The Daemon in Antiquity

Ab antiquo,  Ab aeterno " From the ancient, from eternity"

It is interesting that the daimon or daemon which appears in classical Greek philosophy and mythology bears those  traits which can be understood now,  in the 21st century,  within the framework of the Peakian dyad and Imax.  And yet the latter  in no way alters the timeless quality of the ancient reflections;  rather,  it adds the dimensions of technology and quantum scientific theory :  Thus is the daemon expanded.  It fills history.   Meade has written an excellent essay called On the Daemon;  it appears in the online journal of Philosophy and Theology,  Theandros.  Some of what is found therein:


Plotinus in the Ennead 3.4 speaks of the daimon in terms of the principle of Unity:  the soul of man is a miscrocosm,  and thus does the daemon partake of all the powers in the cosmos,  or at least has access to them.  Plato's Pheado 107d and the Timeaus 90a speak of the daemon as being that which,  at the moment of death,  leads the man to the gathering of dead souls.  It is spoken of as a guardian,  a higher self,  and partaking in the transcendent qualities of the soul.  

The daimon of Socrates was seen as the indwelling spirit of genius which guided him. 


A wonderful essay appears online,  by a professor of philosophy,  Rick  ( I will have to check his surname!)  entitled,  On Daemons and the Heraclitean Flux.  The author is of course referring to that greatest of all Pre-Socratics,  Heraclitus,  and his idea of the transitory and fluctuating nature of the world of appearances.  Within this essay,  he weaves the theme of fatherlessness in his boyhood, and in our culture.  As  I read him,   I am brought at once back to my student days,  steeped in early Greek thinking;  yet also to 2007,  and the finding of an essay called Cheating the Ferryman  by Anthony Peake.  The philosophical /Heraclitean essay ends with the assertion,  Sol fide?  Nope:  Sol Immanuel.  God with us!    And to me,  this is what makes Peakian theory so beautiful:  spirituality is no longer at war with science,  nor is it given over to rank new age drek:  but it is indwelling,  within the dyad,  as was the daemon of Socratis.  Sol Immanuel!    I think that there is much that is philosophical which may yet be tapped into,  in terms of further lectures and writings by Tony  ( which is why I have saved many essays,  along with commentary by yours truly,  for future use-lol!);    and it is always a thrill for me  -  when reading some of these  wonderful essays,  and the quotes of the best sages of antiquity  -  to see traces of the ideas of Anthony Peake,  sofly glowing from them.   

Time Anomaly

I am currently reading 'Suddenly Psychic' by Maureen Caudill. This is her account of her experiences following her work with The Monroe Institute. She was trained in mathematics and physics, and worked for many years in the field of artificial intelligence and neural nets. Probably about as analytical as you can get.
The Monroe Institute is based upon the pioneering work of Robert Monroe in altered states of consciousness, using binaural beat sound signals to induce various frequencies in the brain. It has a long and respected record in this area.
Anyway, I am relating this story, which is not unique, but really does shatter common sense conceptions of time. The author's experiences in fact totally shattered and reformulated her world view.
Basically, Maureen Caudill was given an exercise involving a form of remote viewing. She was given a name, time and place relating to a particular woman. She deduced through her psychic skills that this was a woman suffering from breast cancer, at a date 8 months previously. She employed a visualisation technique given by The Monroe Institute, involving sending an image of a golden dolphin to provide healing energy. As an innovation, she left the dolphin with the patient.
The patient was apparently found to be aware of this activity. This in itself violates the consensus world view. But she claimed to have an intuitive awareness of the imaginary dolphin from 8 months ago - at the time her details were documented by the Monroe Institute!
One is free to believe that all this is fabrication or imagination of course, but I for one find that the writer seems sincere and reliable, and I am willing to accept her testimony. The book is published by Hamptons Road, 2006, and is full of interesting material on science and consciousness.

