one I had to pay the extortionate sum of 50p!

At home, looking at the tracks on the video - "REGRESSION","STRANGE DEJA VU", "BEYOND THIS LIFE" etc.

I simply realised that this was meant to be!

I don't remember any feelings of deja vu or synchronicity before so it couldn't be put down to pure coincidence. but this felt so strange - as if my Daemon was saying

"So you don't believe in me - I'll give you proof!"

So now I don't think your theory is in any way monkey business- I'M A BELIEVER.

Beam me up Scotty!

Embracing Life and Death

Some posts back there was a discussion about embracing death, and embracing life. Well I stumbled on this video on youtube of Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer,and who gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about lessons learned in his life. This guy certainly lives up to the notion of embracing both life and death.

Now I have to admit this guy makes me a little uncomfortable as I can't see any common ground between him and myself, (I am Eeyore, not Tigger) but I still found a lot of what he says worthwhile and enjoyable. Now I am not sure he is ITLADic in outlook. but he seems to be so upbeat, (I wonder who will play him in the film as Tom Hanks is too old) I wonder too if he really is not in denial (He says not). Maybe he believes in recurrence? He has a good sense of humour and come to think about it he did seem to experience synchronicity. There is one particularly funny and somewhat ITLADic part where he shows his students work. He taught a course in creating Virtual Worlds, having worked for Disney. I think most of you will like this video, but it is 1 hour and 16 min, and if your time is tight you might want to watch it in two installments.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

The Week’s Most ITLADic Scientific News Volume 5 (Top 5) Mini-EXTRA

The doors of the ITLADic University swing open once more and I welcome you to another Sunday Service.

This is a slightly reduced Service owing to some illness on my part and general overall exhaustion!!

Thankfully it has been a quieter time for ITLADic Science News than recent weeks, but I battle on for the collective good and thus I include links below to this week’s Top 5:

1. The Brain Hides Information From Us To Prevent Mistakes

2. Do We Think That Machines Can Think?

3. Good Golf Players See The Hole Larger Than Poor Players

4. Woman Acquires New Accent After Stroke

5. Investigating The Environmental Origins Of Autism
(Linked to #5): Common Mechanism May Underlie Autism's Seemingly Diverse Mutations

And for the EXTRA section this week I again select a few articles from a wide variety of areas that I know certain students will find of interest and have some interesting views upon.

Perception:
> A Perspective On 3-D Illusions <
(Click “View 3-D Illusions Slide Show”)

Evolutionary Psychology:
> Brain Cells Related To Fear Identified <

Psychology:
> When Grief Goes Beyond The Blues <

Neurology:
> Brain Implant Helps Stroke Victim Speak Again <

Quantum Physics:
> CERN Project: Large Hadron Collider [Interactive Guide] <
(Click on “Enter Interactive” and follow the prompts)

And finally, as a very interesting addition to the Spinning Lady experiment that we have discussed on previous Sunday Services, I include this link which should(!) help those of you who only see her spinning in one direction.

> Spinning Dancer Hacked!! <

WARNING: This will FREAK you out if you spend too long playing with the buttons!!!

.

I will be available most of Sunday to answer any questions you have on these articles and to discuss the implications within ITLADic Philosophy.

I will place my own interpretation of the articles throughout the day in the comments section.

I hope we can generate as interesting a discussion as we have on previous Sundays and if you haven’t been involved before then you are more than welcome to add your thoughts.

Please place your opinions, questions and observations in the comments section for all to discuss. .

A Dark Professor
Karl L Le Marcs

The Daemonic as revealed in the Photoshop editing process"

THIS PHOTO & TEXT IS posted via the Doppelganger Facility for Andrew and Susan Marie Kovalinsky:

At Tony's request, and with my son Andrew's permission, I am postingup this short piece. As with all who share his neural-atypicalitywithin the autism spectrum, Andrew is inwardly and intensely focused, and has spent hours playing at alterations of these photos of Tonyand Karl. Using soft-focus, black and white, focal colors,graduated tint, angles, and glow, he uses these 2 men as a sort of pallette for the projection and expression of what he sees in their writings. He has created screen-savers of stunning beauty, in which Peake and LeMarcs revolve and rotate to the music of Kraftwerk,Ultravox, Depeche Mode, and Morrissey. I fully concur with my son that Tony and Karl are apt subjects: They are two wholly beautiful men, as is fitting for their purpose of spreading doctrine and scientific theory into the discourse of public domain. (clockwise,Andrew's impressions: The eidolon shades Tony's face, while the Daemon rises from his chest; Karl's Daemon bounces at him; the hand is in the Daemon territory, and Ks face is carressed by its light; Tony's mouth and eyes appear as a youth of 20 superimposed by daemonic energy, from his past.) ------

is it the daemon?

