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!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
Tony: Ouch!!
I think I pressed too hard on my eyeball!
It probably won't susprise you to know that I also have this book.
(Does your copy also appear to show the lead singer of the band Disturbed having his hat nicked while having a kip outside his caravan?)
*giggle*
I'll show you something interesting tomorrow.
*tease*
I have to dash out for rest of morning but will catch up later today.
Nearly dislodged my contact lens but hey ho!
Very odd sensation, everything moves slightly to one side and goes out of focus a little. I can also feel it across my forehead, a mild tension and as I reach out to touch something I feel like I'm reaching into space and won't make contact but unerringly I do. TRIPPY!
The most interesting feeling for me is the internal one, I have a very physical reaction to the exercise, not just in my head but through my shoulders and into my stomach. A tensing sensation. I don't feel as though I'm in quite the right place, if that makes sense. Not only has my visual perception shifted but my physical perception of where I am has a little as well. Slightly wobbly and not quite solid, especially when I reach out for something.
It certainly bolsters the idea that our internal reality is all there is and the 'out there' is our own construct.
Thanks for that, Tony, really interesting.
*note to self* Must stop poking eyeball now! lol!!
Great... Now I have a coworker watching Mario and poking at her eyeball. Where is it all leading?
Just as when I fall asleep, poking my eye induced a spiral shift of vision.
This is a good example of how the perception of our world changes depending upon external factors.
Robin - Laughing at your co-worker! Is he/she at all curious as to why you are asking them to do these strange things?!
Hi Johar.
Nah, my girls are used to blog antics. During slow times I read the posts, their comments & recommended readings. They hear all about ITLAD and the blog's cast of characters. The optical illusions are very popular! I own 2copies of Tony's book which are in constant circulation. Some of them are genuinely interested, others only amused.
What feedback do you get from people you share these ideas with?
Hi Robin,
Mixed. Funnily enough my co-workers, many who are social friends as well are very open and receptive to Tony's and Karl's theories. They ,like me, find the science underpinning the ideas very appealing as well as being able to see a spiritual angle.
It's the doctors who shock me. Many have them have quite a closed view and pooh pooh what I say about the book. When I ask why they find it so hard to believe when it's based on hard scientific evidence most cannot respond or say it's too wacky or smile at me like I'm strange! I suggest they read the book.
The best response I've had is from a devout Muslim doctor who finds my Birmingham accented Arabic highly amusing. When I presented the evidence to him, he was taken with the idea of all things being connected and likewise thought the idea of returning to fulfill our purpose, evolve and eventually reach enlightenment really interesting. He bowed to me after our discussion and said he found my beliefs very spiritual and believable.
It was then I realised that this is a belief system for me and not just interesting theories!
Your comment with regard to the Muslim doctor is very interesting. I am in contact with a couple of Sufi groups and they are fascinated by the implications of ITLAD with regard to their mystic (and very gentle) version of Islam. Indeed last year I was invited over to give a talk at a Sufi Monastery in Northern Cyprus by a Sufi member of the Scientific & Medical Network.
I also received an e-mail from a young London-based Sufi. He particularly liked the Daemon-Eidolon Dyad.
In my next book I expand upon the theological angle with regard to the Dyad.
I am also rather surprised at your doctor's reaction to the book. I know of three specialists in this area who are really taken with itlad. One is a neuro-surgeon, another one of the world's leading pediatricians and the third a GP. The difference I guess with these guys is that they have actually taken the time to read the book rather than retreating back into their own comfort zone.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the comfort zone analogy, Tony. If they can see it, feel it, touch and smell it, it's real and any other take on their perception is dismissed. Not all, you understand, but enough to frustrate me. I shall persevere!
When I get the opportunity I will discuss these ideas more with the Muslim doctor and how it fits in with his personal beliefs and encourage him again to read the book.
It probably won't surprise you to hear that this 'shifing your vision by pressing your eyeball' mullarkey doesn't work for me
(just leaves me with a sore eye)
Anyway........
Robin: *giggles at all these American Nurses sitting around watching Many Worlds Super Mario whilst poking themselves, and possibly each other, in the eyeballs, whilst patients are floundering in bed grasping for the Morphine*
Or is that just my vivid imagination?
And don't worry about co-workers Robin, it takes a special and superior level of intelligence and self-awareness to fully appreciate and understand ITLAD and the branches that have evolved from within it.
*smile*
Johar: Yes, I agree.
I would guess, (but it would be an educated guess), that the majority of those who dismiss the theories from within the medical sector (and most likely within any sector), are those who have not actually READ the book, and have merely pre-supposed from the title!
Never judge a book by its cover.
*smile*
Tony; I used to do that shifting exercise with my eyes when I was a little kid, intuitively, I guess. You unearthed something with your Bohmian IMAX; no one can doubt it. Heidegger's Poetry, Language, Thought has beautiful passages very suggestive of your eidolon/daemon dyad. I thought so much of that book when I first read you, and I still want to write about the connection. There is something also in Kierkegaard's journals which is very relevant to Anarch Peak. Some of his most beautiful existential passages are in there.
If I die,
leave the balcony open.
The little boy is eating oranges.
(From my balcony I can see him.)
The reaper is harvesting the wheat.
(From my balcony I can hear him.)
If I die,
leave the balcony open!
Federico García Lorca
Susan Marie: Well said!
Should I or shouldn't I... can I explain it.... I have put off this exercise as I am squeamish about pressing my eyeball..I already have slight injuries at present... but .. well here goes..
At school at age 15 my girlfriend and myself discovered a *knack* of gazing at a criss cross wire fence and a slight alteration in focus *brought it forward*somewhat.. nobody seemed to notice much our waving hands at a fence that was somehow closer than it truly was... such is the nature of teenage girls.. the only reference I ever found was accidentally in a novel, I do not remember which one, where the writer made the wallpaper in her room *hang small in the air* well..Tony, it brought back a memory and I may look into it further!!! thanks for listening.. I will be amazed if anyone knows what I am speaking of!
Jesamyn.
Jesamyn: I'm just lolling about in a book shop cafe near Liverpool waiting for dear Tony to arrive and saw your comment.
Is the book you are thinking off "The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman"?
Post a Comment