A Foray into Will vs Consciousness: Some Remarks

Peakian Dyad may be viewed as Will rather than Consciousness:  Reflections after reading Woodsprite's Critique of Dark Knight. . .


Kant tells us that "the world is empirically real but transcendentally ideal",  and in terms of the dyad,  one could say that this describes the eidolon and the daemon.   I have often thought that  -  philosophically speaking  -  the distinction between will and consciousness is an extremely important one when viewing the daemon (as Tony has conceived it).

A text which I have been reading lately  -  by Chris Hedges,  author of American Facists,  and now a polemical speaker against both fundamentalist Christians and atheists in America  -  points out the contrast most aptly.  In the model which Hedges uses  -  and he draws on Schopenhauer,  Nietzsche,  and Samuel Beckett to make his point  -  will is the ground of life,  and not consciousness.  This leads to a very important and telling conclusion:  Memory   is not what we conceive it to be in the rational mind,  not at all.   For concsiousness is a surface and a pretense;  thus does memory in its authentic state arise from willing alone.  Schopenhauer  -  and Nietzsche after him  -  has said that our true self is "  a secret self,  which knows only willing."  Memory in this sense works secretly,  and comes and goes unbidden by our rational constructs.   It is "not consciouss recollection of life"  says Hedges.  It is rather,  "wisdom".  Hedges asserts that knowledge is the domain of science,  but wisdom belongs to "real memory".

I had often thought,  after "meeting" Tony through email,  that it would be a profound debate,  to question him on whether he believed his "daemon" conception is conscioussness or will.   This feeling of mine increased several-fold when it became clear to me some months ago that Tony had a philosophical partner at his side  ( Le Marcs).   That this question is one in  which the entire debate between science and spirituality hangs,  to my thinking flags it as material for public discourse.

  Memory and will lie in the substrata of life,  and contain secret quasi-alchemical powers,  which consciousness  -  "the parasite of will",  says Schopenhauer  -  misunderstands.    Now that Woodsprite (Di)  has posted on the forum her beautifully written and reasoned critique of Dark Knight,  I think that this debate can extend beyond Tony himself,  and his Philosopher;  it can be taken up on forum,  whether under the categories of philosophy,  consciousenss,  or even  -  if we want to stick with Di's example  -  Itladian film.  For Di has said that she cannot conceive of the character of the Joker as being daemonic,  in the Peakian sense,  for 2 reasons:  1.  He does not recollect Batman's life  2.  He is not the upholder and moral guide of Batman.  These assertions are indeed true,  when viewed through the lens of consciousenss.  However,  when viewed through willing,  I argue that Joker may be seen as both containing true memory and as being an upholder of a kind of morality  ( Nietzschean morality).  And anyone who attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week would be hard-pressed to say that Barack Obama does not seem an incarnate example of Schopenhauer's "Will and its Representation"!   In any case,  at some point this discussion ought to be taken up on forum.  I would be interested in hearing others' thoughts on this matter. 

The Daemon - Official Book Launch

It has now been confirmed that "The Daemon, A Guide To Your Extraordinary Secret Self" will be launched upon an unsuspecting (or very "suspecting" if you are a blog or FORUM regular)on Wednesdya 24th September at 1830. Full details can be found at:

http://linghams.co.uk/display.php?id=47

This will be a very informal affair with drinks and nibbles.I will do a short and very generalistic talk followed by a question and answer session.

Tickets can be bought in advance from Linghams (tel:0151 342 7290)and can be collected on the night.

Daemonic Evolution and Neuro Atypicality: A Theory

This synopsis was posted a few weeks ago but then mysteriously disappeared!! I have reposted it here and on the forum and look forward to feedback from my fellow ITLADIAN's both old and new! (Thank you to those that posted the first time round, I would appreciate it if you would comment again)

This is a synopsis of a piece I have written theorizing the evolution of the daemon and how neuro atypicality may serve a very real purpose in such an evolutionary cycle.

