ORATORY

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

GURU TONY

Oratory is the art of public speaking, but how powerful is it? We’re
used to politicians spouting spin, but maybe it has more a hold on us
than we believe. To understand, we must go back to its beginning, in
the prehistoric storyteller, telling his tales by the campfire. He spoke
of the tribe’s past exploits and place in the universe. In other words,
he offered meaning and a will to glory.

This formed into the
great myths.

However, we now know myths are subtle. Whilst validating a ruling
elite, they were also as one with the people’s ways and placed taboo
upon them. This proved an important means of control. People could
identify with the tales, and slowly people become the story. And in
being as one in the story, a consensus grows. Such an ability is still
with us today. From the Medieval Christian media which portrayed the
life of Christ through the year, to the modern Soap opera with its
daily dose of storytelling, a powerful elite subtly defines the behavior
by which we live. Indeed, so powerful could be its influence that I’d
argue our view of reality changes to reflect the story. So remember
when you hear politicians speak, or descend into your favourite
storytelling media, it is usually defining the story of us, through the
power of the elite.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: So, British National
Party leader, Nick Griffin, gets his say
on BBC’s Question Time. And rightly so. His
party got a million votes, and despite their vile
ideas, freedom of speech must prevail. But the real
villains here are the main parties who’ve not only ignored,
but destroyed the entire culture of, the 20% British working class,
leaving this vile joke the only party that speaks for them.

WORLD NEWS: A re-run of the Afghan election farce is about to go
ahead in the hope that corruption and fraud can be avoided this time.
This is all very well, but is it right that western troops’ lives should be
put on the line to achieve it? When will the west learn, democracy
takes hundreds of years to achieve. It will not happen there.

BRIT NEWS: Bank of England governor says many banks should be
broken up. Totally agree. As with most organisations nowadays,
they’re too big, too distant from the consumer, and too
dictatorial in their approach. This is how we got in
this mess. Smaller and more would increase
true capitalism thru competition, and be
of a size where the consumer’s
thoughts matter. Remember,
Big Is Bad!!!

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – 3 Word Thursday
Friday Flash 55 – 3 Word Wednesday

SHIFT IN TIME

I stand in this time and place,
Other things, though, want this space,
Atoms and particles and bugs galore,
Most go through but some can’t be ignored,
We’re only here for a blink of an eye,
If only a hint of them could be spied,
Like that truck hurtling down the line,
I just hope I can shift in time

THE LATE CLIENT

Fiction: Madame Gracie had been delayed getting to her séance room.
It had been a bad car accident outside and she hoped her client
wouldn’t be late also. While she waited, the ectoplasm seemed to be
forming easily. It was suffarcinate in nearly every facial orifice and
particularly spiscious. Perhaps it was the close proximity to death
today; so tristifical. And her initial contact with her spirit guide proved
difficult. Perhaps it was the archaic words she used. Eventually her
client appeared but seemed rather distant, as if not there at all. ‘Who
are you?’ he asked, frightened. Madame Gracie’s first thought was
that he had died, but as her spirit guide came through loud and clear,
she said, rather surprised: ‘Oh, I’M dead.’

suffarcinate – to stuff
spiscious – thick consistency
tristifical – causing to be gloomy

THE SPACE AGE FAIR

Roll up, roll up, the ultimate ride,
It’s quite an experience, I must confide,
A roundabout such as never seen,
Once you come out, you’ll be surprised where you’ve been;
Now don’t be put off by my big bug eyes,
Come ride the universe, get the prize,
Okay, when you’re back you may not feel whole,
We’ll implant a foetus and take your soul

FLASH 55 – PERFECT

Fiction: It was my virtual reality dream – to create the perfect woman.
I worked hard on the program and once complete the experience was
fulfilling in every way. At least, at first. But gradually disquiet crept
upon me. Where, her personality; the imperfections of humanity? How
can I love her when she makes me so insignificant?

NIGHTMARE SCHEMES

Sit on a thought, incubate ideas,
Hatching an answer to our dreams and fears,
This is the way progress goes,
Listening to he who we think must know,
But rarely does he produce our dream,
So often we end with a nightmare scheme,
Maybe because he claims it is true,
Such vanity from him, not thinking of you

© Anthony North, October 2009

I got this award from my blogger friend, Linda. Many thanks to her.

