General Chat

And by the way Len, I have to say how I enjoy reading your posts, you are a very deep thinking person. Keep on posting. Sylvx

I've just finished reading 'Human Traces' by Sebastian Faulks. Obviously a fictional novel; but there is a theory in there re schizophrenia and the hearing of voices. In this novel the emerging psychiatrist evolves the theory that what people of the last century called 'mad' because they heard voices may actually be a throwback, maybe millions of years ago to a time when ape-men etc. walked this earth and that these creatures had an active part of the brain (now much much smaller in the human species of today) which could 'hear' voices, spirit, in the ethos and was accepted as part and parcel of everyday living. Tuning in so to speak to the spirit of the cosmos. Sylvx

Hi Len. like Maz I just wanted to say I have read all you have written, and while some of it is outside my complete comprehension (I never did understand physics, maths or chemistry) I have found it interesting. It is also good to read something intelligent on here so please continue. (some of it might stick!) Ann Glos

Hi Len, although I can't pretend to understand everything you have written, I find it all really interesting and thought provoking. I love your threads, so thank you and keep posting them please! Maz. XX

10. At birth, the human brain is unformatted except for a particular area which is already hard-wired with automatic survival mechanisms. This part is functioning at about 12 weeks after conception and memory-forming. The electron microscope can see nerve-cell membranes and specialised contact points (synapses), by which selective chemical and electrical communications established from cell to cell, can be seen. The main area, the cortex, is a blank sheet waiting to be filled in by life experience. We are born with some 50,000,000,000 nerve cells (neurons), far more than we shall need for normal living and reproduction. The hard-wired bit is operating well before birth and has memory which a foetus needs, particularly if premature, in order to know what is what for survival and how to manipulate mum so as to get what it needs by way of nurture. The more sensory stimulation the undeveloped brain receives the more it will develop. Surplus connections that receive no sensory input, will wither and die. After the age of maybe 7 or 8, there will be no more basic development, the neurons and synapses will atrophy. Children, who have not experienced speech by then, will never learn grammar and syntax. We all have the same basic mental kit but each brain develops individually, according to its owner’s life experiences. Lots of things we take for granted would have been unbelievable in the childhoods of those born more than 30 years ago, let alone to our forbears. Not so long ago, electricity, x-rays, electronic equipment were not even pipe dreams. A Croat called Tesia and a chap called Marconi (some older folk may have heard of them) independently and separately developed the technique of harnessing a small part of the electro-magnetic spectrum and transmitting it through air and space and materials without wires. At first it was called “wireless” but later the name “radio” became universal. Suppose the developing brain is stimulated by sensory input, not necessarily from nearby but from remote sources, what then? These days, the successors of Tesia and Marconi are still at it, as are corporations e.g. IBM, Sony and other electronics giants. Names to ponder are Dr Stephan Schmidt of Freiberg University who, in 2005 published in The British Psychologists Journal a paper conceding that the mind, or its essence, is able to travel through space at near the speed of light at indeterminate distances and affect another mind. Techno-speak is “Distant Intentionality”. Our-speak is “telepathy”. Vision researcher Dan Simons of the University of Illinois suggests the existence of another phenomena, “Mind Sight”. In his research with blind people and animals he discovered interesting and previously unknown phenomena. Some people (and animals) are able to perceive things by means other than the eyes or the known 5 senses. Studies in Holland, particularly by Dr V.P.Lommel of Rijnstate Hospital, whose team have investigated hundreds of patients in 10 hospitals across the country. These patients have all been resuscitated after being clinically dead, and has reached conclusions that have “pushed at the limits of medical ideas about the range of human consciousness and the mind/brain relationship”

