Alot of Reading

Pearce Chapter 4: questions and answers
In this chapter Pearce discusses Eureka!, "which is the illumination of lateral thinking come about". To me it seems like he's talking about an apifiny, or everything in your life is going so well it seems nothing you think or feel is wrong. Its hard to explain but i feel an example would help me here. When i played semi-pro ball i always went through this routine and if my pre-game routine went well, it just seemed like the whole game went well and if a problem arose i knew exactly how to fix it. Pearce also explained outer body experiences, people "communicating" with history and not just history in the past but history that will be in the future also known as mental illumination. Pearce also interviews a man named Kazantzakis and he spoke about going out to Mont Athos and pushing his body to the limits such as cold,hunger, and thirst. He claims it was here that he had his illumination. I have read some pretty outlandish stuff in my life but i would have to say this tops them all. First Pearce has a lack of evidence and by that i mean all these people are doctors and scientists or at least have some degree of higher education. I really am trying to have an open mind, but this is out of control Pearce is talking about people going back into history and knowing exactly what happened then going into the future and knowing what will happen.

Hughes Chapter 4 Dreams and the Unconscious
Finally something i understand, this was a great reading in the sense i found out a lot of information that i understand before. For example i knew REM sleep constituted dreams but i had no idea there was a correlation between REM sleep and a persons health. Also Hughes states that everybody dreams and goes onto say some people may not remember their dreams. I can honestly say i have never remembered a dream, i will wake up and know i dreamed but i couldn't tell you what it was about. Another interesting aspect of the chapter is when Hughes states that dreams are much more exciting when the subject is sleeping in there home rather in the sleep laboratory. It just amazes me that the human body can tell where one is and adapt accordingly. Shamans were also believed to be "professional dreamers" which were people who used this skill to assist the community through prediction and healing. The Romantics also surprised me in being the first group of people prior to Freud to explore the unconscious, trusting the visions from the underworld and the heavens. We know enough about Freud so ill just skip him. The science of dreaming was the best part of the chapter, because this is my proof and we all know how i must have proof to believe. "REM-on" cells move violently in the cerebral cortex which drive the eye's into motion. Basically what i got from Hobson is during REM sleep the brain is processing so much information it has a hard time sorting it all out, which is why we have dreams a lot of times that don't make sense. Last but not least, Lucid dreaming and i have to mention this because of one aspect that really caught my eye. "To prepare for a Lucid dream, is to concentrate on an object before falling asleep, and find it again in a dream. Recognition of the object will trigger awareness that one is in a dream.

AS chap 4, Egg, chap 4, and Shamanism part 5

Chapter 4

I loved loved LOVED chapter 4 in Altered States! I have a few dream dictionaries and am constantly looking up the meaning of my dreams(as silly as this may sound, after reading this chapter it seems completely okay). One of the first things I found interesting is the fact that interruption of REM sleep has negative affects on a person. Dreaming without REM sleep causes a rebound affect, showing that to stay healthy, we need to dream. In psychotic patients, it was shown they needed REM sleep during thier remission. These patients showed signs of hallucinations and lacked REM sleep. So, if you are considered psychotic, you could be dreaming while awake. So...anytime someone hallucinates or has a psychotic episode, they could be dreaming while awake.

I've always been facinated by depicting my dreams with a dream dictionary. It is interesting to see what my mind is subconsciously thinking of. This makes me think of the Shamans and how they were able to find thier powers and interpret what they(dreams) meant(so they could use it).

On page 49 it states, 'Some precognitions may arise as the result of subliminal signals stored by the mind but never accessed in consciousness'. This is cool. It explains why we have certain dreams. Maybe we've thought it would be so much easier to fly to class instead of sitting through traffic and waiting. But, consciously, we know that is not possible. Yet, here we are, in our dream, flying over trees and streets, arriving at PSU early. This because a dream is subconscious. Anything is possible in our dreams.

I enjoyed the connection of dreams to the Romantic period. The sudden "affair" between the romantic enlightenment and the dark irrational world of dreams. If anyone is a Harry Potter fan, on page 50, the author mentions a german movement called Sturm and Drang. I wondered if JK Rowling used this to name Durmstrang, the wizarding school from Harry Potter. I did some research, and the name is based off of this!(yes, I am a nerd)

Along these lines, William Blake and Mary Shelly(whom I have read both in my brittish lit class at HACC), using the idea of dark and uncertainty of dreams, as a new idea for thier works. "But for the Romantics there was no road, just a number of risky tracks into the unknown led by strange spirit guides."

I also read Kubla Kahn, a poem written by Coleridge. Kubla Kahn means 'a vision in a dream, a fragment'(wikipedia.org). Coleridge said he wrote this while in an opium induced state. This, I feel, connects most of what we've discussed(dreams, drugs, poems).

I have another Harry Potter connection. In the article Jungian Angle, while discussing alchemy, and the Philosopher's Stone (book 1). (once again..I'm a geek..it's cool).

Another huge part of this chapter is how Freud and psychoanalysis affected dreams and the mind. In his book, The Interpretation of Dreams, he says the dreams are simply unappropriate sexual desires that are we push into our unconsciousness. He discussed the ego and the id. The ego is used to balance the id.

Carl Jung, took a different approach, and disagreed with Freud. He felt that our dreams come from a deeper, non sexual level. That simply(or not so) we have repressed feelings and thoughts that are below our personal unconsciousness.



Cosmic Egg, 4(not my fave, but not my least fave)

I'm going to be honest...reading this book hurts my brain. And I continue on..

It begins discussing Edward de Bono, an english scientist who discusses lateral and vertical thinking. Vertical thinking, which is logic, has become the normal way of thinking. Lateral thinking is the opposite. It is because of latteral thinking that new ideas occur. These eventually become vertical thoughts. It is a constant cycle.

I also picked up on an analogy of a plant growing and how a question works. The question is a seed...the germination happens in ways unavailable to conscious thought...but only in a ground prepared and nourished...the synthesis flowers.

Shamanism part 5(i really don't enjoy this book, but i treaded through it)
This section discusses how a shaman universe is 3 tiered. It has upper, middle, and lower worlds. Each part is connected and work together. Often, we would percieve the upper and lower worlds to be simply created by the shamans mind, the shaman's think of them as seperately operating realms.
Shaman's can see spirits and communicate with them. This almost reminds me of a psychic. However, while reading on, what seperates a shaman from a psychic would be the journey. They leave thier body.

Week Four's Blogs

I know, I know, some really dense material you had to wade through for this week’s reading, but I absolutely loved reading through your blogs. Most of you enjoyed Pearce’s insights, and it’s amazing to see all of the different aspects each one of you decided to focus on. As Suset said, it’s rather like a Thanksgiving feast – where to start?
Blake gave us a nice synopsis of all three chapters (a difficult feat since they’re so jam packed) and raised the nurture vs. nature conundrum which (I think) was one of the major themes in the reading.
Ubersuck (who is this, by the way?) introduced Pearce’s theme of the importance of language as “like a whisper amongst the shouting” – ooh, lovely turn of phrase!
Josh S reminds us of the positive thinking theme he already discussed in class (I thought of Josh as I read certain sections of this piece) and leaves us with the quote, “Anything capable of being thought of can be true.”
Ben, a confessed skeptic when it comes to all of this, ends his thoughts with a good point – cigarettes burn – but makes the argument with circular reasoning. And because some people (like Wilbert) have first-hand knowledge of circumstances where skin doesn’t burn, we know we can escape from that “circular trap” - “A change of world view can change the world viewed” (Pearce 4).
Many of you made great connections with movies that represent some of these ideas: Tyler with The Matrix, Ashley with the Jewel of Nile, and Carolyn with The Village. Carolyn’s analysis could easily be developed into a great paper for the next writing assignment (nicely done Carolyn), as could an analysis of any of these texts.
Allison’s detrimental treatment of the book, The Secret, is probably warranted. I haven’t read it, but have heard of it, and I agree Allison, it sounds like a commercialized version of some very profound ancient wisdom. Maybe you should give your mom Pearce’s book for Christmas. For those of you interested in a more scientific, less philosophical, but more popular style of book on the subject, try Lynn McTaggert’s The Field. She’s a journalist who researched these topics extensively, and who provides some very credible scientific sources for her findings.
Gunnar, thank-you for providing the image and the vocabulary to describe some of the frustration in trying to fully digest this reading. I looked up “Asymptote” in the O.E.D. The definition: “A straight line which is continually approached by a given curve but does not meet it within a finite distance.” Whoa! (How do lines approach curves, anyway? ).
Last but certainly not least, I have to mention Mr. Lance’s blog. His quote from Pearce – “A mind divided by choices, confused by alternatives, is a mind robbed of power.” Perhaps ASC’s help to take away those choices (or should we call them distractions) so we can begin to focus on more important aspects of our world. Mr. Lance also refers to government and big business as one in the same, an idea which Pearce alludes to later. Mr. Lance's “haven to prison” is also an insightful idea. Thanks for the zeitgeist link. I know you mentioned this movie before. I think it’ll be on my weekend watch list.

