TONY ON CRASH (?), TT #24 & MORE

Including Thursday Thirteen and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

This is a first. The commentary I wrote for this post is scrapped. Whether right or wrong, I was convinced US politicians would agree the rescue package for financial institutions. Well, they didn’t – yet. And my post took it as said that they would. Well, we’re in a new world, folks.

It may still happen.

The vote was lost by 23, so some politicians are under immense pressure at the moment. And only 13 minds need changing. But it looks like the horse has bolted. If you’re late reading this, the Crash may have happened. I hope not.
Whatever the outcome, the west will never be the same again. Happy days are over. Or should I say financial decadence is over. ‘Cos that’s what it is. Free market economics has been shown to be totally corrupt. But why?

Because there was no regulation.

Regulation was always needed. However, such regulation should not have been from government. Rather, regulation should have come in the idea of moral responsibility and a culture of thrift.
It was in such a culture that modern democracy and capitalism were devised. Indeed, theorists such as Adam Smith knew that it could only work in such a culture. You see, both these vehicles of freedom encourage selfishness, so a break must be applied.
As economies collapse, we should remember these important points. Selfishness is always unattractive. And I don’t mean such regulation should come from religion. There is another way. This is philosophy – the idea that the human condition can be thought about.
Dumbing down is over. It’s time to think again.

© Anthony North, September 2008

TT #24 – THE CHEF

The chef is king of celebrity,
breakfast, dinner, supper, tea,
nothing escapes his magic touch,
we like it all, oh so much,
but just a minute, is this true,
do we really eat his magic stew?
There you are, telly on,
microwave meal set for one …

The food, I’m afraid, can go and burn,
lifestyle is the main concern,
programmes on food, on house and home,
all devised for the consumer zone,
leaving so many all alone

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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A SHAKE OF THE DICE – A Cass Nova Detective Thriller

The case had gone well and to celebrate Detective Inspector Nova and DC Sandy Powell decided to go to the pub for a drink. Seated, Sandy said: ‘I don’t know how you got that confession, Cass, but whatever you did, it worked.’
Cass gulped his beer, seeking refreshment. ‘It’s like one of my early cases,’ he said, ‘when I was a menial DC like you.’
Sandy knew he didn’t mean it. ‘Go on,’ she said.
Cass sat back. ‘There’d been a robbery. Not a big one, and the robber was obviously an amateur. I thought, this is going to be easy to crack. After all, we had a description of the guy and plenty of forensics. And it didn’t take me long to track him down.
‘He was a young man, seventeen. When I turned up at his house, I was met by a very pleasant woman – obviously his mother. Walking into the house, I realized they were practicing Christians. There was even a Bible in the living room.
‘Of course, it was obvious the lad had rebelled. It often happens when too much religion is placed on a young mind. Anyway, I explained what had happened, and she denied it. Still, I demanded to see the boy. But what I didn’t expect was his identical twin to come down when called, too.
‘So, suddenly it was a little bit more difficult. The evidence could have been for either, so how was I to get the right one?
‘The mother was no help – they rarely are when sons are involved, even though her shiftiness made it obvious she knew and was covering up. Then I noticed two things – the Bible, and on the sideboard, some dice. “Well I don’t care which one I fit up for it,” I said.
‘The mother was suitably appalled, thinking me a bent copper. I picked up the dice – began to shake them. “I’ll tell you what,” I said, “an even number I’ll have him, odds, that one will do.”
‘As I gave them another shake, her sense of justice got the better of her, and she shopped the son responsible.’
Sandy smiled. ‘The wisdom of Solomon.’
‘Got it in one. Now, I think it’s your round.’
‘No it isn’t. I bought these,’ said Sandy.
‘Okay,’ said Cass. He took out some dice. ‘Let fate decide. Evens, I win; odds, you lose …’

© Anthony North, September 2008

TONY ON AID, FLEETING, NUTS

Including One Single Impression and Manic Monday.
Have you had a go yet?

Care International have advised that the current system of waiting for food shortages before acting is increasing malnutrition. This is just one more area of incompetence when it comes to disaster in the Third World and the world in general. Just think of how long it takes to get emergency workers into an earthquake zone.

It is time for some new thinking on this.