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

COMPROMISE

Friday Flash 55 & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

GURU TONY

People always want to stop you from doing what you want.
And then there are those incidents that hold you up. Life can
sometimes be a drag. But I guess this is because we’re
forgetting an important element of society. Wants must always
be balanced with duties to others, or society would descend
into chaos. We must remember the importance of such
compromise or our dreams will forever be shattered.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science to
religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Soldier who lost
3 limbs in Afghanistan is taunted
in wheelchair by teenagers. Is this what
we sacrifice them for?

BRIT NEWS: London Mayor Boris Johnson had small
acting role in Soap Eastenders. Boris, very nice, but don’t
give up the day job.

HEALTH NEWS: The Lancet reports half of babies born in UK will live
to 100. No, long lived people today lived different lifestyle in youth.

BRIT NEWS: Airline union warns pilots are too tired to fly. Well, when
you use aircraft like buses, the standards inevitably decline.

CRIME NEWS: Brit police report burglaries up. This is inevitable.
We are not more moral. Crime increases as economic
wealth declines.

BRIT NEWS: Tories prepare for govt at their
conference. An honest message of
cutbacks & pain. Their gamble
may well work.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – 3 Word Thursday

FLASH 55 – BLOB WORLD

Fiction: The pain hit him as he opened his eyes. What he had done
last night he could not remember. But soon he was to worry about
the world itself. Focusing, he finally stared out the window, only to
see macabre blobs where once the world had been. He froze.
Rubbed his eyes … Opened the curtains.

TALISMAN

Tali held the amulet close,
It protected her the most,
As she traversed this terrible place,
Frightened and with haste;
But as long as it was there,
She knew another would beware,
Arm around her, HE never ran
He was Tali’s man

SWEETIE
(Quilly’s word meanings below)

Fiction: The tragematopolist did not want to misqueme him. He’d
noticed the vacivity in the boy’s eyes when he had first entered the
sweet shop, as if there was something wrong with him. And when he’d
asked for a sweet, the confectioner could only say no. After all, he
must not give sweets to strange children.

misqueme – offend
tragematopolist – confectioner
vacivity – containing nothing

BUMP IN THE NIGHT

It’s coming close – I cannot see,
All is dark, eerily,
Hazards forming before my eyes,
Using night to disguise,
Shock! It comes – hints of Poe,
Ouch!
I’ve stubbed my toe

© Anthony North, October 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

READING TRUTH

Booking Through Thursday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

BLOGGER BARD

Have I ever lied about the books I’ve read? Well, apparently two thirds
of Brits have. Is that all? I doubt if there are many who haven’t –
occasionally. It seems oneupmanship still reigns – even in the literary
pursuit where wisdom is supposed to reside. Minds’t you, I think there
is a bigger problem of untruth in this subject. Namely lying to yourself
about what you’re going to read. Have you got that pile called ‘one
day’? And I will – I promise you ‘War and Peace’ – I will …

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science to
religion, politics to crime

GREEN NEWS: UN tries to bully
big nations into further commitments.
Airline industry promise big emissions cuts by
– 2050. China pledges to cut emissions. US govt more
in tune with rest of world on green issues. Well, they all sound
good. So, is everything set for a real deal in Copenhagan in Dec? Well
you can guarantee they’ll agree to another meeting.

BRIT NEWS: Millions are seeing their retirement dreams in tatters,
expecting to have to work for up to 9 years after retirement
age. They believed the private pensions dream and
forgot dreams can become nightmares. In the
UK we have a State pension to which we
all pay. It was a contract between
governed and government.
Stop toadying to Big
Biz and honour it.

GREEN SCENE

Save the Planet – or you’ll be sorry!!

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – 3 Word Thursday
Friday Flash 55

DESCENT

Living in caves, technology low,
So much we want to know;
Living in cities, technology high,
So much we want to deny;
Living in heat, technology melts,
So much we could have felt;
Living in caves, technology gone,
So much we love Earth’s song

FLASH 55 – GREEN SOLUTIONS

Fiction: There was quite a fracas as they arrested Mr Bigbiz. His
ambition had gone too far – it was a specious plan anyway. Suspicion
began as the number of Greens began to decline. ‘Where have they
gone?’ people asked. Well, now we know. Mr Bigbiz was behind it –
and the new biofuels plant has been shut.

