The Heavy Stuff

Hello, thanks for visiting The Heavy Stuff (THS) today. If you are a regular, I had to go to this new format-theme  to be able to maintain a sidebar on my posts that are by individual pages - most likely the manner that you arrived (via a link) today (meaning a link ending with a post number). That said, I like this look - new understated theme for `heavy’ ideas.

Ok, today’s post is literally to look - briefly - at my personal bookshelf - the books - so to say - that made my mind the way it is ( and that you read on THS). The reviews below are ones that I wrote years ago for my squidoo site - I’ve copy and pasted them here for you to get my sense of how `heavy’ these books are. And yes, they are in the order of the heaviest first .

Number One
The systematic analysis of the philosophy of Being - the book which `lays out’ what existentialism IS. Includes such amazing chapter titles as Being-In-Itself; The Ontological Proof, and The Origin of Nothingness. This is the book for you if you want to have even the smallest grasp on `Temporality’ or `Transcendence’. The paperback version is over 800 pages — get ready for the read of a lifetime. Heavy rating of 10+.

Number Two
Quite simply the BIBLE of phenomenology and consciousness thought. If you think you have thought about the `issues’ of mind and matter — think again — unless you have read this very very rare book. Husserl thought out the ideas of Phenomenology in the late 1800’s and to this very day you can find people meeting in groups to discuss these mammoth ideas. Personally, my FAVORITE `heavy’ book of alltime. Heavy Rating 10+

Number Three
Is this the heaviest book written in the last 50 years? I’d say it could be. What else could possibly be heavier than being the first person to actually `figure out’ all the most perplexing astronomy data — and then to — `explain it’ to the rest of the scientists in the world. Yes, this is the man who figured out the `problem’ with the BIG BANG — and thought of the solution. The solution was INFLATION. Those amazing moments next to creation that included the notion that `space’ can expand `quicker’ than the speed of light. Indeed, if Guth is right (and one experiment after another has confirmed inflation) the universe we live in is huge in a manner that you have probably never even considered. For example, you may know that the `edge’ of our VISIBLE universe is about 13.7 billion years away — however, BEYOND that `visible edge’ lies OUR SAME UNIVERSE — we simply can’t see it (and never will) — but it is there with stars and worlds just like `here’ in our visible portion. But, get this, that `unseen portion’ of our universe is TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS times the size of our `visible’ portion. Yes, you need this book — how can you say NO to the heaviest book of the 1900’s? Heavy Rating 10+.

Number Four
In the 1970’s a student at UCLA wrote of his meetings with an Indian medicine man and sorcerer. These meetings involved gaining the actual understanding of the sorcerer’s worldview. This worldview supposedly led Castaneda into a `separate reality’ on occasion. These separate realities of the sorcerer included everyday phenomena and entities which lived in the special reality. Other special realities included controlled lucid dreaming - often described by researchers as a different mind state. This is NOT a book you want to say that you’ve NEVER read - a must read selection. Heavy Rating 10+ (I’ve read at least 7-8 Carlos Books BTW - this was the best.)

Number Five
Like the ideas of Husserl, the ideas of Ouspensky and Gurdjeff also have people STILL TO THIS DAY forming groups to discuss how heavy the thoughts are. Indeed, they are heavy; some would say that this is the BEST consciousness book ever written — the most intense examination of `mind’ ever undertaken. If the book was to be `summed up’ in one sentence it would be `THE ONLY THING IS TO AWAKE’. Heavy Rating 10. (Like Castaneda, I’ve read several of Ouspensky’s books too.)

Number Six
Another very rare book — you’d NEVER run across this out of print in the store so here is your chance. If you have ever wondered about the many various `types of time’ — this is your book. Most interesting are the chapters devoted to the very idea of FREEWILL and DETERMINISM and their relation to time and dimensional time. Can any time be real that isn’t here now? This is the book if you want the speculative answers. Heavy Rating - 10.

Number Seven
Here’s my bow to religion on earth for humans — and, indeed, it’s very heavy. It seems non-attachment is a universal theme in a lot of esoteric thought — you won’t find a better writer on the subject than the late Alan Watts. This is Zen Buddhism at it’s very best. If you lean to the spirtitual side this might be for you. Heavy Rating - 10. (One of several Watts books I’ve devoured.)