Hungry for an omlette

All I can say is wow! Thom Hartman had it completely right when he said that Peirce had created a life-changing book. "A Crack in the Cosmic Egg" should be the anthem of the non-conformist. Unfortunately, shitty pop-punk songs have taken its throne and left it destitute.
Just the first three chapters are filled with heavy and at times, overly engaging tidbits to think about and ponder. (disclaimer - avoid reading with a cigerette in hand as one may be tempted to do the utterly insane!) I felt at times like i was standing on the brink, begging to jump in and wallow in the stuff of truly independent thought and action. Unfortunately, i was often shakled to the shore of reason by the omnipresent dry delivery of Pierce. Had he took a more layman's route with his langauge choice, maybe there would be far fewer people listening to Slipknot in bondage pants who think they are truly the only one capable of divergent thought.
But Chapter one had an incredable reference to our use (and relience upon) language - "Our inherited representation, our worldview, is a language made affair."(Pearce, 6) This innocent and innocous statement, like a whisper amongst the shouting that makes up chapter one, struck me more than any other in the 60 odd pages read so far.
To think our reality is so relient on our ability to lable, to communicate an object or an idea with a certainty that the person recieving the message will understand exactly what we are trying to get across. And even more humbling thought is what happens when the message is misunderstood. People can get hurt or killed because misinterprated what another was saying. If language doesn't form our reality, nothing does.

The Cosmic Egg

I found this work of writing to be quite fascinating. When I initially read the title, I wasn’t quite sure of what to expect. Now, however, I find that this “cracking of the cosmic egg” is not as foreign to me as I thought.
The Preface strikes me as a method of deterring those who may not be as successful or willing to understand that which the book is meant to explain. Joseph Pierce explains that a group of select, so-called experts tell the people what they believe the mind to be and expect the general populace to accept it without question. However, ingenuity and true change involves thinking outside the box, as Mr. Pierce explains. He frequently equates it to child-esque or autistic reasoning, and while this may deter some, I find it to be very intriguing. I myself have found some times in my life when I wished to step outside the boundaries of normal thinking; the so-called egg that keeps one’s mind in check. Eager to learn more, I set to reading.
Chapter one speaks as an extension of the preface in a fashion, showing the method to finding the cracks in the egg. One must look beyond popular perception and believe that there still is more to discover, even in the most established of practices. I believe that my first “awakening” to this form of thinking came with my first year of college, which opened up my mind to alternate ways of approaching problems, questions, and concepts.
Chapter two has an eerily familiar tone to that of my experience in writing. As I mentioned before, my mind was remarkably closed prior to entering college. When I began to think outside of standard patterns, I found myself drawn to writing, to expressing my long-dormant creativity (of particular note, a story that I had been concocting within my consciousness (and still am) for eleven long years). Pierce explains that this form of thinking is somewhat childish, and it’s destroyed by the structured logic of adulthood. However, it is through this youthful suspension of reality that true creativity begins to shine through, as it has for me.
Chapter three stepped into a slightly more psychological tone than the previous two chapters, relating to feral children and, vaguely, the concept of nature vs. nurture. While there is plenty of evidence to support said theories of nature influencing humans solely, who’s to say that humans are above animals to begin with? In reality, we truly are an instinct-driven species that just so happens to have opposable thumbs, and consequently, additional talents such as technology and science. This is not meant to be morbid, but rather eye-opening, as this book proves. I am looking forward to finding a few more insights into the nature of reality in the next few weeks.

blog 3

The Pearce reading proved to be pretty good reading. I particularly enjoyed the preface when Hartman was stating that when he gets an idea it is like being pregnant. It takes a while to get the idea complete and form it. This is true for many writers. I know that it takes me a while to figure out what topic I want to write about much less what I want to write about from that topic. I have to sit down and figure it out and let it formulate and grow before I can actually put anything on paper.

I thought that, when Pearce explained his experience when he passed out one day and while he was unconscious he saw his girl writing him a letter, this was a particularly interesting part because I have never heard of that happening. When I read that this letter, with exactly what he read in it, arrived I kind of got shivers. I thought that was really odd but really cool at the same time. I have never had an experience like this and I would imagine it to be frightening when you learn it to be real like when the letter came.

Meditation and Yoga are a way of being able to enter an autistic state. The ability to reach this state obviously is very hard. It takes years of training and meditation to even begin to crack this state of mind. Being able to make something real to you, like Pearce’s son making his G.I. Joe alive, can be fun for a little while but then it must lose its magic when you realize that nobody else can see the same thing that you do. They don’t even realize what you are doing and how you are doing it.

Pearce did a good job in bringing all of these things together in a way to make you understand how they are all connected. All of these ideas are like the egg you are pregnant with. It takes a while for the idea to actually take hold and grow into something that can be understood by the masses.

Pearce

This is by far my favorite reading we've done. The foreword explains perfectly how unimportant things are even though they seem to be at the time, "Even our culture--made entirely from the most ephemeral thoughts, ideas, and beliefs--has a tenacious sense of reality to it. We know with great certainty what's possible and what's impossible, what's right and wrong, what's acceptable and what's offensive--even though in the modern world all of these cultural referents change, often dramatically, though the course of a single lifetime. Still, at every moment each seems solid and real."(ix) The truth is, none of this matters. All things will pass, including us.
The preface notes, "This circular trap of how we perceive reality is our cosmic egg, a shell of mind that both defines our world and helps shape it just as that world so shaped defines the nature of our mind and experiences." (xiv) I think this hints at the possibility of being able to manifest your thoughts into reality. I know I keep talking about it---but I think positive thinking can and will manifest into your reality (so why not try it?!) Again, another quote (I couldn't put my highlighter down when reading this) "There is a relationship between what we think is out there in the world and what we experience as being out there. There is a way in which the energy of thought and the energy of matter modify each other and interrelate. A kind of rough mirroring takes place between our mind and our reality." (3)
I'm fascinated by the idea of a tulpa. I've mentioned before that I want to get into yoga---now I have even more of a reason. And why am I wasting my time looking for the perfect girl when I can just create her. "Anything capable of being thought of can be true" (26). I better get started.....

"They must find it difficult...Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority." - Gerald Massey

Now I have found the past readings stimulating, however, this book could not be more true to form for me. Ever since I saw the movie Zeitgeist (www.zeitgeistmovie.com –its free to watch online, watch it!!) I have been absorbed with “metanoia” as Pearce would put it and how our ideas and values are not only shaped by society, but how society is shaped from our ideas and values. It’s more than a circular argument in the way that we as individuals decide what is relevant, and in turn, what is relevant shapes the rest of society.

I was very moved by many ideas in the book; the first one was when the author described how “Robert Frost saw civilization as a small clearing in a great forest.” At first it seems the space was garnered by society out of a desire to escape “the dark out there.” It, I would hope, was meant to be a haven, and established under the ideals of growth and understanding amongst the human race. In primal times, I can see a reason for community as a sense of security. However, this circle has turned from a haven to a prison. It never occurred to me that building a civilization would limit the use of free thought. (As I wrote that sentence it just became clearer.) I guess in order for a society to exist, there must be rules placed on its’ citizens, but also on their intentions. There must be a common understanding and thought process in order to keep the momentum going. The easiest way to do that is take the obscure “autistic thinking” and ban it to the dark forest. As Pearce states, “Each person is a potential line capable of breaking through the circle of reason. Yet the circle is an accomplishment of no small order. An enormous force bends all lines into circles. Each new mind threatens the structure but ages of pressure weigh on the infant to win from him agreement with, modification to, and help in sustaining his cultural cycle.”

I have always found people to believe in freedom, however, I have always thought there was no such thing; seeing that if we all just did what we wanted, there would be no society; therefore society and freedom could never be one in the same. What I didn’t realize is that this society is only possible by resigning our freedom of thought as well. Even our deepest conscious thoughts are no match for the overall directive that has brought us to this state of mind.

When Pearce goes on to talk about our clearing and our “ideation, cataloging, and indexing” of it, it made a lot of sense to me. When you see all the magazines, movies, television media, games, phones, ringtones, ringback tones, etc, etc, etc, we realize how small our worlds have become, yet how full of junk they are. I think Peace put it perfectly when he said “A mind divided by choices, confused by alternatives, is a mind robbed of power.” I feel like society has become so consumed with society (itself) that it no longer cares about the forest at all. However, there are also those in power who help this along i.e. the government/big business (aren’t these one in the same?).

Anyway I want to end with a quote from Pearce which is “ I saw that the only “truth” for us is the process of questioning what truth might be, and receiving the answers in keeping with the nature of our questions.”

Narrow and Wide Gates

Matthew 7
13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Reference to Pearce Preface)

Wow I felt kind of lost after reading the first chapter in The Crack in the Comic Egg… As I plodded through the material, thought I wow this kind of makes sense, I think! The relationship between the between our minds and the world and the concept of mirroring are certainly theories that need to be considered. I like when Pearce says “reality is not a fixed entity” (5) and that events do not just happen – everything for a reason…
Pearce goes on to discuss that basic assumptions actively direct out percepts and individuals have been trained look at life, situations, and circumstance with realism. But let’s consider Pearce‘s thinking that “A change of world view and can the world viewed. I lOVED this idea probably because I could learn from its practice.

