MONSTERS GALORE

When we think of monsters we automatically think of Dragons, of maybe King Kong, or perhaps the Loch Ness Monster. Through myth, media or mystery, such monsters almost become part of our psyche.
However, there is another category of monster – creatures, or even strange people, who seem to invade the world briefly, and then disappear, becoming nothing but a puzzle at the extremities of paranormal literature.
Let’s have a few examples.

DEMON AND GASSER

One night in April 1977 a teenager was driving near Dover, Massachusetts, when he saw an entity with large head, protruding eyes, long, thin limbs and peach-coloured skin. Two hours later, another teenager saw the same entity.
The following night, what became known as the Dover Demon was seen by another teenager for one last time. Researchers subsequently matched the entity to the pygmy Mannegishi, a mythological creature believed in by the nearby Cree Native Americans.
Several decades earlier, in September 1944, the residents of Mattoon, Illinois, were terrorised for nearly a fortnight by a Mad Gasser, a tall, dark-clad man with a tight-fitting hat. First seen as a shadowy figure outside houses, the gasser eventually squirted something into people’s bedrooms, resulting in temporary paralysis.

MOTHMAN

The Mothman terrorised Point Pleasant in West Virginia for several years in the 1960s. A grey, tall creature with wings, no head, human legs and red eyes in its chest, it was seen on over a hundred occasions.
Some researchers associated it with ‘Big-hoot’, a Native American legendary monster, whilst journalist John Keel, who investigated it in the 1970s, associated it with the UFO phenomenon. So engrossed in the case was Keel that he began hearing voices, and all kinds of phenomena exploded around him.

SPRING HEELED JACK

Perhaps the most famous such entity was Spring Heeled Jack, who terrorized Britain from 1837 to 1904.
Described as a cloaked figure with red eyes, pointed ears and talons, he could breathe fire and jump over houses. Usually attacking young women, clawing at them and breathing fire into their faces, it is interesting that such savage attacks didn’t leave permanent injuries.

MY METHODOLOGY

The nature of the above manifestations can be adequately explained by a concoction of hallucination and hysteria. Even the paralysis involved with the Mad Gasser can be put down to sleep paralysis, a phenomenon where the body reacts to the mind at the borders of sleep.
Of course, you may disagree with that brief analysis, but the point I want to explore in this essay is not so much the ‘mechanics’ of the incidents, but what causes them in the first place.
To do so, please accept, for the moment, my above explanation. Also, I want you to imagine that the ‘entities’ experienced came from a common thread of experience, made different only by the culture involved in the experience.

WHAT IS CULTURE?

When we do this, a possible explanation can be found, which also ties in with the more obvious ‘entity’ manifestations such as aliens, vampires and a host more. And it all revolves around what we class as ‘culture’.
In one sense, culture is the collective input of artists, musicians and storytellers, enriching a society and giving it meaning. However, could it also be that culture is a social force in its own right, not only giving meaning, but representation of experience?
In this sense, we can see culture as a kind of ‘over mind’, directing, from above the individual, his thoughts, beliefs and experiences. Hence, life becomes a tug-of-war of ideals born from the individual AND culture.

AN INVASIVE MEDIA

Into this dual form of experience and meaning we can place ‘media’. In effect, media is that form of cultural transmission throughout a culture of current news, ideals and symbols to guide, entertain and inform.
Much of this media outpouring is of no consequence, and is forgotten, but occasionally a ‘story’ arises that continues to fascinate, and can even become part of the overall culture in itself.
Of course, ‘media’, in this sense, is more than newpapers, television, etc. It is also the transmission of gossip, beliefs and stories, which may, or may not be true, but nonetheless can take on a life of their own.

ANGELS OF MONS

Just how fundamental can be this expression of media within culture?
The famed Angels of Mons can offer insight. Appearing when the British Expeditionary Force fought to bring the German onslaught to a halt during World War One, a typical case was that of a Lt Col who reported a retreat during the night, escorted by a column of ghostly cavalry.
Most researchers answer the mystery by way of a short story, The Bowmen, by Arthur Machen. Appearing in the Evening Standard on 29 September 1914, it tells a tale of the British being helped by the appearance of Agincourt archers.
The angels thus become simple battlefield hallucinations common during such campaigns, made more stark by a story upon which to focus. However, as the campaign progressed, stories began to emerge of an even more fundamental nature, removing them from simple hallucinations.
However, as to their validity, we must introduce characters such as Phyllis Campbell, a patriotic nurse at a Mons dressing station. Hearing stories of angels from injured soldiers, she was one of many who went on to embellish the stories in an attempt to prove God was on the side of the British.