9. Last Friday (the 13th as it happens, an auspicious day for the superstitious) it was in most of the papers that an international team of archaeologists had unearthed, in China, 160 fossil embryos of the oldest animals on earth, from 550 million years ago. These are the ancestors of all today’s animals. A special prize (an orange) awaits the first GR member to authenticate their line back to these creatures. Some 4600 million years ago the earth was born followed in another 800 million years by the first single-celled beings. Where did these first living creatures come from? Some say that they spontaneously appeared in the “primeval soup” when all the right amino acids came together in just the right conditions. Other scientists argue that this was just as likely as an explosion in an electrical components warehouse resulting in a working television set. I wonder which creature, of all the myriads that subsequently evolved, had the first thought. Could it be, as mentioned above, that consciousness pervades all living matter to a greater or lesser degree and increases with the complexity of its host? There must have been a forerunner of our species who was touched with the spirit. DNA researchers, geneticists, say there was - a woman born of non-human stock who they dubbed “Mitochondrial Eve”. Apologies, Adam, but they think you came later. She was the first of Homo sapiens and was born in Kenya about 2 million years ago. This is slightly misleading as there obviously were other females in a very sparse population of these hominids but only the genes of one went on to populate today’s world. Perhaps she was a mutation. All those other females received their DNA from another source and their lines died out. There were other hominids (ape-men) contemporary with Eve, the last one to go extinct being Neanderthal In July 2001 “red rain” fell in Kerala, a province in India. At first it was described as red dust brought down by the rain but investigation revealed that the particles were not unlike blood corpuscles. DNA tests were made with the surprising result that the blood-like cells contained no DNA. Therefore, if once living, were not of this world. They had thick walls and were, also unlike blood, not soluble in water. Some scientists postulated that these may have originated in space being brought to earth as comet dust This was supported by researchers from the University of Cardiff who pointed out that a regular fall of debris from space reaches earth. Unsurprisingly, this theory was fiercely attacked by others although, to date, they have not come up with an alternative. The jury is still out. Makes yer fink though. len

Old Crone. Glad to hear that you occasionally fumble aroud with what I write. Keep it at that, though, or I'll call my nurse. len

8. Changing the way we think of ourselves, the planet and the universe is not an easy accomplishment and requires a great deal of open-mindedness (My favourite word used to be ‘Rubbish’). We are conditioned by our immediate environment and education to think that the universe is more simple and material than it really is. It is an interesting fact that those who show the most open-mindedness are not theologians, psychiatrists or psychologists but more often engineers, astro-physicists or mathematicians although, possibly. the driving force of the latter may be a desire to investigate and disprove but who are, in the process, won over. In-depth investigations and analyses often lead to mind-boggling conclusions. Perhaps it is that engineers and the like have more natural investigative skill? The late A.J Ellison, Emeritus Professor of Engineering at The City University, London was in no doubt that the paranormal exists and it may be demonstrated and observed using the strict protocols of modern science. For those interested there are many published scientific papers available online detailing and endorsing paranormal activity but be warned, they are written in scientific jargon which can be heavy going. Quantum Mechanics itself, as a branch of physics, would appear to be paranormal to the ordinary person. No philosopher would dispute that “there may be something out there” and there’s not yet hard evidence proving that there is - or isn’t. It’s equally difficult to prove that there isn’t a God as it is to prove there is one. But there is mounting circumstantial evidence and, in a court of law, circumstantial evidence can be overwhelming. That we all think we know the physical world so well is the result of thousands of years of developing belief systems and the conditioning of each generation by earlier ones. Now modern science is slowly but surely unravelling the truths of the void, their minds are slowly but surely meeting the minds of philosopher of old, who got a lot wrong, but may have got it right over the big picture. That giant of philosophers, Aristotle, thought that bees were created from the carcases of lions. In a recent survey, 68% of interviewed adults admitted to having had what they thought was paranormal experience. Others described experiences which they put down to mental aberrations. Throughout the world, most races predominately are adherent to a spiritually-based sectarian religion which they are prepared to defend with fervour or even violence. But admit to believing in the occult? Not on your life! Humans are complicated beings but, as Mr Spock of the Starship Enterprise observed, entirely illogical.