As you consider all of the material that floods our mind each day we choose to ignore, magnify or expand upon those items that we feel passionate about… We may need to take a more active part in shaping our present and future. As with many of the ideas we have explored thus far we are part of the equation.
Ah- ha! Pearce talks about illumination… To me this is the ah-ha (Eureka) moment - the moment when you see things for what they are and you achieve understanding. Autistic thinking is non-logical whimsical thinking. Again I love this idea! Moving from something being in-probable to probable and not allowing the mirroring that has taken place to influence us and not be influenced by logic.

Chapter 3 was the most interesting to me perhaps a eureka moment! I did take pause when Pearce said that we badger our children into looking a situation objectively. Proverbs 22:6 Train [a] a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Again I stopped when I read that we show children what to do and reward them when the correct behavior is portrayed... The mirroring period is vital to development as witnessed in the feral children highlighted in the book – fascinating stuff!!

After I finished reading… I thought “We can’t always be looking for cracks in the cosmic egg can we or should we?”

"Twilight Between the Worlds" (Pearce)...Laying the egg.

This book reminds me of Thanksgiving....(bare with me)... so much to eat but you can't come to conclusions on what you will pick first. So I will pick a little into the meat then work my way down the table.

I would have to say that reading this book has fed me and left me without words (whether I am confused or enlightened.) It is full of details and "OH, I see what he means by that"!? Lots to digest but nonetheless very good fulfilling reading. I would like to start of with my interpretation of the crack in the cosmic egg: It is a way that one can go beyond the broad, routine way of which we live. It is an eye opener and a largely unexplored way of truth. Pearce talks about how "It is that, "twilight between the worlds," the Yaqui Indian sorcerer do Juan explored in his "way of knowledge" reported year ago by the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda." Pearce goes on saying how, "The crack is similar to the "narrow gate" of Jesus' way of truth, whose way is still as novel and largely unexplored as is the way of don Juan." To this is true because I used to belong to a Catholic church and I was taught to recite and go to Sunday school but after a while, when I grew older and I can decide for myself what my faith should be; I went on and converted to Christianity (Evangelistic) and I found this faith more rewarding simply because I saw the unexplored truth through my new faith. In fact, At the beginning when I went to the service meeting there was an event in which you had to choose to go through "the darker path and narrow path" or "the nicely light and wide path". It is not always easy to get through that narrow path but when one gets across all seems clear.

On another note I enjoyed reading Carolyn's blog and how she put one and two together using the movie "The Village". I couldn't agree with her more on her interpretation to how this group of people who live deep in the woods have created a set of laws ( or ways...if you can say) so to influence the way of thinking of these characters. Carolyn blogs, how in the movie the leaders enforce the rules about "things we do not speak of". We can relate to that in the reading in which Pearce says, " that the world we see is far from an exact image of the physical world."( 58) We know what we see and what we are told. This way of thinking is influenced by those around us and our culture.

I will like to end with this quote because I think is brilliant, " If we believe our social view sacred and made is heaven, we tend to shut off a deep potential in which many of the terrors and shortcomings of our logic and reason might be averted." (Pearce 55)

Pearce (Foreword - Ch. 3)

Wow. This is first thing that came to my mind after (if I may say) trying to read this bombardment of "psycho-babble" and "scholarly jargon". First of all, if you're going to suggest that people "crack this cosmic egg", you might want to start with a more simple approach. In no way do I look down upon these readings, because I sure as hell couldn't have written this stuff, but I got lost in his wacky chronology and his obsession with quoting others and himself even.

Pearce is essentially telling us that something is wrong. The world we live in is NOT the real world. This kept visions of the movie "The Matrix" popping in and out of my head. He favors all of the great minds that we have begun to read already in this course and it shows in his quotes and in his personal accounts and reflections. I think the jist of this first set of readings is that we should start to "think differently". Like I have said previously, we have been conditioned, and to me and also according to Pearce, this is not a good thing. These "valves" and these "solvents" of our time are keeping us from seeing what is actually there. Oh yeah, don't tell Pearce to take some psychedelic either to see through these impedents - he's not diggin' it. Pearce seems to be about breaking down this conscious and subconscious barrier in order to gain the perception that is needed to start a "crack". I will say I completely agree with him on this one. I just wish he would've taken a more tranquil approach.

The best part of these readings was his obsession with "autism" and being "autistic". He doesn't seem to "rape" this concept like our mass media and mass culture does - using it for monetary gain and discrimination. He wants us to get into this state of mind. He wants us to think outside of the box - hopefully outside of the box there is an egg that is waiting for us to crack it. I have already pondered about this before having read it. I thought to myself many times, 'what if these people that we cast out as different (such as the autistic, mentally challenged, and schizophrenic) are the ones that are actually living life?'. What if these people aren't actually challenged? Maybe they hold some secret of the universe that can't be told? I guess it is up to us to break down our mental barriers and enter as many states of consciousness as we can in order to obtain new and useful ideas for a new paradigm.

Forwar,Preface Chaps1-3 a crack in the egg

In the forward by Thom Hartman he talks about he he can relate to the book The crack in the cosmic egg by Joseph Pearce and his reaction after reading the book. I liked that he related the reading to his childhood days and how he remembered when his grandma passed that he would look at the mirror that they both liked to look at and imagine her ghost appear. This highlights that sometimes what one thinks is reality in their consciousness might or might not be for all.

I found the read for this week to be both enciteful and engaging. I thought he did a good job in trying to distinguish what we perceive to be reality and what other possible ends of reality are outside the realm of our consciosness. He tries to explain how our minds process what we perceive as reality and challenges that aspect abit. I found that as I read I bumped into phrases or quotes that made me think deep into the philosophical realm. One particular relevant quote that I found mind boggling was that"reality is not a fixed entity. It is a contigent interlocking of moving events". What do we perceive reality to be, is it just our own or that of every living species in the universe. Do we share one common reality that bonds us together. Could Imagination or dreams be perceived as a reality in our conscious realm?I felt personally connected to the second chapter where he talks about the "autistic thinking". Usually we perceive autism to be of a mental illness that strikes one from their very early childhood. but one characteristic of autistic kids is that they can be very gifted in the creative aspects. Drawing, music etc. What the author conveys as A-thinking he decsribes it as "unstructured, nonlogical (but not necessiraly illogical), whimsical thinking that is key to creativity. He saying that this is an area that is in everybody that when tapped into releases the best of our full potential. I liked the title and he conveyed a "crack in the cosmic egg". Our minds and what we perceve reality is the egg. How we construst what we take in is the crack in the egg.

Posted for Dianna

While reading what Pearce had to say about the “Cosmic Egg,” I have to say I really don’t agree. He speaks very unsure and unconfident about his feelings. Why would anybody buy into his ideas? Pearce starts the book by journeying off on personal stories, stories of others, thoughts of other writers, his thoughts compared to other writers, his comparisons on religions, leaving a lot of unanswered questions for his audience, and really doesn’t seem like he has a lot to say. It’s like hopping on a never ending marry-go-round of this crack that happened to this cosmic egg.
Here is just one of the areas that prove Pearce’s unconfident about his work. He displays no facts, but sheer opinion. “Perhaps, then, the education of a child is unlearning as well as learning, and perhaps many possibilities are lost through lack of triggering response, possibilities that may have been of worth.” (Page 52) This statement leaves you hanging. Perhaps the sky really isn’t blue, and perhaps the grass really isn’t green. Anybody can make assumptions, but what separates people from being fantastic writers is by giving evidence to support your decisions and ideas.
Not giving support to your own ideas isn’t a good move to explain your thoughts to others, especially when it corresponds with learning about reality, and altered states of consciousness. What triggered his ideas for a cosmic egg?Pearce says “…though our cosmic egg is the only reality we have, and is not to be treated lightly, what I hope to show is that there is available to us a crack in this egg…The crack must be approached with care, however, lest the egg itself be destroyed.” (Page 19) No motive is explained why Pearce feels compelled to show us the way to this egg, what the egg really symbolizes in full detail, and I feel as if Pearce is trying to start a colt of cracked egg followers. Pearce may have a crack in his egg, but also has a crack in his own ideas.

Blog 3: The Cosmic Egg

On page xxi: "we lost so much when we chose machines". I agree with this, although, while machines have almost certainly dulled the edge of our senses, the real loss is what we suffer at the hands of our own overriding of natural selection, the very process that promised to allow humans to reach their maximum potential. We have traded a world where only the strong, healthy and capable survive and reproduce for a world in which anyone, regardless of defects, health problems and genetic disorders can procreate and pass along all the wrong kinds of genes. The result is a human species so watered down, so riddled with problems, that in terms of our abilities both physical and mental, we get further from our ancestors with every passing generation.

On page xiii: Pearce talks about the "reality shaping function of the mind". Of course everyone interprets reality differently and I would agree that there are many examples of people subconsciously creating circumstances, situations or realities that they would not consciously take credit for, I am not as sure about the author's suggestion that a person who is afraid of getting cancer would develop cancer because the power of the mind is so powerful that it would bring about the very reality imagined by that person. Furthermore, I would be more then opposed to forgo considering that there was some explanation other than "a total brainwash" (page 7, paragraph 3) for the remission of the author's wife's cancer. Pearce declares that anyone unwilling to consider such possibilities is narrow minded when he says "Holding to [these ideas] today are the "tough-minded", whose boastful posturing of a "realistic, no-nonsense objectivity" cloaks a narrow and pedantic selective-blindness...". Newsflash: If you touch a lit cigarette, it burns your skin. Any other outcome is a parlor trick.