Karl has theorized that there has to be a Virgin Life when it all begins and an Ultimate Life when we lose sentience and return to the objective consciousness field. By applying Cantor’s rule, eventually our particle of consciousness cannot be divided any further and we lose sentience.

What I suggest is that we don’t just suddenly reach our Ultimate Life and become daemonically fused. The daemon evolves gradually and as it does, eidolonic influence diminishes until the sentient being is functioning primarily as a daemonic individual.

The Quantum Zeno Effect suggests that constant self-observation of the brain/mind tends to sustain certain brain states more than others. A daemonic individual will therefore, naturally, have greater effect on the more eidolonic individual. The daemonic individual exists in a different conscious state of perception than others.

The daemon cannot exist independently of the eidolon. I suggest that fusion of the dyad doesn’t take place in the Ultimate Life. Experiences of the eidolon grow the daemon. The eidolon is an absolute necessity for the daemon to flourish.

Now imagine a Virgin eidolon born with the doors of perception wide open. It would know something was wrong but would not be able to make sense of it. This, surely, would cause neuro atypicalities such as schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder. If the Virgin Life is the start point, the baptism of fire, once within the Bohmian IMAX, the daemon comes into play. This traumatic start point will lead the strongest of daemons

Karl has kindly given me permission to use him and his neuro atypicality as an example to help support the theory I have posited.

Karl’s Virgin /Ultimate Life state has oft been debated on blog. There is something on an unconscious level that affects individuals that come into contact with him.

Could it be that he is a very evolved, daemonically living individual?

If this is the case, then his amazing memory would not be unusual. Karl has much more access to the playback and therefore exhibits much higher levels of recall.

I posit that as evolution continues the corpus callosum diminishes and the eidolon has less and less access to the daemon. The individual is living daemonically, is reaching full potential and the eidolon is losing sentience.

This may explain why Karl also has strange effects on people. They have reported being unable to have déjà vu experiences around him and personally, I have noticed that my daemonic activity is much reduced around him. If we go back to the Quantum Zeno affect this would make sense. As a daemonic individual Karl in functioning ahead of others. He is the primary observer in any interaction and if we apply the MMI, Karl will always be the one to cause decoherence in any interaction. This would preclude anyone else having a déjà vu and reduce their daemonic activity as well.

It also explains why Karl doesn’t have precognition and déjà vu himself. The corpus collosum is much reduced; the eidolon has very little access to the daemon so nudges and hints like precognition and déjà vu are just not necessary.

If we look at Karl’s neuro atypicality we can also see the functioning of a primarily daemonic individual.

Simply put Bipolar disorder manifests as extremes of mood. I have observed that Karl has overcome the debilitating symptoms of this condition through self awareness and wisdom to help him grow.

If we look at some of these symptoms we can see clearly the eidolon/daemon balance

Daemon – Hypergraphia hyperlexia, intelligence, memory recall, thinking ahead, constant brain/mind self observation.

Eidolon – Low energy, sometimes low mood, chronic fatigue.

In conclusion I suggest:

The dyad of eidolon and daemon always exists as the eidolon is the experiencer to enable the daemon to grow.

• Fusion of daemon/eidolon therefore does not occur. I suggest that as the daemon grows in awareness the eidolon’s sentience diminishes. The corpus callosum link also diminishes as this process evolves.
• Over time, the percentage balance increases in favour of the daemon. That is the primary goal from the start.
• Neuro atypicality can now be seen to serve a purpose. We may not be able to see it in this present moment but if we look at the big picture of many, many reruns within the Bohmian IMAX past life memory playback, it makes sense. The individual who starts from a position of having too much perception will eventually have the strongest daemonic existence.
• The eidolon begins learning with unconscious/incompetent (doesn’t known and doesn’t know it doesn’t knows). Then moves to conscious/incompetent (doesn’t knows but is aware of it). Then conscious/competent (learning is taking place but conscious effort required to understand). Finally, unconscious/competent (integrated learning that requires no conscious effort). At this point the individual is primarily daemonic in existence.
• In coming into contact with these highly evolved daemonic individuals the lives of others will be affected, enabling them to further their own evolution. This, again, suggests evolutionary synergy. It is not an individual goal but also has bearing on the potential of others.

