Ferryman Foundation : A few words from New York

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Tony:  This was published on my Musing in Obama's America blogsite,  and is a precursor to press releases, so thought I would post it here also:

Anthony Peake,  British binary mind theorist and author from Wirrals,  England,  who charmed the crowds on Madison Avenue last summer,  is co-founding the Ferryman Foundation with a Boston-based American colleague and a New York City associate.

 Although the foundation is in its infancy,  it has already attracted the interest of dozens of scholars and scientists globally.

 The foundation's function will be to form a compendium of scholars who will facilitate debate and dialectic,  and  obtain funding to add to-  and greatly expand upon  -   the research which Peake has conducted regarding the binary mind,  and a hidden,  "second self", which resides within human consciousness,  directing and guiding the individual in life, and at the point of death.

  Peake has termed this self "the Daemon",  and calls its purpose at death "cheating the ferryman",  based on the myth of antiquity about Charon the Ferryman, who ferries the dead across the River Styx.

Peake believes that the Daemon cheats the ferryman, and that we never arrive at the realm of the dead.  Each time an individual dies,  Charon is cheated out of yet another customer, via a function he calls the Bohmian I-MAX,  based on the principles of David Bohm.

Peake is author of Is There Life After Death?:  The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When We Die (Chartwell Books, 2006)  and The Daemon (Arcturus Publishing, 2008), and has a trilogy of books pending publication.

Perhaps a conference at some date in the near future can be arranged with a bit of help from the Manhattan council of the arts and sciences!

The foundation will be open to private,  business, and institutional donations.  

More updates later.....

Discussion With Tessa Dick

Last night as part of the ongoing “Schrödinger’s Diary Archive” (see box to the right) myself and Miguel Conner recorded probably the most interesting interview that I have been involved in since writing ITLAD and embarking upon this “Garden of the Forking Paths” that describes my writing career.

I consider this the most important because it was the first one in which I was doing more than simply explaining the complexities of ITLAD/CTF to an audience (and, on occasions, interviewer) who has no pre-knowledge of what I am talking about. This one was different. It gave me the opportunity to glean new information regarding a crucial component of the whole hypothesis, the theophany of Philip K Dick.

Usually the episodes of “Schrödinger’s Diary” last about forty minutes. Last night’s recording went on for over an hour. And this was because none of those involved wished it to stop, that is Miguel, myself, and our special guest, Tessa Dick.

This interview was both delightful and fun! We spent a good deal laughing and going off on weird “Pythonesque” avenues of thought which certainly amused us anyway! But the underlying theme was both fascinating and, in my opinion, a possible turning point in the path that ITLAD/CTF will now take. (Hmmmm, why I am a so preoccupied with track analogies today; paths, avenues etc etc?) This is because for the first time I was not explaining my ideas but asking questions of somebody who was an actual witness to the events I describe in my second book, The Daemon. And what answers!!! I will in no way ruin this interview for those who wish to listen to it but if you ever had doubts about my itladian interpretation on the experiences of Tessa’s late husband, the great Philip K Dick, then these doubts will probably be removed. Tessa describes the events from the most important position possible, she was there!

Indeed Tessa also reinforces my analysis of events that took place earlier in Phil’s life when his Daemon manifested itself as both a guide and a form of mentor from his own future. This is astounding stuff.

A few years ago I asked author Brad Steiger what he thought Phil would have made of my “Cheating the Ferryman” hypothesis. Brad, who had known Phil for many years, stated that he would have been fascinated and intrigued. If anything can be taken from last night’s interview it is this, PKD would not only be fascinated, he would have understood because he personally experienced the immanence of his own “Higher Self”, his Daemon.