The basic problem, as I see it, is two fold. First, international organizations and charities are too tied in with an idea of globalization, and no network exists for immediate reaction and management of arising problems.
To me, the obvious answer to the second is the creation of a new international organization equipped with its own aircraft, vehicles, equipment, stores and manpower, centrally controlled and operating from small bases around the world.

As for the first, there is an organization already.

It is not involved in most of the power politics of the day. This is the Commonwealth of Nations, including both developed and Third World countries around the world. Underused to a terrible degree, they could easily provide the manpower and bases required, and have a true understanding of the problems.
It really is time for some new thoughts on this subject, providing an organization that sees the problems coming, and can react immediately to it. Working with charities where necessary, there will soon even be plenty of aircraft to be bought up cheap.
The usual suspects have failed. Let’s see if new blood and new thought can be successful.
There’ll be no post Monday, but hope to see you Tuesday.

© Anthony North, September 2008

FLEETING

I’ve not been here long,
I sing a different song,
such a strange place to be,
so different to me,
those shapes in my sight,
such a terrible plight,
fleetingly they appear,
so often with a tear,
how lonely they must be,
if only they could see,
it doesn’t have to be misery

I’ve not been here long,
I don’t think I belong,
watching those forms,
in this place, the norm,
existence so slight,
seemingly no respite,
weighed down by those chains,
of past deeds and pains;
Oh, these visits I dread,
to the living, it’s said,
and me, so recently dead

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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NUTS – Fiction

‘Choice! That’s the key.’ The speaker looked around at those gathered close to him. To his front, the object of his words. ‘What action do we choose to any event? We think we decide, but how much is down to the event itself? Are we really of our own mind, or that of the society to which we belong?’
The man to his front seemed awkward, as if facing a crisis. His eyes darted from left to right. A slight perspiration appeared on his brow.
The speaker continued: ‘Nuts! Insane! Mad! A Lunatic! Simple words, but meaning so much. Labels we place on those who’s behaviour is different from the norm. But who decides what behaviour is normal or abnormal? What IS insanity?’
The man to his front seemed on the point of running. It was not how it should be. Paranoid thoughts raced through his mind, and he had no idea what he was likely to do next.
‘It is down to those choices we make – or are made for us. How we behave is so often the key. But are people’s opinions of our actions down to the behaviour in the person, or their discomfort at what they see?’
At last the man to his front saw a conclusion to the situation. The nurses appeared. He said to them, ‘all I asked is nuts or fries,’ and carried on serving the next patient.
A tear appeared in the speaker’s eye as he was escorted to his room. The choice had been too much today. Which was increasingly normal.

© Anthony North, September 2008

HOW TO EXPLAIN ATOM SMASHERS

Have you tried my current affairs. Stay informed about the world.

I’m convinced that the understanding of the paranormal can have huge implications for the nature of knowledge. Of late, I’ve written little on this area, so have decided to rectify it.
In effect science, religion and philosophy all suffer from a lack of a more holistic viewpoint, which the paranormal could rectify. The idea is not to bring them together, but to show how related knowledge can interlink them in a much greater way.

I thought I’d begin with atom smashers.

The latest is the large hadron collider, which has fuelled stories for the last few weeks. At this present moment we don’t need to worry about it creating a black hole and destroying the world. Due to a glitch, it’s out of action for a couple of months.
Such experiments are, to me, vital. I sometimes seem to be anti-science, but this is not true. Science is vital. What I object to are the pronouncements and biases placed by scientists above the science.

The LHC is therefore a good subject to study.

What is its aim? Stated briefly, they are out to discover where the ‘matter’ is that makes the universe hard. At least, that’s what they think. I think something quite different is going on.
Ideas in particle physics suggest this to me. For instance, the particle is a theoretical concept. Technically, atom smashers collide particles to discover their secrets from the energy released upon collision.

Unfortunately, the data produced is man made.

The problem with ‘observing’ a particle is that it is so small that it cannot be ‘observed’. Rather, it has to be bombarded with something, which is inevitably made up of particles itself.
Hence, all that can be ‘observed’ is the result of a collision, and not the actual reality itself. And even that ‘collision’ is not as we would understand it. When two balls collide, one shoots off in a direction and velocity determined by the ball that hit it.

