Over 100 years ago, Dr. Otto Rank explored the commonalities found in the world's Hero myths

 

The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Interpretation of Mythology – Dr. Otto Rank (1914)

            When looking at the list of books I have read and reviewed here on the Intellectual Journey, I find that many of them deal with the topics of Myth and the influence of these myths on human culture through the ages.  This is a topic that has always fascinated me, but which requires extensive background reading.  Comparative Religion studies is a relatively new area of research, having only truly begun in the last 150 years or so.  Before then, the idea of studying religions and myths to see the similarities and common sources for both was heretical, and all people who sought to study this field were dissuaded from it by the church on penalty of blasphemy.  (This makes me wonder how many amazing works of world literature, history and myth sit locked away in the Vatican archives, solely to keep the knowledge from disturbing their very elaborate and lucrative pyramid scheme.)

            In 1914, Otto Rank published a monograph where he explored the specific sources and intent of the Hero myth common to all cultures.  Specifically, Dr. Rank focuses on the parts of the Hero myths that detail the Hero’s birth.  From Sargon and Oedipus to Hercules and Jesus, Dr. Rank details their specific birth myths, working from the most ancient antiquity forwards.  In his introduction, Dr. Rank describes how “prominent civilized nations…all began at an early age to glorify their heroes, mythical princes and kings, founders of religions, dynasties, empires or cities…in a number of poetic tales and legends.”  Initially based on actual events, these stories were embellished and invested with fantastic features as they were passed on from generation to generation.  What struck Dr. Rank, and many others who study such things, is the improbable similarities that arose in each of these Hero’s birth stories.  It is these similarities, analyzed with a psychological view in mind, which Otto Rank explores in this monograph.

            Dr. Otto Rank details the three separate theories that researchers of his time offered to explain why there are so many similarities in the various civilization’s Hero birth myths.  One was the theory that there exists elementary thoughts, universally sourced from our human brain, which manifest themselves as details of our Hero myths.  A second was that of original community, meaning that one ancient civilization first created the details that have become universal, purely through the influence of the civilizations that arose from the initial one.  The third explanation offered, migration, expands on the second one, stating that an original civilization created the myths, and then when they expanded their territory, their myths were adopted by the people with whom they came into close contact.  Dr. Rank disagrees with these theories.  Using psychology, specifically the work of Dr.’s Freud and Jung, he proposes that the source of these myths lays in the human mind and it’s psychological constructs, specifically those that relate to our own birth and the processes of growth into adulthood.  As we are all humans with human psychology, it makes sense that our myths would seem to be of a similar character with similar details.

            It is not possible to go into everything that Dr. Rank discusses, but one detail in particular stands out.  In most of the classic Hero myths, the birth of the hero is followed by the abandonment/exposure of the baby hero in order that it may die, so as not to fulfil prophecy.  Invariably, the hero is placed in a container, which is then put into a river or body of water.  Fortunately, the child is rescued by someone who then raises him or her to adulthood.  Dr. Rank provides ample evidence that these various water stories are actually mythological descriptions of the Hero’s birth.  This is especially evident in the fact that in most of these myths the Hero is born of royalty or a god, and then after being ditched, is raised by simple folk such as shepherds, wet-nurses, slaves, etc.  The second birth helps separate the Hero from his true family and his true societal obligations.  This is necessary as it allows the Hero to seek the Hero’s path, eventually to usurp or replace his original royal parent.

            The creation of myths by humanity is an on-going process.  One of the founding heroes of the United States is the first President, George Washington, who as a General led the forces that defeated the British in the New World.  It has been almost 250 years since that time.  Already, a vast catalogue of fabrications exists that seek to portray President Washington in the heroic light that myth does.  The biggest one is the story where Washington cut down a tree, and when confronted about it, told his parents “I cannot tell a lie.”  This small, apocryphal story has gone on to become the basis of most everyone’s idea about George Washington.  It remains to be seen whether his myth tale will continue to grow.   I think Dr. Otto Rank may be correct in stating that the sources of Myth lie in our very own subconscious minds.  The stories that move us as human have not really changed since the dawn of history.  We all love a Hero.  We all love a story about someone who was taken from lofty heights, brought down to the lowliest of lows, and then re-emerges, like the Phoenix, to greater glory that ever before.  It is truly our human nature.

(This book can be read or downloaded here:  https://ia802205.us.archive.org/12/items/mythofbirthofher1914rank/mythofbirthofher1914rank_bw.pdf )

We may all need a New Model for the Universe...

