Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Perhaps others also get emails from "New Dimensions".  Today's has 4 podcasts of the interesting Rupert Sheldrake, wirth a brief summary of each, including his intriguing suggestion that "the brain is more like a tuning fork than a recording device".

"some psychic equivalents to inbreeding occurring within some followers of Christianity."

If you do not accept and know that these male dreams – delusions – of the pure woman, instantly deflowered and devalued, is some kind of very common, if not universal, male Jungian archetype, then I would query you.

And if you have found it happy to connect this atavistic wickedness to Christianity, among the myriad of similar belief systems, again, I would question you.

Your comment is too cryptic for me to understand, Richard Tonkin. I am very happy to describe myself as "a bear of very little brain."

What is "this" in your comment?

Are you suggesting that a dream of shagging virgins is related solely to Christianity? Not to testosterone, and a world history of crazy dysfunctional men?

If only.

I happen to consider that it is important to differentiate between:

(1) normal, but randomly distributed and widely suppressed human abilities. That ultimately will be scientifically acknowledged .

(2) some real contact with real other-world entities. Iffy and dangerous.

(3). Some totally delusional stuff, eg, Four Corners tonight. How often such as this involves men coming to understand that God needs them to have sex with virgins.

Rock'r'roll, Kathy!

Indeed, there's a old potomac floating about somewhere that could tell a story or 27; hey Kath darlin ;-)

"A more common form of the condition is being able to perceive numbers or letters as colours."

For some reason I've always seen the days of the week as colours:

Monday - brown

Tuesday - yellow

Wednesday - red

Thursday - purple

Friday - blue

Saturday - green

Sunday - orange

Some say Sunday should be yellow but I don't see it that way. Ever since I can remember that's the way I've seen it so I don't blame it on chemical experimentation or stuff like that.

Some people see colour when listening to music

US scientists have discovered people who can "hear" what they see.

The rare form of synaesthesia - a condition where senses intermingle - came to light after a student reported "hearing sounds" from a screensaver.

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology then found three more people with the same condition, New Scientist magazine reported.

Those affected performed better in tests of recognising visual patterns than those without the condition.

A more common form of the condition is being able to perceive numbers or letters as colours.

From the fact that I am no longer having slight bouts of nausea after eating, I surmise that my daughter in England is over her morning sickness.

But, I don't think that that is mystical, and I think that it is one of those things that science will come to understand.

I saw an exhibition of aboriginal art on Saturday, and although I've often admired the colours and patterns, for once I felt a wobbly comprehension.  I can only describe it as a cellular connectedness:   fairly meaningless words, because it was a sense, not an intellectual understanding.

Jenny, first let me say that I loved the B & B story. Reminds me so much of my mother, and how she would have reacted! Her mother used to tell us, "oh don’t mind her, she is old fashioned!"

If I may come in on your "spooked".

Whatever your "it" is, putting aside your faith for the moment, it clearly manifests in times of stress. Almost all of the various religions that contact, or attempt to contact "it" use techniques that raise excitement, and put stress on the body.

Your rosary beads I see as a focus point, yet prayer beads are near universal.

Most of those that I have known function at a higher level when under stress. Those who have never had any indication of having any "it", but suddenly "know" of issues such as danger, accident, illness or a death "waken" under stress.

It seems to me churlish to deny any of these people a legitimacy however it is that they become influenced by their "it".  

Equally it seems that attempting to provide the name by which "it" is called is a little foolish.

Certainly you knew radio way back when where if you got one word in three the reception was good. You certainly found that on some days you could hear more clearly, or perhaps get a station that came and went.

What if we look at "it" in the same way. Some have much better receivers than others. Some have more, or very selective receivers, and some are those old receivers that only on the most favourable days receive anything at all.

Provided we can agree on these very broad assumptions, how much, or how little does it matter in what manner we refer to "it"?

