seer/fortune-teller/logician — Agent Smith

Most interesting. — Ms. Marple

Liar/Lunatic/Lord.

I really think that it is time that I should read Spinoza! I did try a couple of times but found it hard to concentrate, which I do find frequently with some philosophy from past eras, and it may be the way they write. Of course, Nietzsche's writings are eloquent, like poetry. With some of the older writing it can be that there is lack of concise summary. However, it may be that the attempt to summarise which has become a way of 'word salad', trying to compress too many ideas together at once.

The language of fortune-tellers can be regarded as 'occult' and misleading. I have known people who have gone to see fortune tellers and ended up being extremely distressed. That is most likely if they are given warning of something bad which may happen. I think that most people I have known who have gone to see fortune tellers go with the hope of reassurance but get the opposite. I dare'nt think what a palm reader would make of my life line. It has so many twists and strange broken bits.

I did go through a time, when I was a student, of consulting the I Ching. That was often a source for contemplation but it became a bit addictive. I used to find I was consulting it before doing so many things. Once, another student did a Tarot reading for me and she was freaked out by the reading as she thought that it was the most fearful deck she had seen. I wasn't that bothered by it though and ended up trying to reassure the girl. It is surprising just how many books are written on fortune-telling and even stocked in libraries. I have also known a few people who have been to seances.

Agreed, vagueness & ambiguity are the defining features of oracular utterances. Like we were discussing Jack, something Rorschach testish about the whole business. A little bit of logic can help you make good guesses; add to that luck, then a creative spark and we have at our disposal a psychic who can hold their own against the most seasoned skeptics.

Yes, it is about seeing ideas and meanings in patterns, like synchronicities. It may also be about subliminal aspects of perception. However, it is possible to get carried away with the 'subconscious', and it may lead to delusions in some instances. Freud spoke of hallucinations as being about dreaming while awaken.

I went through a phase of reading David Icke, and I see such books as a way of devil's advocate consideration. It may be that conspiracy theories are dangerous in the way they create fear. The most strange idea David Icke has is of the British Royal Family being shapeshifting reptiles in a literal sense. The one idea which he does suggest though, which is shared by many, is that Princess Diana's death was not accidental.

British Royal Family being shapeshifting reptiles in a literal sense — Jack Cummins

:lol: Keep that fire going! Maybe we can cook something!

No disrespect intended to the British Royal family of course.

On a symbolic level, perhaps all human beings have a shapeshifting reptile side, with the reptilian aspects of mind on some ways. It may relate to the lower or primitive aspects of the evolutionary pathway and how it still a basic aspect of human nature which is still apparent at some stages of human life.

I don't know about you but to my reckoning this thread is a one giant word salad. How did we get from a philosophical issue to reptiles? :chin: Maybe I did it. Apologies! There's a name for this phenomenon in psychiatry - derailment! Sound familiar? Intriguing, oui monsieur? I haven't checked but I'd bet all threads end up derailed by the time the last post is made.

:brow:

Anyway, reptilian brains; Caledonian crows? They possess meta-tool-making capabilities and its hardwired probably. No reports that I know of that they pass on the skills via language like us humans. Fascinating, but that probably doesn't mean anything.

Perhaps, the title of the thread should have been called 'Word Salad' or a 'Salad of Ideas'. It's a bit like when I got put in the position at work in a hostel where I was a bit uneasy about having to organize supper. A colleague recommended me to make a Jungian cuisine, with plenty of shadow.

As far as reptilian brains, I understand that the earliest stages of the development of the child are similar to reptiles. It may be about the core structures which are the foundations from which the evolution of sentience arises..It is at the centre of the mind and body problem, which may give rise to the various ways of thinking, ranging from those which evoke the idea of the supernatural to the physicalist models. The spectrum of many possible explanations may be where the imagination comes in, including forms of magical thinking and dangerous forms of thinking.
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Later Jack. Enjoyed the exchange.