A New Model of the Universe: Principles of the Psychological Method in Its Application to Problems of Science, Religion and Art – P.D. Ouspensky (1929)

SUN RA Reading List

            This is the second book off of Sun Ra’s Reading List that I have read so far. Both are profound, and complex works attempting to attack and explain vastly different subjects.  Whereas the first book, The Two Babylons, was one man’s exploration of the sources and roots of Roman Catholic ideology and imagery back through time to perhaps the most ancient human civilization we know of, this book is an attempt to explain what countless mystics, theologians, and schools of thought have been unable to.  In this text, P.D. Ouspensky sets out to provide us fellow humans a way into the ideas and knowledge that have been kept “Hidden” or as “Mysteries” throughout human existence.  It is a deep dive indeed.

            This is a long and complex work.  It contains various sections written by Ouspensky at various times in his life.  There are parts where the author discusses his own life, and the experiences and events that led him to explore what many ignore, or consider unknowable.  This led him to learn about religions, cults, esoteric groups, secret teachings, and the Mystery Schools, even going so far as traveling worldwide to learn from those they call Masters in remote lands.  Ouspensky is not your typical seeker, as he is very well-versed in science, human psychology, and the human mind’s neurological activity, at least as well-versed as a layman could be in the late 19^th/early 20^th century.  He is constantly questioning his experiences, and relates how many “seekers” latch onto the first realization/epiphany they experience, never pushing forward to deeper truths.

            Ouspensky begins the book by discussing what modern society (his world in the 1890-1920 period) believed or sought to understand about esotericism.  He details the various sidetracks that people slid into in their search for hidden knowledge, including the lies and chicanery practiced by the Spiritualists of that era.  He explains that the true esoteric knowledge is knowledge about the world we all share that is only suitable or understandable by a select few, who need to have prior training or study to even comprehend these things.  He details how modern society has no place for these mysteries, leaving many to believe ridiculous lies and dogma because they have no access to the actual truths. 

            He then proceeds to explore the concept of the 4^th dimension, time, and how it applies to our existence.  Much like Einstein did, Ouspensky seeks to understand the metaphysical implications of a four-dimensional world.  Similar to the tale Flatland, Ouspensky starts with a point in space (0 Dimension) and shows how that point moving in time creates a line (1 Dimension).  A line, being 1D can move in two ways in time.  Along its length, the line gets longer.  However, if the line moves in time perpendicularly equal to its length, then that line becomes a square (2 Dimensions).  If that square moves in time perpendicular to itself you end up with a cube (3 Dimensions).  We live in this seemingly 3 Dimensional world.  The trick part is, how do we conceive of a square, seemingly solid, moving perpendicular to itself to create a 4 Dimensional figure?  How does that figure then move perpendicular to itself to create a 6 Dimensional figure?  It is a very heady topic.

            Subsequent chapters explore the idea of a “super” man as it has been handed down through time.  This is not an extra-powerful man, but a man that has transcended this 3^rd Dimension in his mind, and become a 4 Dimensional being, without the usual intellectual issues and emotional failures that humans naturally possess.  Per Ouspensky, history provides us with examples of these ascended humans, such as Gautama Buddha, and Jesus of Nazareth.  Due to this, Ouspensky spends a good amount of time on what the Christ story actually means, and why the New Testament is a radically different sort of text than the Old Testament.  His claim is that the Gospel stories are disguised metaphors for the journey a human must make to transcend this 3D existence or materiality, and gain a new existence (a rebirth/reincarnation) as an enlightened 4 Dimensional being.

            Ouspensky goes on to explore at depth that various systems that humans have used to understand, teach, and sometimes to disguise, sacred wisdom.  He analyzes the Tarot and its imagery, the four systems of Yoga, Dreams and the claims of Hypnotism.  The author then spends some time detailing his own personal journey into what he calls Experimental Mysticism, the active exploration of the mind, and his results are surprisingly lacking in gullibility.  This leads to what he titled the book, which is a New Model of the Universe.  This new model is intended as an exploration of what the new quantum and relativity sciences imply for our existence, hidden dimensions, and how we will evolve in the future.

For someone writing nearly 100 years ago, I found Mr. Ouspensky to have a very modern mind, cynical when it is needed, open when it is important, and willing to explore side streets and backwaters in search of truth.  This is a good example for others to follow.  I am confident that much of what P.D. Ouspensky has written is closer to the “truth”, if there is any truth to actually be found, than most any other work of esoteric wisdom I have come across.  It makes sense why this book resonated with Sun Ra enough for him to include it in his lesson plans.