Number Eight
Many folks feel that `Bucky’ Buckminster Fuller was the greatest thinker of the 1900’s. If you have never seen his world map without distortion - you haven’t seen the world in true proportion. Bucky was such a great thinker that a type of CARBON is named after him — is there a greater honor than that. You must be familiar with this book and some of his greatest ideas. Heavy Rating - 10.

Number Nine
A recent book which explores some `oddities’ in Utah in the mid 1990’s. Huge oddities. Of every type. That suggest that the multi-verse may be an answer for the unexplainable anomalies. Co-written by a TV reporter still active in Las Vegas, this is a well documented book. Very enjoyable and a fairly quick read for `heavy ideas’. Heavy Rating - 9+

Number Ten
This is a must book if you think you want to work on your own `consciousness’. Ouspensky’s Guru and the last of the wandering esoteric Masters. Great story. Heavy Rating - 9+ (Yes, this isn’t the only Gurdjieff book I’ve read.)

Number Eleven
Physics taken to the new limits of the 2000’s — this version saying that `time itself’ does not exist. This version says that only `space’ exists. And, that `that’ space — is `chosen’ via a method that compares one moment to another by selecting the `next space’ that is the `most similar’ with the least intrinsic difference from the previous `space’. Wonderfully heavy book by a renegade Physics writer. Heavy Rating - 10

Number Twelve
Further discussions of this `Hyperspace’ which seems to allow for every moment of time to be extended in a way. The way for space to be moved thru without time constraints. The actual answer to many anomalies perhaps. Hyperspace. You need to read more. Heavy Rating - 9+

Lastly, if you desire - you can see the last 7 of my heavy bookshelf at the two links below - and those too are with description.

http://www.squidoo.com/theheavystuff#module4356476

http://www.squidoo.com/theheavystuff#module4433457

One of the purposes of my posts on The Heavy Stuff (THS) is to provoke thought and critical thinking on any number of `issues’ of esoterica. And, in that regard, today’s post beckons the examination of the ludicrous - to be applied to what others would say is an `explanation’ of a  viable sustainable `Bigfoot’ population out there `in the American Woodland’.

Yes, I know I’m already making enemies with a certain segment of my regular `heavy stuff’ readership by being a curmudgeon by doubting `first person’ accounts by `credible’ folks of all persuasions. BUT, I’m not doubting those accounts for one second - let me explain. You see, I think `Bigfoots’ in nearly all or perhaps all situations - are `temporary entities’.

To me, one must favor the overwhelming evidence that not one creature has ever been found dead or brought fourth alive - EVER. Nor have any `artifacts’ of this creature. Not even scat. Not in the last 10 years, not in the last 50 years, not in the last 500 years - not EVER. Never ever.

It’s something that those who have seen the creatures with their own two eyes will have to live with - despite what is becoming `countless’ expeditions into the remote woods of America with high tech equipment for `proof’. It’s becoming to the modern person not `into’ the Bigfoot scene  - even the modern open minded person - `silly’ - and little more than occasional entertainment - watching a repeat -  on the History Channel on a lazy Sunday afternoon. (Even if Bigfoot enthusiasts think progress is right around the corner - which sounds a lot like those wishing for UFO disclosure.)

And, part of the reason the majority of serious thinking folks feel that way, is because they would want answers to serious questions — how can there be a sustainable population?  — being one of the first. And, other questions like I’ve raised above about a lack of a body, scat or artifacts. An entire supposedly intelligent entity most similar to man - without a culture? An intruding creature that NEVER ventures into an area with trigger happy men? Who never makes a mistake crossing a highway? A creature with dozens and dozens of descriptions and variations based on first hand descriptions?

Which brings us back to Gnomes. Yes, Gnomes.

Here is just one of several videos and pictures that have emerged in recent years http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/weird/article1817406.ece

there has also been this well written recent article outlining a Gnome history http://www.theparanomalist.com/the-latest/gnome-sightings/.

