Yes, there is a large cohort of cognitively challenged people in the U.K. There is a legacy issue here, alongside the media issues. The political culture in the U.K. has been skewed by the Tory establishment using a sophisticated range of techniques to persuade the poor, the working classes, to vote to keep wealth in power. This has included keeping the population at large ignorant about politics and vulnerable to manipulation.

There is hope though, which was tackled head on by Starmer’s keynote speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday. To expose Farage as a racist, running a party fuelled by the politics of grievance. When the above cohort realises the extent of the racism, sufficient numbers of them will turn away from becoming associated with it. Also to expose the faux patriotism used to disguise overt racism, which Farage also hides behind.

The grooming gang / rape gang scandal, these are a minority of migrants, but they also have to be considered a national scandal, no? A clear example of the worst sort of immigration policy - one that people refuse to discuss, for fear of giving offense?

The grooming gang scandal is a social problem, due to the cultural differences between the British population and the Asian, mainly Pakistani and Bangladeshi people who came in to the U.K. in the 1970/80’s. Although in terms of grooming gangs, it wasn’t such an anomaly as is portrayed in the media. There were and are many such gangs amongst the British community, which are not talked about. The problem which you highlight is the way it was responded to. The police turned a blind eye to it and let it go on too long with out bringing them to book. But this wasn’t due to politeness, or woke rationale, but fear of being labelled racist, or prosecuted for racial discrimination.

I taught ESL in high school for years here in Toronto. I loved those kids. It was a different era of immigration, and we were lauded for our points-based system. I think naive, open-door approaches to immigration do a disservice to kids like the ones I taught.

In the U.K. there isn’t an open door policy, again this is a populist lie. There are strict controls on migration, the reality is that governments want skilled workers to come in to bolster the economy and fill the gaps left by a dismantled and failing vocational training policy at home. But it is political suicide to say that you want to encourage immigration, so they all just go along with the claims of wanting to reduce immigration, while secretly not restricting it.

There are problems with abuse of the system, but this is largely the result of a failing and dysfunctional migration system. Rather than a policy choice. You see the migration system along with all other public services are either failing, under resourced, or dysfunctional as a result of the 14 years of Tory austerity and cuts. Compounded by their abandonment of any real government following the Brexit vote in 2016 and the years of Tory Brexit chaos and clowns like Boris Johnson and Liss Truss, Royaly f*cking the country over for Kompromat, or looney ideology.

So the Labour Party inherited a broken country and it’s going to take a lot of hard work to put it back together again.

I assume you have been a reader for while? I noticed a downturn towards woke dogma almost a decade back.

I don’t buy newspapers, haven’t done for a long time. I follow a broad range of news outlets and commentators on Twitter and Bluesky and rely on U.K., Channel 4 News for broadcast news. Along with U.K. LBC radio, as I mentioned before.

In the U.K. what is referred to as Woke has been present since the early 1980’s and hasn’t increased particularly. In the 80’s, it was called the “looney left” and in the 90’s it was called “political correctness” What has increased is a populist backlash against it as a means to turn the electorate to the right. But the reason for this is not as an alternative, or correction to woke in our culture. That is a scape goat. The real reason is to steer the country towards a free market, neo-liberal agenda and follow the lead of the US. towards an Oligarch ruled, free market, utopia*.

Regarding immigration, the 4% is the proportion of the net migration who came in on the small boats. Roughly about 30,000 per year whereas the total net migration is around 600-700,000 per year.

I do see this as problematic, but more in regard of the increased pressures that we will face in the future due to climate change, than the current rate of immigration.

The small boats issue is symptomatic of this trend. As Asian and African countries struggle with the current economic climate, climate collapse and the spread of failed states. The flow of desperate migrants will only increase and countries on the front line, like Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain etc have it much worse than the U.K.

This is fertile ground for the rise of race based populism.


*Thatcher took up the neo-liberal ideology from the US in the 1980’s and we have been drifting in that direction ever since.

I find the UK fascinating in this regard - I started reading conservative newspapers and websites a few years ago when I became concerned about living in a progressive bubble.

Bad timing, over the last few years (since the Brexit vote in 2016) the conservative leaning press in the U.K. has been going through a nervous breakdown, along with the Conservative Party. They finally lost touch with reality around the time of the 2019 general election and now are just babbling basket cases.