(You can download and read this book in PDF form here: http://www.baytallaah.com/bookspdf/78.pdf )

I Ran Across a Biting Satire for Our Modern Times

Mischief – Chris Wilson (1993)

            I often spend much of my lunch hour at work reading (lucky me!).  One day, as I was leaving the Baylor College of Medicine cafeteria, I noticed a bookshelf tucked away in the corner.  Taped to the top shelf was a sign reading “Your Free Library.”  I am always drawn to Libraries of any type, even tiny ones.  I perused the contents of the shelves, finding many magazines, medical periodicals, and quite a few books, both fiction and non-fiction, that were interesting to me.  Among these was a well-worn paperback titled Mischief, by English author Chris Wilson.  Reading the blurbs and the synopsis on the back page I was intrigued, and took the book with me.

            From the moment I began to read this novel I found myself both engaged and amused by turn, and began to really relate to the protagonist, one Charlie Duckworth.  He narrates his own tale, describing himself then his humble beginnings, where he was found beside a Brazilian river by a British botanist who brings Charlie back to the UK as his adopted son.  This book resonantly speaks to the outsider’s experience upon being thrust into British society and culture, mirroring somewhat my experience as an outsider Puerto Rican who was brought to Houston, Texas, leaving behind every bit of societal culture I understood, and having to adapt and join the alien American culture I had seen so much on TV and movies.

            Like the very best works of satire, this is one funny book.  Also, like the very best works of satire, the jokes are there to shed light upon the horror inherent in the culture being savaged.  Charlie is, in nearly all respects, the opposite of a British gentleman.  His skin is yellow, his body is hairless, and his frame is tall and gangly.  He is a devout vegetarian.  He is so overcome with empathy and sympathy for anyone who appears in pain or suffering that he unconsciously mimics their afflictions, thereby causing the very people he is sympathizing with to reject him, fearing that he is only ridiculing their woe.  He does not understand sarcasm, nor lies, nor the very British trait of extreme politeness to the point of delusion.  He sees himself as an animal, not a Homo Sapiens Sapiens human being, and the responses and reactions he receives from the British people as he maneuvers school and life only reinforce that idea.

            Charlie Duckworth is also an astute observer of humanity, sharing with the reader the many conclusions he has come to regarding the human creature and the actions of such.  Here is an example of the type of interactions Charlie had with his University professors,

            “Holzinger gave a rhesus Monkey an electric shock every time it ate a banana,” Dr. Jobson told our seminar group. “Why do you suppose he did this?

            “Was he a sadist, a psychopath?” I asked.  It seemed a rhetorical question, but I wanted to make a contribution.

            “Duckworth,” Dr. Jobson declared…”don’t be a smart-arse.  Not in my seminars.”

            “But look at it from the monkey’s point of view…” I protested.

            “The monkey doesn’t have a point of view,” he snapped.  There was this prevalent view in psychology that animals didn’t have pleasures or feelings.  There were only things that happened to them, and things they did in reflex reply – stimuli and responses.  I knew better.  Though, I didn’t say so.

            Charlie experiences much of what constitutes a “typical” British upbringing, always experiencing things in a way that exasperates the Brits around him.  They do not know how to cope with someone who has not yet assimilated all their self-delusion mechanisms.  This is very much how life is like in our modern world for anyone not interested in acquiring wealth and/or power, or for someone whose personal values are deemed worthless by the society he finds himself in.  The kind, giving, friendly person is the first victim of the mean, selfish, and antagonistic person. 

Charlie’s insights into us humans may cut deep, but they are true insights, and exceedingly valuable.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has felt marginalized by the world at large, or out of place within a world that you did not create.  I know it resonated deeply with me, and my experiences.  Author Chris Wilson has created a profound book, dripping with the sharply observed satire expected out of someone like Mark Twain or Jonathan Swift.  It is a satire for our modern age, asking what being human really means, and whether it is worth it to try.

(This book can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Mischief-Christopher-Wilson/dp/0233987134 )

The Idea of Free Will and all its philosophical paradoxes are explored

Paradoxes of Free Will – Gunther S. Stent (2002)

            One of the biggest difficulties I have in reading works of philosophy is the nearly universal occurrence that philosophers critically analyze and explore an idea as far as they can, but seemingly fail to analyze and explore the assumptions they personally hold to be Truth.   Many philosophical works are actually re-phrasing and analysis of previous works, with what amounts to essentially a pamphlets-worth of data placed at the end of the book, detailing the writer’s tiny contribution.  I am not fond of reading those.  The glorious thing about Mr. Gunther Stent’s bad-ass book, Paradoxes of Free Will, is that it seeks to explore just one topic, and does so following the chronological history of human philosophical development.