Having trouble finding a solution to a nagging problem? Try a well-known journaling technique called stream of consciousness--you may be surprised at the creative messages you receive from your inner self.
Take the case of Shana, an online journaler who had a problematic relationship with a co-worker. When Shana allowed herself the “scary” experience of stream of consciousness journaling, she quickly realized her intensely emotional reaction to the co-worker was, in fact, related to a similar situation with an ex-spouse. In both situations Shana felt like a doormat--but until her journaling, she didn’t realize the two were connected.
Stream of consciousness is a style of writing that is uninterrupted, unedited, and unstructured. Typically, a journaler approaches the blank page without intention--then simply waits for something to come. However, when used as a problem-solving technique, approach your journaling with a specific intention, knowing that whatever comes out of your subconscious will contain clues to a solution.
Once you begin writing, don’t try to make sense of it—just keep writing, ignoring any questions or comments coming from your mind. Remember, this isn’t a mental or literary exercise, but rather an opportunity to give voice to the inner you. No matter how silly the words seem, just keeping writing. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar. Set a 10 minute timer and write until the 10 minutes are up. If your mind goes blank, just write something like, my mind is blank, my mind is blank, and keep writing until something else comes into your consciousness.
Wonder what another journaler’s stream of consciousness writing looks like? This is a sample from a writer dealing with guilt over infidelity in a relationship:
broccoli, sting beans, rage, rivers, rockets, take me to the end of the world and drop me off the edge, oh columbus of mine with blueberries in your hair and apples in your eyes. cheeks of rosy red i am iam iamiamiam. skyrockets, fuses, short fuses burning til they can’t be stopped, racing madly through space trying to catch up with yourself. get off the damned train. ribbons wrapped throughout my white matter, red, blue, green and yellow, trailing sadness and madness and getevenness. hearts a breakin, heads a breaking, hearts open and arrows leaking bloody mass you are. orange is the color of my true love’s courage, black is the color of my loyalty and fidelity. pull the arrows out without leaving a scar, can you? bears watch over us as we sail through dragon-filled deserts, pyramids of shimmering green and gold and malachite, crystal balls guard the entry.
Although this may sound like gibberish to you, to the journaler, it contained several clues about the depth of her guilt, as well as insight into what brought about the infidelity. Like dreams, the symbols in a stream of consciousness journal session, are often best interpreted by the dreamer himself.
If you’ve never done stream of consciousness journaling, don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches. For example, pick a topic--any topic--and writing everything you can think about it. Like fishing, or bicycles, or cats, or fans, or canyons. Frequently, when writing about a seemingly “random” topic, insight -- those ah-ha moments—will appear that actually solve a problem you weren’t even thinking about.
Copyright 2004 Patti Prague

Medium rare

Why do mediums talk so vaguely about what they are doing? Is it because they are like radio operators (They also serve, who only stand and wait i.e. in limbo, until turned on to act by the message they receive). This could explain the interrelationship between Daemon and Eidolon: The world of thought and ideas (HQ)versus the world of action (The body of evidence): ego and (h)id. This would also explain why science never finds any proof of psychic phenomena - they are looking for cause in this world a long with effect and it's coming from outside it. The Buddhists talk of the universe being 'Mind'. Could this be all it is - transmission and reception across a barrier, a border of reality?

Ghosts

Could ghosts be the Daemon that came to stay? i.e. lost the memory of who they really are and where they really belong (The other world, looking in - not this one looking out).

"STOP PRESS" - The Forum is now up and running

Last night my web designer Jan came round and set up the brand new "Cheating The Ferryman Forum". This can be found on its own page on my website -

http://www.anthonypeake.co.uk/forum/

It is my intention to have this as a more question and answer/ discussion type site than this one. It will also be a good deal less intimate. Indeed I am keen to keep the friendly feel of this site whereas the Forum will be exactly that... a forum.