This is not so with particles.

The math states that they can shoot off in any direction possible. Hence, a quantum event is probabilistic, with every possible direction being just as probable as any other.
So what creates the definite reality that becomes our universe? One idea is the act of observation itself. What is ‘is’ because it has been observed by a consciousness capable of observing it. In effect, the observation has created the reality.
We can see the implications, here, concerning such experiments as the LHC. Could the results be affected by what the experimenters expect to see? Over the decades, could theories form a consensus that does, in effect, produce the results?
Studies of the paranormal could be useful here as this seems to be what often happens in research. Indeed, a theory of the ‘experimenter effect’ has grown, arguing that the attitude of the researcher has an effect upon the phenomena produced.
Of course, scientists will be, in the main, appalled by such a possibility. Experiments are of a hard universe – except, of course, the present experiment is going in search of just what makes it ‘hard’.
Maybe part of the answer can be found by them looking in the mirror. Maybe the LHC should be renamed a ‘dream machine’. For knowledge could well be what we wish it to be.

© Anthony North, September 2008

TONY ON WEDDINGS

Featuring Sunday Scribblings. Have you had a go yet?

The theme today is weddings. But don’t worry, I won’t go too romantic. But, oh! You can’t beat a good wedding – beautiful bride, handsome groom, declaration of love for eternity. It seems a shame they’re going out of fashion – either that, or being replaced by a consumer driven spend fest.

Not all marriages last.

A great shame, but sometimes the wrong people get wed, and the result can be disaster. But this aside, I think we treat marriage too lightly. For instance, most people don’t even know what a wedding is about.
Yes, it’s a declaration of love between two people, but it is also much more, hinted at by the idea that you marry by virtue of God. Now, we can delete God today if we wish, but He actually symbolized something quite important.

A wedding is a declaration of two people to society.

For promising to love each other and stay with each other, society bestows upon them status and benefits above those of single people. And throughout history, this ‘pact’ has been vital.
The foundation of the family, it provides a rock solid basis for bringing up children. But more than this, it splits people’s loyalties away from the society you are in. This may seem unimportant, but when we think that the ultimate expression of a society is the political or ideological, then too much influence from society can lead to fanaticism and totalitarianism.
Hence, the family is the best defence we have against the State, providing counter-role models that keep us free. As the modern western world moves closer to a mass consumer society, where social image is everything, is it any wonder the media does everything it can to destroy the wedding?

© Anthony North, September 2008

CELEBRATION

Let’s celebrate, they did it at last,
here’s a toast, fill up your glass,
wedded bliss is here now,
well done, groom, take a bow,
drink, be merry, one and all,
from now on, he’ll walk so tall,
of course, he nearly strayed away,
trying to run without delay,
but if I’m a grandad, there’ll be a dad
my shotgun saying this ain’t no fad

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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TO BE WED – Fiction

I said to her as she came out of the shower that night: ‘To be wed is to be obstinately attached to another.’
She was agitated and didn’t immediately see the joke, but eventually she laughed, and it seemed a release and every emotion poured out of her as I held her in my arms.
It was the night before our wedding – and the culmination, I suppose, of that present phase of life. From now on there’d only be the two of us, which seems an obvious statement considering our wedding, but it meant much more to us.
We had met, it seems, soon after we were born. Our mothers knew each other, and together with Billy’s mom, formed a deep friendship. So it was obvious that my love and I would be friends – with Billy.
Oh, damn you, Billy! Damn you to hell!!!
As kids I did, of course, play with Billy a lot. I hadn’t fallen in love with her yet, and she remained on the periphery of the bonding of two boys. Later, when I put my football away and thought of girls, the relationship of the group changed. Billy was suddenly an unwelcome complication I could do without.
We had fights a lot then, but I thought it was just boys being boys. I never realized he had such a deep longing.
She made it clear to me how Billy felt when he started pestering her. She shouted the fact at me over and over again so I’d get it into my thick head. You see, until then I didn’t understand the complications of the human mind, and words like ‘stalker’ were alien to me.
Well, he certainly became a stalker. At times he hounded her. I tried to stop him, with words, with violence, but nothing seemed to work. And then, when we announced we were to be married …
Well, it was obvious he had gone over the edge, and something had to be done …

It was the night before the wedding. I cleaned the knife, weighted it and threw it in the river. The body I hid as best I could. And it wasn’t until he was dying that I realized he had maybe not loved her at all. Could I have been so wrong about that look?
Still, my love eventually worked through her emotional tirade and pointed out that at last I was no longer wedded to him – no longer obstinately attached to another. It had been annulled.
And the next day we were married. But I could still imagine the blood on her hand.