GETTING UNDER THE SKIN

We can see, in the above, how a ‘culture’ can be interpreted by ‘media’, leading to the manifestation of phenomena. Normal psychological ideosyncracies are enforced, giving character to what is seen in terms of cultural hopes, fears and desires.
This can work in society as a whole. For instance, if we take the Mad Gasser, fears were high throughout America at the time of attacks from Nazi Germany, including gas attacks. It was inevitable that, somewhere, sometime, such a phenomenon as the Mad Gasser would appear. But why Mattoon?
The city has associations with war in its culture due to the future President Grant taking his first post there during the Civil War. A high spiritual element exists in their culture by being beside an Amish community. Still in their consciousness was a fear of disaster following some 100 deaths during a tornado there in 1917. And the town was, at that time, undergoing an oil boom, complete with fears of gas leaks from the field.

EXPECTATION

We can see, in Mattoon, influences that make it a perfect location for the hallucinated expression of a fear within the society of the United States at that time. Basically, it had to happen somewhere, and Mattoon fitted the cultural bill
A similar scenario exists with Spring Heeled Jack. He attacked young women at just the time when society decreed, through an increasingly militant feminism, that they didn’t automatically have to be chaperoned at night. Indeed, attacks in London increased when the Mayor spoke in public of the dangers of such attacks.
As for the Dover Demon and Mothman, they appeared at just the time that America had a growing New Age movement which pricked the conscience of America as to its treatment of Native Americans. Indeed, their mythological ‘beings’ were popping up all over the place, the most famous being Sasquatch, or Bigfoot.

A POPULARITY CONTEST

It is here that we can see the importance of studying these ‘monsters’ at the edge of paranormal literature. Caused by cultural expression leading to phenomena, Sasquatch shows their future progression if they capture culture’s imagination in a big way. They become, in effect, national, or even global, phenomena, and continue to be sighted.
With this information, their importance is equally enlarged. Consider the idea that the UFO phenomenon could be a cultural expression arising at the time that we dreamt of going into space.
The present UFO flap began in 1947, and the sighting by Kenneth Arnold that produced global headlines. And within ten days, a flying saucer ‘crashed’ near Roswell, New Mexico.
How relevant is the fact that the area contained the only atomic bomb squadron in the world? Where else could it have manifested other than by the leading edge scientific and military unit on the globe?

A CULTURAL DIRECTOR

Paranormal phenomena and cultural expression go hand in hand, with culture the director of what will be manifested, as well as when and where. It is as if an ‘over mind’ above us decides what we will experience.
Even Spiritualism can fall into line with this idea. After all, it is no coincidence that the seminal incident of Spiritualism concerned the two Fox sisters communicating with a ‘dead pedlar’ in New York State in 1848.
Spiritualism gave a new ‘occupation’ to the housewife, with mediums being predominantly women and gaining financial and cultural independence from the practice. How strange that the central moment of the rise of feminism was born from the first feminist conference – in New York State in 1848.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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TAKE ME BACK

The UK supermarket chain, Somerfield, has reported on a survey of what customers want out of life, and a surprising result was that a large proportion of the population are not happy with life today.
Well, at least it was surprising to them. As for me, I could have told them so, because I’m of like mind. Yes, we seem to have it all, but despite the ‘rights’ and the ‘tech’, there is something important missing.

It seems to be all about a loss of community.

From ‘bobbies on the beat’ to the ‘village fete’, many people miss the communal aspects of life, and the sense of authority that a previous society offered. And I think this is more than just nostalgia.
The post-war Britain of the 1950s seems to be the preferred time. It was a more genteel society with manners, at least on the surface. But I think we can identify another reason why this period, and the sense of community, is missed.

It was when our present problems all began.