With us reaching our limit on numbers here I will, as a matter of course, point any new itladians to the Forum as a first port of call.

In order to give it the kick start it needs it would be great if you all registered and placed a few of your favourite issues, comments or ideas on it. I am hoping that this will then convert the ever-increasing viewers to the website into regulars and Forum members.

Karl, Ed and I met up last Friday to discuss exactly how the two sites will work together. Clearly we need to observe how things work out over the next few weeks but one thing that I will be wanting to do is involve the "inner circle" of regulars on this site in a more dynamic way. In fact I need a moderator for each of the categories. Indeed I am also open to suggestions for new categories from regular bloggers ... once they are willing to act as the moderator on that new category.

In due course I may decide to do is make this site private and 'member only'. New people will initially only be given access to the Forum but if they show that they are active contributors with something valid to contribute then they can be "upgraded" to full itladian - what do you think?

Professor John D. Barrow - "The Infinite Book"

As you are all now aware I am back in the world of work. Every day I commute from my home on the Wirral to the head office of the Riverside Group near John Lennon Airport in East Liverpool. This allows me to keep up with my reading time. At the moment I am coming to the end of a fantastically itladian book - The Infinite Book by John D. Barrow.


Professor Barrow, together with Professor Frank J. Tipler wrote the hugely influential (and in some areas very controversial) book The Anthropic Cosmological Principle. This amazing book suggests that this universe was hard-wired from the first few moments of the Big Bang to bring about the evolution of consciousness. Taking into account the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Physics (that the wave function needs the observation of a conscious being to collapse it into a physical point state) this is not at all surprising. Indeed, as John Wheeler suggested (see an earler post of mine) the act of observation brings into existence not just the present moment but events that took place billions of years ago.

Professor Barrow (an Englishman who teaches Maths and theoretical physics at Cambridge) takes as his theme for this 2005 book the concept of infinity. I initially bought the book to understand the maths and logic of Georg Cantor (something of profound importance if my glutamate-induced time dilation scenario is to work). However it was Professor Barrow's 'take' on the "Many-Worlds Interpretation that really excited me.

From page 159 onwards he discusses what he terms "The Infinite Replication Paradox". In simple terms that is that in the Multiverse there are trillions of 'clones' of each of us, all living subtly different lives to ourselves. For Professor Barrow, unaware of the interpretation of MWI that I take in ITLAD, considers that this multiplication of a person to be "worrying". Indeed he writes:

"Some cosmologists find the infinite replication paradox so unsavoury that a finite universe would be a welcome escape from its implications."

However ITLAD and CTF present evidence that not only such a scenario may be more than mere speculation but also that it is a profoundly positive set of circumstances because it implies that human consciousness may escape subjective death.

Interestingly enough on page 158 the Professor 'almost' discovers itlad for himself when he writes:

"When each of us dies there will always exist elsewhere an infinite number of copies of ourselves, possessing all the same memories and experiences of our past lives but who will live in the future. This succession will continue indefinitely into the future and so in some way each of us lives forever" (italics mine)

Now this is the suggestion of one of the world's leading theoretical physicists/mathematicians, not some flaky "New Ager". This is a prime example of just how potentially powerful ITLAD can become if it ever manages to break out into mainstream consciousness. This theory does have validity and does seem to make sense.

There is yet more itladian musings later in this enlightening book. I will place a post on these (and the implications his suggestions have for our argument of 'the world as a computer simulation').

I have emailed Professor Barrow and suggested that he check out our little corner of cyberspace here on the CTF Blogpage. I am hoping that he will like what he sees and maybe reply.

Sales Figures for Polish Edition of ITLAD

Yesterday I received the sales figures of the Polish edition of ITLAD - “Czy Istnieje Zycie Po Smierci”.

I am really pleased to say that it seems to be doing very well. It was published in August and in the rest of 2007 notched up sales of 4,934 copies. This consisted of direct sales to the public and a very good deal with a book club.

However on reviewing the number of hits on my website I am surprised to see that none have originated in Poland. I can only assume that the Polish language edition does not reference the website. Of course it is possible that those who decide to buy the book in Polish do not read (or write) English.