© Anthony North, September 2008

TONY ON TOWN PLANNING & MORE

Including Totally Optional Prompts, Search Engine Stories, Write on Wednesday and Three Word Wednesday. Have you had a go yet?

Where people live can have a huge effect on health. A recent study confirms this, showing that people who live on busy roads can be both socially excluded and more likely to be ill. In one sense, the exclusion – the feeling of loneliness – can be a big part of illness. A healthy mind is a vital requirement to a healthy body.

Similarly, busy usually means cars.

This means increased pollution. And we all know what effect this can have on people. So why, in our supposed enlightened times, do we still have to have people living in such undesirable locations?
I suppose one part of the problem is planning. Now, I don’t mean the town planning presently going on. I mean planning in the past. Designers always look to what is happening today, and never allow the possibility of change in the future to enter their designs.

Of course, they’d say it is alright saying this with foresight.

But it doesn’t have to be foresight. I’m sure if architects worked more with sociologists, psychologists, environmentalists and industrialists, a more far sighted idea of town planning could be had.
Why doesn’t this happen? Well, first of all, new designs are based more on what local government wants for a town rather than what the people need. I find it amazing that people are the very ones who rarely take people into account.

© Anthony North, September 2008

ROBIN

As a child I remember well,
owning a Robin – it was swell,
I’d often play with it all day,
and I often wondered what it would say;
Full of zest, a colourful thing,
although I never heard it sing,
its confidence would never dissolve,
you could feel its total resolve;
But it often felt a trinket, and no more,
always the sidekick was a chore,
not only to me, but Batman, too,
bashed about, held together by glue

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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FLASH REFLECTIONS – Writing

I have a zest for writing short stories. I’ve written hundreds over the years and I don’t think my love of them will ever dissolve. Indeed, with doing so many prompts, I’m writing around four pieces of Flash Fiction a week at the moment.
I can write about some trinket or other, but usually there are two main motivations in my fiction. One is the irony of life – the way fate can mess around with things. I think that may be why so many of my stories have a twisty ending.
Also I’m always fascinated by the psychology of a situation. Because of this, some of my fiction can appear dark. But it is the deeper impulses within us that are most interesting. Infact, I suppose this is why I’ve committed more murders in my fiction than the average writer.
So, it isn’t that I’m vindictive. I’m just curious.

© Anthony North, September 2008

TONY ON BIG BIZ + TT#23

Including Thursday Thirteen. Have you had a go yet?

Gordon Brownski seems to be getting it all wrong, again. If it is to be believed, Brits can expect a 5p in the pound hike in tax in order to pay for the debt through mad speculation and greed. Of course, his massive public spending plans won’t be stopped either. He’s obviously taking lessons from Merlin.

Western economies are presently facing a huge black hole.

Magic seems to be the way out of it. That, and, of course, total hypocrisy. Super-Capitalism was based on total deregulation. Now it’s gone wrong, they come cap-in-hand to the taxpayer.
That, good reader, is socialism. Mindst you, I’m seeing another rather disturbing element to what’s going on at present. And if I’m, right, the end game of this present model of capitalism could be on.

As you know, I don’t like Big Biz.

It destroys choice, alienates the consumer, wreaks havoc with the planet, and is part of an ideological process towards totalitarianism. Now that we’ve already been turned into serfs, the obvious move is to banish competition by having a few even bigger super-companies that dictate to the rest.
Well, guess what folks. It’s just happened. In the UK the Lloyds TSB/HBOS takeover gives one bank 30% of the market. In future they set the rules of the economy. And similar is happening in the US.
But more than this, government is now having a financial stake in these companies. The corporate world and the government are merging into one. Totalitarianism moves one step closer.