As a final point Tessa, in her opening comments regarding the moral negativity of the Eternal Recurrence, proved to me that readers must read both books to fully appreciate why it is that ITLAD/CTF is neither an updating of the Nietzscheian / Ouspenskian “Eternal Return” nor a re-presentation of Berkeleyan Idealism. I agree that there are certain similarities but my hypothesis is far more subtle and life-enhancing (and, in my opinion, based on empirical science rather than philosophical conjecture). Tessa, quite rightly as she has only read “The Daemon”, assumed that ILAD/CTF suggests that we all live the same life over and over again in an endless repetition of our mistakes and successes and that the lives of others that we perceive in our Phaneron is the only life that these people will lead. She cited the example of a still-born child and how morally distasteful the idea is that that child will repeat that short “life” over and over again. By applying the implications of Everett’s Many Worlds Interpretation (or the Many Minds Interpretation) such a sad situation is a “reality” only in this universe, the universe in which you are the observer (c.f. Copenhagen Interpretation …. And yes, I am aware that MWI is supposed to be an alternative to Copenhagen) but within the Macroverse there will be trillions of universes where the child was not stillborn and experienced all possible alternative lives resulting from each and every decision. But the subtlety doesn’t stop there. If we apply the implications of David Bohm’s “Implicate Order”, “Holomovement” and “Enfoldment” then we exist in a universe in which life itself is enfolded within itself (and yes, I am also aware that Bohm’s interpretation was suggested as a counter to both Everett’s MWI and Bohr’s CI). Tessa will find, by a careful reading of my first book, that things are not quite so depressing. We live a “Groundhog Life” rather than “The Life of Ivan Osokin”!

This amazing discussion will be available for listening (and downloading) in a few days time. If you have the time do give it a listen ……. oh, and do check out Tessa's book "Remembering Firebright"

On Saturday evening my wife and I settled down to watch a recording of the latest episode of Flash Forward. It was the title of this programme that particularly intrigued me – the writers had decided to call it “The Garden of the Forking Paths”.

Those of you who have read my first book will know that the first sub heading of chapter 5 is “Too Many Forking Paths” and on that page (107) I reference the amazing short story “The Garden of the Forking Paths” by the great Argentine writer (and Gnostic philosopher) Jorge Borges.

As weird coincidences, synchronicities and other odd events have followed me ever since I embarked upon this great adventure I sensed that there would be curious clues, pointers, and references to my own work in this episode. How I knew I am not sure, maybe my Daemon was about to have a joke with me ….. after all if ITLAD/CTF is true then I am existing in a universe that is partly created by my own life-memories (in a similar way to the many images that are flashed onto the screen at the end of another phenomenal itladian movie, “Vanilla Sky”) then what I experience will be like a patchwork quilt with many significant parts of my first life embroidered into the pattern (reminds me of another itladian work – Ray Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man”).But how much this episode was speaking to me was really quite weird. (Indeed if any of you are interested there is a recording of a 45 minute discussion I had with Miguel Conner on Aeon Byte Radio which can be downloaded by going down the list of my "Schrodinger's Diary" interviews on the upper right hand side of this Blogsite. The Borges discussion is "Entry 7").

One of my favourite artists is the French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Indeed in my first year at university, back in 1974, I decided to research and write an essay on this guy’s work. I decided to focus in on one of his less well known works, one called “Oedipus and the Sphinx” painted in 1826/27. The subject matter of the painting fascinated me. I will not go into any detail about the symbolism of this work but it has long been a painting that has continued to fascinate me.And lo and behold in the FF episode with the title echoing a section of ITLAD this painting plays a central role! This stunned me. Now I know that the screen writers have no idea about me and my work but nevertheless as the episode progressed I was waiting for the links. And they came, thick and fast.The episode introduced, for the first time, another central pillar of ITLAD/CTF, Savant Syndrome. Now this has nothing to do with quantum physics (but then again neither has Borges or Ingres), the major theme of the storyline up until now, and yet her was another reference to my personal interests.