Of course in Polish ITLAD will be CIZPS!

Maybe in due course a Polish version of the website may be an option. Terry, my web designer, is of Polish background but unfortunately does not speak any Polish!

As you will all be aware this is the first of a series of foreign language editions. This year will see the book appear in Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Dutch and Czech with more under negotiation.

All very exciting!

Is a person just their specification?

The notion that a person's consciousness can be realised in a simulation or computer program has become almost an assumption of the age, yet it is far from clear that this can be done.

If it can be done then it implies that a person is just a specification, because that is all a program is. Are we just our specifications?

Here's a thought experiment I put to my partner. He is very skeptical on matters metaphysical and believes consciousness to be an illusion that accompanies our complex thought processes.


Jon's Girlfriend Experiment
====================

Jon's girlfriend is abducted by a mad scientist who then anaesthetises her and replicates her to a precision such that no test or examination could distinguish the replica from the original. The scientist is careful, however, and at all times knows which is the original.

Of course, both Carenzas think they are original. Both have the same past memories, and the recollection of being anaesthetised (though they woke up in different places).

Jon is then presented with an ultimatum from the mad scientist - he must choose one of the Carenzas to take back with him. The other Carenza will be incinerated!!!! (Remember that at all times, the mad scientist knows which Carenza is the original but no one else knows).

Jon makes his choice and the losing Carenza is sent to the incinerator :( The mad scientist then announces that, in fact, Jon has chosen the copy and that the original Carenza is now dead.

I put it to Jon that, by his thinking, it wouldn't matter that his Carenza is the copy - the one he chose has identical specification and there will be absolutely no practical difference to his life as a result of his choice.

Of course, it did bother him and I could see Jon walking away to rethink his basic assumptions.


Does it bother you that the original is dead? It bothers me!!! Seriously - if you think it matters then I think you are attributing more to a person than their specification.

Another point: Supposing it were possible for my consciousness to be preserved in a computer after my death so that, by some technological / metaphysical feat, my vision in my dieing moment suddenly changes from doctors standing around me to a wonderful synthetic universe inside a machine!!!! That being the case, we are saying that my continued conscious existence is down to a program running.

But what if we run that program right now while I am alive and well? Will my consciousness suddenly leap into the machine and leave my body zombie-like? I rather doubt it!!! It would be saying that, by running a certain program on a machine, any person's consciousness can be abducted!!!!!!!

I assert that such programs happen all the time. We think computers are the only processing devices besides brains, but by selection of a different set of parameters besides voltages on logic gates you find the whole of natural existence is running countless programs on a continuous basis. Okay, they're not what we would call programs because they don't do anything of tangible use to us, but ANY system of evolving parameters is a process.

On this basis, if a program were able to abduct me (metaphysically speaking) then it would be happening constantly!

I think you've probably gathered by now that I do not think a person is a specification. We have the power to do that to others by dehumanising them, but I'll bet no person ever lived who wanted that done to themselves.

synaethesia

Waking up at odd hours of the night is something I do quite frequently. Sometimes I read until I drop off to sleep again. Usually my first response is to turn on my radio and listen to the BBC World Service. It's amazing what you learn at 2.00am!

Anyway, this happened tonight and I caught the tail end of a programme called Health Check. the discussion was about people who have the experience of feeling touch when they see other people being touched. This crossing over of one sense into another is termed synaesthesia.

Of course my first thought was the article on mirror neurons from yesterdays Science Service.

I also thought of the effect of sensing when you are being watched.

They went on to talk about synaesthesia for time. Some people see dates as coloured and arranged in ovals or circles. The presenter herself experiences this. But what made my hair stand on end was this verbal interction between the scientist and the presenter;

"It creates the illusion you're not in charge of your own brain. If that is the case who is incharge of it? "

Well I have my own "daemonic" ideas about that!

The programme can be downloaded as a podcast at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/health_check.shtml

and a related article can be found at http://www.scribd.com/doc/3321366/Ovals-of-time-Timespace-associations-in-synaesthesia

I'll go back to bed now!

Are we just computers?

Our reality is projected illusion created by a consciousness 'program'. It is a virtual reality experiment in linear time and emotion created by a consciousness source through which our souls experience in many dimensions simultaneously.