© Anthony North, September 2008

TT #23 – ABOUT ADULTHOOD

We see them walking everywhere, but we never seem to halt or glare,
maybe ‘cos they are like you, constantly doing just what YOU do,
commuting to work and keeping busy, sometime so fast it makes them dizzy;
Then there’s play, but not too much, just to let off steam, as such,
‘cos pressure can build upon them all – adult life’s not always a ball;
They have to use commonsense, otherwise they are quite dense;
Pressures can build up to a degree, where they simply want to flee,
from this life that can be so bad. In a way it’s very sad,
why we let life go down the pan, just to be the Corporate Man;
But then at home it’s all worthwhile, family life is less of a trial,
surrounded by love of partner and kin, unless you’re silly and begin to sin;
But maybe the kids can steer us clear, towards a life that is more dear,
reminding us of memories true, and occasionally releasing the child in you

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

TONY ON TRANSPORT & HOME

Including Heads or Tails. Have you had a go yet?

I like our esteemed London Mayor, Boris Johnson. He is the last British Parliamentarian with a personality. Mindst you, that doesn’t mean I always agree with him. He is, after all, a Party animal, and just as much in cahoots with Big Biz as any other politician nowadays.

And Boris has just come up with a crazy idea.

At least, so says the Daily Mail. Mindful of opposition to the continual expansion of Heathrow Airport, he wants to close it and spend £30 billion on an island airport on the Thames.
My own view is that there is tech on the drawing board that could eventually replace the entire international transport system. First there is the Sky Car. Now, no one wants these little things buzzing around above our heads.

But there is room for improvement.

I’m quite sure our engineers are capable of making a variant big enough to be classed as a small passenger craft. With STOL capabilities and ceramic engines, it would use a fraction of the fuel, and be operable from many small airports.
Similarly, there is ground effect technology. This allows for craft to literally skim across the oceans at speeds approaching an airliner, with minimal fuel consumption. And even airship and sail technology has increased in recent decades.
There are dozens of redundant airfields and unused small ports scattered across the UK which could easily operate this new tech. And being simpler technology, it would not require huge organizations to operate them.
And this is the problem. This new, eco-friendly tech, if properly developed, would make Big Biz redundant. That alone makes it worth pursuing.

© Anthony North, September 2008

HOME PLANET

I look to the sky, the blue, blue sky,
a golden orb, so very high

Home …
So why do I have a carbon footprint?

I look to the wild, nature’s raw child,
flora and fauna, so mild

Home …
So why do I allow extinction?

I look to my lifestyle, all the while,
hoping to live, spawn child

Home …
So why do I allow pollution?

I look to the future, I don’t want it to change,
so why do I …?
Why do I collude?

Home
Leave it alone
It’s my …

Home

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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TIME FOR A CHANGE – Fiction

‘Well I think I’m ready for a change,’ said Jack.
‘Why’s that?’ asked Pete.
‘Well, look at it?’ Jack was resting by the garden fence and gestured to the panorama that was his neighbourhood.
‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘What’s right with it?’ A sigh. ‘Lousy neighbours – yourself excepted, of course.’
‘Thanks for that.’
‘And the noise. Kids always terrorizing the place. Cars flashing past …’
Pete didn’t recognize the place like that, but said: ‘Really?’
‘Oh yes – and I’m fed up with it.’
‘So you want to change it?’
‘I do. It’s having such an effect as well.’
‘In what way?’
‘Well, my job for a start. This place gets me down, so the job isn’t going right.’
‘I see …’
‘And my relationship with the wife is suffering.’
‘It is?’
‘Oh yes. We hardly get on any more.’
‘And changing your home will sort all this out, will it?’
‘It will.’
Pete became philosophical. ‘Well, it seems to me that it isn’t your home you want to change.’
‘No?’
‘No. What you want to change is yourself.’
Jack walked off, deciding it was time to change his friend as well.

© Anthony North, September 2008

TONY ON LABOUR, HEALTH, FORMULA

Including Manic Monday. Have you had a go yet?

A new poll in the UK shows Labour would lose eight of their Cabinet Ministers in a wipe-out if they called an election today. The Conservatives would have a 146 majority in Parliament. So as Labour puts on a good pretence at its party conference, the end of Brownski comes ever close.