It was a society on the point of change, and within years the great counter-culture movements began, bringing liberation for minorities. Now don’t get me wrong, this was needed, and a great advance for society. But …
It all happened so fast. The world just seemed to explode into a new phase, and it continues to change at an incredible rate.
In times past, change was slow, and could take generations. Now, change happens fast, with several changes in a single lifetime. I suspect the real problem is this speed of change, with the older generation feeling so disenfranchised from the society of their youth that they feel they do not belong.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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Fiction Xtra – FAST FOOD – A tale of survival

‘I remember these old tramp ships well,’ said the Old Space Dog as he sat down. The starship was ancient, and he had indeed travelled in many in his earlier days. The other passengers paid attention a moment, realized the old storyteller was on board, and sighed …
… read more …

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TONY ON TOUCH TOES AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Be healthy and touch your toes … PLUS … Time for the UN to get into Iraq? Sorry girls, men are brighter than you … and stupider, apparently.
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TOUCH YOUR TOES

A survey commissioned by the LA Fitness gym chain has revealed that 53% of people cannot touch their toes. This damning result could lead to circulation problems, arthritis and eventual immobility as ligaments shorten.
Yet another indication of the growing obesity problem, bad diet and lack of exercise are not, it seems, the only cause of the epidemic of unfitness. It could be that it is the message that is failing.
For instance 89% of British people are aware of the need for ‘five a day’ fruit and veg, but many felt ‘saturated’ by the message, or ‘confused’ as to appropriate exercise. Which just goes to show, sometimes the message can be so over-powering that they just turn off.

© Anthony North, September 2007

UN AND IRAQ

The UN is to broaden its role in Iraq after scurrying off in 2003. This is obviously good news, but as usual, it is dependent upon words actually turning in to action – something that doesn’t automatically follow …
… read more …

MEN ARE BRIGHTER?

A study of 2,500 brothers and sisters by Edinburgh University has positively proved that men are brighter than women. Unfortunately, it also appears they are also stupider. Oh dear, it had to be so, I suppose …
… read more …

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Inde-Pol

THE GREAT ABUSE

Today, many in the blogosphere are going to write about abuse. It is an idea that appears to have spread far and wide, identifying the fact that there are communities of bloggers beginning to appear, thus empowering themselves.
What type of abuse is down to the particular blogger. There are many types you could mention – physical abuse or sexual; betrayal; discrimination; abuse of power; abuse through words or deeds, and many more.

Maybe I should address them all.

It is often said that if a person goes through life without ever suffering abuse they are lucky. Personally, I think this is totally wrong. Abuse is so prevalent that, to not encounter it is not to live. Life is a bitch, and to live is to encounter it at some time.
Life is a cauldron of decisions and situations. It is inevitable that they will not all be advantageous. Hence, it is equally inevitable that abuse will be found somewhere within this cauldron.

We will all inevitably become a victim.

But accepting this, maybe we need to rationalize just how we should deal with this thing called abuse. It may be hard, but to me, a victim is a casualty who refuses to get over it. And I know many will find this a terrible thing to say. But read on.
If life has taught me anything, it is that people thrive through adversity. And nothing
fits this bill more than abuse. Yet something that should be empowering is too often seen, today, as the route to victimhood. Yet this is a thing we really impose on ourselves.
Yes, abuse is terrible. Yes, it can change you permanently. Yes, the abuser is a monster.
But the abuser can only abuse until the situation stops. From that moment on, the greatest abuser is yourself.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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THE EAST AND PACIFIC

Remains of ‘Java Man’ tell us that humans populated south east Asia from at least 40,000BC, with cave art, ritual burials and pottery present in modern Vietnam, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia, Borneo and Cambodia by 3000BC.
These localised cultures disappeared during the 1st century AD with bronze and iron age cultures exerting themselves from India and China. By the 3rd century Hinduism and Buddhism flourished, causing wars for supremacy up to the arrival of Islam.

BURMA AND VIETNAM

Burma came together with the Mon kingdom in the 5th century, but in the 9th Burmans migrated from China, settling on the Irrawaddy River, unifying the country by the 13th century. Buddhist, wars against the Thai kingdoms were to occupy them until the arrival of the British in 1824.
The kingdom of Nam Viet rose in Vietnam about 200BC but was taken by China, the kingdom of Funan rising on the Mekong, expelling the Chinese by the 10th century. A Vietnamese identity arose around Annan, Cochin China and Tonkin, remaining relatively united until French arrival in the 19th century, where the region, along with Cambodia and Laos, became French Indo China.

THE KHMERS

The Funan were Hindu and took most of Cambodia. However, the indigenous Khmers kicked out the Funan in the 6th century. Buddhists, most of their kings remained Hindu but instituted a cult of god-kings in the 9th century.
With their capital at Angkor, it was a marvellous time of building, with huge temple complexes such as Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom reflecting Buddhist/ Hindu architecture in a distinct pyramidal design.
In the 13th century Buddhism took over and Thailand’s attacks came more frequently, Khmers abandoning their capital for a new city, Phnom Penh. The Cambodians sought French protection in 1863.