Hmm; two phenomena’s - both occurring over centuries and both seemingly able to `appear temporarily’ and in the real. However, one phenomena - Bigfoot - a more `modern phenomena’ in relation to common consensus compared to Gnomes - has believers who feel compelled to `try to explain it scientifically’ - by talking of `sustainable populations’ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=sustainable+population+of+bigfoot&btnG=Google+Search and here’s almost 3,000 such references. Most of these references think that 1,000’s and perhaps as many as 10,000 Bigfoots roam the American woods.

It makes The Heavy Stuff wonder - just what would be a sustainable Gnome population be in the woods/worlds `hidden area’? Do they have migration movements too as suggestion by the Bigfoot believers?

Do they ever lose their hats?

OR, would the concept of temporal characters - a phenomenology idea of Edmund Husserl and my Phillips Phenomenology - be a more likely explanation for what is being observed in reality? A temporal character able to `exist’ until it’s intentionality’s expire or the beliefs in them. Something within the NOW memory and experiences of a space (human) as opposed to a being within the outside reality.

This quasi real - temporal character - `able to not be’ - space — even could leave `objective’ evidence - regardless if it does or does not have a permanent `space’ in our reality - as it IS a temporary real.  If you dig deep enough into this website you will find that I believe there are four types of entities - Gnomes and Bigfoots - are just one of them.

Thanks for reading today. Please go to my front page www.theheavystuff.com as that is the only way you register on my statistics page - while there, look around - I have a great sidebar, blogroll, and you can see the topics of the last 15 posts. I’d love to have your comments too on today’s posting.

This blog spends many posts talking about `the wonderous’ - including words spent describing such things as the reality experienced during mutual hypnosis between two subjects - and - even - `real subjectivity’ in our talks about the Pilots of Eastern Flight 401; who appeared in the flesh as themselves on flights that included the parts of their failed plane.

As you know, they appeared, as doppelgangers nearly identical to themselves, but `disappeared’ when their `realness’ was forced to confront the common human consensus idea of what was/is possible - after all, that is all that could happen - they were dead.

But, the IDEA of the pilots - the idea they had of themselves - as personally watching over L1011’s (the type of jet they crashed) - was not dead. And, was, in some manner -able to actualize - into a termporal `character’ — character in our meaning - the transformation into a space that `looked like’ the `information’ that represented what the pilots - looked like. Literally.

They were transformed - formed - into - temporal characters (spaces). BUT - as temporal characters - they lacked what we normally consider `solid space’ - which is rooted in a different `area’ of space.

Along the same lines - might other anomalies and paranormal entities fall into the same category. Temporary beings. Temporal characters that represent ideas. Such as the Bigfoot type entities that were reported on the Skinwalker ranch - or - for that matter - any type of Bigfoot or mothman or chupacabra. Could these entities be IDEAS? Could they be ideas that transform into temporal characters - like memes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

Could ghosts be the same thing? Could ghosts be the remaining `idea’ that one has of oneself after ones demise? Could UFO’s be an idea that is transforming into a temporal character? Is it the `temporal nature’ of these `things’ `ideas’ `entities’ that makes an objective `specimen’ impossible?

Could even evolution, consciousness, or intelligence manifest in the same manner? Is everything an idea that shows only its temporal character - is this a description of reality?

Nothing like - The Heavy Stuff.

*(Title stolen from Husserl)

Have you seen THS’s (The Heavy Stuff’s) UFO blog? —- http://ufodisclosurecountdownclock.blogspot.com– or visit our blogroll for more great reads; including the front page of this website too where you can find the titles of the last 15 posts www.theheavystuff.com - thanks for reading, leave a comment.

Hello brave readers of The Heavy Stuff (THS) and welcome back to your dose of mind medicine - thinking. That’s right, thinking. As only the bravest internet surfer would dare to click on a link promising phenomenology thoughts. You must be a masochist. LOL. That’s okay, you are still welcome.

As you may know, one of this blogs `original’ positionings is that a basis for reality and happenings within reality (including paranormal) is found in the ideas of Phenomenology - an area of thought first pursued by Edmund Husserl in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Many of Husserl’s original ideas about ontology form the basis for what Jean-Paul Sartre would expouse years later in his ideas about what existenialism IS.