This is a serious problem in the U.K. because at least 90% of the media landscape is right leaning with maybe 40% veering sharply to the right. Even the one serious left leaning newspaper that’s left, The Guardian, has become more centrist now. There is no representation of the left outside of social media.

Still none of this has changed the rates of immigration at all. There was a sudden halt in the numbers coming over from EU countries, but this was rapidly replaced by migrants from outside the EU. The small boats issue, despite being an intractable problem only contributes 4% to the immigration figures. It is only being shouted about because the right wing press in desperation (following the demise of the Tory party), is throwing everything behind Farage and overt racism is becoming normalised now in that endeavour.

An interesting observation I heard from a prominent commentator the other day was that it is considered now far worse, to be accused of being racist than to actually be racist. Also we have the weird spectacle of people going around erecting British and English flags on lampposts (covertly overnight) and then shouting why are you taking down our flags, it’s unpatriotic (when no one is actually taking any down) and this is my country and my flag I can fly it whenever I want.

If you want a level headed (sane) commentary on U.K. politics you couldn’t do better than listen to James O’Brien, on LBC radio, on Global player, 10.00am until 1pm U.K. time every weekday. He has kept a lot of people sane during these interesting times.

Australia is an interesting case, since it has such a high rate of Superanuation.

Here in the U.K., the government raids the superannuation (national insurance) funds regularly.

Yes, there is a disconnect between the people and the politicians. It’s coming up more and more in European politics too.

There is a growing feeling in the more right wing of the population that immigration should be drastically reduced, regardless of the consequences.

The electorate. This explains the meteoritic rise of Nigel Farage.

It seems that the Western countries don’t want those people to arrive, there is a lot of pushback, which I think will get stronger.

Chinese debt is about 75% of GDP.

Ok, who did they borrow it off?
It would be interesting to know how much money is owed to the Chinese by comparison.

The problem isn’t the size of the population, it’s with capitalism. Which requires ever increasing growth and productivity to stand still. When economies shrink, there’s hell to play and the poorer people in the population take the brunt of it.

Currently everyone (except the Chinese) is in debt and countries are close to defaulting on their debt, or becoming crippled by it. Unless there is a global solution found to address this countries will begin to fail like dominoes. The vultures will move in and things are going to get messy. And `I haven’t factored in climate change yet.

Shouldn’t that be Labour, Reform, Lib Dem.

Thinking in threes helps one get away from seeing things in black and white. Blackist’s are dead against whiteist’s, they think it’s nonsense. But if you bring grey into the mix, there’s a bit of both and a new colour aswell, grey.

I can never figure out what you mean when you talk about Peircean triads. Is it the degrees of freedom below, the constraints above, and the resulting phenomena?

I find it helpful to compare it to the trinity. Which works in the same way, father (god), downward constraint, mother (Holy Spirit)upward constraint, son, (Christ)the resultant reality.
I’ve been thinking in threes for a long time, it works well for me.

That things might have been different does not imply the strong notion of "free will" that I suspect is incoherent.

But I come at this from the opposite direction, it is the constraints of the hard physical world which restrict my strong free will. Take that away and I would have near absolute freedom.

I'm just not very good at this. Wondering about any specifics.

Sorry, I was joking.
It’s difficult to work out what Kant has got to say about it.

What are the criteria?

I thought Kant had just explained that.

I’ve come to the thread late as I’ve been enjoying a vacation.
I agree with the OP, I would point out though that in the past, when these practices were originally developed the world was a very different place. Indeed it is very difficult to even come close to imagining what it was like. Things like time (one’s time), one’s needs (for sustenance), the simplicity of one’s beliefs, the influence of societal leaders over one’s everyday life, the value of your life, the size of one’s societal group. The currency of such things was very different. As such we should also shine a light on our own currencies and how common practices (between the past and now) become applied differently.

In those days, it was cheap to spend your whole life, or a significant part of it in a monastery, or labouring on one acre of land, to feed a handful of people. Knowledge was held by priests, or their equivalent. Resources of every type were plentiful, with little demand for them. The deep identification with the simple objects and activities which shaped our lives was unshakable. Myths would develop around everyday objects and events. Magic was everywhere.