FIRST KISS
(Updated 2 Oct 09)

First kiss, feeling shy,
Tentative approach, almost sly,
They can do it, they will prevail,
Oh dear; disaster! Saliva trail,
Try again, eyes tight shut,
Ouch!! … headbutt,
But if you can survive this early strife,
Chances are you’re in love for life

© Anthony North, October 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

INSPIRATION

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Have you had a go?

GURU TONY

Inspiration creates change, but how does it work? There’s an amazing
psychology at work in those who create something inspired. Often,
through adversity, illness or alienation, they feel frustrated. This
causes them to descend into their inner mind. And it is here that
inspiration births.

But what process is at work
in the inner mind?

We observe the world – often without realizing it – and our view of
it can form unconsciously. When we consciously seek this inner
knowledge to create something new, we actually connect with the
observed frustrations of our wider society. Hence, inspiration is a
two-way affair, our society being fundamental to the personal
process of creativity. However, from this point onwards, inspiration
becomes personal, with the inspired person’s frustrations the primary
factor. This creates novelty, and his success in inspiring others
thrusts society onwards. But coloured by his own feelings, the way
it is expressed is usually extreme. This guarantees frustration will
continue to rise in society, guaranteeing that other inspired people
will go through the process. Inspiration through frustration seems to
be the engine of social change. But not all inspired people gain
acceptance from their society. I guess the difference between a
genius or a crank is the degree of social acceptance they gain. At
least, that’s how I see it.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

GREEN NEWS: UK may have to
cut emissions by 90% by 2050 to make
way for aviation growth. Bio-fuels for cars and
planes seem top of the agenda. Excuse me, if that is
successful, where are we going to grow our food? We should
be investing massively in a new generation of greener aircraft, not
messing around with their fuel supply.

BRIT NEWS: Last week Gordon Brown apologised to Alan Turing, the
brilliant codebreaker and AI whizz who killed himself in the early
50s having been ordered to be chemically castrated after
convinction for a homosexual act. It is right that we
speak about this deplorable wrong, but it was
not Brown’s govt who did it, so why is HE
apologising? Does such sentiment
belittle the tragedy?

GREEN SCENE

Save the Planet – or you’ll be sorry!!

Carry On Tuesday
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem

THE WAY

We’re told be green, this is the way,
Save the planet without delay;
Yes, this must be done – no doubt!
But we’re not the only sinners about;
Something else is going on,
Which seems to me a bit of a con,
Surely Big Biz should be doing the most,
But they’re very quiet, while we all roast

THE HOT WAR

Fiction: The letter sat before him. He wished he’d left it unopened –
guessed what it would contain. And next to it, the executive order
he’d so recently signed. He was a captain of industry – a CEO who
had risen high, and that flair for getting things done had been
inherited by his daughter. There’d been opposition to the plant in the
jungle – it would damage the local environment; add to climate
change; it was carcinogenic. He sneered at the latest report, propped
against a coffee mug on his desk. Why couldn’t people understand
that advancement has collateral damage?!! His daughter had been
there, gotten involved – in the protests (damn her!) – she got things
done, see. Became a … He read the letter again, written quickly –
painfully – from her death bed. Then he filed it away – with the order
to send the unit in.

MODERN LIVING

Sleep all day, conform to none,
Extend scofflaw, remedy gone,
She’s too hip, the multitude shout,
Life’s not worth pittance if limelight’s out,
Just a husk lost in clover,
A sugar plum fairy, confection all over

© Anthony North, September 2009

PARANORMAL FLASH – SIX

Friday Flash 55 and 3 Word Wednesday
Have you had a go?

PARANORMAL FLASH

Six – FutureNow

So far in this study certain factors are arising. First of all, culture
seems to play an important part in what is paranormal. Second, far
more information enters the mind than we consciously realize. And
finally, the ‘tags’ we use for a particular phenomenon hide the fact
that there could be ‘mechanisms’ that can answer many phenomena.

Could these elements provide
an answer for premonition?

We can ‘see’ the future in many ways. Typical is the precognitive
dream, where a person dreams of a coming major disaster. However,
looking at the literature of such abilities, they usually arise when
there are fears in society of a particular kind of disaster. Hence,
culture predisposes the dreamer to dream such things. We can
combine this with chance. On any night in the UK, for instance,
there will be well over a quarter million nightmares. Combine this fact
with cultural disposition and it is statistically inevitable that some
people will have nightmares that can be accurately compared to a
disaster that occurs a few days later.

Other premonitions are
more personal.