And, while Husserl had many writings - one of his obscure books is called The Phenomenology Of Internal Time-Consciousness (1964 - Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-10829) - it is edited by Martin Heidegger - another major name in phenomenology thinking. (Since Husserl wrote in German, the text is also a translation by James Churchill.) THS goes into this detail so that perhaps you to can someday hold The Heaviest Book of Alltime in your own hands. Indeed, as you can see from this posts title - this will be the first of an intermintent series that THS will use to provide foundation for the thoughts of the Phillips Phenomenology. THS wants to start this series by exposing you simply to some of the book overview itself - as the words that describe the phenomenology of Husserl’s thought progression  about Phenomenology - are as Heavy as you will ever find in any book.

The Contents

(Lectures on Internal Time-Consciousness from the year 1905)

Husserl’s 45 Aspects of Phenomenology

1. The Exclusion of Objective Time - (pg21) - “The analysis of time-consciousness is an age-old crux of descriptive psychology and theory of knowledge.” >>>> Phillips Phenomenology - `Reality’ is constituted of phases of space - some of which `form’ our space - and - some of which `forms with’ other spaces to `produce’ our objective time. Literally, the continuous `thread’ of Not-able-to-not-be. 

2. The Question of the “Origin of Time” - (pg27) - “From the point of view of theory of knowledge, the question of the possibility of experience … necessitates a return to the phenomenological data of which all that is experienced consists phenomenologically”.  >>> Phillips Phenomenology - All reality is constituted of spaces and their relationship to each other and themselves - this phenomenological constitution `leads’ into the sub-atomic level - and leads - outward, to other `space’ relationships (with other spaces that are not us). All `knowledge’ MUST `come’ from `spaces’ - the basis for phenomenology.

3. The Primordial Associations - (pg30) - “When the new note sounds, the one just preceding it does not disappear without a trace; otherwise, we should be incapable of observing the relations between the notes which follow one another.”  >>> Phillips Phenomenology - `Space’ modifies at least three times before `producing’ the Not-able-to-not-be. Producing the `what HAS to occur’ thread we call real. Spaces `endure’ during these phases of the `same’ space.

4. The Gaining of the Future and Infinite Time - (pg33) - “On the basis of the appearance of momentary recollections, phantasy forms ideas of  the future in a process to that through which, circumstances permitting, we arrive at ideas of certain new variteties of color and sound while keeping to known forms and relations.” >>> Phillips Phenomenology - The qualities of color and sound can only be known with a `local’ structure - of phenomenology - our body - our space.

THS Overview of Part One

Husserl, like many of history’s great thinkers, was obsessed with the concepts of time, consciousness and reality - only he strove to put those `impossible’ thoughts into words. Tackling the very concept of how time could have begun (and what it IS) is the ONLY place a phenomenology about the reality structure can/could begin.

Husserl’s ideas that `time’ could not be objective - fits nicely with the Phillips Phenomenolgy that all `time’ is local only. It also is not surprising that Husserl bring `consciousness’ into the `phenomenology picture’ so quickly - after all - memory and phantasy (let alone awareness) quickly bring our awareness to the forefront of any attempt to understand `things’ - `spaces’ - whether the `spaces’ occur in our dreams, daydreams, or memories of the past. Likewise, the Phillips Phenomenology addresses the reality of consciousness too - consciousness is part of the Able-to-not-be - a significant part. Indeed, the able-to-not-be encompasses EVERYTHING that isn’t a `space’ during that ` planck instant’.

You have finished your mind medicine for today - please bookmark as this will be a continuing series - and, if you want to find a link to BUY the Husserl book — THS has it on our lens at www.squidoo.com/theheavystuff  - indeed, all the book reviews at squidoo’s The Heavy Stuff are straight from our bookshelf - and the Squidoo site is the best place to find a description of every post ever done on this website. THS has also added selective new links to our blogroll - all worthy of your visit. Finally, THS is scheduled to be interviewed next Friday by Ross Hemsworth who has a radio show in England, 11pm, (6pm Eastern, right?) July 18th, - you can listen on the internet at www.glastonburyradio.net .

Recently on my Squidoo lens (website) at www.squidoo.com/anomalymanI carried the link found elsewhere on the web about the research study which attempted to find out if common fruit flies had `freewill’ - or - did they `act’ `randomly’. They conducted this research by gluing the fruit fly to a copper wire that left it `free’ to beat its wings. The fruit fly was then immersed in an all white environment which was`free’ of `cues’. The scientists were trying to determine if the beats of the fruit flies wings were `random’ within this environment which had `no cues’ — or — did the beating of the wings, which yields a `direction’ for the fruit fly - result from something other than random movement.