Hilary Mantel frames our knowledge of,(more recent) history;

“History is not in the past-it’s in the method we have evolved of organising our ignorance of the past. It’s the record of what’s on the record. It’s the positions taken when we stop the dance to note them down. It’s what’s left in the sieve when the centuries have run through it”. “It’s the multiplication of the evidence of fallible and biased witnesses, combined with incomplete accounts of actions not fully understood by the people who performed them.”
https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2017/reith_2017_hilary_mantel_lecture1.pdf

I needn’t contrast this past with the present, as we know the present so well.

I knew a Guru who advised against meditation because the modern world is such a cocophony of noise and stimulation that it was more likely to result in mental issues, than in Samadhi. He followed the route of puja, ceremonial worship as an alternative, which was equally high in stimulation.


I would also say that our civilisation is in a stage of collapse, or imminent collapse. The decadence crumbling into moral and economic decline. Crime and dishonesty increasing. Most people have some sort of trauma, which is a serious blockage to self development in most people who have suffered it.

In Plotinus, the soul animates matter as far as it can. The source is a power that can only go so far because matter is never completely mastered by form. The origin of that soul is from before our birth. Plotinus has also said he has visited that realm through contemplation.

Nicely put, (I’m not familiar with Plotinus), I would go further. There are a constellation of souls including some who instantiate matter from pre matter. But I would caution that these latter souls are very distant from our own, (“ Some very old material is moving through”, from your post).
Perhaps it is time we consider the role played by the distant past.

Hope you read that poetry above, it is really very good. I understand a lot more about Alfred North Whitehead just having read it.

Yes, just read it again, it is good. I like the implicit suggestion that planets and stars are conscious beings and that each act has a deep creative potential. Along with the idea that each act is/can be informed by distant events.

Well, Aristotle puts a lot of emphasis on the being in front of you is what actually exists. We have different ideas about how that is possible, but the first thing is the encounter with such beings.

So, that is germane to the issue at hand.

This was the emphasis I was thinking of, while not coming at it from a philosophical perspective. What we encounter, fully formed in our world is what is of primary importance and that is what we are evolved to interact with. We don’t necessarily need to look under the bonnet, to see/know what is important.

I have extensive experience with using psilocybin, so might be able to help explore the effects of hallucinogens.
I would categorise it into two effects;
Firstly, the awareness of a subtle layer to our reality, which I will call the astral plane ( I know there is a lot of baggage with this word, as is often the case with these discussions), as shorthand for some kind of subtle realm that we are not normally aware of.
Secondly, a release from our rigid conditioned view and ideology of the world. A loosening of the bond and an awareness of something different, although fleeting, distorted, uncertain and undefined, due to the brute action of the chemical.

Both these realisations can be made through meditation and or religious practice. Or just happen through experiences of epiphany. The use of drugs does hasten the process, But I would guard against any use seeking to go further than this. As it can result in a whole range of psychological, or psychiatric conditions, which would prevent further progress. Also I am of the opinion that once these two realisations have been made, there isn’t really much more benefit to be made. The shell of the primordial egg has been cracked so to speak and one will begin to glimpse the chink of light through the cracks.

Yes, I think it’s reached that point.
If there is anyone who would like to look into this subject further I would be happy to start a new thread.

It seems that the inner me has some tendencies which the outer me has difficulty accommodating for, social anxiety for example. The outer me therefore, has created a bunch of defence mechanisms to fend off what the inner me is telling it. The outer me has set up ways to effectively block the influence of the inner me, because the outer me wants something different from what the inner me can provide for.

This is not necessarily insurmountable, although it would require professional help to unravel. We all have inner conflicts like this of some kind. I had something similar with intense shyness from a young age. But it didn’t develop into something problematic and through considerable effort during my formative years I was able to overcome it. Even now it rears its head occasionally along with other psychological ticks and dysfunctional, or underdeveloped (resulting in repressed), character traits.
But I am able to manage them, neutralise them and clean up the emotional impact they have when they happen.

There is a sense that our weaknesses are actually our strengths, because we have unique experience and ability to live with these. So being able to see this as a strength rather than a failing helps one to face it, work through it and live with it. Even use it to our advantage. Also we have the opportunity to shape our lifestyles to make it easier to live without these issues normally arising. The thing with following a mystical life, it is entirely personal and doesn’t require, necessarily, dealing with the outside world, and you can shape your lifestyle to suit.

Now there are two tricks I use which might be of use to yourself. You may have already come to this realisation. The first is that there isn’t actually a destination, because you are already at your destination, always have been and it is simply a process of taking off the blinkers. Even this is not necessarily required, it might be seen rather as just taking a breath to be quiet, still, that is required. Breathing practice, pranayama, is very beneficial here.

