2 Minutes of Reality

[Anonymous]

The common man…has never been so confused, mystified and baffled; his most intimate conceptions of himself, of his needs, and indeed the very nature of human nature, have been subject to skilled manipulation and construction in the interests of corporate efficiency and profit.

(Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty)

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

Is there any theory on how the memories / thoughts are transferred ? Some kind of electro magnetic energy or is it just observations? I really am curious not being sarcastic. Seems too big a coincidence but I'm having a problem making any guesses on how they can be connected over such large distances.

The problem is NOT with the phenomenon. It's probably happened to everybody here, many times (some more than others). You get the idea out of the blue to call your old friend and, when you pick up the phone, he's on the other end. He'd called you, and you picked the receiver up before it had a chance to ring. Same deal with e-mails. Same deal with a lot of other things.

The PROBLEM is twofold :

1) Contemporary Science is utterly unequipped to come to grips with matters as subtle as consciousness.

2) But this has not inhibited what passes for Science to come off as if it were on top of everything, and its pronouncements were the last word on it. Voltaire and his "Enlightenment" clown troop started that attitude in the 1700s, and people have uncritically "passed it along" ever since. It's an attitude and, often, nothing but one.

On one hand, they keep insisting that they, and they alone, have the ONLY approach & procedure capable of coming to grips with reality. On the other, even Australian Aborigines take inborn human capacities like telepathy for granted, assuming that everybody else must, too.

There are models that are at least useful. But they fall under Herr Professor Doktor Heissluft's ban : they cannot be because they cannot be. Leaving ordinary people with the choice of whether to "believe" him, or their own lying experiences.

:face:

 

[i.keenum]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

 

[Richard Burley]

Just to keep the pot simmering, an easy quote that takes me no effort to paste, thus allowing me time for more serious matters like dealing with the intricacies of tobaccoweed. Needless to say, I'm on the side of the clown troop that brought us the hellish Enlightenment:

Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in telepathy? -- in ancient astronauts? -- in the Bermuda triangle? -- in life after death?

No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out, "Don't you believe in anything?"

"Yes,” I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be."

-- Isaac Asimov (1997) The Roving Mind. Prometheus Books. p.349

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Many paths, many discoveries, enjoying the journey.

I lack the proper label to take sides on either account, evidence or faith. Sometimes things just are. Understanding makes a fascinating bedfellow.

If I can have fun no matter the conclusion, preconception is just garnish on the plate.

 

[Anonymous]

Go back & re-read what Mike posted about Control. And read it from the perspective of people trying to maintain a semblance of personal coherence in the face of the unimaginable. By pronouncing judgement on what reality can and cannot be or involve, in advance, they use the power of belief to insulate themselves from it.

There is, undoubtedly, a resulting sense of coherence & control . . . the "I am the captain of my fate ; I am the master of my soul" belief (mantra), which serves them well. But they mistake it -- mostly on purpose -- for authentic engagement with the world around them.

Belief is the magic wand that erases awareness of the disturbing. The psychological term for it is Denial.

Repeating for those who came in late :

The common man…has never been so confused, mystified and baffled; his most intimate conceptions of himself, of his needs, and indeed the very nature of human nature, have been subject to skilled manipulation and construction . . .

(Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty)

We do not see things as they are.
We see them as we are.

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

We do not see things as they are.
We see them as we are.

Always been a fan of this quote, since I started reading Nin years ago.

In fact, to learn of ourselves, we learn of what we see and why. It might not clear up the fog completely, but it makes things a little easier to grasp on to, ugly and beautiful. Often it's why I "selfishly" try to learn more about the person closest to me, myself. The biggest enigma I have. If I went based on evidence on myself, I'd be an utter failure. Because I have more than a little faith in myself, contrary to evidence, I seem to do better. And see better, see the things as I am, to roll with everything else.

:weissbabble: <img class="emojione" alt="?" title=":shrug:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/emojione/assets/png/1f937.png?v=2.2.7"/>

8)

 

[Anonymous]

When investigations begin with honest questions, they can be productive of discoveries.

When they begin with didactic belligerence about what can and cannot be, they only "validate" the assumptions they began with.

:face: 

 

[Anonymous]

A Sufi Prayer  (anonymous)

We who know, and do not know that we know:

Let us become one, whole.

Let us be transformed.



We who have known, but do not know:

Let us once more see

The beginning of it all.



We who do not wish to know,

But still say that we want to know:

Let us be guided
 to safety and to light.

We who do not know,
And know that we do not know:
Let us through this knowledge, know.

We who do not know,
but think that we know:
Set us free from the confusion of that ignorance.

He who knows, and knows that he is:
He is wise.
Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.

As with our forebears
So with our successors
So with us
We affirm this undertaking
So let it be.

:face: 

 

[Richard Burley]

Am I the only one having difficulty parsing some of the sentences in this thread? I done knowed I shudda finished dat kollege thing. :clown: 

 

[Anonymous]

It wouldn't have helped you any.  

:face: 

 

[RonA3597]

Am I the only one having difficulty parsing some of the sentences in this thread? I done knowed I shudda finished dat kollege thing

Thanks Richard.  I've been reading this thread the whole time wondering "Who is on first". :scratch:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

It wouldn't have helped you any.    

:face: 

Couldn't agree more.   :cheers:

Sincerely,

The Dropout of Organized Education (but not a dropout of life and learning).  

8)

 

[Dix Creek]

We do tend to ramble and like most who smoke the briar or cob or mer we are all great at pondering and musing. My thought on all afore mentioned issues is, 'they are what they are'. We all believe what we believe for what ever reason. It is like faith. faith tells you to believe in something even when good common sense tells you other wise. Even if you don't care for someone elses opinion at least respect their right and your own to have an opinion. That is what makes us all free men and for that we should be thankful.