Nietzsche and the Daemon of Socrates

Just a brief post,  as I found something interesting while reading Peter Durno Murray's  Nietzsche's Affirmative Morality.  I had just recently posted on the forum about the philosophical underpinnings of the concept of the daimon ( the spelling in antiquity) and its depiction as a higher or second self which serves as witness and guardian to the earthly man in life in  the  Deo Socratis  by Apelieus of the second century.

Now,  while reading Murray's text on Nietzsche,  I have come across a section on Socrates and his daimon.  Nietzsche asserts that Socrates  ( and hence,  Plato and the entire neo-Platonist tradition,  including Arthur Schopenhauer) erred grievously in limiting  discourse always to reason and the rational,  thereby  dismissing   -  and dishonoring  -  the darker Dionysian elements of life,  art, and culture.  He points out that the daimon of Socrates seemed wholly aware of this error,  and limited Socrates in order that he not "blaspheme these deities"  of the irrational and creative realms within the human.

I found this an extremely  interesting assertion in the light of Peakian daemonology:  During the historical transition from the ancient Greek world to the rational  world of Platonism (which would become the Christian and democratic Europe of his day;  and  of which Socrates was the prophet and the spearheading master)  -   the daemon itself was making provisions,  and  holding in reserve almost,  the Dionysian realm,  and not allowing Socrates a wide berth with regard to its mysteries and secret animus.   As a philosopher,  to see a Peakian idea leap out of a page written by a  very astute philosopher,  on one of the greatest philosophers of the modern world,  is very invigorating,  very inspiring.  ( By the way,  that photo is a favorite of mine:  Wasn't Nietzsche the sweetest thing as a teenager?)  SMK

The Scientific & Medical Network Blogspot

As you will be aware I am a member of an organisation called The Scientific And Medical Network (as are about half a dozen members of this site). I am delighted to see that they now also have their own site on Blogger.

The blogmaster of this new site (Dr. Olly Robinson) has asked me to become a regular contributor to this infant site and my first contribution will appear soon.

Please check this site out. Although CTF and ITLAD are known by a few members of SMN (I have been invited to talk by four SMN Groups - Western Switzerland, Yorkshire, Manchester and Devon) I feel that we need to become actively involved in helping this 'baby' blog grow.

The SMN is fertile ground for itladian theory and I feel that if some of us here place comments on their Blog Site it can only attract more attention to the ideas and theories so wonderfully discussed on these pages.

The site can be found at: http://scimednet.blogspot.com/

MAYA.