A typical case will be of someone dreaming of an explosion and, in a
half-awake state, taking action to remove themselves and family from
the scene. Moments later, the building blows up following a gas leak.
To answer this and similar cases perhaps we need to look at the wider
information we unconsciously receive about our environment. So
unconsciously the mind registers gas. A dream image surfaces into the
mind, makes the person restless, and just conscious enough to act
upon the information. Of course, these ideas do not cover all of
premonition – we will return to the subject later – but it begins to
suggest that what we class as a premonition is nothing more than
unconscious analysis of the present.

Other Posts

WORLD NEWS: Afghan strategy is
coming in for much criticism, in the UK as
well as the rest of the world. It all comes down
to what we’re really there for. If we’re there to keep
the terrorist camps shut, it’s a sensible goal. If we’re there
to build a democratic state, we’re interferring too much and it’s
destined to fail.

BRIT NEWS: The BBC’s decision to have the British National Party
leader on Question Time is forcing Labour to rethink their
policy of not debating with the extreme right wing.
For once the BBC have done something right.
Labour’s feeling of superiority in thinking
their ideas cannot be challenged is
not as vile as the BNP, but not
far behind.

STRATEGIC SUCCESS

Fiction: It was mayhem. The noise erupted all around me, flashes
lighting up the dark. At first disorientated, I acclimatized myself –
moved forward towards the target. I passed bodies moving from one
surreal pose to another as they writhed. I wondered how long they
could last. The target was surrounded by various obstacles. Using all
the tactics available, I negotiated through them, leaving many
defeated men in my wake. And finally I was there. At first I just
stared, weighing up the best moves and then I went into action. The
target was easier to disarm than I first thought. And within minutes
we left the club. Went to her flat – to engage.

FLASH 55 – GOING HOME

Fiction: He walked down his street – passed
the houses. Thoughts invaded his mind; of his
friends – his neighbours. He looked at their
houses. Remembered how it had been. Affair
in that one. The next? Divorce. The one after
that? Murder. He approached his own house.
Opened the gate. Walked up the path. Paused.
Thought. Walked away.

© Anthony North, September 2009

PARANORMAL FLASH – FIVE

Friday Flash 55 and Three Word Wednesday
Have you had a go?

PARANORMAL FLASH

Five – Discarnate, or What?

When a mind intrusion occurs, such as a reincarnated person or
contact with the dead by a medium, we can rationally say it does
not involve existing dead entities. But to do so, we must try to
understand where the invasions come from. Two factors are vital.
Why does the entity appear so real? Where does the sometimes
accurate information come from?

Brain physiology can offer an
answer to the first.

In the split-brain concept we know that the two cerebral hemispheres
of the brain can have opposing function. The left brain tends to be
the rationalist, whilst the right brain is the fantasist, adding emotion,
artistry, etc. We live in the left brain most of the time, but it has
been argued that the right brain can often intrude. When it does, it
can appear like a discarnate voice or entity. To the creative type,
this is the muse – the centre of inspiration. To others, immersed in a
different type of culture, it could well be seen as the voice of the
dead. But what about the information an entity can convey?

We live in a world of information
without realizing it.

Indeed, we only ‘remember’ information upon which we focus our
attention. Yet, the rest of this information does not disappear.
Rather, it seems it goes straight into the unconscious. In a
phenomenon know as Cryptomnesia this information can rise into
consciousness. And it can be quite startling. Cases of reincarnation
have been traced to novels, films or articles, sometimes with errors
intact. In one case a Swedish girl remembered a Medieval song in
Old English from a book she simply flicked through in a library. When
regressed hypnotically to remember a past life, the song attached
to the life, colouring a fantasized entity with fact. And cryptomnesia
can go on to answer so much more …

Other Posts

MEDIA NEWS: Murdoch Jr has
given a speech in the UK slanging
the BBC as state sponsored journalism
which is impeding media. I’d like to agree with
him but I can’t. When ‘free’ media is controlled globally
by a handful of Big Biz propagandists with a united agenda, I’d
rather keep an outlet with a different agenda to keep the balance.

TV WATCH: I watched the new ITV adaptation of Wuthering
Heights at the weekend. The greatest love story ever,
Peter Bowker’s adaptation was first class. Cathy
and Heathcliff were played to perfection by
Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy, and Sarah
Lancashire was excellent as Nelly Dean.
So often TV adaptations fail to grab
me, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.