Green Eggs and Ham

First, I love how in the introduction Pearce admits that he just flat-out ignores arguments that don't help his purpose and  then justifies it by stating how science, religion, and politics all use this method. Already I can tell he's a very smart man and I look forward to studying what he has to say. 

In the introduction, Pearce also says he wrote this book for that person "who cannot stand where he is and has no place to go." And in a sense, I think that statement  describes most people. Isn't it human nature to never be satisfied and constantly looking for the next level? So for those who have no religion to work their way through, where else is there to go?

The concept Pearce explains through his wife's cancer relating to her family's battle with history is not new to me. The idea that thoughts control us by attracting positive or negative energy recently captivated my mother when she read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which she then attempted to shove down my family's throats. While neither my father, my brother, nor I read The Secret or watched the movie she bought us for Christmas, we all have a grasp on the concept of how our thoughts relate to energy. My mother, a cognitive therapist (fitting, isn't it?), finds a way to work this concept into daily conversation. For example, if she finds a good parking spot at the mall, she will declare, "See, I have The Secret! Alli, maybe if you had The Secret, you would *insert improvement of my life here*." So now I can tell my mom that I do have The Secret; I just don't call it that because "The Secret" is an ancient theory that Rhonda Byrne has recycled to make money off of people like my mother, whom I love dearly.

I also really like Pearce's way of using images to explain himself. For example when he speaks of the proverbial clearing in the forest, I can picture it and a vague, foreign concept becomes clearer. I also believe the clearing in the forest is an effective metaphor, with the clearing being what we know and are comfortable with, or what we define as reality (which is all relative, right?), and the rest of the forest being a place yet undiscovered. And really, who would stay in the safe, but known and sometimes boring clearing when there is a whole forest of adventures out there to explore?

Pearce explains autistic creative thinking as the link that connects the clearing and the forest. This thinking is not what we think of when we think of our normal thought process, but  rather something that happens to us. It is an experience or an "illumination".  This happening has happened to me before as a writer. For a few days or weeks I'll be starting a poem or story and I'll be unable to continue. Then out of nowhere, I feel the urge to pull out my notebook and continue, but it's odd, because I feel disconnected. Almost like someone or something was controlling me. So often when writing I feel as though I'm not in control of the words spilling out of my fingertips (when typing--Obviously words aren't flowing out of my fingertips if I'm using pencil and paper. That sounds like that would  be a mess.). I'm excited to get more in depth into this subject and learn what goes on in those types of situations.

Blog number three

Thoughts are energy. Thoughts are energy. THOUGHTS ARE ENERGY!
The first paragraph of the first page of the first chapter is brilliant.
There is a relationship between what we think is out there in the world and what we experience as being out there. It’s all subjective, all of it. We shape our reality through what we see, know, and experience and even our culture.

The fourth paragraph on page five is a perspective I can relate to. I agree that reality is not fixed and we play an integral part of every event. We attract the things that happen to us, even the things we don’t want to happen.

The more the women in Pearce’s family feared breast cancer, the more they attracted it. It sounds crazy, but the fear of what the women didn’t want to happen, more or less attracted it. Whether or not it’s a good or a bad thing, if it’s on your mind all the time, it’s probably going to happen. When your day starts bad, then you think to yourself, “today is going to totally suck.” And it generally does, right?
Generally = most of the time (for clarification). Whatever we think about, we bring about.

Pearce’s definition of “converted” scares me. To be converted is to, “be seized by an idea that orients us around a single focal point of possibility.” Not cool. With so many possible focal points, why convert to anything? I’m going to quit before I sound anymore like a “heathen.”

Autistic thinking is interesting. It sounds like the description of being “in the zone.” The word autistic takes on a more interesting connotation in Pearce’s description. I like what it is to be an autistic thinker. “Autistic thinking, then, refers to an autonomous, self-contained kind of thinking that makes no adjustment to the world of other things or thinkers, but it must have its materials from this other source.”

When it comes to alternate ways of thinking or perceptions of reality and other things, I’m always amused by the psychological perspective. There is always this tone of skepticism from psychologists, maybe because, “this is the cosmic egg’s fear of being cracked.”

Also, sensory deprivation is very interesting. The mind creates its own reality and begins hallucinating after a certain period of time. Even to the point where the person feels part of what is going on, and the mind adjusts accordingly to what the mind’s reality has going on.

I love it, I love it, I love it, “When we have finally persuaded and/or badgered our children into ‘looking objectively’ at their situation, taking into consideration those things other to themselves, we relax since they are being realistic. What we mean is that they have finally begun to mirror our commitments, verify our life investments, and strengthen and preserve the cosmic egg of our culture.”
The quote in bold speaks for itself.

It is true that we are socialized from a young age to consciously and unconsciously selectively ignore certain phenomena and look for and nourish other phenomena.

For instance: We think ghosts, hallucinations, or people speaking to the dead to be pretty ridiculous, partially because science can’t explain it, and we’re just told not to believe in that kind of stuff. Where as we regard religious phenomena as acceptable, such as: religious miracles (healings, accomplishments, e.tc.); Jesus magically appearing on someone’s toast, garage, or building; and the statues that bleed or cry blood.

One more thing… in chapter three… the notion of cultural agreement back in the day from one of the “awesome” theorists of the time… is also stupid. Yes, it’s stupid, because it requires no thought, and it makes it too easy for people not to think. Though, if we have a nation of non-thinkers… How easy is it to control the masses?
Indeed.

the Pearce reading

Pearce's notion that our culture and language limit our percepts and thinking by constantly exerting influence on our ability to achieve Eurkea! illumination or inhibit the process of metanoia is fairly interesting. Moreover, his discussion on the dynamic nature of A-thinking is one of the best examples yet presented to illustrate altered states of consciousness. It also exemplifies one of the many ways in which this alleged crack in the cosmic egg can form, eventually break and subsequently generate a new shell with similar processes waiting to take place. He states on page 22 that autistic thinking is an unambiguous, uncontrollable frame of mind which demonstrates that "There is a catalytic quality in A-thinking that gives more than the sum of the parts suggesting and bringing about the new possibility." In the preface Pearce notes that this new prospect "is an open ended possibility that can take us beyond the broad, statistical way of the world (xiv)." I can appreciate that the human mind can acquire and synthesize new, legitimate concepts and notions that stand in oppoistion to scientific protocal or cultural tolerance. This notion does seem to present a dilemma for those persons who cling to the empirical "certainty" of science or the confines of religous doma to explain exery facet of their perceptions of reality. However, I do not wholly share Pearce's disdain for all of the "biogenetically indoctrinated" approaches used to explain our mental processes. Indeed, some of these "approaches" speak volumes, and only after studying and comprehending them can one have a soid foundation from which to hypothesize about the knowledge that we do not know, not the other way around.


While the coherency of his discourse begs the question as to whether or not Pearce really has transended his previous autistic state, and his recurring tendancy to mention parables of Jesus can still apprehension for furhter reading, his discussion of how cracks can form in the cosmic egg is somewhat informative and intersting.

Pearce

Has anyone ever seen the movie, The Jewel of the Nile? I know this might seem very random and fiction movies are rarely held to hold much truth value, but as I was reading the selection for this week, I couldn't help but think of a scene with Danny Devito walking across a pit of glowing coals. In the movie, the group he is with challenge him to let go of his thoughts and to walk across, but he refuses and is convinced he'll get burned. One of the other characters starts talking to him and takes Danny Devito's mind off the pit, which is when he realizes he is standing in the middle of the coals. This may not seem relevant, but it made me wonder what sort of suspension of belief is necessary to attain a state of consciousness where the physical environment no longer has an impact on us.
Pearce made many references to the Hindus who walk across those pits of charcoal, claiming that their suspension of an "average" state of mind allows them to contact these extreme heats without suffering. He also alluded his own experience with a suspension of consciousness, when he would repeatedly press cigarettes to his skin with no side effects. There were numerous references to many cultures that could use their minds to envision something so powerfully that the results were real, and even better and more real than the "real thing."
From what I could understand from the reading, these cracks in our cosmic eggs are good things that allow us to access autistic thinking, which Pearce seems to find ideal. I gathered from the reading that he finds the autistic thinking to be among the most pure, where one one can see things more clearly because one's mind is not clouded with the other mundane thoughts of life. It is in this state of mind that, he feels, one can experience physically demanding circumstances and not suffer for them.
He makes a few remarks about drug use (p 33) that state the drugs in question (such as LSD) may bring about a similar state of mind, but are it is artificial. According to Pearce, one's state of mind may be similar to autistic thinking, but they physical outcomes, if the body were put in a stressful situation, would be different.
I'm not sure how I feel about Pearce and his thoughts about cracks and cosmic eggs. He seems to believe that creativity is only by chance, that only someone experiencing autistic thinking can produce a successful idea and run with it. Indeed, he states that it was in one of these periods that he was first able to compile this scattered thoughts for this book; however, I do not believe that creativity is limited to those states of mind. There are moments when one, quite aware and in complete consciousness of every movement and physical surrounding, will successfully come up with a brilliant idea and continue to put it into action or into being.
I do agree that the autistic thinking does exist. In the little I know about autistic children, they usually display a high amount of intelligence or creativity, even if they do not have the ability to express it easily. As such, it seems to follow that if one were able to obtain this state of mind without being truly autistic, then one may also communicate one's conclusions effectively when no longer in that state of mind. But, as I stated above, it seems a little grandiose to believe that true creativity comes primarily in that state of mind.

