Labyrinth Busker journal - Brian Robert
Pearce
A Mentoring Spirit
Know Thyself? Can't see for looking
The Autism of the Modern Media
What is Light?
Impossible Love
Can Reality, Delusion and Imagination become
Seamless?
The Children Crusades - Truth into Legend
The Intolerance of the Crusaders
The Rise of Thebes in the 21st Century?
More Mentorings on other pages from this
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Know
Thyself? Can't see for
looking
My defining term for conformists are 'White Sheep'. My term
for those who have something unique and potentially beneficial to the
world that can only be delivered through forms of non-conformity is
'Black Sheep'. Within the mechanism of this (apparently) simple
definition is everything from Hitler to Gandhi. It is important to
recognise in which camp you should reside, because then it is easier to
recognise that one camp needs the other.
In the same context, a psychologist/psychiatrist may not be able to
cure a condition or even diagnose exactly what that condition is - but
they can point the way. From this, a patient may recognise there is a
problem and search answers and compromises from within themselves. The
journal recognises (through hard experience and the timely reminders
from the wisdom of others) that allowing others to see themselves
through their impact on those around them is the most promising way for
an individual to search within for a better self.
The journal was particularly harsh with me. Or was it that it was
disturbingly blunt? Or was it that it let me off too lightly?
I still don't know.
Because the more, and further, I looked within? I simply came across
towns, then nations, then worlds, then universes of thought and
motivations that (in the end) made the idea of "Know thyself!" an
impossible task. But perhaps, an entry in one of the last journal books
did manage to explain and convey the reason for this inner complexity -
and why it is so hard for our outer consciousness to assemble anything
other than a simplified summary from our "inner nations".
Given this, I hope you will see that the task facing your profession is
mountainous. I don't think a psychologist can be blamed for
misdiagnosing. All he/she receives is a garbled summary (most probably)
from the patient of the 'simplified summary' that has emerged, or is
emerging, from that patient's outer consciousness.
With every patient, a psychologist/psychiatrist is attempting to
summarise a 'forum' of thousands (or possibly millions).
Excellent thoughts. I posted a parcel to
you yesterday with some
information on asperger/autism. I prefer to view
autism as a spectrum
ranging from mild to severe. Hope you have
a wonderful weekend and that
you will be able to spend time with your daughter.
Re: Book. Make a chapter outline with a
goal of 200-300 pages. Then start
writing chapter one with a limit on the number of
pages it will contain.
Constraint is the word here. After you complete
two or three chapters, get
a publisher to look at it. I believe that you
have much to say that is
worth sharing with the world.
The Autism
of the Modern Media
Hi Mead! Thanks for the book and the autism copies. But the advantages and disadvantages of mild autism are most readily displayed by the modern media. The tsunami, the hurricane and the earthquake have caught public attention worldwide. Many will receive aid because of this, but many from the second wave repercussion will be ignored because the newsworthiness will have disappeared. In amongst the millions of voices will drown the truth of many - and the adjudicators will sail into the sunrise of their accreditation with promotion and extended powers. The autism of constant charitable enterprise will suffer if it does not relate. The noble will see little of the largesses flung about. The emperor will nonetheless parade his new clothes - and none will say that he is naked. BACK TO TOP
My idea is that light is puzzling to define because people tend to
look for a generalistic substance, in the same way that 'mental
illness' and 'busker' may be puzzled over. With regard to my ideas on
temperature being the same force as time, it offers less mystery to me.
The material of Earth that is bound up and organised into a structure
conducive to our eco-system (including us) is only doing so because the
speed of time tends to be limited to a range of about 100 degrees C
planetwide (say - 50 C to 50C). Local events and conditions may exceed
this, but the mean average remains planetwide. I recently went on a
tour around a cave in the dales nearby - and the almost constant
temperature of those caves was 8 C. Nothing organic grew in them, but
the insertion of lamps (for the visitors) has eventually caused algae
to grow in places.
When light from the sun reaches our planet it is processed and
filtered, but I believe there are forms of light that can pass through
not only us - but the planet itself. If we view the short wavelength
light filtered out by the ozone layer, the blue (short wavelength)
light that is dispersed more easily by our atmosphere to create the
illusion of blue skies, the green portion of the spectrum which seems
to hold the key to plant life, the longer wavelength of the red (seen
at sunset when the view of light's descent through the atmosphere is
seen via a longer path), and the knowledge that our retinas are evolved
to generally exclude violet and indigo to avoid perilously confusing
images - it seems, already, that it is evident that light is not one
thing, but a combo of many things able to be extracted from the main
body.