This is not unlike the films 'The Matrix', 'The 13th Floor', the Holodeck in the TV series Star Trek, among others.

The program is composed of grids created by the source consciousness and brought into awareness by electromagnetic energy at the physical level.

Awareness of the program is created as one's consciousness spirals lower, hence slower, to experience emotions and linear time.

The computer is bi-polar, electromagnetic energies. Within the program, the goals of the VR game is to maintain your balance while the program creates dramas at ever turn.

The program had a beginning and it has and end, as consciousness evolves in the alchemy of time.

The program is linked through a web, or grid matrixes and is based on the looping patterns of consciousness.This was taken from a piece i found called the Sacred Geometry.

The Week’s Most ITLADic Scientific News Volume 4 (Top 5) EXTRA

Everyday is like Sunday! Everday is ITLADic and so I say, here we go again with the ITLADic Sunday Service!

If anyone doesn’t know, this is my regular round-up of the week’s most ITLADic Scientific News for everyone to enjoy reading through and comment upon, with your thoughts, interpretations and questions.

Once again it was very difficult to narrow the plethora of papers and reports this week down to a Top 5 and I add some EXTRA links in certain areas of ITLAD for you to pick and choose your own areas of particular interest.

Before we begin, if anyone has not read my post from last night on the AMAZINGLY ITLADic episode of Doctor Who in the UK then please read it and watch the video I have included, and comment accordingly.

> Turn Left [by Karl L Le Marcs] <

Please find below links to a summary of this week’s Top 5 items.

1. Mind's Eye Influences Visual Perception

2. Neuroscientists Take Important Step Towards Mind Reading

3. Cot Death Risk "Higher For Babies With Imbalance Of Mood Chemical"

4. Scientists Set Out To Measure How We Perceive Naturalness

5. Spiritual Effects Of Hallucinogens Persist, Researchers Report

The Unexplained:
100 years ago this week “something” fell to Earth in Siberia causing mass devastation. What was it?

Here are the best three articles from this week’s reporting of this unexplained anniversary.


> The Tunguska Mystery - 100 Years Later <
> Aliens Or Asteroid? What Was The Blast Of 1,000 Hiroshimas? <
> What Hit Siberia 100 Years Ago? Tunguska Event Still Puzzles Scientists <

And for the EXTRA section I include the following from many aspects of research. As with last week, some of these are fairly specialised but given the diversity of people here I’m sure there will be something of interest for everyone.

Publishing: New Book
> The Mirror Neuron: Exploring What Makes Humans Social <

Experimental Philosophy:
> Experimental Philosophy Explores Real-Life Dilemmas <

Mental Health:
> Migraine Mutations Clues To Biological Basis Of Disorder <

Large Hadron Collider:
> If The Large Hadron Collider Produced A Microscopic Black Hole, It Probably Wouldn't Matter! <

Quantum Physics:
> Physicists Create Millmeter-Sized "Bohr Atom" <

Evolutionary Psychology:
> Women Have A Better Memory For Faces And Words <
> Charades Reveals A Universal Sentence Structure <

Neurology:
> New Map IDs The Core Of The Human Brain <

Cosmology/Astrophysics:
> Einstein Was Right, Astrophysicists Say <

Most ITLADic item of the week on other BLOGS:
> Occupational Arrows Of Time <

And finally, this T-Shirt just made me giggle!!!

I will be available most of Sunday to answer any questions you have on these articles and to discuss the implications within ITLADic Philosophy.

I will place my own interpretation of the articles throughout the day in the comments section.

I hope we can generate as interesting a discussion as we have on previous Sundays and if you haven’t been involved before then you are more than welcome to add your thoughts.

If you missed the previous Top 5s then click here (for week 1) here (for week 2) and here (for last week)

Happy Sunday Service, and please place your opinions, questions and observations in the comments section for all to discuss.

A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

[Addendum: From comments and emails received by some bloggers, apparently once a post has received 200 comments, it then splits into an alternate parallel comment box!! So when you look at the comments, only the first 200 will appear. You will notice at the top and bottom of the 1st and 200th comments there is a new area that says "1-200 of xxx Newer > Newest >>", if you click on Newest, you will be taken to a new box that contains all the comments from #201 onwards. Thank You for such a phenomenal response and wonderful discussion.]