Secondly and this is quite a neat trick, (this is the simplified version). You basically offer yourself up freely to any entity who is gooder than yourself. This necessarily requires one to be sufficiently good yourself that you would happily give yourself up someone equally, or more good than yourself. Once this level of goodness and conviction is reached, you can do a deal with yourself. You will offer access to yourself on the condition that your alter ego becomes at least as good as yourself. With the selling point being that, such a deal would enable progress and greater access. And of course your alter ego would naturally offer access to itself for yourself, because the result would only be gooder, or at least the same level of good. Then both party’s can become gooder and gooder in a partnership of mutual benefit.
I realise that this might be a non starter, but it works well for me. Although I do have a back up association with the deity Kali*, via an association and practice with a Guru and Ashram offering devotional worship to the goddess Kali**.

I would also say that this path isn’t an important thing to do, for any particular reason and is more a choice for certain people who have a calling of some kind to follow it. Others might follow a more intellectual pursuit, or something else entirely. All equally valid and meaningful.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

**I don’t think it necessary to have such a back up, I just happened to have made and established this connection prior to further work on myself.

So this, I think would be the most difficult part, the initial accommodation. That is where the logical trick I requested would be required. Maybe Wayfarer's example of the scarab beetle is such a trick. The trick is not really logical, but something which goes beyond logic, something which demonstrates the vast field of meaning which is not enveloped by logic

This crisis, or inititiation is foundational in the mystical life. Along with the other crisis I referred to in an earlier post. The one where one realises that the world might not be made of the solid objects we live alongside, but could be some form of immaterial phenomena, or something as yet undisclosed.

The mystical life is a combination of realising what we don’t know, our limits, so to speak and a movement inward to the true self and along the way we encounter human nature. Which is profoundly evolved to see the world as real and dwell there. So there is grounds for a conflict here, or a straight jacket, built in to our predicament. This is where the scarab beetle analogy is appropriate, for the aspirant there is a hurdle, perhaps a number of hurdles to overcome to reach the point where one is ready to begin.

Regarding the initial accommodation I didn’t mean what you describe, which is referring to later stages in the process. The initial accommodation is with yourself here and now. It’s such a subtle distinction it’s almost impossible to grasp. It is with the person typing this message, so to speak. What you refer to here as “my consciousness is just a small bloom which has blossomed out of the unconscious activities of my being”. You know the well used phrase, be true to yourself, this encapsulates it. Although here I would describe it in more technical terms.

One reaches an accommodation with one’s self, such that there is no question, or possibility of a breaking of the bond, or trust between you.

I know this sounds odd, how can you have an unshakable bond with yourself etc. But we must remember human nature. We are beings with an incredibly complex brain and mind, which consists of many layers of activity. Including projections, layered over projections. So basically there is more than one you, or you are a nexus of slightly differing and sometimes opposing mental and emotional processes. The task is to unify this in a way that is true to yourself. Initially it is more a case of reaching a threshold, beyond which the true you holds together and is able to build a focal point. Or it’s like crossing the Rubicon, you pass the point of no return(this is not strictly true, just an analogy).

This stage is very important, because all the other stages build upon it and in a sense they are present in it as it is achieved. So it is a real crisis, or initiation and it inevitably results in a moment of choice(a pivotal choice), the forming of a conviction(determination) and an act signifying the step being taken(acting definitively as your true self).

This can be practiced as an initiation right and there is a long history of this in our cultures. The boy becomes a man, through a right of initiation.

This is not a question of the act of crossing the Rubicon, that happens internally and in all likelihood cannot be pinned down to a moment, or a thought. It is symbolic of a movement within the self, which leaves behind the previous status quo.

Yes, there is a lot going on there.
I could tell you a story or two about such things. Like when I was half way through writing the word, evil, when a large spider ran onto the back of my right hand, the hand I was writing with.
Also the idea of a world view being shattered is in the area I am referring to.

I wasn’t thinking of the the American voter particularly, as this is a global problem (I’m in the U.K.). I agree about the complacency of the American voter and that there is a deep political crisis playing out there.