We then moved rapidly on to déjà vu (absolutely central to ITLAD/CTF) then the role of the hippocampus in brain functioning (ditto) and, inevitably, eidetic imagery (ditto).But then, as the final point-made, it is discussed that the character Dyson Frost (is this a play on the name “Freeman Dyson” by any chance?), otherwise known as D. Gibbons, has experienced “hundreds of flash forwards” and in each one he experiences a different outcome of events. This is where the title “Garden of the Forking Paths” comes in (although sadly the background to this term is not acknowledged …. Unless a character called “Borges” turns up later.) Of course the idea of living one’s life over and over again and following the outcome of each and every decision is not in any way a strange concept to the folks on this BLOGSITE (well, it may be strange but at least it is not new to them!)

The final weirdness involved a "Blueprint" of what looked like a compass.

The moment I saw it I turned round to my wife and said "that is the "Antikythera Device".

Fortunately she recalls me doing this and (as usual) she thought it was just me being "weird". I recognised the diagram instantly. Those of you that know me know that I have this odd ability to recover information. Sometimes this instantaneously appears in my mind (I don’t have to “recall” the information. It is just there). Indeed sometimes I am even at a loss as to when I encountered that piece of information or data. Other times I have a form of “eidetic imagery” whereby I “see” (in my mind’s eye) a page from a long-ago-read document or book. I literally “read” down the page to get the information I need. I cannot do this on demand (if I could I would have been far more successful in exams). The images themselves decide when they wish to manifest (probably it is the decision of my Daemon) and I have no control of when and how.This is what happened when I was watching the previous episode of FF. The blueprint was shown on the screen and immediately my “mind’s eye” opened and “saw” a page from a book I last read at least thirty five years ago. In this “vision” my mind overlapped the two images and the words “Antikythera Mechanism” appeared in my mind. I then blurted this out, much to Penny’s surprise.My “normal” (eidolonic?) mind then took over and I remembered, using my normal methods of recall, details about this device that had fascinated me so much when I first read of it back in, I think, the early 1970’s (I will check this but I think that this would have been in Brinsley LePoer Trench’s “The Sky People. Trench was the 8th Earl of Clancarty and an amazingly original thinker whose ideas were “stolen” by Eric von Daniken, an issue of “Man Myth & Magic” or even “Impossible Possibilities” by Louis Pauwels and; Jacques Bergier – I will check this later).

Indeed in 1983 I saw, in the distance, the island of Kythera from a Greek ferryboat and probably bored to death the group I was with by describing the curious device that was found by a group of divers in 1901 in the waters of Antikythera, a small islet off Kythera. This was because such archaeological anomalies had long fascinated me, and this was a classic example.I am intrigued as to how many viewers spotted this almost throw-way reference in the “Forking Paths” episode. Indeed I wonder how many viewers would have been aware of the device at all.

So yet again something from my own past weaves itself into the plot of this TV series. Indeed in last night’s episode the very process by which I “imaged” the Mechanism in my “mind’s eye”, Eidetic Memory”, was introduced as yet another itladian theme within FF ….. it transpires that Dyson Frost had been flash-forwarding savants with eidetic imagery as they could “total recall” the various alternative futures that they “perceive” in their FF.

If I didn’t know any better …….

Example of a migraine-induced deja precognition on live radio!

my spot on BBC Merseyside was, as I expected, one of the most interesting I have done. Although I felt that Billy had not quite grasped the link between ITLAD/CTF and migraine the last caller most certainly showed just why migraine intrigues me so much. I suspect that Billy's confusion is simply because he has yet to read ITLAD. If he does eventually get round to doing so he will fully understand why. The caller described how he started experiencing classic aura sensations and then he slipped into an ongoing deja vecu state in whic he knew, in advance, what he was about to experience, both aurally and visually.

Now remember that this person was simply a member of the public phoning into a popular afternoon radio show. I regularly state in my talks and lectures that such experiences are far more common than ordinarily thought. I am convinced that a majority of people experience these Altered States of Consciousness (ASCs) at least once in their lives. Indeed I suspect that for some these are not unusual. The only reason that they are not reported is that the experiencer will feel that others, on hearing about the experience, will ridicule them. It is only when the experiencer feels at ease via the annonymity of a radio phone-in or when surrounded by people who have shared such experiences will they be forthcoming.