Turn Left

This evening I have been watching the last 3 episodes of the current series of Doctor Who with a friend who had recorded them to watch with me, and I have NEVER been so amazed at such synchrondipities! Indeed my friend, who has known me for MANY years says she has never seen me as stunned, and she’s seen me through many a circumstance!

I refer particularly to the episode named “Turn Left” which fuses the Many Worlds Interpretation and Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics with Tony’s Daemon theory and also his own humble questioning of his importance in the whole scheme of things, in absolute pure ITLADic clarity and Tony and I simply MUST get ITLAD to the writer, Russell T. Davies, who, if he is not already aware of the book and the theory, will surely be as staggered as I am once he is.

“There is something on your back!”

Unfortunately, if you have not watched the BBC programmes, Doctor Who and Torchwood, over the last 2 years, most of the plot of the episode will be terribly confusing, pulling strands of past episodes out of Minkowskian timelines and mutating the parallel worlds, but I place below a transcript and video clips of three specific scenes from the episode which made my hairs stand on end, and I KNOW will do so to Tony (on many levels) - I hope they have the same effect on you all.

Brief set up: Rose (played by Billie Piper) was The Doctor’s previous travel companion through Time and Space before she was lost into a Parallel World. Donna (played by Catherine Tate) is The Doctor’s current companion.
Basically, replace Donna with Tony and read and watch…………………

VIDEO: (Scene 1)



ROSE: “I’ve been pulled across from a different universe, ‘cause every single universe is in danger.”
DONNA: “What do you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I’m nothing special, I mean…..I’m not…..I’m nothing special, I’M A TEMP!! I’m not even that! I’m nothing!”
ROSE: “Donna Noble, you are the most important woman in the whole of creation”
DONNA: "Don't......Just don't"

Set up: In the next scene Donna is shown by Rose what it is that is on her back – a large Black Giant Beetle (THE DAEMON)

VIDEO: (Scene 2)



DONNA: “What is it?”
[…..]
ROSE: “It feeds off Time. By changing Time, by making someone’s life take a different turn like er, meetings never made, children never born, a life never loved. But with you it’s……”
DONNA: “But I never did anything important!”
ROSE: “Yeah you did. One day, that thing, made you turn right instead of left”
DONNA: “When was that? ”
ROSE: “Oh you wouldn’t remember, it was the most ordinary day in the world but by turning right you never met The Doctor and the whole world just changed around you.”

Set up: In the next scene, Donna has been told by Rose she must return to a point in Time and instead of turning right when at a junction in the road, which led to her NOT meeting The Doctor, she must turn left to repair the flux in the Time line but which action would mean she would die.

VIDEO: (Scene 3)

ROSE: “Good Luck”
DONNA: “I’m Ready” […] “’Cause I understand now. You said I was gonna die but you mean this whole world is gonna blink out of existence. But that’s not dying, ‘cause a better world takes its place….The Doctor’s world, and I’m still alive. That’s right isn’t it? I don’t die, if I change things then I don’t die, that’s…..that’s right isn’t it?”

The episode is absolutely ITLADic in the theory’s purest form and to me, a Professor of ITLADic Studies *smile*, it has conjured MANY new splinter theories within me, which, along with tomorrow’s Science Service post, I shall be writing pretty much all night once I get home, including a radical new theory towards Daemonic Suicide within subjective phanerons and ultimately a new approach to Bohmian IMAX Mutations which is presently stunning even myself, and I am writing it!!!

I am emailing the BBC to try and get this to the attention of Russell T. Davies in the hope that it will progress the profile of ITLAD and Tony, and aid development of Tony and I’s Uber Theory.

[*video clips taken from YouTube]

A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

Prayer

Prayer seems to be a common theme to most religions and as such I think it could be thought about in terms of ITLAD. It appears to have a universality that demands we consider it.

My own experience of prayer when in a meditative state has elements that would suggest opening up to the daemon in some way. Typically, I have experienced an emptiness of the internal chatter that tends to be a constant way of responding to the world, followed by a sensation of light and then a deep acceptance of another consciousness. Afterwards I have noticed synchronicities and a sense of being guided. These themes are common across differing religious frameworks.