Pearce (Foreword, Preface, and Chapter 1-3)

The Crack in the Cosmic Egg is definitely my kind of book! Right away in the foreword, Tom Hartman eloquently explains what Pearce means by the Crack in the Cosmic Egg.
"The crack in the egg is a mode of thinking and action through which creative imagination can escape through this mundane shell and open us to, and create within us, a new cosmic egg" (Pearce, Preface, pg xiv)

In the first chapter, Pearce describes his self-injury with cigarettes during a trance like state as a youngster. I have to admit this section turned me off a bit. Unlike his colleagues, I believe his accounts (because I've had friends who have done the same kind of things), but geez, that is terrible.

In the group discussions, just about everyone in the group, is skeptical when it comes to the idea of the power of the mind, in relationship to healing or blocking pain. I enjoyed reading Pearce's account of his wife's story. Also, I was happy that he mentioned the doctors who perform surgery with no anesthesia. These are real documented cases, that demonstrate just a little bit of the minds power.

I also like how he stated, "Our imaginations cannot set out to find the cracks in the cosmic egg until someone lays the egg". It's almost like saying, you cant solve the problem until you first recognize the problem.

In Chapter 2, Pearce mentions A-thinking. He also claims that maturing is a modifying procedure that represses and largely eliminates. This illumination (in a larger sense enlightenment) that Pearce mentions is truly the essence of the altered state. It enables one to see clearly, even when he or she returns to a "normal" state.

I love how Pearce had his AHA moment in the tree, like so many other great thinkers. He was in the tree with his children, when all of his fragmented parts suddenly fused. He was one step closer toward enlightment. Even more impressively, he endeavored (and succeeded) to put his realizations into words, which ultimately culminated into this text.

I was intrigued with his claim that psychedelics fracture the structure of the world view. He writes that under LSD, colors literally dissolve (reality breaks down). Literally, they merge and flow together. Even faces might run across the floor.

The account of the two trapped miners seeing the stair case was rather fascinating. I do remember reading about that, but I never thought about them as hallucinating. I'd like to agree with Mckellars claim that all mental experiences are related to and originate in learned or subliminal information gained from experience.

In Chapter 3, Pearce makes mention of the molding of our children to be conditioned and prepped for the common human experience. When that process does not take place, strange things happens, as in the case of feral children. I have seen many documentaries on feral children, and the whole subject really fascinates me. In particular, I recall the heart wrenching story of Oxana Malaya, the Ukrainian girl who lived with dogs since she was a very young girl. She barked, and walked on all fours. It was very similar to the story of the child who was found in the Irish chicken house described in this chapter. I thought it was pretty messed up that he referred to him as "chicken-child". It was also pretty deep to refer to Kamala's rescue as "captivity— or rescue". This guy seems pretty wild.

I was also intrigued by the hypothetical peeling of the unconscious, all the way down to the psychology of the amoeba.

I've given it a lot of thought over the years and I can see why humans only perceive this reality. We are trained to see the things that are "real"— the things that can actually cause us harm. It would do an archaic man very little good to see his food, his enemy, his mate, and then EVERYTHING else that existed outside his plane of existence. I think humans naturally evolved into narrow minded beings, because that was the safest thing to do. It was also a side-effect of mans need to find order in a chaotic world.

Cracked eggs....

I have to say that I was absolutely overwhelmed with reading this week, between this and my Amer. Lit. class, that I really couldn't fully absorb the reading. It's too bad, too; this book seems like it's going to be interesting. I will definitely have to go back and re-read most/all of this.

When I first saw the title, I thought we might be getting into some sort of discussion about which came first - the chicken or the egg. We are getting into something just as good, though. As Hartman puts it in the foreward, our "egg" is the reality in which we live. Using such an analogy, I fancy myself, then, to be the unhatched chicken. Do I have to break out of my shell, break out of my own reality, in order to truly live? Is that too much of a jump here? That warrants some additional thinking on my part, for sure. Pearce goes on to say, in the Preface, that, "The crack in this egg is a mode of thinking and action through which creative imagination can escape this mundane shell and open us to, and create within us, a new cosmic egg." This further intensifies my curiosity. Interesting.

Pearce discusses reality, and what it is. He talks of how we can view the world one way, but experience it in another. By simply being a part of life, even just simply observing, we alter it. I remember taking high school physics and discussing that very point. We always had to list factors that could have affected the outcome of our experiments, and simply our own observation was always on top of the list. He goes on to state that we all experience our own version of this reality, since we all have our own point of view, and bring with us our own experiences. That is a tough concept to grasp. The 20 or so of us in the class each experience the "reality" of our class differently. If reality is different for each of us, how then can we define an altered state of consciousness as an experience of a different reality? We must, in my mind, state that it is truly an individualized concept (an altered state). What may be completely normal for me, my everyday reality, might be perceived by others to be an altered state. Maybe that's why people look at me funny at work???

I thought that the most interesting idea Pearce introduced was the idea of A (autistic) thinking. He defines it as: "an unstructured, non-logical (but not necessarily illogical), whimsical thinking that is the key to creativity. It involves "unconscious processes" but is not necessarily unconscious. Autistic thinking is indulged in, or in some cases, happens to one, in ordinary conscious states." Such a statement begs one to consider autistic children. We consider them to be disadvantaged in life. And for the most part, I think we can all agree that there are considerable obstacles for such individuals to overcome, making it difficult for them to experience what we would consider a "normal" life. However, most of us probably don't think about them as being creative, as Pearce states. I have never been around any autistic children, but I have heard about how tremendously gifted they can be in certain arenas. They are so creative, so gifted even, yet they do it all in an ordinary state of consciousness. For many of us to produce the same results, we'd likely need to experience an altered state, or have our egg cracked.

The Crack in the Cosmic Egg

This was definitely interesting to read. I found the part about Robert Frost to be somewhat fun to read. Pearce related Robert Frost's poem to reality adjusted-thinking. I think that civilization is like a small clearing a a large forest, because they only focus on the clear path in front of them. A lot of people just look at what they have to do to survive in this world and are ignorant of all the potential that the unknown world might provide. I really think our minds are trained to be that way. Little kids listen to their parents, because they think they have all of the answers. However, maybe the parents are more ignorant then the kids when it comes to the mystery of the world.

I think Pearce does an amazing job at trying to write about the unexplainable. I'm sure that must be extremely difficult, without sounding like a babbling idiot. "It has been claimed that our minds screen out far more than we accept, else we would live in a world of chaos." (13) Our minds do block out a lot of information. Maybe we would all go crazy if he had too many things to think about. I know I can only focus on so many things at one time, and if my mind wasn't trained to do that I would probably go mad. Yet, how does one change their thinking or filtering process. Second, would we really want to do that? Don't we already have enough to think about? Kids don't have to think about reality, and I think that is why their minds' dwell on some of the mystery. Unfortuneately, adults have to focus on reality or they won't survive all of the competition in the world. If there was a way to raise a child outside of what is considered reality I wonder what would become of them?

Organization (It Has Been Four Weeks and I've Already Forgotten My Blogger Password)

Thom Hartmann's writing metaphor is spot on; carrying around his writing ideas as if he were pregnant with something. I'll have to steal this metaphor, and use it on my friends while we're sitting on my porch getting mouthy with wine. Joshua Ferris, a new fiction writer, who wrote Then We Came to the End, spoke about his frustrations with trying to write this book. He tried many approaches until he opted to carry the idea around with him for a few years. Suddenly, one day he decided to write the book in first person-plural (using "we" instead of "I"), and he claims that upon submitting his book to publishers, his book required very little editing. He's the new man of the literary world grabbing every book award available. If you don't like reading, just wait for the movie.

Thom Hartmann also mentions that reading The Crack in the Cosmic Egg requires time, and we're burning through books in this class. This will be on my holiday reading list at the semester's conclusion.

The most captivating characteristic of this book to me is that Pearce writes with a poetic voice. There is just as much emotion to his writing as there is science. Perhaps the success of this book depends on this emotion.

Not only were the first few chapters engrossing, but I found certain concepts in the text were a bit frustrating. Pearce mentions frequently that new ideas or completely different realms are hard (impossible?) to achieve because our senses and language act as barriers. How can we describe the unseen without the language with which to describe it? I don't know, and just trying to think of something completely new to my senses makes me feel like there is a small person who panics inside my chest, pulling its hair, and throwing its body into my sternum.