You know it’s going to be soon.

The ‘pretender’, David Miliband – or should that be Didiband – refuses to talk about a leadership contest. Mindst you, if he’s any sense, he wouldn’t want to be leader yet.
Prepare yourselves for political turmoil in Britain as the Backroom Boy with the personality of a gnat loses grip on the power he craved so long, only to become the most unpopular Prime Minister since Neville Chamberlain. And prepare for a new stooge – with the personality of a gnat …

Lack of vitamin D shows a link to MS.

So say Canadian researchers. The sunshine vitamin is proving far more important than we once thought. I guess the old wife’s tales have more sense than we think. Kids, it seems, need plenty of outside activities to stay healthy.
Sadly, they are getting less and less sunlight as modern living keeps them indoors more and more. And then there’s the lack of exercise with dangers of obesity. And then there’s the danger of immune deficiency by being too clean, not building up immunity to germs.
We’re told the fact that people are living longer is proof that we have health right today. I’ve always found a problem with this. A person of 90 today was brought up in a very different world. Let’s hope our smugness doesn’t mean that our younger generation end up with a life expectancy half of today.

© Anthony North, September 2008

FORMU-NATION

Find some people with common cause,
living on land that’s yours and yours,
give them oodles of integrity,
living in peaceful community,
then one day some egoist says,
you’re wasting so much with your ways,
we can thrive much better than this,
there’s more to life than simple bliss,
what we need is people to lead,
then we plant an important seed,
that will make you do what you don’t want to do,
turning all to something that’s never true,
doing, in future, just what you’re told,
throughout your life, until you’re old

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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THE FORMULA – Fiction

‘So, the formula is correct.’
The professor sat back, satisfied. ‘It seems so. And it works perfectly.’
It was publicized as the greatest achievement of all time. Its benefits would be incredible, even though there were side effects – perhaps dangers. And mysteries still clung to the subject. But with the wealth it could bring …
Well, surely a chance worth taking. And yes, it would mean the end of the present order – a new way of doing things, the collapse of governments, of institutions, perhaps even of religions. But we must, mustn’t we?
The reaction was swift. Religious leaders condemned it. Politicians demanded it be banned, even though they didn’t really know what it was. And even on the streets, people were disturbed.
The riots were many. And when the assassinations began …
Indeed, the true death toll may never be known – the absolute cost to the economy unimaginable. But it had to be done. We had to know.
‘And the formula was what, professor?’
‘Quite easy my friend. Take an air of mystery, combined with the promise of wealth and power, spice it with a touch of fear, and leave the rest to man …’
Not for nothing was the professor the greatest sociologist of all time.
‘… and before long it doesn’t matter whether it was a lie or not.’

© Anthony North, September 2008

HOW TO DO PARANORMAL THERAPY

Try my current affairs. A different way of looking at the world.

We are told that paranormal research is of no real value to life. Today, science is more involved in practicalities, and even if there is a paranormal effect, there are far more important things to research.
I’m not so sure this is true. Rather, even taking the semi-sceptical approach that it is ‘all in the mind’, we can maybe find value in supposed paranormal phenomena. And this is particularly so in the idea of paranormal therapy.

Mediums are the obvious starting point.

Despite their reputation, a bereaved person can often find great benefit in visiting a medium. This is true whether the medium is a fraud, really contacting the dead, or merely applying unbeknown psychology.
To many people there is a deep sense of wellbeing knowing that contact with the dead IS possible. Yes, some may become infatuated with the concept, but life is allowed to go on regardless. And it is surely a lesser evil to depression or worse.

Alien abduction can also be therapeutic.

Again, we can doubt the experience being a real event and place it in the mind. But even doing so, whilst the experience can be frightening, there is often a change in the person following it.
The literature on the subject quite often shows people becoming more spiritual, often more eco-conscious, and generally more at ease with themselves. Indeed, in many cases, the event itself can be identified with sufferers approaching a psychological crisis, which is then eased.

Another area is past-life regression.