Any form of light that is able to pass through solid rock is seemingly
incapable of nurturing life on this planet, while light filtered out by
the atmosphere would destroy all known life, were it to rampage through
unfiltered.
Temperature/time can be adjusted by pressure (ie: melting point is
affected). So the sun is possibly time moving at its greatest speed.
But all the matter, particles and energy that make up light are the
same (minus the filtering) that make up Earth. The physical and
chemical properties that make up light are adapted to that level of
time speed. Once they enter this planet's atmosphere they will enter
our radically slower time speed - and will be slowed down or stopped by
matter on this planet.
To a light 'being', it will appear as though its compatriots have been
frozen (or destroyed). But this planet will integrate the light into
its indigenous environment.
In my mind, I thought I could explain my view on 'what is light?' very
quickly, but what is easy to explain to myself is hard to explain to
another. It is often the way with inner understandings.
Light is us and our environs as we would be if we were moving at that
time speed. In other words (in all probability), we were once light....
and we will be light once again. BACK
TO TOP
She comes from Venus
My Tungsten girlfriend
Glows in the night
Her mind, a vaporous mist
Melting at 3422 C
My love for her knows no bounds
But to kiss her
Would mean
INSTANT DEATH-HOW EROTIC!
The idea of impossible love is always highly erotic, but to
visualise it in the first place is to open a path to discover its
actual reality. That can have surprising results.
Your ideas on light are very thought provoking
and I plan to re-read them
at a later time and offer up some comments. An
additional thought on
autism. Psychologist/psychiatrist are very good
at diagnosing "mental"
problems but we are lousy at curing them. For
example, if Brian meets four
of seven criteria for motorcycle-phobia, then we
classify him as a
motorcycle-phobic. Very simple to diagnose but to
cure is complex to say
the least. We can choose from at least 40-50
types of therapy ranging from
talking therapies to behavior modification or
combinatiuons. We can zap
him with myriad types of psychotropics. And when
it is all said and done,
he may not be cured. And we may decide during the
course of treatment that
we have misdiagnosed Brian. I abhor putting
labels on the children that I
work with but I have to do it in order for them
to receive special
education classes and I often wonder if the
special education classes
actually do them any good. Brian, if society
would only learn that we are
all unique individuals blessed with different
gifts and different
problems, it would be a much better world. But
society is determined to
make everyone conform. And conformity has never
accomplished anything like
writing a poem, painting a beautifiul work of
art, composing a sonata,
solving the Riemann hypothesis, or
developing a new theory of gravity.
Conformity usually leads to mass chaos under the
name of patriotism which
results in WAR! The one thing that a
political state can not allow is
nonconformity. Even though I served 28 years in
the Reserves including
four years of active duty, I would much prefer to
live in a society which
de-emphasizes conformity and allows all people
including the "mentally"
ill and autistic to pursue productive lives and
creative endeavors without
being " tranquilized" or locked away. BACK TO TOP
Can
Reality, Delusion and
Imagination become seamless?
A 9 year old child claimed he could remember a former life. It was a difficult case.
The autism related to Bob Dylan may be very different to the autism
of a physically brain damaged person. With the former, it's an attempt
to explain:
http://home.buskerbrian.com/societies2.html
With the latter, it's an attempt to explain anything, including the
wheel.
This child has not yet learnt that the possible should be labelled
impossible, because scientists are seeking life within our terms rather
than imaginative terms. A girl once told me she had a former life (she
was Dutch). She was a 17 year old female living in Canada in the mid
19th Century. The village accused her of being a witch - and her father
killed her in a bout of rage. It was one blow, but it killed her. In
this life, she has 'guardians' who threaten or protect her. The
threatening could be viewed as fathering - and former life memories are
(thankfully) usually removed from our upper conscious, so the 'threat'
is more from the unknown. But the sorrow of her former life seems to be
too traumatic to forget - and she claimed to remember all of this at
the age of three. She is now a festival organisor (in some capacity).
The knowledge of her former life gave her the wisdom to survive a
potentially dangerous moment. She was able to show no fear when
threatened by a man who had given her a lift, who said, "I could kill
you now! No one would know"
The knowledge of her guardians and her former life saw her face the man
down and she only fled into quaking once she was home and safe.
Perhaps you could ask the child how this dreamscape could be used
beneficially within his life. It may prepare him for the moment when
such knowledge will save his life. BACK
TO TOP
The
Children Crusades - truth
into legend
Do you think the children crusades were real events?