7. It is a fact that quantum mechanics tells us that the world we inhabit depends for its meaning and reality on our perception of it. To recap from an earlier thread, let’s seriously consider any solid object, perhaps the chair on which you are sitting, and think of it afresh. Firstly, using stored knowledge, we can examine the chair with our normal senses, sight touch and smell and maybe tap it, bringing in our hearing. We may deduce that it is made of wood and not metal, plastic or some other substance. We may go on to deduce the existence of a tree and, subsequently, soil, water, sunlight and air so necessary for the production of wood. But then think of the transmutation of all these forms of matter and energy into a living tree. When does a living tree become a dead one and what happens? Sorry, I digress. But don’t stop there; it is composed of cells and molecules. A molecule is the smallest unit of a compound that can take part in a chemical reaction and is made up of a group of atoms electrically bonded together. An atom has a tiny nucleus surrounded by electrons whizzing round it as the earth and planets whiz round the sun. None of these components, from the atom downwards is touching. Indeed, relative to their size, the spaces are astronomical. To illustrate this, if the electrons circling at set distances made the shape of a football, the nucleus (which can be split) could be compared to a grain of sand in the centre. Had it been a metal or plastic chair we would still have arrived at molecules, albeit of a different sort – but let’s not digress again. So how about your chair or any other “solid” object? Its quite ghostly, in fact, when seen really close up.. We are just used to perceiving it as hard and solid. Since the advent of quantum mechanics, over the last few decades, the physical world has lost it’s old solidity and permanence, certainly as observed by most physicists. That ain't all. len

I occasionally fumble about with what you are saying, Len, and I do believe (I think) that we are all part of some huge cosmic consciousness. How this relates to time and space I haven't worked out yet, but I have come to an understanding that there is a wonderful dichotomy here - as individuals, we matter not one jot - the world will go serenly on with or without us. And yet we DO matter as individuals - we form bonds, we cleave unto each other, we mourn our losses. What can this be about, other than to prepare us for some elevated form of 'consciousness' that we cannot yet comprehend? OC

Len have you read 'The Celestine Prophecy' by James Redfield? Fiction?

Pauline Einstein said much the same thing only in a much more complicated way. Time is the fourth dimension Len

Joe. You are a bit of a pessimist. I can just imagine your granddad intolling the same sentiments over what we, today, take for granted. Discovery and physics have not come to a standstill but, since the 20th century, are accelerating faster and faster. You will not believe where technology will take us in the next 20 years, let alone a couple of centuries With regard to consciousness, I read a scientific paper which hypothesised that consciousness is in all living matter to a greater of lesser degree. Seemed reasonable to me but I do like to think people have a mite more of it than, say, an earthworm . len

Carol. We are all made of the constituents of stardust - with an special ingredient, consciousness. Logically, as matter and energy cannot be destroyed but only changed to another form (a law of physics, not my idea), that is how it will be with us. Our bodies will change into chemicals and heat which will dissipate. But consciousness ? Where does that wander? Maybe it stays around. I do intend getting around to that, if you will bear with me a bit longer. Len

Edgar Cayce said: There is no future no past it is all one

So in language that I can understand, we could all be atoms making up that supreme being? There is also the posibility that when we die our 'spirit' passes into a 4th.dimention?

Thank you, Caz, Joe and Lou for commenting. Also Annie for your PM. I was going to call it a day for lack of response but maybe I will now edge on a bit further with my philosophy and hope that it is tinged with logic. No use withdrawing your postings now, I am already thinking up the next paragraph. len

Spooky seeing this today..I was just reading an old family Bible this afternoon - Genisis- weird.. Makes VERY interesting reading though.. Off to bed now... LOU XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Perhaps mankind, or that part of mankind called consciousnes, thought or spirit, is part of a supreme intelligence? Perhaps Archimedes, Newton or Darwin may have considered some of today's discoveries as a step too far. Wonder what they would have commented about exploring the planetary system? Len

6. In 1997 Professor Saul Perlmutter opened another can of worms. While looking at the expansion of the universe, he accidentally discovered that not only were all stars and galaxies moving away from each other, they were doing so at greater and greater speeds. This meant that our future selves might one day look up to a sky without stars (they'd all be too far away). It also meant that 'something' was pushing the stars apart. This anti-gravity force was completely new to science, but again what it actually was remained a mystery. It did however have a name: dark energy. It turned out that the universe is 4% ordinary matter, 21% dark matter and 75% dark energy. That's a lot of stuff that no one really understands. Every civilisation since the year zero has had its own cosmological model. Every few decades or centuries, it has been replaced by something better. Whether we are the privileged generation living in the time of the right idea remains to be seen. Is dark matter here to stay?