Yes, there is a logical trick and various techniques. Were you involved in the New Age movement at all? Because these techniques would have been available then. I can’t offer much help, from here, because normally I would advise someone to undergo a programme of self development for a few years first. This is important because it would bring to the surface any psychological issues, or trauma which would be problematic at a later stage, or might make one unsuitable for such practice. Due to the risk of psychosis, or other mental health problems.
You’re in Australia right? I would have a chat with Tom Storm, he might be able to refer you to someone who can help.

I can give you a simplified overall description of what is involved, but as I say, it needs to be undergone with, or adjacent to a group who are able to assess and assist in the process.

I spent a decade of rigorous self development before I was in a position to develop what I am talking about.

So basically, you come to an accommodation with yourself, once this is established and settled, with no conflict, or any issues. Then you establish a dialogue with the voice, or alter ego*. You come to terms where you have an established and shared common interest which is directed at the purification and development of your being. Because there is a strong common interest there is no, opportunity, or room for mischief. I say this because we are here dealing with the ego and the subconscious and if there are any internal conflicts, unreleased trauma, then it can derail the process and progress cannot be made.

The next stage involves reaching an understanding and trust with the voice/alter ego, to become good friends so to speak. To develop a working relationship. This goes hand in hand with a spiritual path in which one is seeking to reach a common understanding with the soul(or equivalent) and become aligned with one’s divine presence**.

Once this is established, one then proceeds to divine (as in divination), or using intuition the ways in which the divinity is infusing into the being. To practice a good life and role in a community, or family.

Over time this develops and reaches a point where there is a divine, or spiritual voice, or presence. Something which is acted out in small acts of kindness with other members of the community and or family. At this point, one would have developed a strong sense of humility and peace in living a relatively simple life engaging in pastimes like gardening, painting, literature or the like. Or discussing these ideas on a friendly forum, for example.

*working with the ego is a whole subject in itself and is the subject and goal of self development practices.

**alignment with one’s divine presence is simply the process practiced in all religions and spiritual schools of becoming one with one’s higher self, soul, becoming close to Jesus etc. There is a whole spiritual philosophy around this with more advanced stages and practices, where one allows the soul to play a guiding role and one and one’s soul (or equivalent) become assimilated in one being, or person.

Shhhhh, you might want to keep quiet about hearing voices and talking to yourself around here they might think you’re away with the fairies (just joking).

Yes, I agree with you entirely. Indeed one of the stages, initiations, or crises that I talk about is reaching an accommodation, an understanding with the internal dialogue. To develop a trust and rapport and develop the ability to work with, to bounce ideas off the voice. At a later stage, one might develop the faculty to hear the divine voice. Something, which I think is achieved by prayer in monastic settings. For me it is rather like a radio receiver.

It’s pitchforks at dawn again, I’m afraid.

Possibility extends through such a vast array of features of a vast array of activities, far beyond the capacity of the most imaginative minds.

Yes, although, I am focussing on the personal angle of a being. Which is actually quite limited, on a small scale and only covering a small number of events, outcomes etc. This does require the vast majority of what happens external to the being to be ignored, or screened out*. For such a being, the experience of such an unusual event is very rare, perhaps once in the lifetime, or only for 1 in 10 people in their lifetime. What I’m saying, is that infact it happens more than we know, even regularly, but we either don’t see it, couldn’t appreciate the relevance, are conditioned to screen it out etc. essentially we are blind to it, except in certain very narrow circumstances determined by our life, heritage and conditioning.
For the mystic, or seer, this is fertile ground for exploration and contemplation.

This "coincidence" acts to "amplify possibility". When the whole, as a group, does something unexpected, the effect of amplified possibility is realized. We observe this, "the effects of amplified possibility" every time a being makes an act which we designate as freely chosen.

Yes, that makes sense, specifically to my second point. But when it comes to my third point, I am talking about something else. That there is some transcendent (perhaps) process, or cause which may involve far reaching karmic**significance. For example, two beings who have some connection from a previous life. Or some extended interaction between historical groups etc. in which the two people involved are emissaries, or representatives to some other unknown process, or meeting.

This implies that within the "non-conscious relation between all the different parts", there is some form of what you call "group communion", which is some form of recognition of the underlying meaning or significance, and this acts to cause the amplification of possibility which is required for the individuals to act together as a whole, in a way which is non-deterministic.