We take for granted that we have the free will to make conscious decisions to choose between different possible courses of action.
However, recently conducted experiments in the Max Planck Institute in Germany on the functioning of the human brain, have put that presumption into doubt. The researchers have concluded that free will could, in fact, be "little more than an illusion". The experiments indicated that our subconscious mind decides on and dictates our actions, long before our conscious mind actually realises it. If human beings are not able to act independently, then that makes them, in the words of one of the researchers, "...little more than automatons, mere machines, pieces of biological clock-work that have no more free will than a Swiss watch".
Do the experiments suggest that an unseen power thinks for us, decides and tells us how we must act? Are not actions in our control?
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, "The Supreme dwells in the heart of all beings revolving them all by His mysterious power, Maya."
The Supreme, however, does not control living entities as a puppeteer controls puppets. The control is through a subtle mechanism that works under material nature (prakriti). The Gita says, "Everywhere, in all the material universes, the dispositions of nature ^ gunas of prakriti ^ perform all works. But deluded by egoism, man thinks, 'i am the doer'."
Man is born with samskaras, or tendencies, that he acquires commensurate with his activities ^ karma ^ in previous lives. These samskaras are made up of the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. The proportion of each guna in an individual is what makes his character. All his thoughts and actions are then dictated by his samskaras because nature compels him to act according to his character.
The Gita says, "Not even for a moment can man remain without performing any action. Everyone is forced to act according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature or gunas." The Padma Purana says that the fate of five things in one's life is already decided at the time of one's conception in the womb ^ the aggregate wealth one will acquire, one's occupation, education, lifespan, and when, where and how one will die. Happenings associated with these five are preordained and will come to pass, no matter what, and can be termed one's destiny. One's character, moulded by one's samskaras, will then make one act in such a manner that events play out as destined.
Are we mere cogs on a machine operated by the Supreme, or do we have free will at all to act independently? Krishna tells Arjuna, "Thus I have imparted to you wisdom that is more secret (profound) than all that is secret. Reflecting over the whole teaching, do as you think fit." Here He clearly states that man does have free will to think and act independently
Moreover, the Law of Karma, which is based on the concept of cause and effect makes us the architects of our own destiny. To be able to shape our own destiny, free will becomes a prerequisite. Without free will, the Law of Karma becomes inoperative. We could use the limited free will that we have, to pursue purely material pleasures that might degrade our future samskaras, or we could perform noble deeds which would generate sattvic samskaras and help us evolve spiritually and ultimately take us to the goal of human life, that is, moksha.
(taken from 'THE TIMES OF INDIA')

Philosophy's Fading Light

Philosophy Supports Peakian Theory;  Peakian Theory Enriches Philosophy:  Yet Philosophy Sputters and Fades on ITLADiam Forum

One of the supremely rewarding and invigorating things about finding the Cheating the Ferryman Thesis,  was the manner in which it both drew from,  and gave to,  the discipline of Philosophy.  The dyad and the Bohmian Imax not only "fit in" with the main branches of philosophy,  but actually answered them.   They enriched and informed the areas of epistemology and phenomenology,  which form the basic support for philosophical questions.

In America ,  New Age Phenomenology has turned its back on the elegant language and phraseology of philosophical discourse,  betraying its truest ally.  It has thereby gone quite astray.  It has bitten the hand which best fed it, and it has softened considerably in the aftermath.

We philosophers tend to be outcasts:  We are defending a classical tradition,  which has its roots in antiquity.  The philosopher,  unless posting on blogs or forums specifically aimed at that esoteric breed known as "academic philosophers",  is often treated as a dinner guest whom no one seems to know why,  exactly,   was extended an invitation.   Tolerated,  seen as slightly insane at times,  and often ignored,  because he drags the classical language from centuries ago into today's glaring light,    and utters phrases which are not drenched in the popular culture of the fast -paced media, with its sound bites and jargon.  Too often,  the philosopher struggles valiantly against the tide of competing ideologies and disciplines more geared toward modernity,  or postmodernity,  until in bewildered silence he leaves,  to slip once more  into the shadows from whence he arose.

I have tried to be optimistic amidst the scorn with  which American academia in general has treated this elegant and most beautiful of all disciplines.  With patience,  I have struggled to place Peakian theory within philosophical discourse with essays which I am aware do not have broad  popular appeal.   But feelings of foreboding and uneasiness push to the surface,  become urgent,   when I write  posts for the ITLADian forum,  and keep within the bounds of simplicity and brevity,  and the purpose fails utterly.   That purpose:  To facilitate debate and discussion;  to make Peakians/Itladians interested in the philosophical underpinnings of Tony's work;  to share the excitement of Tony's uncanny ability to beckon, and to address,  this elegant monster of antiquity.  But I  feel a certain sense of dismay  -  perhaps even alarm  -   as I see that this is not occurring.  Unless Tony or his Philosopher can tell me what it is that I am doing wrong,  the manner in which I am  approaching the forum incorrectly,  I am left to assume that philosophy's light is fading,  not only in American culture,  but in the Itladian culture as well.  I hope that this does not prove to be the case.