While I will have the link to the story at the bottom of this post (or you can go to my Squidoo site) — the results indicated the fruit flies had something between `freewill’ and `determinism’. (It quibbled about whether the `pattern of movement - which was similar to an algorithm’ qualified as real intentionality.)  But then it seemed the study then concluded that any freewill was `freewill’ - and even if limited, the fruitfly had it. And therefore so did humans the research seemed to extrapolate. Hmm. How nice. I wonder how many would have read the article if it had said humans had no freewill.

Interestingly, the article did spend some time talking about the freewill vs determinism `issue’ of philosophy — a rarity in today’s dumbdown media positioning of avoiding anything `too heavy’. But, as you know, HEAVY is this blog’s middle name — and freewill and determinism qualifies as topic material. It also goes right into the area my mind likes to explore — phenomenology. That’s right, the stuff of Edmund Husserl and others. To me, combining the ideas of 1910 phenomenology and just the basic of physics known today, seems to point to at least a way to grapple with the freewill vs determinism issue. IF it really is an issue.

My hope is that readers of The Heavy Stuff are at least familiar with the basics of phenomenology - but if not - one dictionary definition is:

• the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to philosophy or a part of a philosophy
• a philosophical movement that describes the formal structure of the objects of awareness and of awareness itself in abstraction from any claims concerning existence

How’s that for heavy? All I can say is that Phenomenology has been the heaviest idea I’ve ever encountered. In addition to that, amazingly, I’ve had my own phenomenology ideas before I encountered Husserl’s works in 1975 or so. But, all that is for another post — this post is about freewill and determinism ——- and  — The Heavy Stuff’s as always unique take on the issue. READY? Get that mind open now, breathe deep, use what you have and do what you have  to do to  arrive at an altered state to receive this phenomenology take/positioning  on one of mankind’s intellectual issues.

Here the idea is. Ordinary physics tells us about `how’ humans `gather’ our information to even perceive the reality around us. First, we as a human being, have a `space’ which is us. Me. You. A space. A group of atoms organized by DNA to represent a human and all the characteristics of a specific human `space’. This `space’ (our body) has a relationship to `other spaces’. The computer we sit in front of - the garbage can in the kitchen - the trees outside. Even the locust in the tree. Even to the sounds from a train whistle.

Those other `spaces’, those other `things’ — `are representations of their actual now a `moment ago” — THEY are NOT in OUR `space-now’. The `light’ from `where their space is’ travels to our perception. THEIR space that we see has already occured and THEY are actually IN another `space’ - of which will travel to our perception too. What this means my dear readers is that `the space we see is DETERMINED’. Even the `space’ we see that is OUR OWN body - is DETERMINED. The nature of consciousness is that we can only be aware of things that have been determined. And are therefore `past’ things in comparison to our `now placed-spaced consciousness’.

Does that mean that we all need to `embrace despair’ as suggested by J.C. Pierce in his 1970’s books on `The Crack Of The Cosmic Egg’? No, not at all. The fact that `the space we see has been determined’ does NOT mean we `didn’t participate in THAT SPACE’. Indeed, not only did we participate in that space —- OUR `real now space’ — ISN”T even a part of it — we exist in a `real space’ which has our intentionality and duration exclusively.

It’s this `real space’ that we possess - that has our `freewill’ NOT the `space’ we `project’ onto `others spaces’. What we need to grasp as human beings or what any space needs to grasp as a being with life in reality - is that we can `change’ our `relationship’ (the `next’ actual space location) to any space — by moving our actual space. And, we do THAT in OUR `space’ with our intentionality’s - and freewill that has NOTHING to do with other spaces.

The Heavy Stuff positioning on this philosophical issue is —- Every Space Becomes A Time Point For Other Spaces.

The link to the article directly is http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18684016/ – and, just to ask, if fruit flies have freewill, should they be glued to copper while alive? Just kidding. Thanks for reading, leave a comment — and hey, I’ve got the best of the links of 2006 on www.squidoo.com/anomalyman2006.