            The topic at hand is one that each of us should have an opinion on, regardless of our educational level.  This topic is Free Will.  Going back thousands and thousands of years, Mr. Stent finds that the central issue to much religious/theological thought is the attempt to understand what humans perceive as Free Will.  Very ancient human civilizations did not have a concept of an individual free will.  Even until the time of Confucius, Lao Tze and the Buddha, the world these genius thinkers came from did not place any value on the individual or the individual’s right to decide the path of their life.  Confucius created a means by which society can guarantee good upstanding members, to the exclusion of actual individual desires.  Lao Tze tried to do the same, but with the goal of showing the people how to guarantee a good moral life, as opposed to a social life.  The idea of human Free Will really began to take shape after humanity crafted monotheistic religions.  Polytheistic religions posited that we humans were just parts of a much greater, eternal whole.  Monotheistic religions had to create some sort of special reason why humans are so “awesome,” so they began to perceive the entire material world as being created solely for humans (stupid, but what can you do?)

            The main argument between theologians, philosophers, and other thinkers goes like this.  If the Universe is created by an all-knowing, all-powerful, infallible creator being, and that creator being knows all that has come and will come, then why do humans feel like they are freely choosing their own paths in life?  If it is all pre-ordained, then to blame a human for a wrong action or an immoral choice is to blame the designs of an almighty god.  On the other hand, if humans have the ability to choose their actions for themselves, does that not deny the existence of an omnipotent creator?  This argument is further inflamed by the claim that some sort of pre-existing morality exists in humans, by which we are tested.  If we do good actions (god’s will) then we are good moral beings.  If we choose to do bad actions, we do so in spite of the morality we all know is in us.  At least that is one argument, and I have severely simplified it here.

            The book shows the early development of human thought on these matters.  From the idea of a Free Will comes the idea of a Soul.  From the idea of a Soul comes the battle to determine whether the soul is a part of our material existence (a result purely of biomechanical processes) or whether we have a duality in us, base matter being our physical self, and a divine, ever-lasting Soul which guides our true self.  This is called the Mind-Body Problem.  Does the mind/soul exist independently from the body/brain?  Is it all just the end-result of pure physical properties?  Many wars and terrors and traumas have been shoved down people’s throats by those who wish to force their ideas about this on the people at large.

            The existence (as most of us see it) of Free Will invites many other philosophical paradoxes that are explored in this great book.  One of the oldest is the Paradox of Moral Responsibility.  This can be explained in the following manner:

1)    Some of the world’s events are governed by determinism (the web of causation that we feel directly effects outcomes, such as a drought causing a forest fire).  All other events are random chance.

2)    People are only morally responsible for the action they will autonomously (many will say a person who is under orders to do an immoral act is NOT morally responsible, for instance.  A murder is an autonomous killing.  A soldier firing at an enemy is just following an order.)

3)    To the extent that a being performs an action is governed by determinism, it is predetermined.  Therefore people could not have chosen to exercise their free will in any other way from how they did do it.  The problem is that item one shows that if the action was not caused directly by another force, then it happened purely by chance, meaning no Free Will was involved at all.

4)    The conclusion of this argument is that a being is never morally responsible for their actions.  This for many is an obvious paradox.  How can an evil person not be morally responsible for their actions?

Now, while that may sound nice and pat, it has been shot down countless times by other philosophers, who can all find ways that actions are morally valid or invalid, regardless of determinism or random chance.  For instance, some would argue that a soldier ordered to shoot someone does not have to actually shoot them.  They could reject the order or shoot in another direction, and in doing so could choose the moral path.  It is very complex.

            This book goes on to discuss scientific and religious developments that have shaped the various paradoxes that arise from the very idea of Free Will, with the quantum indeterminacy of the nano world being one of the latest to shock the status quo of philosophy as it relates to mind/body and free will.  I am glad I ran into this book at the Library.  It is a great exploration of a very specific and very central topic in the world of philosophy.