Yes, I’m with you about it not being deterministic. I go back to my emissary analogy, in each event, each being may act as an emissary, or ambassador for a whole species, or series of unconnected(seemingly) events. Also, there is an internal dimension within the physical body of the beings (we are after all a colony of millions of individual cells), a spiritual dimension and a cosmic dimension, to this.***

* we have evolved to do this, in a profound sense, through necessity.
**I am using the word karmic, descriptively, not necessarily in its precise meaning.
***I would refer you to Hindu mythology, in which there is a vast, infinite spiritual cosmos, of which we are in a small pond in a distant backwater.

This isn't elementary school.

We are all still in kindergarten, but don’t realise it. We are playing with our shiny toys and passing them around in our own little worlds pretending to be important, or saying important things. While the grown ups are in the next room keeping an eye on us. Just to make sure we don’t go pressing any big red buttons out of curiosity.

Thanks for that description.

I think we can learn quite a lot from these sort of experiences, it’s like a window into hidden parts of our world that we don’t ordinarily see*.

For example; I have come to realise that extremely inprobable events and coincidences happen all the time. Probabilities equivalent to a lottery win. The probability that the crowd of dancers would part like that is extremely low. I have many other experiences which confirm this observation**. And yet, very few few of us notice these events, or if we do, realise the significance.

Secondly; for this event to happen, there was a collective action between all the people involved. So in a sense the crowd, including myself and the small chap, were acting as one cohesive organism. Which might suggest that we act as one organism more often than we might expect.

Thirdly; there was some kind of calling, need, requirement for the two of us to see each other and have our interaction***. I have had numerous encounters with people which involved exchanging of glances, as intense, or meaningful as this, indeed even more so. So have come to view such interactions as a window to the soul, or something like that.

Fourthly; and this point involves another encounter at the same event, aswell. The realisation that brief meetings between particular people can have a meaning, or significance, way beyond what we might expect. And that some kind of group communion is going on within populations.

This leads me to conclude a number of things about our world and humanity, which are not overtly evident and that there are deeper meaning and far reaching processes and purposes at play in our world about which we know nothing (in particular).

* we are blind, or blinkered to it. Although some cultures are not so blind and embrace it.

** I know about probability, chance and random events. But I am putting it in the context of a human life and the rarity within the experiences of a person for such improbable events to happen with meaning, within their particular path of experience. And that through the development of the skills of observation, one can come to see these events more and more and make use of them.

***the implication being that there is something going on at a soul, or spirit level in the beings involved.

Are we truly entering an era of multipolarity? If so, what are the philosophical consequences of a world without a dominant cultural “center”?

Yes, we are, but I would point to the driving force being climate change and to a lesser extent, competition for rapidly depleted resources.

Big corporations and oligarchs have realised that the climate change will have a big impact and soon. So they are scrambling to get in the limited number of lifeboats (metaphorically speaking) before it gets too bad. This was triggered by the financial crisis of 2008. When the cracks began to show in the capitalist order. I expect that in 50 years from now there will be three power bases, in no particular order, the U.S. ( including Canada, possibly Mexico), Europe (including Ukraine, Belarus etc) and China (including Japan Korea etc, possibly even India). The rest of the world will have to fend for itself, although, I think Australasia will be able to hold together in some form.

Is the West prepared to coexist with ideological and civilizational alternatives that do not necessarily aspire to Western liberalism?

They will have no choice.

Does multipolarity inevitably increase the risk of global conflict, or could it usher in a more balanced, mutualist order?

It will definitely reduce the risk, as easy power block will be struggling to survive and feed it’s population.

I find it very interesting how different people will remember the very same event in completely different ways. So you might say, something incredulous happened, but someone else in the same area might just notice a mundane occurrence.

Let me describe the event (that happened 30yrs ago), because there we two people who experienced it and it involved an exchange of glances between another person and myself and in some ways the setting was not the main event. It was the meeting of minds.

I was at the New Years Eve rave at Anjuna beach, Goa in 1995/6. There was a dense throng of dancers in a dense area about the size of a tennis court. I had been observing the dancing, the music and how it affected the people and how the crowd would become one. There was a kind of churning of energy following the music, the people would move with the churning as a flock of birds, or shoal of fishes. With the highlight being when someone would blow a whistle. Needless to say, I found this fascinating and was contemplating the spiritual dimension. When all of a sudden the throng parted by chance, a wall of about twenty, or more deep of dancers simultaneously all moved in such a way that a clear passage opened up in the throng. I saw at the other end of this passage, a small chap who was all grey, drained and exhausted, he looked as though he was struggling to stay on his feet and wanted out. I just looked on astonished, like a rabbit caught in headlights. He suddenly noticed me and our gaze met. I could see his desperation and his heartfelt plea for me to release him. He reached out his hand and I failed to respond. Although there was nothing I could do. The wall of people closed in on him again in an instant and I realised there would be no way I would be able to go in there and pull him out. I just carried on my way, contemplating what had just happened.