On prayers. I was with a Moslem friend when he needed (was required?) to pray. A late middle-aged, ordinary family man, with no disrespect or disparagement intended, who stunned me by standing, relaxing and passing immediately into a deep state of meditation.  

Never have I seen in any other religious based "praying" any exhibition such as this. This was meditation at the adept level. I am not suggesting that there is anything magical about this level of meditation, it can be learned by many. It was the fact that this was "prayer" to this man that startled me.

Richard, I rather got distracted by other things. Excuse the delay in answering. — this happens quite often in my life, I simply do not get back, no offence intended to anyone who has felt ignored —

I didn’t think that I did shy away from discussing the ethics. There are those with whom I have delved into related issues in great depth, however in my view it is a subject outside the ken of most.

The implications of developing the ability always appeared to me, too dangerous for me to want to be involved.

I would like to make the point that for me this is “past”. :-((((

To answer your question. No.

The parents of the then young woman who became my wife detested me with a passion. They were staunch, lifelong members of the then, in New Zealand, High Church of England.

Merilyn lived the first year of Uni in a church hostel, less than 400 metres from where I lived. The church where the Dean of Canterbury lived was half way across the city.

The Dean, Alan Pyatt I believe, was a longtime friend of Merilyn’s family. We, Merilyn and I, agreed to attend a meeting of Pyatt and us that was held in the church hall. Pyatt put Merilyn in the far back corner while I sat diagonally opposite near the door, with Pyatt, not an old man, and I believe an All Black Forward at some time, standing in the centre of the hall.

Not surprisingly things did not go well. Well guess it depends upon the point of view. Pyatt was attempting to break us up, and having no success.

Finally he announced: “"I will drive Merilyn home". I replied: "if I let you".

He began to reply and stopped and stared as Merilyn walked across the hall like a sleep walker, walked straight into him as he stood, arms outstretched to stop her, staring back over his shoulder at me while her legs just kept on walking, although she could not move his bulk.

I said: “It’s okay, let him drive you home”, and she switched back to normal.

In those days of course crossing the city meant walking, for most us, for we did not have the money for transport. So I was left to walk home.

Interesting that your ability flows in an emergency.

For me, find me one of the very rare women who “interest” me and the ability manifests in ways that surprise me.

An instance: I was working on a holiday island where I met a young South African woman who had costed her world trip upon South African prices that were running about 20 years behind the rest of the world.

On Wednesday nights a game was played with everybody sitting along a long string of adjoining tables where everybody started with ?? 5 cent pieces, threw a dice — there were several circulating at all times — and depending upon the fall, passed a coin left, right, held, or tossed one into the pot in the middle. The winner was the person who had the last coin in front of the table, and the pot was $200 odd.

The lass’s coins were depleting rapidly, and she was looking disappointed, although nobody left the table even when they had no coins because the coins could move toward you.

I was doing quite well, and naturally thought that I ought to give her a few of my coins. Hell, why not give her a few of everybody else’s as well?

Her stash began to grow, rapidly.

Interestingly another young staff woman, sitting approximately 8 or 10 feet away — we were near the end of the table line and the tables had “corners” so that sufficient length could be obtained to seat everybody suddenly said: “Peter! What are you doing?”

Yes, the lass “won” the pot. How did I do it? I have not the foggiest idea.

I have some ex military friends, and getting together to help out with major projects (used) to happen from time to time. It probably will not surprise you that there are a good many in the circle who dislike or detest me. That said the moment we’d gather to work, they expect, nay insist, that I organise.

The same applies when I walk in to the various places where I’m known to the owner and perhaps a few others, where they are attempting to move or install anything heavy and awkward. Without any form of acknowledgement from anyone, with people there who have never seen me before I take over. There has never been any dissent.

Your influencing of mood reaction is interesting. I cannot “sell” an object, advertising and such. Bloody hopeless. But an idea!

I was telling an old friend about some noisy yahoo who had been annoying the hell out of me and commented that it was only my belief that your life is measured by the amount of noise you make, and that therefore the said pest might just drop dead at any moment that saw me through.