To listen into this amazing experience simply follow the following link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p007fhcb/Billy_Butler_26_04_2010/

Wait for the show to load and "Fast-Forward" around 63 minutes to hear my whole spot and around 100 minutes to hear the final caller.I am keen to have your comments on this.

Anthony discusses Migraine Auras on BBC Merseyside

On Monday 26th April 2010 at 1500 (UK time) I will be discussing the mysteries of migraine on the Billy Butler Show on BBC Merseyside. Like temporal lobe epilepsy this "altered state of consciousness" is central to the Cheating The Ferryman hypothesis.

I am aware that many people were attracted to my work because they, like myself, experience "Classic" migraine.It is hoped that this discussion will generate a good deal of listener interest and involvement. I am keen to hear from anybody who has experienced odd perceptions during a migraine "attack" ... specifically during the aura phase.

Remember as well as being broadcast on DAB and FM across the Greater Merseyside/ North Wales area this programme can be listened to anywhere in the world by logging on to the BBC

website:http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/tv_and_radio/

Telephone number to comment on air is 0151 709 9333 (++ 44 151 709 9333 from outside the UK)Text number is 07786 209 333 (++ 7786 209 333 outside the UK)

Email: - steve.coleman@bbc.co.uk or billy.butler@bbc.co.ukadminadmin.

"The Daemon Art Group" Launched

On Saturday 20th March 2010 my wife and I were guests at a private "Launch Party" of an exhibition by the newly formed "Daemon Art Group" at the Chasewater Centre Gallery near Cannock in Staffordshire. I am really honoured that the three artists involved, painters Mark Lippett and Richard Boote and sculpture Steve Eastwood have named their group, indirectly, after my second book "The Daemon - A Guide To Your Extraordinary Secret Self". This was at the suggestion of Richard whose art and creativity has, in some small way, been influenced by my own writing. Indeed three of Richard's amazing paintings reference my Daemon-Eidolon Dyad concept. Above is a photograph of myself and Richard standing in front of his massively itladian major work, "The Daemon".

In my opinion Richard's work is profoundly meaningful and he is using his art to explain in images what I try to do in words. Indeed I am so taken by his imagery that I have bought for pride of place in my study his painting "The Burdon of the Eidolon". This will now inspire me in my own writing. This can be viewed in an earlier posting on this site:

http://cheatingtheferryman.blogspot.com/2009/02/first-itladian-artist.html

I must also say that the works of other two members of the group are also both fascinating and challenging. I wish the Daemon Art Group all the best for the future.

indeed with the launch of Bozack Clothing in New York last week the influence of ITLAD is evident on both sides of the Atlantic and across very different applications.. To check this out follow:

http://www.anthonypeake.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1169&sid=a734e91d6657214b0781c3394293fa96

Jane Scott-Baker (1951 - 1983)

In response to a posting I placed on my FORUM on March 2nd 2010 -

http://www.anthonypeake.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1118&p=10533&hilit=Pedi&sid=4b60049756e728ec6ccd96d44afea8c2#p10533

I have had many requests for any pictures of the young lady who introduced me to Symi island in Greece back in 1978. I have decided to place the montage above on here so that any visitors and interested parties will check out this site as well.

I have placed this posting in memory of a beautiful woman who died far too young. I hope that my hypothesis is correct and that Jane's Daemon managed to avoid her personal tragedy when she followed her next Bohmian IMAX.

Pedi was the location of a curious "message to the future" from the past that I describe in the introduction to my second book, The Daemon - A Guide To Your Extraordinary Secret Self.