THE LUSTER

The Luster is a predatory sort,
Sexual threats he turns into sport,
Always recounting his latest conquest,
Problem is, people glare and detest;
His salacious ways make them baulk,
Meaning, of course, he’s usually all talk

FLASH 55 – THE INFORMANT

Fiction: Don’t call me an informer. I don’t like it. It’s not fair. We have
to speak out, and there’s nothing negative about it. He did it. He did!
I was there. I saw it all. AND I suffered. I really did. Yes I DO know
the code. We don’t tell. But he did it … Mom!!!

THE THREAT

Don’t we just love a treat,
Things that lustre, or to drink or eat;
Problem is they are usually bad,
To resistance we glare; be so sad,
So we indulge, never mind the regret,
Forgetting an ‘h’ in treat is threat

THE GLARE

Oh, what a lovely glare,
I stand silently – but what of despair?
At first it never seemed a threat,
Beautiful lustre – yet …
Now for relief I can but hope,
In the mirror I glare – see sunburn; a dope

© Anthony North, September 2009

GREED

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below.
Have you had a go?

POLLY TICKS

Let me make something very clear. Greed is not bad. In order to
succeed both individually and as a society, we need to be stimulated.
Due to this, we have urges. Without them I doubt if humanity would
have advanced at all – and greed is one of those urges.

The problem comes in the
level of greed we display.

Be too greedy and we hurt both ourselves and society, so it’s a
matter of balance. Sadly, though, in today’s capitalism we have a
glorification of greed, with it getting out of control. This was not how
capitalism was meant to be, originally devised by Adam Smith as a
philosophy to go alongside thrift. We seem to have turned something
noble into a feeding trough.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

BRIT NEWS: New guidelines
for schools say Heads must recruit
unqualified ‘minders’ for classes as teachers
are not to cover for absent colleagues. Which idiot
thought this up? Is it part of the growing planning on paper
without seeing what works in reality? Administrators should manage,
not dictate.

BRIT NEWS: The traditional pint beer glass has been decreed too
dangerous as it is often used in assaults. Oh dear, so are
fists. Let’s have them all chopped off! I hate this
mentality that, because a few do something
wrong, everyone must suffer.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

Carry On Tuesday
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem

YELLOW

Yellow streak ran down his spine?
Mellow, maybe, not cowardly kind;
Pleasant fellow, didn’t like a fuss,
Don’t bellow, he won’t cuss;
Many people don’t like woe,
They’re not yellow – be nice,
Just say hello

FUTILITY

Fiction: If only it hadn’t happened – the telephone ringing – three
times. Oh, the futility of it all. But isn’t it all futility in the dead of
night? They’d argued – over everything, but mainly his belief she had
a lover. I’d known he was in one of those moods and I’d intervened,
going to their flat. I found him in the lounge sulking – she was in the
bedroom – I could hear the sobs. Well, I’d calmed him, and it would
have been fine … until the phone call. He picked it up. Listened. A
voice said: ‘Hi, hon, I’ll come round tomorrow at ten if that’s ok.’ I
saw the shock on his face. I grabbed the phone – asked who the hell
it was. But by then his anger had boiled again. By the time I got into
the bedroom, it was all over, her eyes staring blankly into nowhere.
Oh, the futility – especially as it was a wrong number that started it.

STARCHILD

From soil to cosmos all is one,
From tribal chant to quantum song,
We are whole, we knew it’s true,
‘Til fractured living did imbue,
The idea that we’re all alone;
One day we’ll remember – atone

© Anthony North, August 2009

PARANORMAL FLASH – FOUR

Friday Flash 55, 3 Word Wednesday and 3 Word Thursday
Have you had a go?

PARANORMAL FLASH

Four – Communal Psyche

When discussing supposed Possessions of the mind by outside entities
– previous incarnations; the medium in contact with the dead – we
must first decide what elements of personality are INSIDE the mind.
At first this seems simple – the ‘self’, the individual – but it’s not that
clear cut.

Jung noted that we seem to share
a ‘collective unconscious’.

Symbols are shared through the species, including character types, or
archetypes, such as the Sage, Mother, Child, Judge, Hero or
Trickster. Campbell showed how such archetypes appear universally
in myth, despite culture. Yet what we actually have in the archetypes
are expressions of our various character types. Myths, it seems, are
our minds writ large.

We can say similar
for emotions.