This is when people go to a therapist and, under hypnosis, recount previous lives lived. And again, we can place an explanation involving cryptomnesia – or unconscious memory recall of novels read, etc.
However, there is a growing number of therapists using this device to highlight psychological problems in people. Previous lives seem to embody the reason for the problems they are suffering. Identifying this has shown to be deeply therapeutic.

In these areas the paranormal has use.

Thus, it should not be ignored. However, we can extend such influences further. For instance, both past-life regression AND alien abduction can be found under hypnosis.
One argument is that such memory comes better if the therapist is a believer. It has even been argued that ‘transference’ occurs – meaning that the therapist has actually ‘placed’ the idea in the subject.
Such possibilities of implanted memories appear in other areas of psychoanalysis – in particular ‘false memory syndrome’, where it is believed an incorrect appreciation of the past can become so fundamental that the person believes it to be real.
Evidence is hard to find. But could this be because the above elements of the paranormal are ignored?
Proper research of such areas of paranormal therapy could prove vital for understanding the processes of therapy itself. For not only does it seem to work, but it seems to work through a therapist psychologically injecting a form of fantasy into the patient.
The implications, here, for how society itself reacts are immense. But that is another story, for another time.

© Anthony North, September 2008

HOW TO SAVE DEMOCRACY & MORE

Including One Single Impression. Have you had a go yet?

It has been noted that UN power is shifting away from the west. Throughout the world emerging states are beginning to capitalize on their new felt power. Sometimes armed with democracy, sometimes not, it is said that the triumph of the west is on the wane, soon to be replaced by a new form of global politics.

In one sense, it is the west’s fault.

Finally grasping the idea of freedom, it was perverted into a new form of Super-Capitalism, where the greatest freedom went to the richest. And then came too much ego, and western leaders felt that they could export their way to the rest of the world.
This was in the form of fledgling democracy and the green revolution, changing many countries from their natural ways to western business practices. However, the result of this is that many of those countries have taken what they wanted from the west, but have birthed grievances against us.

What will this new global politics be like?

Well, if we look to the Chinese model, we can see how western wealth creation now goes alongside the same old dictatorial ways. And the world runs the risk that without the western inheritance, democracy could disappear from the world.
It is happening in western countries themselves, as if democracy was a brief respite from the natural totalitarian ways of the human race. That hard fought for freedom is so easily cast aside if we do not cherish it.
It was born out of Magna Carta; out of the spirit of ingenuity that was the Renaissance; out of the conflicts that were the Reformation; out of the genius that was the Age of Enlightenment; and out of the blood of the free during two world wars.
But it all went to our heads. We decided democracy and capitalism was all. We forgot our own traditions, our own moralities, which must act as a brake upon our desires which democracy and capitalism let loose. And we took it across the globe and trashed the traditions of others, too.
Maybe it is time we realized this error and rebirth something of what we have thrown away, and realize that there is more to life. Maybe it is time to moderate our ways, and prove to the rest of the world that freedom can come best by remembering who you are, and from where you came, as well as where you want to go.

© Anthony North, September 2008

AUTUMN SONG

Autumn – we sway along,
breezing through our song,
intertwined so naturally,
as one in perfect harmony;
Memories enshroud us of our past,
nowhere near the very last,
so many songs to dance away,
together, forever, in our play;
Gentle tempo, light as air,
old bones retain their vital flair,
dancing on and on and on,
happy in our swan song

(c) Anthony North, September 2008

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AUTUMN LEAVES – Fiction

The sky was heavy and had a greyness that reflected my mood. A wind brushed my hair, my clothes, and as the leaves turned from green to many shades of gold, they took flight.
There was a depression before me. Things had not gone well of late. And as the season changed from summer to autumn, so had my relationship with her. Oh, we had tried to patch things up, but there was an anger inside me I just couldn’t seem to shift. And it was inevitable it would come to a head.
Was it my fault? Was it hers? I suppose, after the fact, it is impossible to say. But once that seed of destruction is implanted, what more can be done?
Should I have tried harder? Possibly. Could there have been another course to take? Many would say definitely. But at the time, I could see no other way.
There was a depression before me, but the leaves began to pile and soon it would disappear. And later, the snows would come, and I knew I had time – knew that her grave would be undiscovered until spring.

© Anthony North, September 2008