His reply was that I was the noisiest person that he and ever met. Me???

“Yes, you influence more people, change more people’s views than anyone I have ever met.”

He has very, very good people skills.

I do not profess to understand what “it” is, or where it comes from. I will repeat that I am very, very wary of “it”.

As Sam Harris, author of The End Of Faith, puts it, "I think that 'atheist' is a term that we do not need, in the same way that we don't need a word for someone who rejects astrology.

"We simply do not call people 'non-astrologers'. All we need are words like 'reason' and 'evidence' and 'common sense' and 'bullshit' to put astrologers in their place, and so it could be with religion."

I don't care what people believe in, but I do care that religion impacts on political discourse, public policy and that it stunts the ability of people to think for themselves and question. And that it kills people and causes suffering. But most of all I care that the invisible electric fences that are wired in the minds of children brainwashed by religion are difficult to remove. And impossible if you don't even know they're there.

A quote attributed to Stephen F. Robert sums it up for me: "We are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Peace be with you.

Catherine Deveny in this morning AGE.

Catherine is correct: how do you choose one god when there may be thousands?

Good questions: how did you choose your god? On what criteria did you reject all the others? Does it matter? How to sort fact from fiction?

This means "hidden", as far as I'm concerned, but I see that Peter Jensen uses it as a synonym for "evil". Yes, Peter Hindrup, I am not surprised that churches et al acknowledge these as real phenomena: like you, I am cautious.

I do think that they overlap with natural abilities that we have lost, or denied, and that are now becoming slowly more accepted, particularly as the edges of science can explain them. And the borderline is murky.

Once I was idly chatting with another mum while we watched 2nd class's demonstration of folk dancing. Suddenly 2nd class disappeared, the cement playground, bitumen road, opposite building disappeared, and I was looking at a different landscape running down to the "lagoon", with the conviction in my head "we shouldn't be here." A flash, a moment, a reality.

Today I visited "ErinEarth". Full of native plants – which I really don't care for on the whole, but including many I had never seen that were native to this area. I had a great feeling of harmony, and by that I mean that my body felt it: it was physical rather than mental. Reminded me of watching 2nd class folk dancing.

But it also reminded me of how the physical affects us. Who doesn't feel a certain awe and grandeur in a great cathedral? Does it influence us whether our ceilings are 9, 10 or 14 ft high? Or whether our rooms are proportioned to the golden mean? Are our beautiful, largely English style, gardens in some way at some dissonance to "fringe" Australians? I think that these are among the fringe areas that science could possibly explore.

F Kendall, either the Roman Catholic Church or the Rosicrucians have the largest occult library in the world. I can no longer remember which way around it is. Certainly the Catholic Church has especially trained priests (??) whose specialty lies in this area.

It is possible to talk to these people, or it used to be, but this has nothing to do with church services and the like.

There are other organisations/groups which are less formal, who believe that it is better that people with talent are trained, as opposed to letting them wander around with no knowledge and no control.

Baptised by a Rev, not a Fr, Jenny Hume, and seems to have drawn the ire of the Presbyterian, Wesleyan and Congregationalists, who all thought that he was possessed by the devil; so, no mention of Catholics there (Wikipedia). Although there is no doubt that they would have reacted the same way.

None of the mainstream western churches seem to care for this kind of thing at all.

1975 I think, had landed in London two days earlier when I found myself at the door of a psychic. As I raised my hand to knock he opened the door. Nice touch.

One of those slightly rounded, slightly overweight people, early to mid forties.

Through into his kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table, him with a window behind him, cigarette in one hand, he asked if I had anything that I wore regularly. I gave him my watch.

He asked three questions, and said: “if you had lied to me I would not have read for you.”

Huh?! I’m paying him three quid to read for me and he is saying wouldn’t have read for me!

Besides, it was usually me who after a few minutes would say: “forget it”, and walk out. Simply indicating that they had at best limited talent.