THAILAND

The Thais of Thailand (formerly Siam) migrated from China, thriving with Khmer decline, taking up Buddhism and forming the first Thai kingdom in 1350. They captured Angkor in 1431 and began attacking northern Malaya and Burma.
The French arrived in 1684 but the Thais were brilliant diplomats, keeping them out. The Burmese had a brief invasion of Thailand in the 18th century, the Thai capital moving to Bangkok.
With French influence increasing, they ceded Cambodia to the French and kept their independence until World War Two occupation by the Japanese. With a rising middleclass, Thailand adopted a parliament in 1932 and were well on the way to being a modern state apart from occasional military dictatorships.

MALAYA

To the south is Malaya. Originally inhabited by the Negritos, it was repopulated by peoples from China and India up to 400AD.
A strong ethnic mix meant national identity never came, with repeated foreign incursions until Muslims arrived in 1402, setting up the port of Malacca, strategic for trade between Indian and Pacific Oceans, and being ruled by a number of sultanates.
Trade attracted the Portuguese in 1511 and Dutch in 1641, until the British gained influence, taking Singapore in 1819 and creating the British controlled Federated Malay States in 1896.

INDONESIA

Between the south east Asian mainland and Australia are thousands of islands, eventually forming into Indonesia and the Philippines. Little is known of early Indonesia, but the Hindu Srivijaya Empire rose, centred on Palembang, in the 7th century, usurped in the 12th by the Java based Majapahit Kingdom.
From the 16th century Portuguese, Dutch and British influence began a battle for supremacy, the Dutch being successful by the end of the 17th, based on the capital Jakarta, then known as Batavia.
Formed into the Netherlands-Indies in 1914, independence movements began in the 1920s, fuelled following Japanese occupation during World War Two. Independence was assured by 1949 under Sukarno, but increasingly wealthy Muslim land owners whipped up fears of communism in the 1960s, resulting in General Suharto beginning a repressive regime that lasted to his death in the 1990s.

THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines were also occupied by the Negritos and migrations from China. The centre of an Asian trading network by 1000AD, occupation by Muslim traders was complete by the 16th century, the Spaniards also infiltrating from 1521, establishing the colony of the Philippines (named after Philip II) in 1564, Manila becoming capital in 1571.
A hundred years of revolt led to independence in 1896 just as America realised their strategic importance, imposing US rule in 1901. Self-government was granted in 1935, interrupted by Japanese invasion. From 1946 successive governments proved futile, leading to President Marcos declaring Martial Law in 1972. Plagued by Muslim separatist groups, democracy came in 1983 with Corazon Aquino becoming President.

JAPAN

Just off the Asian mainland lies Japan. Originally peopled by the Ainu, they were displaced by migrations from Polynesia and Asia, Japanese history beginning with the emperor Jimmu in 660BC.
By 300BC a definite culture emerged based on rice growing, metalworking and textiles. Japan was unified under the Yamato dynasty in the 4th century AD, based on the feudal system of great feudal families such as the Jujiwara and Minamoto. Writing, the arts and a central bureaucracy also arose during this period.
By the 12th century the feudal system was perfected by the ‘daimyo’, feudal lords who ruled locally for a military government known as the ‘shogunate’. Based on a code of warriorship, under the daimyo were the warrior ‘samurai’, followed by merchants and workers.
All powerful, the shogunates repulsed the Mongols and the Europeans, kicking out the Spaniards in 1624. Japan then went into ‘sakoku’, or isolation from the world, until 1853 when the Americans opened up trade with them.
The Japanese decided to modernise, installing an emperor in Tokyo and ending the shogunate in 1868. The emperor was symbolic, power held in the hands of a small group of politicians, who brought in a new code of law and constitution in 1889 based on the Imperial German model.

SHINTO

Buddhism gained a strong hold on Japan, but the principle religion is Shinto, animist in origin and based on a oneness with natural forces, or ‘kami’, which exists in mountains, trees, caves and other features.
Ceremony is based on purification so requests can be made before kami. Demanding high standards rather than moral code, daily ritual is carried out in communal shrines or small ‘godshelves’ in the home.
Meaning ‘way of the spirits’, Shinto offers a coming together of the physical and supernatural in ritual, but from the 4th century a modification began with the near veneration of the first emperor, Jimmu.
By the 8th century oral tradition had given way to Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) and Nihon-gi (Chronicles of Japan), containing myths of superheroes and gods, giving the emperor a divinity.
Such ancestor worship formed in the 19th century into a State Shinto, highly nationalistic and demanding loyalty to the God-emperor. It was an explosive mix of politics and the supernatural, fuelling Japanese conquests.
Following World War Two it was abolished, traditional Shinto re-emerging with the idea of the unity of all things and the existence of a ‘spirit-force’ below the physical world.