Evidence of "Future Memory"?

(Comment also posted on the FORUM)

Sometimes the strangest things take place in my life ... things that really reinforce the whole itladian theory. But sometimes these events are so self-referential that it is as if fate (The Daemon?) is amusing itself by leaving clues all over the place.

The day before yesterday I was travelling through London en-route to a business meeting in Kent. I stopped off at Euston and walked down to Foyle's Bookshop in Tottenham Court Road (probably my favourite bookshop). Foyle's is always a great place to find the more obscure and specialist books. In the psychology section I found two or three books that I hoped to find together with another that I had never heard of It is called The Uncanny and was written by Nicholas Royle, professor of English at the University of Sussex. It was published in 2003. What attracted me to it was that it was a review of the implications of Sigmund Freud's 1919 essay "Das Unheimlich" - the Uncanny - in regard to contemporary thinking in literature, film, psychoanalysis etc. Although quite expensive I decided to add to the pile.

This morning, on my way to work, I began reading it. I Immediately spotted something that I had not seen when I picked it up two days before .... there was a chapter on Deja Vu. I decided to read this chapter first and what I read stunned me!

But a bit of background first. Way back in 2000 I wrote the first version of Is There Life After Death - The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When You Die (ITLAD). Some sections of this original version ended up being edited out of the version that appeared in the bookshops in 2007. However one section that did stay was a particular description of the frustrations (and circularity) that I found in trying to isolate a dictionary definition of paramnesia. On page 276 of ITLAD I describe this. I wrote:

'An attempt to gain a definition from elsewhere was also cyclical; if one looks up the word (deja vu) in the Oxford Concise English Dictionary one will find a reference but no definition. Indeed it refers directly to another entry; that entry being for deja vu! So it seems that having a deja vu is, by definition, an example of paramnesia, which is, by definition, an example of deja vu.'

My frustration is only thinly disguised. I clearly remember the irritation I felt on that day back in 2000 even now. However even at the time I thought it was odd that I felt it necessary to place this descriptive narrative in the book itself. There were lots of similar issues at the time but something (my Daemon?) insisted that this be recorded for posterity.

Why this was so became clear this morning when I read the following (page 173) observations by Royle with regard to the frustrations he encountered when trying to find a dictionary definition for deja vu:

'Both the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and Chambers (Dictionary) see to it that "deja vu" be defined as 'an illusion' or 'illusory' and both delegate the authority for such a definition to the discipline of psychology and in particular to the psychological concept of paramnesia. Thus in Chambers we read: 'deja vu: a form of memory disorder paramnesia. If we then look in Chambers for a definition of 'paramnesia' we discover with seemingly unremarkable irony: ' a memory disorder in which words are remembered but not in their proper meaning .... the dictionary itself seems subject to some form of paramnesia'

Note the startlingly similarities between my last sentence and that of Royle.

Now could this be evidence of "Future Memory" on my part? That I 'remembered' reading this in 2008 during my last Life re-run was so taken by how Royle illustrates his frustrations with regard to the definitions of deja vu/paramnesia that during my next life (i.e. this one) I wrote it in my own book before I experienced it in this one?

Of course to be "significant" a coincidance has to be self-referential. How self-referential can be that both Royle and myself are writing about Deja Vu ... a phenomenon that implies "Future Memory" or precognition?

Really, really weird!

The FORUM

After doing a quick review of the FORUM I feel that it is the ideal place to place some of the more informational postings that we have enjoyed on this Blogsite over the last year or so. I am sure that all of your regular contributors have one or two of your own that you are particularly proud of. As long as the post can be amended slightly to be understandable to the novice itladian then I feel that these could be re-used.