Could the process of prayer be construed as communication with one's daemon?

The Importance of the Peakian Dyad in Biographical Literary Criticism; invasion of the eidolon by daemonic contents in great lives

The following post is excerpted from a paper which will be published for the fall semester on my own blog site. It will also be submitted for presentation.

I agree with the great Harlod Bloom with regard to theory: When a theory can resonate with history and reach its meanings and implications back through the centuries, it is not a good theory; it is a great one. In the late '90s - through and introduction from the Draper Graduate Studies of New York University program on biographical literary critici sm - I had a chance to read the biographies of writers and thinkers such as Byron, Freud, Jung, Bronte, Nietzsche and Tennessee Williams, among others. My academic study in philosophy served as a useful analytical tool at that time. Yet I find that the Peakian dyad (eidolon/daemon) has retrospectively informed and enriched these analyses further. The dyad should not be underestimated in its power to aid critical reflection on this score. ( My essay on its influence with regard to the play, "Hamlet" makes this point strongly.)

I have a vivid memory of myself in 2007 - deep in the pit of despair which grief over the death of the beloved becomes - reading Anthony Peake's "Is There Life After Death?" with grim resignation, as I had read numerous texts on grieving and afterlife theories and found little of comfort in them, and far too much which irritated. But with this text, even though I felt almost catatonic with despair, I found myself making notations in the margins, as if my former self were somehow being prompted by this author. One such note was, "When better: explore a full semantic analysis and a teleological and ethical critique. This man is a philosopher!" 18 months later, this is precisely what I have begun to do. . .

In "The Varieties of Religious Experience", William James speaks of a crisis in the development of individuals which seems to be comprised by a stage of conflict, followed by collapse, and finally resolution phase, by way of a sort of "second self", which "takes over" and saves the "first" self which is "going to pieces in the wreckage". Reik also noticed this syndrome within psychoanalysis, and made much of it in his work on love and lust. There seems to be a "phase one" of the person which has become somehow outmoded; the "phase two" begins an invasion, so to speak, and ultimately - from this interplay of thesis and antithesis, and providing that the process unfolds unimpeded - a synthesis is born, and the new individual is integrated, robust, and productive. There is often a casting off of the parent with whom one identified in childhood and youth, and an enthronement in the psyche of the hitherto rejected parental influence. The American playwright, Tennessee Williams is a good example of this development when it has gone well. An example from the present which is striking is hip hop artist Eminem, whose suicide attempt as Marshall Mathers resulted in the "death" of the effeminate boy who identified with his mother and its replacement by a father-identified persona which bore a new and sinister name.

This division of human consciousness and persona has been characterized by Reik as being "primed" at certain stages of life; in particular, with men, the age of 36-38, and again in the early 50s. There is often a surge of creativity after the resolution phase. Nietzsche put into poetical form his own period of division and transition: "And then one became two, and Zarathustra came into my view. . . " . I have no doubt that our own KLLM has himself recently passed through this bifurcation process in which "the man within the man" struggles for its new autonomy and expression in the service of its ideals, and with the greatest success.

In terms of the Peakian Dyad, the concepts of "eidolon" and "daemon" applied to this process at once lend transcendence and scientific bolstering to this transition. That this process might be viewed as daemonic in origin, and that the invasion of the eidolonic sphere might have a purposive element in which future tendencies make an early appearance by some mechanism of the Bohmian IMAX , is nothing short of astonishing.

For if viewed in this light, these storms of the psyche and quasi-spiritual rebirths might contain a secret unity amidst the chaos and be authored by a Guardian which is conscious, given to precision, and above all, a person of order and prescience. That this second self, hinted at by James in his cognitive psychology, praised poetically by Nietzsche, and given natural supremacy in the domain of Christianity by St. Paul and Kierkegaard alike; which thunders throughout the stanzas of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and winds its way through the biographies of the most creative and original minds of Europe -- that this vague and nameless acting agent has now been localized, and with scientific precision and esoteric passion, by Peake within his dyad, is theory at its most sublime and magnificent, without doubt. But now it is my task to go back, to reveal the autobiographical subtext and confession which is threaded in Peake's first book, and which follows the form of similar subtexts in all works of originality and historical import ; in particular "The Interpretation of Dreams" by Sigmund Freud . . . ( the essay continues for several more pages, with an analysis of PK Dick as visionary precursor to Anthony Peake; the parallel to Freud's secret autobiography within TIOD; and the subtext - which I can have no doubt was authored by Peake's own daemon -- that I inadvertently discovered running like a fugitive golden thread within the pages of ITLAD in January 2008 . . . ) smk