To further drive my "senses and language barrier" thought, I'll mention this fun word, guaranteed to make the small person inside of you run around screaming. "Asymptotic." From what I recall its a math term that explains a concept of moving forward one-half the distance between two points with patient tenacity over and over until you never quite span the divide. This concept of continuous movement forward without ever reaching the destination best describes part of my frustration with Pearce was explaining.

"... potential is always limited to the sum total of the images that can be conjured up by the mind, and this ties us down immediately to syntheses of things already realized..."

This book was published in 1971, and mentions the word autistic throughout.

"Infant thinking is probably autistic, gradually structuring into reality thinking, but even autistic thinking cannot gradually arise from a vacuum."

Pearce's thoughts on autistic thinking were years ahead of time, and he really shines with intellect on this topic. Just recently, doctors found evidence to Pearce's words when they discovered that certain strands of DNA in children diagnosed with autism were (are) simply not turned on.

The last think I would like to mention that loosely regards this material is the years of suffering I went through in school listening to my peers question if what they were learning in any given subject was necessary for real life. Our teachers would shrug their shoulders and say something like, "Sorry guys, I'm required to cover this." What I wish the teachers would have said was,

"Who are you to say what you learn may or may not be necessary in the future? If we only spent our time concerning ourselves with what we think we should know we'd be a bunch of intellectually lazy jerks. Now stop complaining.?"

I really wish I had a quote from the text to back up this last little rant because many times I kept finding myself thinking this. I guess it's in regards to people's creative thought and sensory deprivation. I guess by having senses we're still deprived. We rely on them heavily, taking a lot of things within us for granted, especially our brains.

Eggs being served in the Village?

I couldn't help but thinking of M.Night Shyamalan's movie, "The Village" as I was reading Pearce. In particular, Pearce makes references to "the clearing" and the "dark forest" both which characterize the setting of the film, but symbolically portray what we are told, believe, and know (or hold) to be true, and that which is uncertain or yet explored. On page 17 Pearce states, "But the nature of the dark forest is the real problem. For our attitude toward the forest influences sharply the way we look upon our clearing, and affects the kind of new clearing we can make." In regards to the movie, "our clearing" is similar to the community the elders created for their new society - what they wished to teach and instill upon the children. The elders perceived the outside world- that land past their clearing, or the dark forest if you will, as a destructive, corrupt and demoralized society. It was in this place the elders warned the younger members to stay away for this is where "things we do not speak of" dwell. Almost as if what Pearce is trying to portray is that which we as children are kept from learning, or even as adults deem taboo, are ignorant to, or just simply unaware of. In the movie, this society's shell acquires a "crack" as well (and in efforts not to spoil the movie ending for those who have not seen it), and one of the individuals has a revelation about her community's "egg", a Eureka! moment as Pearce describes it, and must decide whether to use this new information to abolish or preserve those which whom she resides with. On page 19 Pearce states, "there is available to us a crack in this egg. For there are times when the shell no longer protects but suffocates and destroys. The crack must be approached with care, however, lest the egg itself be destroyed". I just couldn't help correlating this first chapter with the symbolism of the movie.


In Chapter two I enjoyed Pearce's descriptions of A-thinking. Having a few friends who have autistic children and watching their idiosyncrasies, I naively assumed that those children must be missing some type of component that would otherwise make them behave as other children diagnosed as "normal". However, Pearce sheds light on this autistic mode that it "adds something not in the given context. There is a catalystic quality in A-thinking that gives more than the sum of the parts suggesting and bringing about the new possibility". So according to Pearce, perhaps it is not those with autistic tendencies missing something, it is "us normal folk".

Home cooked eggs...

I enjoyed reading the forward and the preface by Thom Hartman. I thought it was very clever that Hartman wanted to give you a view of his own describtion of, "The Crack in the Cosmic Egg" in the preface. Hartman described, " I discovered in this book that the way I write and the way others create is simlar, that we become aware of the egg, and then a small crack in it, and then - by serendipity or magic or the grace of God- the crack suddenly opens enough that the light of understanding flows in and it's all just so clear and easy to express."

Pierce-
I really liked the words of Pierce when he said, " Our world view is a cultural pattern that shapes our mind from birth. It happens to us as fate." That is true because the world that we live in we become accustomed to it at birth and it is hard to move and adapt to another countries customs later on in life because the one's we were born with have been plantented in us by God. I also like Pierce's stories that involve the ones he loves, like his wife's and how he coped with her dying from cancer and how his next door neighbor found a key to the wonders of the egg, that inspired Pierce to go into further investigation of the egg. I also liked how he told of philosophers and anthropologist.
I enjoy and was amazed that he gave the story of his friends muscial peformance and how it captivated him in the moment and the thought for once he was Mozart. When Pierce climbed up in the tree with his children he seen something more than tree leaves, and green grass, he seen the truth of existance. I was surprised to see that he made reference to the hypnagogic state when he tatlked about juicy red strawberries and how he ties it into the climbing a tree story with his children. Also one thing that captured my attention is when he talked about drugs, LSD, hallucinogens, psychedelics and how they form over time as a mental disease and thats how people can for one form a hard to break habbit. I aggreed with his quote, " The universe, like nature, is a conceptual framework that changes from culture to culture and age to age." That is owe so true everyday something is reflected as NEW and the next day it can be old, different techniques of cooking, worshiping, technology are vastly changing to. But we learned the way we are from ancient times and those are the times that will never change.
In the third chapter of the reading I was captured by the stories of the little boy who was raised with chickens and how he not knowing he was different looking acted as chickens did and survivied as they did. Another intersting story was of the two children who were raised by a pack of wolves, and how the one only survived and she would walk on heind legs and growl at the moon at sevelral hours of the night. It was a very interseting story cause I would of never known that if taken out of your norm at a young age you can adapt to an animal environment. This chapter was also learning because it taught you how childrens minds develope and how language and culture relfect who we are.

I like Eggs

Wow i hope i was not the only person to look at this title and think this book was some how related to Science Fiction or something along those lines. The most fascinating theory in this book is the mirroring of self-image. What i got from the notion of mirroring, is for every action we have there is a reaction by something else, whether its is our world, universe, or ourselves. Pearce goes onto say that our world is not how we perceive it, in fact its our brains that take random images and gives it color and meaning. She also says that from the time we are "born" everybody possesses a "cosmic egg" that is whole, but as humans encounter problems cracks begin to form on our egg. As the crack gets bigger the "light" or truth will shine through and in an essence an answer to the problem will reveal itself. The example Pearce gives is fire, the problem with fire is it burns you if touched. Yet through meditation and yoga one can overcome the pain of fire, she would reproduce this "trick" at different gatherings and people would stand around amazed at what they just saw. A human being would hold a lit cigarette to her hand for minutes at a time and the skin would remain unharmed and no pain would ensue. Her theory behind this "fire trick" was mind over matter. She then tapped into the knowledge of a fellow colleague (David Bohm) and he said since matter is made up of 99.9% air there really was nothing to fear. Her colleague went onto say that he harnessed 10^38 ergs in a cubic centimeter of space. "10^38 ergs is about as much energy as ten billion tons of uranium, that is a lot of fireworks that comes from nothing at all" (Pearce 11). Pearce also contradicts my belief of seeing is believing, she states that humans are taught to believe that the only "out there" is the only truth. She states that the "inner conflict" is directed outwardly, and the world happens to us is fate. I do not believe in fate or another interchangeable word would be luck, I believe a person makes there own fate or luck. I believe if something happens you brought it on your self if it is bad and if a good thing happens one has put himself in the correct position to make it happen. In conclusion this was a very well thought out section, the reading flowed nicely but at times and even now the reading was somewhat confusing. There were so many theories and ideas in these first two chapters it was hard to talk about them all but these were the most interesting to me and i feel i explained them to the best of my knowledge. If you go back to the forward Thom Hartman states that it took him months to read and digest this information and i tend to agree. Overall i feel this book will be a very good read with alot of vital information and i cant wait to see what Pearce has in store for me as a reader as we push deeper into her book.

Week 3..who wants an omlette?

I will admit, prior to reading the assigned chapters I was hesitant. I figured it would delve into what a cosmic egg was, and I didn't know if I was ready for that. After reading the forward by Thom Hartmann, I was given a little boost. His story of looking into mirrors and seeing to infinity was touching. He wanted to use the mirrors to see her ghost. However, he discoved a difference between the reality we percieve and what actually is.

I like the idea that our egg is the reality we live in. It is our little universe.

I like how Pearce says, when describing mirroring, that we we ARE the process, to an unknowable extent. Also, I like the mention of William Blake. 'that perception was the universal, the percieved object was the particular.'

Interesting how Pearce called himself autistic because he couldn't feel pain or injury. Him burning himself with cigarettes and having no marks to show, shows how he suspended his ordinary thoughts. He compared this to Hindu firewalking.

Metanoia-a fundamental transformation of mind. Formerly connected to religion, now is associated with education, and shapes the mind. is the principle key to reality.
I noticed, while reading these chapters that the author uses terms like "from conception", birth, infant, child. This is because Pearce specializes in child development.
What i got from the reading is that we learn by how we are raised. Whatever our parents(or guardians) teach us, is what we know. We could be missing out on a bigger picture.