I have taken a few of my early posts ... specifically the PKD ones ... and placed them on the FORUM. Clearly I had to explain the background but I am fairly pleased with them.

So if you guys have any historic gems that you are proud of think about "forumising" them and placing them on there.

Tony

ART!

MADONNA CRYING by ALEX HAAS
when i saw this image i was reminded of the POPULAR sunday services!

Schizophrenia and migraine

I'm reading "The Daemon" and was reminded how much migraine aura visual disturbances were similar to the cat pictures of Louis Wain.

Wain was an artist who specialised in painting cats. Over time he became more and more subject to schizophrenia and his paintings vividly describe how his perceptions changed.

Migraine aura

WOWIO - Some Thoughts

I am assured by my publisher that downloads on Wowio will not impact upon general sales of "The Daemon". I remain to be convinced about this but they are professionals in the publishing business and I have to assume that they know best.

However this does not take away my fear that the ability for people to read the book on-line for free will have a negative impact upon hard-copy sales. With WAP phones and such like, individuals can read the book as and when they like and although reading on a screen is not ideal sales of the "Amazon Kindle" device in the USA has shown that people are getting more used to reading something on a portable screen. To be able to do this for free rather than spend money on a book is, to me, a very rational decision ... particularly in a world facing an economic down-turn.

I agree that this may open up my theories to many more people ... people who would not ordinarily buy my books ... and that is a good thing but this is not the same as the 'relationship' that is created between writer and reader when the have the intimacy of a tactile book in their hands (a fully portable device that does not have to be switched on and off!)

However I feel that potential readers should find "WOWIO" in their own way without any assistance from me. as such I will wait a few days then "pull" any reference to Wowio of this blogsite, my website and my other various web-locations.

I would like request that you guys also use WOWIO in a useful and dynamic way. If you consider that the only way a friend or associate will become aware of Itladian ideas will be through the free access to WOWIO then by all means let them know ... but please be careful. I am worried that both books may become very popular and generate absolutely no revenue which will really be a two-edged sword. I make very little from my writing to begin with. To end up losing what small revenue I receive will be economically disastrous for me - I will become much more famous and much more poor at the same time. Indeed such a scenario would really make the writing of a third book economically non-viable.

We have to manage this very carefully.

Wowio - Daemon book straight in at number 4

Clearly a lot of people are downloading the pdf copy of my second book, The Daemon - A Guide To Your Extraordinary Secret Self. It has entered the Wowio "Best Sellers" list at number 4! I am really pleased that the book is "selling" so well. My only hope is that this will not detract from sales of the real book.

Of course it is somewhat ironic that I am fascinated by the idea that reality may be an inwardly generated construct - my "virtual book" is selling well before my "actual" book exists in bookshops, on Amazon etc etc!

the daemon as an island!

From The Odyssey to The Beach, islands have been one of the most powerful and magical inspirations to writers... Islands work as social laboratories, says John Harding.
"an extraordinary amount of fiction has taken place on islands, for reasons that are both psychological and practical. In Jungian dream analysis, the sea represents the unconscious mind, and it has been suggested that the island symbolises the ego or the conscious self. Indeed, some psychotherapists ask patients to draw their own island, with the result examined as a self-portrait. It's impossible to be beside the sea and not feel the tug of elemental forces, the kind of forces that gave rise to the earliest stories." going through the Odyssey, Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and others the writers claims that every novel seeks to create its own world and entice the reader into it. "On a fictional island, the writer has complete control, and if one of the main motivations of art is to make order from chaos and so make sense of the world, the opportunity is here in spades....Islands are places to escape to, not only for writers freeing up their imaginations but also for their characters and readers.....perhaps most interesting today as an early example of sci-fi, an island genre that had some currency in the 19th century, before writers discovered outer space . ". " The idea of the island as self. That's another thing about islands. Take a trip on one, and keep going long enough, and you will always end up back where you began.......

(taken frm artcritical.com - Island painting by ALAN DAVIE)

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