THE PACIFIC

Shinto was no doubt an advancement on original tribal religious forms. Go from Asia to the Pacific and this tribal form is still to be found in the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
New Guinea was populated about 60,000 years ago, people populating as far as Hawaii by about 2000-1300BC, the time of the occupation of Fiji. Maritime people, they formed links based on trade.
About 800AD they reached New Zealand, adopting the name Maori, meaning ‘normal’, only when Europeans arrived. By the 18th century they numbered some 100,000, living in tribal areas and often going to war with each other.
Believing in an underlying spirit world, artifacts show evidence of animist and fertility beliefs. A Maori pantheon was headed by Rangi, or Father Sky, and his consort, Papa, or Mother Earth.

AUSTRALIA

In Australia, aborigines populated the land about 50,000 years ago but never became as culturally organised as the Maoris, not developing a pantheon or agricultural lifestyle, remaining hunter/gatherers.
They used crude scrapers as tools and painted rocks and caves with red ochre. When Europeans arrived they numbered half a million. A hundred years later, there were 50,000 left.
Nomad, aborigines moved from area to area, following food sources. Organised into clans of 50 to 500, there was no war, with clans sharing food and religion. This was centred on the belief in the Creation Period which over spilled into the present in Dream Time, a temporal phenomenon and a state of being induced through ritual involving a re-enactment of a mythological event or lonely sojourn at a sacred site.
Creating a trance through meditation, the individual reverted to the Creation Period, becoming one with the ancestors. Thus we again find an identical notion of an interactive spirit world underlying physical existence, through which man can bridge the gap through meditation.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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FINDING PEACE

Looking back on my life I can see certain crossroads that led to the person I am today. And one such crossroad began on a lovely Sunday afternoon in the early 1980s when I lived in Norfolk.
We’d just moved to the area, and at that time I was an unthinking person, living the material life. However, I often took the family out for a Sunday drive. It wasn’t planned, and we just decided to go where the mood took us.

At about four o’clock we decided it was time to eat.

I stopped the car on the outskirts of a village. We got out and decided to explore and find a café. However, it soon became clear that we were being affected by this place. I think both Yvonne and I noticed it at the same time.
A feeling of absolute peace settled upon us, and I can honestly say I was uplifted in mood. But more than this, it was the first time in my life that I had experienced a spiritual connection. I suddenly felt a deep belonging, and the whole thing was surreal.

As we advanced into the village we began to see Catholic imagery.

This surprised me, and as we neared the centre, quiet religious music was playing. We noticed a hospice, and a ruin in the centre of an open space. And it was at this point we realized it must be an important Catholic shrine.
It was, infact, a place I’d never before heard of called Walsingham, site of one of the earliest visitations of the Virgin Mary, and place of Catholic pilgrimage. And for the first time in my life, I realized there was more to existence than the material world.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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Fiction Xtra – WHATSISNAME – A tale of inconsequence

Some people are so ordinary it is impossible to write about them. They are such non-entities that at times it seems their entire life is pointless, and certainly not worth highlighting in a story. One such person was a distant friend of mine called – what was it?
Let’s call him Whatsisname …
… read more …

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CHANGING MINDS

Have we always had the mind we have today, or is the mind a constantly changing concept? If we read ancient mystical texts, or study concepts such as the Akashic Records, it appears we do not have a mind today that the ancients would recognize.
Rather, the Akashic Records suggest a mind that is all-encompassing, holistic, and complete with all knowledge of the universe. They are a concept the mind can wander through, as if a great library of all knowledge, and all meaning.

A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING

Could our ancients have understood such a concept? In ‘The White Goddess’ the writer Robert Graves put forward his idea that ancient civilizations had a different form of consciousness.
Speaking of ‘lunar’ and ‘solar’ knowledge, solar is modern knowledge based on the rational, whereas lunar knowledge is intuitive and grasps things as a whole, compared to solar, which is compartmentalized, breaking knowledge up into manageable bits.
Egyptologist Schwaller de Lubicz would agree. He argued that the ancient Egyptians had a totally different knowledge system to us, again seeing the world as a whole. To him, the modern mind acts as a spectator in the world, looking at things from the outside. Ancient knowledge involved taking part in the world; being connected to its totality.
He even went as far as arguing that man has not evolved, but devolved to a near animal state in modern times. But more than this, he also believed that the ancient Egyptians had inherited this previous way of thinking from a previous civilization.

