Subject: Re: Brenda Denzler - "Demons - Aliens"
   Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:31:52 +0100
   From: Ray Dickenson <ray.dickenson@...>
   
   Hello T Peter,
   Your masterly review summed up in detail not only the Brenda Denzler article but also whole
   "mechanist" v "spiritualist" debate, itself used to support opposing interests and beliefs,
   and gave your arguments for a more accepting analytical approach which you dubbed
   `naturalist parapsychology' - with which I fully agree.

   My difficulty in these matters is only that of translating results expected in long (evolutionary)
   time-scales into the much shorter time-scales in which history is written and the even shorter
   scale of a human life-time.

   BTW - that's why most folk get deeply confused / easily misled about "life". Human lives are
   so short & most events are actually "random". During one person's life (say 70 years) there
   are so few evolutionary significant (or "moral") events that they occupy maybe less than one
   minute in total. That's because decisions take less than a second, and only a handful of events
   or decisions are significant. (I.e. only one event will finally kill anyone)

   [ maybe check << www.perceptions.couk.com/magic5.html >> ]

   SO - guess the debates and disputes summarized by yourself and Brenda will eventually be
   seen as part of broader "clash of tendencies", the outcome of which I expect to keep us from
   extinction - but could be wrong.

   That is - it's not science v religion, or left v right, or faithful v infidels, or any other
   (human-perceived) dispute that's important in the long-term; that the two human tendencies
   headed for extinction are "wolves" and "sheep" - those who need to dominate and those who
   need to be led by the nose.

   Each amplifies the other, both thrive on ignorance and results are almost always expressed
   in violence, so jointly they've been responsible for maybe all tragedies in our past, including
   all of history.  I.e. they're ultimately abusive, homicidal, genocidal and xenocidal. Hardly
   survival traits in the long term.

   [Like - rats will take over an island and kill off the eco-system: they're then extinguished by
   starvation (or by humans de-ratting the island).]

   Of course the "archists" dominate world-stage (archists are both wolves _and_ sheep:
   both need hierarchies). So suppose I'm forecasting that the non-hierarchical trend among
   humans will eventually win out - but that word is "anarchist" and att. if I use it I can get
   locked up by the "archists".        

   But, like I say, that's l-o-n-g term - and stepping off of the skyscraper of evolutionary-time
   in order to peer at the paving-stone of a human life-time is always slightly dizzying.
   Climbing back up again can be harder.

   cheers
   Ray D
            
   PS ask a fundamentalist debater about "omphaloidean heresy" - they can't `legally' think
   of it, never mind talk about it. Ha!
   RD


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Perceptions" http://www.perceptions.couk.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

              FURTHER REFERENCES

  GO - "search perceptions" - in SEARCH-ENGINE


file-ID www.perceptions.couk.com/omphalos.txt