BBC Radio Merseyside - Monday 8th Feb 2010

Just a quick note to remind any interested parties that I will be doing my fortnightly slot on BBC Merseyside's Billy Butler Show this afternoon at 1500 UK time. This one promises to be a good one as I will be talking about Near-Death Experience.


Full contact details for this slot are:

Telephone number to comment on air is 0151 709 9333.

Outside the UK this will be ++ 44 151 343 1902.

Text number is 07786 209 333 (within the UK) and ++ 44 7786 209 333 for outside the UK.

Email: - billy.butler@bbc.co.uk or steve.coleman@bbc.co.uk

To listen to the show log on at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/tv_and_radio/

Farnborough Air Show Disaster - 1952

To say that I am excited about the material I have uncovered during my week at Cambridge University Library is an understatement. Some of the cases described could be re-written as individual episodes of the “Twilight Zone” or “The Outer Limits” they really are that good. I have no reason to disbelieve the individuals who were motivated to write in to J.B. Priestley in 1963. As I have stated before these are letters written by ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary events …. Individuals who seem to be embarrassed about describing what happened to them.

By the end of the week I had read around 450 letters and of those I have made full notes on around 67. I will be returning to the library soon to go through the remaining 800 or so letters. I cannot wait to read what amazing events they will describe.

One of the most interesting describes a series of events that took place in early September 1952. I am sure that this is the first time that this has been published in any shape or form, indeed, I suspect that I am only the third person to read this letter after Mr. Priestley himself and, possibly, his secretary.

These are my notes:

“In September 1952 “DP” and his wife were planning to drive home early from their holiday in Dorset to watch the Farnborough Air Show on the first public day and then carry on home after the show was over. As they were driving from Dorset his wife told him that she did not want to go to the show. The night before she had experienced a vivid dream that one of the aircraft had exploded during its exhibition and crashed into the crowd. She described the plane as silver with swept-back wings. However he convinced her that it was just a dream and that everything would be okay. They had already bought the tickets so she agreed to attend.

About half way through the show the DH.110 came out piloted by John Derry. This plane took off ready for its display. As it flew past David’s wife grabbed his arm and said “that’s the plane I saw in my dream – only it was silver not black”. Indeed this DH.110 was, indeed, black. She was really uneasy throughout the display but when the plane landed safely she was relieved.

They then travelled home to Welwyn. However the next day the evening papers carried the grim news that the DH.110 piloted by John Derry had crashed into the crowd killing twenty eight spectators. What was very odd was that the plane that crashed was, as his wife predicted, silver. It was not the machine that they had seen the day before. The black plane had been specially painted for the event but it had developed a fault on the Saturday morning. The first prototype was then used. This had not been painted and was still silver. John Derry had flown back to Hatfield to pick this reserve aircraft up and flew it back to Farnborough for the display.

This is an amazing precognition because it looked as if it was incorrect but then was shown to be uncannily accurate. In turn this dream was reported to somebody other than the dreamer before the accident took place.

The actual date was the 6th September 1952. The final death toll was 31 including the pilot.”

This is a short film about this event. In it you will note that the events that took place were exactly as described by DP in his letter to J.B. Priestley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-BkpWvwGc

For each case I have full supporting details including the writers name, address and, in many cases, original phone number.

Richard Boote Exhibition - Chasewater Visitor Centre Gallery, near Cannock

Richard Boote, whose work I have mentioned before on this Blog has a new exhibition of his work planned. This will take place at The Chasewater Visitor Centre Gallery, near Cannock near in Staffordshire 09th March to 11th April 2010.

Richard is one of a growing group of artists, poets, musicians and even clothes designers, whose work has been profoundly influenced by my Cheating The Ferryman and Daemon-Eidolon Dyad theories. The picture above will be the centrepiece of Richard's exhibition and is also his largest work to date. It is called The Daemon and it is Richard's attempt to depict the contents of a vision that he had many years ago .... a vision that he now considers to be an encounter with his Daemon.

Richard's new website can be viewed at http://richardboote.co.uk .