This guy then rattled off a few items, way in the past and then said: “you lived overlooking water”.

“Never!”

“I’m not asking, I’m telling”.

“Details?”

“High up, church along on the left”.

That jogged me.

“Would you make that a monastery?”

His eyes went funny and he said “yes.”

“Oriental Bay, over 20 years ago.”

“I didn’t say when.”

He then described the place where I was working, named the bloke who owned the business and talked about another contractor in the shop and went onto a murder that was actually associated with friends of his.

When he couldn’t a name it would be, Tony, perhaps Toby, type of identification.

I walked out gutted.

Subsequently I took him to dinner. He had been a making a reasonable living as a club entertainer, no contact with, nor any interest in “this type of thing”. Woke one morning with a full blown talent.

Had no friends as, if he thought of them, he immediately knew what they were doing, and this often enough crossed his moral code, and he had been silly enough to tell his friends about the extent of his new found talent. Not surprisingly they cut contact.

I told him that if he went to the right people they could teach him to control the talent. It is not comfortable for other mediums having a powerful, uncontrolled talent around.

I have known more than a few talents in my time, but nothing approaching this man.

Often enough I have been told by people with some talent, or an interest in this type of talent when I have refused to take part in whatever it was that they intended to try, that: “You do not believe in any of this, do you?”

They seldom understand my answer. “I do, absolutely and I have far too much respect for it to play.”

Richard Tonkin: "Daughter proposed to me the other day the concept that past, present and future were occurring simultaneously."

This concept is not new; even the ancient Chinese and Australian Aborigines shared this idea.

Maybe time is nothing, nothing at all except a convenient manmade calibration to gauge change.

Or maybe we just have time to stop everything happening at once.

Time for a drink I think; now I know why we have time.

I clearly remember the moment standing at the traffic lights as the ambulance went by, and laughing at myself as I released my crossed fingers.  How many years had it taken for me to feel safe enough not to follow this silly ritual that I had done since childhood?

Within a few months, both my mother and husband, in good health at that time, had suddenly died.

Guess who always crosses her fingers now?

Do I think that it was a coincidence?  Of course it was....but, I still cross my fingers.  What do I know?

Richard, although I suspect that there is much that science will explain, and that thereby it will all become more accepted, cultivated and widely spread, I also think that there is an area of related phenomena which lies beyond nature.

Years ago, our anthropology lecturer, newly returned from a long time in PNG, said to the room: "OK, you won't believe me, but you need to know. I've seen magic, and most anthrops who have worked there have as well. Yes, we've seen the sleight of hand, the ingenious tricks, but we've seen real magic as well." He then went on to distinguish between white and black magic. And black magic is not good.

Now this sort of thing connects in my mind with the notion of forces of evil - a word not to be used lightly. I've heard/read a couple of accounts by good, rational-sounding men who have been in situations where what they describe as "the presence of evil" was palpable. Not the stuff of badness, wickedness, cruelty, your Pol Pots etc, but like an unseen powerful force of a total depravity.

Now, I can't find links to such. However, I understand that the churches' objection to psychic phenomena, and why they refer to them as "occult", is because of the likelihood or possibility of connecting with such. Peter Jensen Anglican archbishop of Sydney, did his doctoral thesis on this area in history, and is a firm believer in such, although he won't, as far as I know, talk about it, except to say: It's all true. Keep away.

Psychics and fraudulent psychics had a small blaze of glory and defamation in Victorian times. Maybe Jenny Hume knows something of this, because I understand that perhaps the most famous of these was possibly a relation of hers. Among his demonstrations was, on one occasion, floating out an upper storey window and floating back in a floor below. Could be handy, I suppose, although I have no use for it myself.

So, I am saying that there are two related areas, both of which our society has denied. One is such as you demonstrate. The other is perhaps connecting with powerful supranatural forces that we have little understanding of. I don't want to go there.