Whilst they may vary in intensity, and be expressed for personal
reasons dependent upon the individual, emotions are also
characteristics of the species. So what can this tell us about the
individual? We can argue that, rather than being an entity in its own
right, the individual is actually an amalgam of species traits. Hence,
rather than having an exact ‘self’, we all have a little piece of a
communal psyche. Hence, we can not be sure what is ‘inside’ or
‘outside’ the personal mind. Rather, we are fragments of the
collective. And bearing this in mind, it becomes much easier than
we presently believe for a fantasized entity to temporarily reshape
those fragments into another ‘personality’. But from where could
the ‘information’ for such a possession come?

Other Posts

GREEN NEWS: Farmers in ancient
times have been blamed for adding to
climate change by their mass use of burning
fields. Yes, our ancestors often did things counter
to the global good. One big difference, though. They knew
no better. We do!

BRIT NEWS: Questions being asked whether this govt cares
for our troops at all. Of course they don’t. Labour has
a tradition of anti-war, so when war cannot be
avoided, it is natural to ignore the
consequences as much as
possible.

FRACTURED LOVE

Fiction: I guess I knew it would happen. It had to. Jung would have
called it Synchronicity – meaningful coincidences are bound to happen
– with a hint of Serendipity if you really want them to. And I wanted
that nurse. So many times I’d tried to chat her up but every time my
hopes vanished. It wasn’t that she didn’t like me, I was sure. After all,
we know these things. No, it was more a matter of my reputation. I
guess I’d made a lot of noise in certain quarters – a bit of a villain.
But the night finally arrived. It was a nasty arm fracture. A lot of
pain, but I’d made it to casualty and I’d had it set and plastered, and
now here I was in the waiting room, waiting for discharge, my nurse
hovering close, hushing about, doing her work – and I’m sure her
occasional looks my way suggested she was feeling for me. Anyway,
that’s when the louts came in – started knocking the place about,
threatening my NURSE. Well, broken arm or not, I went into action,
and soon they were running off, bloodied. And the nurse? Well, she
fell into my arm. Yep, Jung would call it Synchonicity; though I’d call
it £200 for the louts and a lot of courage, breaking my arm like that.

FLASH 55 – THE DESTROYER

Fiction: She’d seen other men die during her
career. Her ambition drove her on, to pessundate.
She leant over the bed and pulled back the
operiment. Watching him, she took out the hypo
and injected him, the words going through her
mind: destroy, destroy, DESTROY!!! Then the nurse
sat down, praying this would kill the infection.

pessundate – destroy
operiment – cover

© Anthony North, August 2009

PARANORMAL FLASH – THREE

Friday Flash 55, 3 Word Wednesday and 3 Word Thursday
Have you had a go?

PARANORMAL FLASH

Three – Minds Possessed

We think of reincarnation and mediumship as separate phenomena.
One is said to produce an incarnation of a previous life, the other
involving contact with the dead. But could it be that the only
difference is culture?

An incarnation can come
in two ways.

Knowledge of a previous life can come into the mind, or the person
can be hypnotized, the therapist asking if other lives are in there.
Interestingly, when this phenomenon was first realized, incarnations
were best produced by a therapist who believed reincarnation was
possible. Hence, a form of transference could occur, similar to false
memory syndrome. And as culture became accepting of the ability,
such incarnations appear more and more. This cultural aspect is
equally valid with mediumship, where an entity comes into the mind
of the medium. Yet this exact process has changed culturally over
time. In the deep past the medium accessed nature spirits; later,
culture decided they were demons; with spiritualism, the dead took
centre stage; and today channellers access discarnate entities or
alien lifeforms. Culture seems to be the primary factor, as if it is
controlling the person.

Psychology can offer a possible
culprit for such intrusions.

In the case of multiple personality, the mind can seem to fragment
into separate, seemingly outside, entities. The process is exact, and
interestingly, literature of the phenomenon shows that sometimes the
entities can appear as suggested by a therapist, as if he is defining
a new culture for the person. Indeed, the process could be easier to
achieve than we think. As we shall see next time, your personality
may not be yours.

Other Posts

SCIENCE NEWS: NASA adsvises
it cannot track all asteroids that could
be a threat due to insufficient funds. This
doesn’t surprise me. Infact, I remember reading
a while back that with a ‘citybuster’ meteor it would
be cheaper to let it hit and clean it up rather than pay to
prevent it.