(This book can be read here:  PARADOXES OF FREE WILL  )

This book makes so much sense it HURTS

Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics – Alfred Korzybski (1933)

On a recent road trip with my wife, we listened to a collection of speeches and interviews with Robert Anton Wilson, and in them he was asked what books made the biggest impacts on his thinking.  He mentioned several but the one that he stated he had read as a young adult and then re-read several more times throughout his life, was this weighty tome.  This book is nothing less than Alfred Korzybski’s attempt to change our world from the didactic, Aristotelian mode of thinking which has negatively programmed humanity towards believing the absolute certainty of language and the idea that something either “is” or it “is not,” with no “maybe” in between, into a non-Aristotelian, scientific worldview which accounts for the way the world truly is, and which mathematics and science have already come to.

Many of the problems that exist in relaying scientific information to the general population is that science and math have for some time now, relied on pure non-Aristotelian language, the better to understand such non-Newtonian concepts as Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.  This revolution in thought has not made its way through to the general population.  The world and its politicians still speak as if language creates certainty, when language is purely a symbol and more than one “meaning” can be easily extracted from any statement.  For example, the statement “Poor people are lazy” is pure fiction, and meaningless in every respect, but the language carries a certain certainty that, for those of us who do not wish to think, is very comforting.  The non-Aristotelian version of this statement, “Some poor people seem to stay poor due to their laziness” is far richer in true meaning, and verifiable, but this kind of language scares politicians and people in power because in their eyes it seems to portray their stance as “soft,” or “uncertain.” The real problem lies in that finding solutions to human and world problems requires us all to think in the non-specific latter manner as opposed to the highly specific yet meaningless and un-true former manner.

Mr. Korzybski was writing this in the early 1930’s, and with diligence has included examples from all fields of human thought, showing the way non-Aristotelian thoughts and words not only better describe reality, but actually help us human beings process information in a beneficial and meaningful manner.   He shows how Aristotelian ideals worked at the time of their creation, because here was so little hard data about the world around us.  The Greeks such as Aristotle, had to delve into the realm of the Ideal and use that as a gauge for the world that we all experience.  This was fine for them, but in the more than two thousand years since, our knowledge of the natural world around us has grown exponentially.  Because of this it is no longer sound to base our study of reality on notions of an Ideal.  The world is inherently chaotic, and fractal in nature.  The Ideal in Euclidian geometry, the geometry we are all taught first in school, only works perfectly in abstractions, not in real life.  Non-Euclidian geometry is able to actually describe the world around us without reliance on absolutes.  Newtonian physics was similar to Euclidian geometry and drew from it.  In Newtonian physics, the speed of light is infinite.  In non-Newtonian physics (Einstein’s macro-world Relativity and the micro-world of Quantum Mechanics) the speed of light is known and serves as a “top speed limit” to the Universe.  This allows the understanding that Space and Time are not separate things, but instead are two parts of the whole of space-time.  One cannot be had without the other. 

An ink drawing cannot exist without the paper underneath, and a piece of paper without ink is not a drawing.

            This book explores many other fields which would benefit greatly from Non-Aristotelian thought.  It is so dense, and so rich with ideas, that the author recommends the book be read at least 3 times, to fully grasp everything it contains.  Mr. Korzybski hoped that this idea would spread and that each schoolchild would be taught in this manner, so as to free them from the jail-cell that is Aristotelian thought.  This was echoed by Robert Anton Wilson who stated in the aforementioned recording that he read this book every 15-20 years, and always found more and more to digest and explore.  I am in that same camp.  I wish I had tried reading this at a younger age, to see how my thoughts would be different re-reading it now, but that is wishful thinking.  Robert Anton Wilson took these ideas and ran with it, especially the idea to never use the specific verb “is.”  He called this E-Prime, and he wrote several books and articles in it.  While it may seem odd when reading these stories and articles, it is the same language and mechanisms used by science to explain results meaningfully. 

The brain is a tool, and as such must be prepared properly in order to function at its peak.  Mr. Korzybski explains how so many of our “mental illnesses” are a byproduct of the human mind trying to explain it’s experience using Aristotelian logic and language.  This causes neurosis, paranoia, and delusions that can morph into actual pathologies.  A human being can only understand what it is prepared to understand, and seeing the world in absolutist, non-relative terms creates mental chaos.  The world is not absolute.  The human mind is not a yes/no machine.  Thinking this way does harm to all of us, and hopefully will slowly be rectified.  I will be reading this book again in a decade or so.  I hope it blows my mind yet again.