Week Two Blogs

Thanks again for another week of insightful blogging. You all bring interesting perspectives and information to our online discussion.
Josh states that he's more interested in reaching ASCs through through meditation or yoga, and asks, "Is it because I've been taught that taking drugs is bad?" Is it? Good question? And if the answer is yes, then why is our culture so different to the cultures who welcome the use of entheogens in their society?
Mr. Lance also questions the use of drugs by the Shamans, asking why they are considered special by their group if its only through drugs that they can reach an ASC. Another good question, and we'll watch a documentary next week that might help to answer that question. In the meantime, though, Jenna suggests that perhaps not everyone can do what they do, even with drugs.
Suset also brings up the issue of drug use with Shamans, and while there a justifications for their use of drugs, let's also not forget that not all Shamans use drugs. Various forms of deprivation and long training on focus are also used to induce journeys into other worlds.
On a final note, Suset also mentions the legacy of the people who created the cave drawings, and asks what legacy we are leaving behind with the technology we have today. An interesting question. 20,000 years from now what will are descendents make of the DVDs and CDs they find buried in our landfills? A piece of jewelry, perhaps, or maybe a tool for stripping twigs off a thin branch? They could imagine any number of things if they think of us as primitive, and if they don't have any functioning CD players.

Blog number 2

I have heard of shamans before but never had an understanding of what they did. I always had is associated with Indian healers but they are so much more than that. On example of what made me come up with that identification is the healer from Pocahontas. When the man she is supposed to marry is shot the healer of the village comes and performs spells over him to heal him and spirits of animals come out (I believe this is what happens, I know it is something like that I just haven’t seen the movie in a while). I always thought that it would be pretty cool to be able to communicate with animal spirits and I never would have considered circus trainers or musicians as types of shamans until Hughes mentioned them.

I could see why this type of research would cause a certain amount of controversy. It would be hard for an academic to successfully describe what it would be like for a shaman without actually attempting to become one. As Hughes and Walsh both stated, it is difficult to become one. Not everyone has a near death experience that can vault them into that type of consciousness. Plus the amount of 'mushrooms' and other types of drugs they take in order to reach their ability to communicate with spirits and healing power would be more than likely frowened upon in academia.

Being a shaman has a power over everyone else but it also carries a great responsibility. Walsh mentions a shaman that cut his animal skins head off and he lost his power. The animal was never to come to him again because he violated it and as a shaman you are supposed to respect your animal. Not all people are cut out for this type of responsibility like this particular shaman.

Shaman

I remember when I picked up this book prior to my class. I looked at the title and was a bit confused. Shamanism? I'll admit that I knew very little of Shamanism prior to opening this book. Admittedly, all I knew for sure was that Shamans are a class of character in some RPGs. Therefore, I went into this book believing that I would be fairly confused.

I was quite wrong.

A shaman is a practitioner of various arts that are designed to heal, rejuvinate, and bring peace to souls. I had no idea just how old the practice of Shamanism is, and how much I could relate to it. As I mentioned before, I am a former Psychology major, and this book seems to take a less...enthusiastic approach to psychology. However, after reading a few pages, I recognized some of the aspects of said field in the roots of Shamanism. For example, one of the tasks in the credo of shamanism is transforming emotions, which involves removing the negative emotion (i.e. fear), bringing in a positive emotion (i.e. love), and creating a balance between the two, very much like the id, ego, and superego, respectively.

I can also relate to some of the aspects of Shamanism, including Altruism. I look forward to learning about this field.

(Note: I am currently awaiting my order of Altered States)

When I say “Sha!,” you say “Man!” “Sha!” “Man!” “Sha!” “Man!”…let’s break it down…..

I think the main focus here is the actual woman or man, and their relationship to people, or at least the community in which they coexist. I really see it going two ways. On one side, the shaman is someone so ingrained in a transformative state of mind and so in tune with their surroundings, they can’t help but influence and affect those around them. As we discussed in class, sometimes what can be most powerful is that which we surrender our state of mind to, and likewise those who are seeking deliverance should look no further than the all seeing eye of the shaman.

On the other hand, I feel the idea and personification of a shaman not only delves into the religious aspect but takes it one step further by saying “You want a savior, then reach out and touch him!” The break from Western ideals seems to take a step back by placing the focus on an outer being instead of the inner being. When Walsh references yoga and meditation as “non-Western healing and spiritual practices,” he fails to show a correlation that connects them to shamanism. If yoga and meditation are so powerful, why would we even need a shaman? Furthermore, he doesn’t present dissimilarity between shamanism and your average Christian evangelist.

As far as altered states are concerned, I am bothered by the need for psychedelic drugs in shamanistic culture. If these beings are so in tune with another world, the need for mind altering drugs should seem palpable in comparison to “the ability to use supernatural powers inherent in nature.” Hughes also states that the shaman “receives special knowledge, as well as powers of healing, prediction and dream interpretation, and may acquire the power of magical flight.” Now for me, this seems like superhero material, but why then does the shaman still need to pop those magic mushrooms to take off??? Any person can take magic mushrooms and experience intense trips. You may write about it on your blog (shout out!) or tell people how you drank from a golden toilet filled with champagne. What that does not qualify you to be, however, is a plumber, or a shaman for that matter. I know Hughes stated that experience is the prime determinant; however, experience does not always bring about nuance, but repetition in most cases. People for centuries could be stunted by the same tired doctrines, as they are in the West. Just because something is non-Western does not mean it is pro-Power -to-the People. What I am trying to get across is that it is very precarious and outright dangerous to put your faith in the one person, knowing full well as a human being that everyone has their own agenda.

On another note, I just wanted to say I am appalled by Joseph Beuys actions regarding the coyote and the exhibition he undertook. Anyone who calls themselves a shaman would not contain a wild animal for a week, nor would they exploit that animal for the purpose of “art.” I am not saying the animal was mistreated (I have no way of knowing either way) but I feel it is fundamental as human beings to respect animals as equal inhabitants of the Earth and not impose our ideological whims at their expense.

"All art is magic" Picasso (Hughes 2/ Walsh I & II)

Hughes 2-

In reading Hughes's material I was astonished in "The power of nature and human power over nature...." (15). I enjoyed reading about the cave secrets and how these are portrayed by animals such as bears, rhinoceros, lions, owls, etc.. and how this art is transformed into the spirit world of animals and nature and transmitted through rituals and trance.

Generation before ours have allowed us to take part in such findings do to the vast cave paintings found all over the world. We all started in one place and have contributed along the way to what we have today..."modern technology". As I was reading over the material I thought, " If we had paintings left by those before us, telling of their ways, spiritual rituals and gods, What legacy ARE WE leaving behind? Most of our information an transformation is printed on books and new technology. But when these come to extinct what do we have to show for OUR TIME?

When I think of a Shaman I think of a spiritual healer, someone "who is of both worlds" (by that I mean someone who had the ability to speak to spirits and unnatural by means of dreams or ritual experience.) It is said that a shaman has suffered a near death experience and he then, in a dream is stripped of all his flesh and bones and comes back as a community priest, magician and healer.
Another interesting point I saw in the reading was that some kind of hallucinate plant or herb is almost always being used to transport to that other state of consciousness. One quote I really liked and think is true, " ...a divine daimon' resided in every human being, the irrefutable and inescapable witness who could intervene through a dream or a sign, or even appear personally to 'direct what is favourable towards us and to compensate what is evil'. " (31)
I would love to know what kind of daimon I have? (Gunnar I'm there with you)

Walsh I & II

The anthropologists who have studies shamanism have "braved" all from weather conditions to observe the native shamans at work. How exilirating it must be to be a part of these observations and contributions. I wonder, since almost every scholar form their opinions about what is shamanism, what has captured them in individualitc way when observing the native shamans.

Out of The Seven Central Practices:

1. Living ethically
2. Transforming emotions
3. Redirecting mtivation
4. Training attention
5. Refining awareness
6. Cultivating wisdom
7. Serving others.

Which one would you say you would have most difficulty achieving? and Why?

Hughes, Ch. 2; Walsh Parts I & II

These readings were definitely a breath of fresh air compared to last week's. We are now presented with this totally new idea (as far as a Westerner is concerned) about a person who can actually travel to this altered state and bring something back to benefit his fellow man: a Shaman. I've definitely heard this term many times in my life prior to this course but I am certainly very thankful for being able to dive in deeper. I felt a strong connection to this word. I enjoyed how both authors not only brought up the ancient meanings of the word but how they put a modern spin on it (such as the section about rock music and the raver scene). I immediately had a vision of Jim Morrison standing there with his then girlfriend Pam, as he seemed to levitate her in the air. We seem to give rock stars (even as broad as simply saying a celebrity) shamanistic qualities unknowingly. We listen to their songs or watch their movies for comfort or 'healing' if you will. We gain inspiration from them to continue our pointless lives. It is not out of the question to say that past Shamans - the original Shaman - was inspiration. Perhaps if one came down with a certain illness or sickness they could look to that Shaman for guidance. Even if the explanation was so vague as to say "a spirit is upset with you", the person could use that to look within themselves to find out what was wrong.