being spiritual

Personal practices of spiritual expression (something that you do for your self/soul, not the body/survival)
-playing music
-listening to music
-creating art
-viewing art
-reading
-writing
-gardening-
jogging-
swimming-
hiking-
helping people

"Artists throughout the centuries have spoken of 'inspiration,' confiding that God spoke to them or angels did. In our age, such notions of art as a spiritual experience are seldom mentioned. And yet, the central experience of creativity is mystical. Opening our souls to what must be made, we meet our Maker.-" The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron

Does ‘The Daemon’ inspire? ( if it is that?)
Question: What feeds your soul?

Terry Pratchett

In a recent interview done for The Herald, Terry Pratchett said he didn't believe in God but mentioned a voice that guided him once that he realized was his own: Could it be The Daemon and he didn't recognize it? Perhaps someone should let him know about this site?

Warping the Bohmian IMAX

As many of you may be aware I am now back working in my alternate career as a Compensation and Benefits Consultant (don't ask). This involves a very different set of skills to writing but it will help to fill up the coffers to allow me the time and freedom to write book three in due course. In the meantime I do intend to work closely with KLLM on our exercises of mutual interest.

Now as my journey to work can be easily done (but very time-consuming) by public transport I have a wonderful opportunity to do more reading. Stimulated by some fascinating posts by Susan Marie I am improving my understanding of modern philosophy, particularly the philosophy of mind. I am reading a primer book on the subject at the moment before I delve deeper into the works of Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Satre (no Karl, I didn't get round to reading "Being And Nothingness" whilst on holiday - I kept myself to more entertaining tomes such as Mobius Dick), Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam, John Searle etc.

In this book (Philosophy of Mind by Mel Thompson) I came across a fascinating physical exercise that implies that Berkeley and the Idealists were not that crazy .... and that my idea that a process of recording of reality is taking place within the brain, Thompson suggests the following:

" Look around you, for a moment keeping your head very still. Be aware of colours, shapes, perhaps the touch of things close to you. See all these things 'out there', beyond that great window between your ears through which you experience your vision of the world. Then close one eye and gently press on one side of your other eyeball. Everything you see shifts a little. Hold that for a moment. Can you tell it shifted? Touch something and your experience of touch exactly matches your 'shifted' vision, as though giving confirmation that the shifted vision is in fact correct. Remove the pressure on the eyeball; the world shifts back to 'normal' and your touch confirmed that view as well. Imaginatively enter into the sense that that there is an 'internal theatre' in which you actually experience as the external world."

For Mel Thompson's "internal theatre" read "Bohmian IMAX" and we are on very itladian ground!

Super Mario – The Many Worlds Interpretation

Thank you to Robin who emailed me a link to this clip which I have converted to video for placing on the blog.

(just click on the play button and adjust the volume to your requirements)

It is a fabulous explanation of Hugh Everett’s Many World Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics using the popular Nintendo computer game character Super Mario.

As mentioned in the clip, whilst Everett’s interpretation was dismissed at the time of publication, it is now one, if not THE, leading interpretations of Quantum Mechanics amongst leading Quantum Physicists.

In a September 2007 conference David Wallace reported on a proof by David Deutsch and himself of the Born Rule, starting from Everettian assumptions and this has been reported in many areas since as support for parallel universes and also the Many Minds Interpretation of H.Dieter Zeh, David Albert and B.Loewer, which all leads us to Tony’s CTF theory and my own CtCw theory of consciousness.

I hope you enjoy it.

A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

death clock...

http://www.deathclock.com/
In India many families match horoscopes before arranging marriages, to see if there is compatibility between the girl and the boy... girls who are expected to be widowed( death of husband before the wife)are sometimes made to marry a tree!
This death clock is good for them!
Question: Would YOU like to know when you are going to die?