(This book can be read or downloaded as a .pdf file here: http://lipn.univ-paris13.fr/~duchamp/Books&more/Neurosciences/Korzybski/%5BAlfred_Korzybski%5D_Science_and_Sanity_An_Introduc%28BookFi.org%29.pdf )


(This book can be purchased here:  AMAZON  )

The more I learn about these con-artist quacks the more I hate them!

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science – Martin Gardner (1957)

            Martin Gardner is a name I recognized referenced in many of the books I read about pseudo-science, quackery, and delusions.  This book, Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science, was the first work of the past 100 years that sought to include all the major nonsensical, seemingly scientific claims that many people at the time believed in.  Sadly, there are still many slightly-educated fools that believe these things up to today.

            The book is divided into chapters, each dealing with a specific subset of quackery.  One of the first topics explored are the claims that the Earth is not a spheroid, but flat.  Another of these pseudo-scientific fads which still has followers, and which had many more in the past, is the claim that the Earth is hollow, and that mysterious creatures and entities reside there.  Mr. Gardner does a great job describing the claims put forth and explaining just what the many logical and intellectual fallacies the proponents of this nonsense fall into, fooling themselves into certitude.

            There are chapters on the “flying saucer” nonsense, and chapters on the many medical quackeries that fleeced so much money from so many sick and suffering people between 1880-1950.  One of the ways in which these beliefs and ideas are kept alive is by removing some of the older verbiage and replacing it with seemingly well-researched scientific-esque language.  This is what allowed the full on lie that is chiropractic “medicine” to be practiced in the USA to this day.  Originally, the quack that invented the chiropractic claimed that all the body’s diseases and ailments were caused by “sublimations” of the spinal vertebrae, and that by manipulating them and applying heat or massage treatments, all manner of disease could be cured.  Of course, the wacko that created this flim-flam denied the existence of germs, and never accepted the germ-theory of disease.  These days the chiropractors in the USA hide their quackery under the words of physical therapy, and rehabilitation.  It is all bullshit, and chiropractic “care” is as effective as a sit in a hot tub.  Temporary “relief,” followed by renewed pain and symptoms.  The crooks in chiropractic care have survived to this day, milking the American health insurance cartels for millions of dollars in worthless care.

"Wait outside by the slender tree.  Your treatment will soon begin."

            Other parts of the book discuss the lies of homeopathy, acupuncture, phrenology, and more.  It may seem sad that people fall for this stuff, but the real sadness lies in the hearts and minds of the assholes who sell the sick, infirm, and suffering quackery as medicine.  Those bastards are just as bad as the asshole that created Scientology once his science fiction books did not sell (because they sucked).  It seems if you couch any crazy idea in seemingly scientific wording, unsuspecting people will eat it up.  That is why it is important for everyone everywhere to have at least a working knowledge of science and the scientific method, and of logic and reasoning.  A desperate person will turn to anyone offering answers.  The assholes that prey on these desperate people deserve to suffer every possible pain imaginable.  This book, or this one by James Randi (http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-masterful-reference-for-those-of-us.html ), or this one by Harry Houdini (http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/2014/09/houdini-was-trying-to-school-us-about.html ) , should be required reading in all public schools.  It would create a better educated citizenry, but then again, our political leaders may not want that!

(This book is available in .pdf format here: http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Martin-Gardner-Fads-and-Fallacies-in-the-Name-of-Science.pdf )

I should not have wasted my time...

The Future of the Body: Exploration Into the Further Evolution of Human Nature – Michael Murphy, Mich Murphy (1993)

 

            The writer of this book, Michael Murphy, is the founder of the Esalen Institute, a retreat/think-tank/hippie palace in California that was the nexus of the New Age movement which has contributed to the general stupidity of humanity since its creation by sponsoring every single fringe endeavor, from psychic research to holistic medicine to ever manner of bullshit imaginable.

            I did not know this when I started reading this book.  It really doesn’t matter, but it helps explain the construction of it.  The author ranges through all sorts of topics, and what makes it tolerable is that he never really endorses the weirdness he describes, only using it as a jumping-off point to discuss the capabilities of the human body and mind, and how they may be evolving in the future.  While not being specifically supportive, the writer assumes a lot of what he describes is true, or at least true enough to merit inclusion in the supposed abilities of the human mind.  

Like a clown getting yanked about with a hook in his mouth

            I was not too impressed by this book but it did touch on many fringe topics and ideas.  It seems like an effort to combine unrelated ideas into a coherent whole, which is fine, although seemingly unfeasible.  All in all it was a mildly entertaining read.