DATA-PROCESSING MIND

What kind of mind could they be talking about? Perhaps more importantly, could man have actually had a different kind of mind?
Of late, a new mood has entered psychology which argues that the form of consciousness we presently have may not necessarily be the form of consciousness mankind has had since he evolved.
Take, for instance, the modern computer game. We all know the stereotype of the computer nerd. Alien to many of us, he seems a different creation, existing in a reality of cyberspace and techno-babble.
The stereotype is most likely a fiction, but a hint of reality can always be found behind such stereotyping. To see whether such people ARE different to most of us, during the mid-1990s a series of studies were made on computer game playing kids, including a study at the University of Washington.
Although the findings do not constitute proof, evidence was found that over-use of computer games can cause a form of evolution of consciousness.
For most of us, concentration is a straight forward process of clearing the mind in order to concentrate on one thing at a time. It seems this is not so with addictive computer gamesters.
They seem to have evolved the ability to concentrate on several different elements in parallel. Finely tuning their minds to scan a mass of information, their consciousness is changing to form a data-processing mind in order to access the mass of information available through information technology.

CLASSICAL MIND

This new mind for a techno world suggests a constant stream of evolutionary change going on in consciousness. But if this is so, can hints of similar evolutionary changes be identified from the literature and culture of the past?
When you begin to look for such changes, it appears they can, indeed, be identified.
The earliest known European texts are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Thought to have been written in Greece in the 6th century BC, they contain many descriptions of the world that would be alien to us today. For instance, the sea is described as the colour of wine.
During the 1970s, Princeton scholar Dr Julian Jaynes became interested in such perceptions from Homer’s writings, as well as the O1d Testament and Epic of Gilgemesh.
His conclusion was that perception was different to the point that the people of our early civilisations did not have self-consciousness as we identify it today: Iliadic man did not have subjectivity as we do; he had no awareness of his awareness of the world, no internal mindspace to introspect upon.
Such words were based upon the fact that any decision, any action, taken by such early peoples were decisions made, not by them, but by their gods, or God. Their world was totally regulated by the supernatural, and any choice they made seemed to come from them via the supernatural rather than their own inner minds.
It was almost as if their inner minds were the vessels through which they perceived their gods to be operating, as if Graves and Schwaller were right in saying they were part of a whole, rather than observing the world from outside.

ALLEGORICAL MIND

Because of their reliance on their gods for all decisions and actions, such early people did not have a need to theorise and conceptualise as we do today. Due to this, their language dealt in myth and allegory. Through such early literature, ideals and standards were expressed poetically, with laws and customs being identified and related to the antics of past gods.
To see how this differs to modern consciousness, the proverbial Trekkie may recall an episdode of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ in which Captain Picard is transported to a planet in order to learn how to communicate with a puzzling alien species who’s language is gibberish to all other species.
In order to begin to understand the language, Picard first had to realise that he needed to identify certain past customs and actions of the species’ ancestors to relate the words and place meaning upon them.

EVOLVING MIND

By the time of Aristotle it appears that consciousness had evolved to the modern form, in that introspection is carried out and thought of as personal to the thinker. But there are hints that this is not so. Consider, for instance, perception of the world.
Today we perceive ourselves as living in a three dimensional world. But it seems that this is a recent innovation of consciousness which didn’t materialise in our minds until the 16th century.
Evidence of this can come from looking at pre-Renaissance art. Such art is clearly two-dimensional with no indication of depth to the picture. Then, suddenly, perspective geometry was understood and an artist realised that if he put his thumb to his eye, it would appear bigger than a building.
Almost at once, paintings changed to reflect a three dimensional world. And according to academic Harold Bloom, a similar change occurred a bit later.
Bloom has argued that, prior to Shakespeare, man had no conception of personality. It is perhaps incorrect to say that prior to this time man was an automaton, but with the possible exception of Chaucer, there is little evidence in literature prior to Shakespeare that a modern personality, with feelings, existed.
Of course, this is all controvercial, but evidence suggests that early man could well have had a different form of consciousness to us.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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TONY ON MARS CAVES AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Caves found on Mars … PLUS … Gulf between UK soldiers and country. Pointless Ming and pointless Lib Dems.
POSTED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY

MARTIAN CAVES

Great news for NASA astronauts. The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered what seems to be 7 caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. Cooler by day and warmer by night, these features offer huge possibilities.
The two major stumbling blocks to placing humans on Mars are water and shelter. It would be difficult to transport either at present, so if both can be found on Mars, the mission is made easier.
Now all we need to do is sort out the stumbling block of stumbling blocks – get politicians out of space, and let business get involved in a big way. And other countries. And stop our laziness and just do it!
Mindst you, I cannot help the irony in this new discovery. Go to Mars and become cave men.