I definitely loved the part in the readings when psychedelics came up - especially the pscilocybin mushrooms. Is it any wonder that the Aztecs referred to them as "God's Flesh"? Upon entering a magic mushroom trip, one is overcome with a "buzz" if you will. It completely consumes you. If you try to go against it, you're only in for a bad time. I can easily compare this to life and a sort of "going with the flow" vibe. Perhaps that is what a Shaman would say. Perhaps they would tell us to stop, look and listen. I recall the Indian talking about his peace pipe. It is simply taking the time to appreciate EVERYTHING. The positive, the negative - it is all a part of you. I think a Shaman is someone who recognizes this fact of life and uses it to his advantage and to help those around him. The problem is, there are those around you that will not and can not accept this idea. These are the people that need the Shaman's help.

The Claims of the Shamans

I am a follower of Jesus Christ and right or wrong I tend to be skeptical of concepts that I believe are not based on biblical principles. Not wanting to have a closed mind, I began to read the chapters on Shamanism and I found them to be absolutely intriguing!
On the first day of class Dr. Kearney gave us the freedom to explore the questions that we may have about the course subject matter. So, when I read about shamanic ecstasy and the souls’ ability to experience flight and journey to other realms, I thought to myself – come on this is ridiculous! I believe Walsh to be correct when he says that belief in this phenomenon depends on one’s own worldview.

The claims of Shamans meeting and interacting with animals and the sprits that inhabit them, again is a new concept for me. I do question that these individual can see the cause and cure of patients’. If this was truly the case why are thousand of people struck with disease and other maladies on daily basis? I am interested to read Walshes’ answer to some of these philosophical questions…

The concepts illustrated in the chapter titled Central Principles and Practice of Spiritual Life helped me identify the spiritual qualities of different philosophies. Many of the seven central practices echo concepts seen in Christianity and are essential to many spiritual traditions. I especially enjoyed the section on wisdom and redirecting motivation, these are concepts that are being lost in society. Wisdom is more than knowledge it is understanding and that is what I hope to attain during this course as we explore enlightenment and altered states of consciousness in its many forms.

Blog number two

Hughes, Chapter Two:
Cave art, though, seemingly underdeveloped could be considered “good” by standards back in that day. The art found in caves definitely is a way of communication (isn’t all art?). These are the people’s interpretations of the life and their surroundings from during that specific time. We may have our theories behind cave art, but I believe to know the true meaning is to live during that time.
Shamans … Holy fascinating… Maybe the shamans tapped into how to use their brain? According to various sources, we only use 10 percent of our brain. Perhaps through rituals they tapped into something most simply cannot.
Anyone can eat mushrooms, chant, drum, and dance. That does not mean they can tap into their interworld journeys. I know I can’t lucid dream, and perhaps through practice I may achieve that but even so, I’m no shaman. I can’t reach an altered state of consciousness through dreams. It’s all very interesting.
“The shaman not only lives at the edge of reality but also at the edge of his or her society,”
which for starters, makes me think if anyone in America were to publicly declare him or herself a shaman he or she would be in 5P. This is an unfortunate result of one nation “under god”.
I believe anything and everything is possible, so for a Shaman to serve as a bridge between reality and other realms is totally feasible. Why not?
It’s also interesting to read about how Shamans work with spirits. We never hear people talking about spirits, or their spirits or whatever. We may mention souls, but never spirits. Another little thing that caught my eye on page 26 was how sexual ambiguity is a characteristic of traditional shamanism, and some shamans were commanded by spirits during their initiation to assume a feminine personality which was often against their own will.

Walsh, Chapter One:
“The world of shamanism is an awakening,” which I believe to be a major understatement. It’s more than an awakening from what is described. I also believe since it’s very difficult to actually understand, it’s easy to dismiss it. Anything that cannot be scientifically explained seems to be taken for granted and ignored. It’s that western way of thought. Pfffft. For some reason, I wonder what the “straight edge” kids would say about Shamanism and the use of psychedelics (perhaps because I despise them so).
I also wonder if an anthropologist crosses the line and delves into the world of experience if that would make their studies biased. Then again, the only way to know, is to experience it. I wonder if the growing popularity of Shamanism is just another trend like the Kaballah (thanks Madonna). We have Westerners going to workshops called “shamanic training.” Luckily there is debate on that one.

Walsh, Chapter Two:
The fact that psychology got involved with Shamanism is bad. I believe the study of this should remain with the anthropologists. For Western psychiatry to foster a negative view of shamanism is ethnocentric in itself. We’re talking about another culture; therefore we should study these things in the context of the culture it comes from. We should be fostering unbiased opinions about these things. Psychology interfering with shamanism just means psychologists will try to apply their silly theories to these shamans and totally disregard and discredit them. Because there’s illogical and bizarre behavior involved, yeah they’re going to “diagnose” them as schizophrenic or just crazy. Trying to psychoanalyze this just takes away from the meaning. Psychologists don’t get it. One thing for certain is to keep an open mind when reading this material.

Shamanism

Hughes, Chapter 2:

The first thing in the reading that stood out to me was how it mentioned the cave art as “an early understanding of the interfusion of spirit and nature,” which is related to religion. I guess it just surprised me how true this statement was, because I was raised as a Christian and the supernatural is often perceived as evil, except for the Holy Trinity, of course. 

I also thought it was interesting that the book called shamanism “universal” and “the old Earth religion”. I think that often in our culture we forget to look outside our culture and put things in the world’s perspective. These statements about shamanism just reminded me that the first real religion was probably shamanism.

Another point that I noted was that cave art was still being practiced some 20,000 years after the original art began. I suppose it’s noteworthy because so many things we take for granted are so young in comparison (Christianity is only 2,000 years old.) and probably will change greatly in the near future due to societal influences. But something about the cave drawings and engravings had such a deep resonance with the artists that it remained nearly unchanged in 20,000 years, which I think is an amazing feat.

When the text discussed magic images versus representative art, I immediately thought of abstract art. Can’t abstract art “affect the onlookers’ consciousness, prompting them to see it in the vision of the object”? Whereas representative art, in most cases, is less subject to interpretation. Take one of my favorite photographs, for example. In Bad Boys of the Arctic by Thomas Mangelson (http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--10044894/Bad_Boys_of_the_Arctic_Polar_Bears.htm), there are many ways to interpret the image, but most people will simply see three polar bears lounging around. However, in Salvador Dali’s surrealist painting The Persistence of Memory, it is open to more interpretations than Mangelson’s photo, simply because of the style in which it was executed. I think that the more a viewer studies Dali’s painting and the more he or she applies their own life to their interpretation, the closer to an altered state he or she gets.

Another point that caught my attention was that most potential shamans have near-death experiences, because so often in our society, people have these experiences and are unable to find the words to describe them. But shamans utilize these experiences to help their community. 

I also thought it ironic that our culture perceives certain drugs as dangerous and harmful whereas in other cultures, shamans use the same drugs to heal.

Also for shamans, I think the book emphasized the importance of communication in creativity.

I really enjoyed reading the section in Hughes about rock and roll. I realized that most rock legends are so much more than just pop culture icons. As far as the hippie stereotypes of the fans of John Lennon and Jerry Garcia, I think many people stumbled upon altered states of consciousness because their music was popular, as well as the drugs that are associated with their music. So hippies may not just be tree-loving druggies, but actually the thinkers who impacted their generation and the rest to come. I also realized that like creativity and altered states, shamanism and any significant resemblance to it (like rock and roll) is very often controversial in our society.

Shamanism:

I think there is something to the whole shamanism concept or theory or state of being because after having dwindled in many parts of the world and having never really been present in its original form in our culture, interest in shamanism has been widespread and sudden. The book attributes this spike in interest partially to the common use of psychedelics in the 1960s. It makes me deduce that shamanism must be natural to human beings, further confirmed by it’s age and scattered locations. 

Carlos Castaneda interested me because he simultaneously spiked interest in shamanism and falsely portrayed it. 

Why we are studying shamanism, other than its involvement with creativity and altered states, immediately became clear when I read that when defining a shaman, “there is remarkably little agreement and ‘practically every scholar forms his own opinion of what constitutes shamanism.’”

When reading about how shamans’ ecstatic experiences like journeying, I decided that being a shaman could be a lot of fun, but at the same time it seems like the whole leading part of it would be a lot of responsibility. I guess I’d be a more stereotypical hippie who is selfish when in comes to altered states rather than a shaman who is selfless. 

I can also see how shamanism is kind of the blueprint for religions. In shamanism, there is three worlds: upper, middle, and lower. We live in the middle. In Christianity and Judaism, the upper world would be Heaven; the middle world, our life on Earth; and the lower world, Hell. It almost correlates too nicely to be coincidence. 

Shamans states of consciousness can actually suggest an underlying neural basis, according to Walsh. This development only confirms my initial reaction that although shamanism is often seen as supernatural or unnatural, it actually seems quite natural since altered states can be provoked by common experiences like isolation, fatigue, hunger, and rhythmic sound. 

When reading about mediums, I suppose I rid myself of some doubt, but I definitely still doubt mediums like John Edwards who exploit their gifts or “gifts” to make a substandard TV show to achieve their own fame and celebrity under the guise of helping others.