I am familiar with the children crusades. I have taken them as real
events. They seem to be accepted as real events by extremely reliable
sources and documentation.
But the idea that these crusades were composed of 12 year olds is
wrong. This distortion probably arrives from Stephen of Cloyes being a
12 year old shepherd boy. His idea was probably to lead an army of
children, but the 'army' itself was composed of a variety of 'poor
people - landless peasants, poor aristocrats and others - who have no
real voice in society'.
Quote comes from "Chronicle of the world" - Longmans.
There is a perfect example of how folklore satirised such events as
this. The story of the 'Pied Piper' probably originates from the
children's crusade. It transforms into a political and economic reality
once the story is applied thus:
A city is plagued by rats (too many poor people, landless peasants, and
other troublesome elements etc).
The 'Pied Piper' (Stephen of Cloyes - Pied can be read as pious - Piper
can be interpreted as the pipes a shepherd would play) comes to the
city and offers to rid the city of rats if the city would pay him
(provision the journey and pay for the ships etc).
True to his word, the Pied Piper begins to play (rouses the targeted
populace) and leads the rats out of the city.
King Philip II of France banned the expedition, but the Pope supported
it.
The Pied Piper arrives in Marseilles, where two merchants offer their
aid.
We can suppose that the financial backing promised by the 'city' did
not materialise - and merchants cashed in by selling the human cargos
to slavetraders.
The rats are transformed into the 'children of God' who were tragically
averted from their 'holy aim' because of double dealing, double
crossing and malicious opportunism.
All of this against the background of movements like the 'Albigensians'
shows there was much free thought floating around at that time. The
Popes would take a hard line against 'heretics' in the ensuing years.
BACK TO TOP
The
Intolerance of the Crusaders
Crusades were bad things in the manner of their execution. The first
crusade took Jerusalem and slaughtered non Christian residents of the
city. The forming of a new crusade would often mean the green light for
the slaughter of thousands of Jews in Germany and England, so that
their wealth could be seized and used to fund the crusade.
Nobility was easier to find in muslim states back then. Saladin,
Cordoba, Alexandria... civilisation and a tolerant, questing spirit.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy in the field of learning was the fire that
destroyed the library at Alexandria. Priceless writings from Greek,
Roman and Persian writers were destroyed.
Have you ever read "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibram?
It was written in 1923 - and would appear to have been cast aside by
the early 20thC mind.
There are some things in that way ahead of its time - and possibly way
ahead of the present time.
I came across it while writing the journal, and its value was shown by
the journal's reference
to it - especially about laws and how a society can construct a
'criminal'.
I think that, overall, your perception is all too close to right in the
way that conglomerates and governments are presently operating. The way
of both seems to be a gradual restriction of
choice. Morality and Spirituality have been trampled on - and made to
wear a mask. They are wheeled in only to make political or commercial
gain - and neither morality, nor spirituality, have much value in the
market place.
As Gibram pointed out, a King who can not dance may make a law
forbidding anyone to dance within his Kingdom. There are too many
people in high places who have the mean spirit of the 'carpet bagger'.
There are too many people ready to apply their cynicism like the
Venetians, who diverted the fourth crusade onto an attack on
Constantinople. BACK TO TOP
The Rise of
Thebes in the 21st
Century?
The problem is that Capitalism sees itself as the victor in the cold
war. My view is that it was
the cultural richness of the West in the '60s and '70s that played a
bigger part. Cultural richness is too diverse to market, so Capitalism
gnaws at itself.
Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan introduced a mainstream idea that culture
should challenge establishment.
As analogy, Athens (culture and trade) and Sparta (government and
control) challenged each other constantly. However, they eventually
joined together in alliance - and became less. Thebes built an army
based on emotional and spiritual bonding - and successfully challenged
Athens and Sparta.
In this analogy, Thebes has yet to form.
I can't see how we can have a free market when companies who honourably
treat their workers are undercut and cast aside by scavenger companies
who treat their workers like slaves and have scant regard for anything
other than profit. Other scavenger companies have only one aim: to scam
the consumer and get something for nothing.
A generation will come who will tire of this greed. From this will come
Thebes.
Nothing is more promising toward this goal than to know that school
psychologists can question themselves and society, because the children
under their care may need to do exactly the same thing.
The only thing I can do is publish what I can of the journal (and post
journal thoughts) online - and hope it may reach a mind or two. It runs
on the principle: I can't change the world, but I can influence those
around me. They can influence me. Eventually, the world may be changed
through the grapevine. BACK TO TOP
Labyrinth Busker Journal -
Brian Robert Pearce