© Anthony North, September 2007

AN ARMY MIS-UNDERSTOOD

General Dannatt has been vocal again. I do wish these unelected public servants would remember who they are. They are here to serve the public and keep their opinions to themselves …
… read more …

MING THE MAN

Following the normal Liberal Democrat chatter of discontent, Sir Menzies Campbell seems to have rallied the troops at the Lib Dem conference. For a week or two – or maybe a day – they are not trying to get rid of their leader …
… read more …

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Inde-Pol

THE WORLD IS WHAT IT IS?

I recently placed a comment on the Daily Grail about the nature of the reality we experience. It prompted me to write a post about it, and when I thought about it, I couldn’t say it better than the comment. So I post it here.

Think of it like this.

The world is what it is, but imagine a world where every human thought has been removed. If you do so, the world is still what it is, but you wouldn’t care that much. You’d be on your haunches, scratching your fur, looking out only for the next meal.
To me, the world is like a blank canvas, into which came abstract thought, and always ready to be filled by abstract thought. Those thoughts comprise our religions, our arts, our sciences, our politics, and the world could not be what it is, to us, without them.

They make it so …

With them, we sculpt the world, adding meaning, adding passion, adding what it is to be human. Often, this involves mind-models of everything from other-worlds to dream about, to scientific theories of how we think the world works.
These ideas lead to consensus, and through this the thought transcends the mind and, through human action, we shape the world as our mind views it at that time. But is this a delusion?
Possibly. But it is nonetheless the process of our existence upon this world that is what it is – but spiced up by the abstract.
The world IS what it is – which is a blank canvas so we can make it what WE think it is.

© Anthony North, September 2007

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Fiction Xtra – THE HOUSE – A ghost story

Consciousness was beautiful when it came. Just when that was, I’m not quite sure. I have no memory of my foundations being laid, and only the most fleeting memory of my walls growing. I do remember the light blinding me as my windows were completed, and I have a memory of cosiness and warmth as my roof was finished. But really, consciousness only finally came true with the plumbing and electricity. Maybe I was only whole after being connected up with all those pipes and wires. But regardless, I was soon complete and knew myself …
… read more …

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Have you clicked Diary of a Writer on Blogroll? Meet me, up close and personal.
Click Tony On, on Blogroll, for my current affairs blog.
If you like fiction, click Fiction Page on Blogroll for my short stories.
Check out the pages. Find my Links on Eye On the World.

A DEMON CALLS

Occasionally, paranormal literature throws up a case so incredible that we either dismiss it as fantasy, or edge towards the idea that demons and possessions are a reality. The facts are just so fantastic, rational inquiry is often forgotten.
But are we right to either dismiss or accept? Or is it possible that rational explanations can be placed upon the subject within an overall cultural explanation of phenomena? I opt for this middle ground.

ANNA ECKLUND

Consider the case of Anna Ecklund, born into a religious family from the American Midwest about 1882.
Believed to have been abused by her father, at fourteen, she showed signs of possession involving acute sexual fantasies. A monk from Wisconsin was called in, who exorcised her in 1912, claiming she was possessed by the Devil.
Failing, she reverted, being possessed until age forty six. Eventually being taken in once more by monks, she threw a fit and for over three weeks swayed between unconsciousness and erotic behaviour, including copious vomiting, levitating and speaking in strange voices.
Eventually her body went rigid and the possession was over.

ROBBIE MANNHEIM

Robbie Mannheim – the believed influence behind The Exorcist – was similar. Just before an aunt died, she and Robbie tried to contact spirits on a Ouija board. After her death, his behaviour changed, the boy swearing incessantly.
Strange disturbances then began in the house, and cuts appeared on his body. His parents called in a priest who said he was possessed. Exorcisms were attempted, but each time Robbie got worse, attacking one priest with a bedspring, resulting in a hundred stitches.
On Easter Monday 1949, Robbie woke up and his demon was gone.