There was a visceral exchange between us, an acknowledgment and an understanding, the whole thing lasted for about a second, although it felt more like about ten seconds. I often wonder just what happened there in that moment. Although it wasn’t an isolated incident, lots of other interesting things happened around that time.

But going back to my point about being a witness, I am sure that for the other person along with myself, the encounter was burned into our minds and I know I certainly had a profound sense of every detail of it. There was knowledge given to me absent a thinking mind, instantaneous and unforgettable.

Yes, reminds me of realisations about separateness. If only I could go back to that point in my memory. What I would do, or say differently if I could. If I could only step back those thirty years, what I would do. Or people who I have lost touch with, who I would dearly like to contact and yet I know that they too are present now in this moment. Just somewhere else. These separations are also there for knowledge, experience. In a sense, they define us.

This really depends on how you would define "know". Unlike some epistemologists, I don't think that truth is a requirement for "knowledge". Plato, in The Theaetetus, demonstrated that we cannot actually ensure truth, so a determination of truth is not necessary for us to call some information "knowledge". So I'm not saying that we know nothing, I'm saying that truth isn't really part of our knowledge.

Yes, and there are different kinds of knowledge. Something that interests me is knowledge acquired through the witnessing of events. This doesn’t require learning, or understanding, just observation, or presence. I can remember and visualise clearly, in memory, events that happened 30 years ago. In which I witnessed something unexplainable, something which defies credulity and which has broad ranging implications for how I think about the world and reality. And yet at the time, it was just something I noticed, experienced, for a split second. Something that happened so quickly and was over before I could react. I could have just carried on, walked past and not given it another thought. But my enquiring mind and curiosity latched onto it instantly and it is still with me now as though it happened yesterday.

This experience is logged in me along with many others like a film archive, of curious observation’s and form an important part of my knowledge.

Truth is a moveable feast, ;-)

The simplification helps to keep us focused directly on what is important and purposeful to our little corner of being, but it misleads us into thinking that this is representative of "the universe" as a whole. Ontologies like monism are an extension of this misleading trend toward oversimplification.

Do you realise that you have just said that we know nothing, in particular. Well apart from what we have evolved to deal with.
I would go further and state that we cannot say anything positive, or negative about anything other than our world (except through revelation), welcome to the ranks of mysticism.

Regarding the poles, I would refer one to the myth of Ishvara (there are differing interpretations within Hinduism). I liken it to a divine being, spinning the world from her fingertips.

Or the first verse of the bible;

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

In both cases the deity whispers, blows, or spins the vibrations, or waves of form and diversity onto/into a ground, a field of potentially.

The idea that there is a thing which emits the noise, and a thing which receives the noise is very misleading because it does not allow the proper understanding, which requires that the supposed 'things' must be understood as really the activity of something else. The true understanding is that the supposed 'thing' is not a thing at all, but some other activity of something else, which appears to us as if it were a thing

Quite, and it’s a good way of thinking about it, in order to free ourselves of hard materialism, or something. But it’s more complicated than that and we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that what we are involved in, in our little lives in this world we find ourselves in, is reality (for us) and that there is a purpose and process going on with and between the things.

As for the “activity of something else”, presumably we are talking of distant, or large objects, acting as poles. As in electrical, or magnetic poles?

The I have no idea what we have been disagreeing about, because it is true by mere definition that we cannot see the world as it would be absent any observer.

The title of the thread is* (in a nutshell), to tease out a blindness in the view that, supported by science etc. the physical world**is what exists and anything else is mere speculation. A view which is held by the majority of the population. That the overwhelming truth of this orthodoxy cannot in all seriousness be challenged, and that this (orthodoxy) results in a blinkered view.

*apologies Wayfarer, if I have misrepresented the tittle.

**I am simplifying the various physicalist perspectives into one phrase here.

Tread carefully, dog is God read backwards. What if dog’s read backwards?

Anubis anyone.