BRIT NEWS: Martin Bell and ex-Beirut hostage Terry Waite team
up to campaign for a return to honest politics. This is good
to see. People are beginning to stand up against the
totalitarianism and abuses of the Party system.
They degrade true democracy.

DECAY

Entropy, the arrow of time,
Decay giving life a rhyme,
Graceful in its orderly way,
Riotous disorder underlaid,
With how it will always be,
You cannot escape entropy

FLASH 55 – FIRST LOVE

Fiction: Tadpole had two disadvantages. He was ugly and he was
young. But he just couldn’t get her out of his mind. He pleaded for
a date, but she wouldn’t acquiesce. Indeed, she would viliorate him
constantly. He wanted to know why. She thought of kissing a prince
and said: ‘Come back when you’re a frog.’

viliorate – denigrate

RIOT

Grievance comes, people protest,
Riot against what they detest,
Police are waiting, batons drawn,
Graceful bystanders feel forlorn,
Forces merge, battle it out,
Societal decay, rule of the lout

GRACEFUL

Proud I am, this is me,
No riotous behaviour will you see,
No decay within the mind,
No lowering of standards will you find,
Graceful in everything I do,
Except, that is, when I visit the loo

© Anthony North, August 2009

EMPATHY

ABC Wednesday, with Thursday 13 lines of poetry
More prompts below

PAPPA RAZZI

Empathy is the ability to identify with others. However, we also have
to place it in terms of who we empathise with. Historically, we have
empathy with family and friends. Occasionally we could hear of
someone facing something similar to us, and we certainly empathise
with them. But I’ve noticed a change in empathy over recent years.
As individuality rises, the idea of family is in decline, and we’ve
grasped a new, wider, media based empathy. We see this in
communal grieving on a mass scale. Yet I cannot help feeling this
is a diluted empathy, leaving us more unfeeling than ever before.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

BRIT NEWS: The 201st Brit soldier
has died in Afghanistan, reaching a solemn
milestone. More than anything else, many are
aware of the sacrifice due to the small town of Wootton
Bassett, close to where the bodies are repatriated. Whenever
a soldier returns the town comes to a standstill in silent contemplation
as the hearses pass through. This has now become a media event,
capturing the best of British resolve and dignity. We should all
thank them.

FILM WATCH: I’ve watched the 2005 remake of King Kong for
the first time. It’s rare for a remake to better the
original classic, but Peter Jackson came close
with this. Kong is exceptional and Naomi
Watts is magnificent as the ‘beauty’.
The action scenes were great,
the humour funny and it is
always good to see a
writer playing
the hero.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

Totally Optional Prompts
Take This Tune – Heads or Tails
ReadWritePoem – Poetry Train
Carry On Tuesday

DO IT LIKE VERNE

When a journey begins badly it rarely ends well,
Jules Verne knew that, stories to tell,
Monsters on islands and trips round the world,
Eighty days to do it, adventures unfurl,
Down in the depths with Nemo in tow,
Action and horror, with literature we go

MIND THING

Sweat on brow, heartbeat races,
Must shake off the monster traces,
In my mind, a fearful place,
Chaotic thoughts interlace;
It’s growing! A whole existence to fill,
Consumed. Can you feel the chill?

LOST LOVES

Fiction: To dance, to sing, to dream of loves gone, loves yet to come,
freedom’s song. They exist here – many, so many – a marriage of
sorts, for life, and sometimes not. They exist here, they fantasise
here, they hope for hoped for experience – here; in their body and in
their mind, they waltz, they interweave, they think always of love – a
comedic love; a surreal love that no one can touch, no one can fulfill,
but only to crave … They sing their operatic song, dance their day
away, remember, regret, a dance, at times, macabre, remembered
horrors of what once they did. But now, under the warden’s eye, their
marriage is to redemption.

THURSDAY 13 LINES OF POETRY

CLEAR THINKING

Salacious froth within the mind,
Rancid, coarse, look out behind,
Search out the track, homeward bound,
Fling it out, make ranting sound,
Coagulating mind, spoon fed bustle,
Elocution comes, diode tussle

PALE VISITOR

You look pale – are you dead?
Are you here or in my head?
You look thirsty – don’t come closer!
Lovely eye teeth – prefer your molars …
You know …
I’ve got a feeling you are real,
See this stake? Let’s impale

© Anthony North, August 2009