THEORIES ON ENTITIES

The idea that entities can possess the person was accepted as fact through most of human history. In 1917 teacher Max Freedom Long began a study of the Huna of Hawaii.
His work confirmed the belief. The Huna believe that, rather than being an individual, man has three separate selves; the low, middle and high self. Long identified these as the unconscious, conscious and superconscious mind, the latter being the region of possession.
Canadian psychiatrist Dr Adam Crabtree would see it differently. During therapy he would create entities. Typical was depressive Sarah Worthington. During therapy Crabtree asked if she ever heard voices. Saying she had, he asked her to recall them.
Her persona then changed, becoming confident and she had a different voice. Crabtree asked who this possession was. It turned out to be her grandmother, who seemed to have problems of her own.
Using this form of psychodrama, Crabtree treated Sarah by psychoanalyzing her grandmother.

MIDDLE GROUND

In the above we have two separate and distinct ideas upon possession. In the former, we see the possibility of the human mind having higher levels of consciousness, whilst in the latter, we see the possibility of entities being ‘split-off’ aspects of mind.
This aspect is seen in the phenomenon of multiple personality, where the mind can seem to fragment into a number of different ‘personalities’, taking it in turn to inhabit the host.
Could an amalgamation of multiple personality and the possibility of higher consciousness be merged to produce a credible theory of possessions such as Ecklund and Mannheim?

EMOTIONAL INFECTION

One well accepted theory of multiple personality is that it does not exist, as such. Rather, we have a chaotic mind coming upon a therapist, or idea, that it exists. Hence, a form of role-play comes into being, the patient playing to the therapist.
In this way, a form of transference has occurred, with the therapist validating something that comes into being purely because of his validation. But what, exactly, is involved in such role-play? What part of the mind does the therapist’s bidding?
It is interesting that each personality displayed seems to exhibit a particular emotion of the host. Hence, could it be that, in multiple personality, the role-play revolves around specific emotional traits within the mind?

COMMUNAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Emotions tend to be chaotic things. But more than this, whilst an emotion may be expressed for a variety of ‘personal’ reasons, the actual nature of various ‘emotions’ seem to be identical in all people. Hence, could emotions be of the ‘species’ rather than the person?
If so, then we can see a ‘communal’ element of mind being tapped in multiple personality, suggesting that its similarity to possession is greater than we think, with an actual ‘outside’ entity being manifested.
Carl Jung gave us a similar concept in his ‘collective unconscious’ – a mind below the ‘personal’ with ‘communal’ traits. And these traits included ‘archetypes’, or shared personality types such as the Child, Sage, Trickster and Hero. Could we therefore argue that, in multiple personality/possession, we are dealing with an archetype as entity?

A SUGGESTIVE CULTURE

Jung’s archetypes also include all manner of symbols, and together with the personality archetypes, we can see the collective unconscious expressed in mythology and society. It is almost as if ‘culture’ itself is an expression of this communal aspect of mind, but within the world we experience.
Culture can, of course, come in many forms. An on-going culture can be built-up over millennia, as the ideas and communal symbols are passed down from generation to generation.
Such a cultural form can be suggestive in the extreme. After all, if it is an outside expression of the inner mind, it would be, as one would be in sympathy with the other. And possibly so, too, with the ‘archetypes’ that transcend both.

THE DEMON LET LOOSE

If we return to the above cases we can ask what would be the reaction, in terms of culture, of a suggestive, possibly disturbed person being told that they were being possessed?
Bearing in mind the cultural legacy inherent in the suggestion, combined with the authority of the priests who are enforcing the concept, can we imagine this person being very good and, as in the role-play involved in multiple personality, exhibiting the behaviour expected of him?
And as the cultural expression increases, reinforcing the displayed entity’s existence, we can imagine an emotional archetype out of control, and a ‘possession’ in existence that is ‘communal’, in that it is ‘other’ than the personal mind.
And as its ferocity increases, and the patient is further reinforced towards ‘possessed’ behaviour, we can also imagine the priests being similarly infected by the role-play suggested by the possession. And in such a cultural feed-back loop, the exorcists see what they think they’ll see.

© Anthony North, September 2007

Have you clicked Diary of a Writer on Blogroll? Meet me, up close and personal.
Click Tony On, on Blogroll, for my current affairs blog.
If you like fiction, click Fiction Page on Blogroll for my short stories.
Check out the pages. Find my Links on Eye On the World.