I just received a letter from a reader (and listener) to this blog. He says what I'm feeling with an intense clarity. The one question I repeatedly ask to my guests, and especially to myself, is: HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR INTELLECT AND YOUR INTUITION?
Alas, I find myself increasingly bored and dismissive of my intellect.
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My friend writes:
I really think that whatever the hell this phenomenon/phenomena may be, it defies the reductionist approach favored by traditional objectivism. It requires us to get back to basic shit and just talk with each other, person-to-person, like you seem to do with your guests. I'm not saying we throw out rational inquiry, not at all! In fact I strongly believe that many people would benefit from taking a cold, hard look at their own gullibility. And I mean that with all my heart. But we also need to be open to the emotive, mysterious, symbolic and intuitive signals that are coming through to us as well.
I don't know what all this means. Maybe that is my Westernized left brain talking. It sits there in judgement, telling me that I'm full of crap for even paying attention to these anomalies in my life. And sometimes I don't know if I should believe its rational admonitions, fall into lock-step with culture, and simply dismiss all of this as some collective fantasy of early 21st-Century apocalyptic dreams.
On the other hand, maybe I really should pay attention to the absurdities. Last night I was sitting in bed with my heavy comforter drawn up around me, lights out and balancing my laptop between my knees and chest. Because I wasn't sleepy, I started to play a simple puzzle game that I had recently downloaded. I turned off the TV just after the Letterman monologue. It was about 11 pm.
I don't know what all this means. Maybe that is my Westernized left brain talking. It sits there in judgement, telling me that I'm full of crap for even paying attention to these anomalies in my life. And sometimes I don't know if I should believe its rational admonitions, fall into lock-step with culture, and simply dismiss all of this as some collective fantasy of early 21st-Century apocalyptic dreams.
On the other hand, maybe I really should pay attention to the absurdities. Last night I was sitting in bed with my heavy comforter drawn up around me, lights out and balancing my laptop between my knees and chest. Because I wasn't sleepy, I started to play a simple puzzle game that I had recently downloaded. I turned off the TV just after the Letterman monologue. It was about 11 pm.
A few minutes later I glanced at the computer's clock in the lower right corner. It said 2:20 am. My comforter was on the floor and I couldn't quite figure out how it got there. I was chilled and a bit confused. I seemed to be in the same position I started out in, and not a bit stiff, if indeed I had been sitting there motionless for three-plus hours.
My left brain was curiously incurious, despite my confusion. I simply gathered the comforter back onto the bed, closed down the computer and went to sleep. In retrospect I wonder what to make of it.
My left brain was curiously incurious, despite my confusion. I simply gathered the comforter back onto the bed, closed down the computer and went to sleep. In retrospect I wonder what to make of it.
Sure, I can resort to the explanation that A) I dozed off and didn't realize it, or B) that I got so wrapped up in this little video game that I didn't notice that over three hours of time had passed. There are problems with either explanation though, so the only recourse to my left brain was to flatly dismiss this little incident as nothing unusual.
But dammit, it was unusual! So what to make of it? The rational side is not paying attention But the intuitive side is saying that there is more to the story. So what do I do? It is this little mental battle that, I think, causes so many of us to discount the oddities in life. For me, it's easier to give in to the dismissive voice. But, I fear, that will never lead me to any sort of true understanding about the edges of reality.
Anyhow, I just want to reiterate that you, Mike, need to continue to explore and share these "Outer Limits" experiences. Keep up with the healthy skepticism, for that produces a clarity sadly lacking in the "Love and Light" community of doe-eyed believers. Critically examine the circumstances of every experience. But, on the other hand, don't let that skepticism discount the strange. That's just lazy thinking.
But dammit, it was unusual! So what to make of it? The rational side is not paying attention But the intuitive side is saying that there is more to the story. So what do I do? It is this little mental battle that, I think, causes so many of us to discount the oddities in life. For me, it's easier to give in to the dismissive voice. But, I fear, that will never lead me to any sort of true understanding about the edges of reality.
Anyhow, I just want to reiterate that you, Mike, need to continue to explore and share these "Outer Limits" experiences. Keep up with the healthy skepticism, for that produces a clarity sadly lacking in the "Love and Light" community of doe-eyed believers. Critically examine the circumstances of every experience. But, on the other hand, don't let that skepticism discount the strange. That's just lazy thinking.
(NOTE: this letter above was minimally edited, boldicized and italicized by me before posting)
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Missing time, that's sure what it sounds like. Really intriguing email.
ReplyDeleteMy choice would be intuition over the so called "intellect" any-day.
ReplyDeleteLife is definitely more fun using that approach anyway.
The trick is knowing that it really is the intuition and not just wishful thinking leading you astray.
That sounds (um, read?) like a smart fellow.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about the laptop. Did the battery drain during the 3+ plus hours of 'missing time'? did it went to sleep mode? did the puzzle game have a timer?
Sorry, but while there's interesting stuff on this site, this sounds almost like self-parody. Maybe you'll delete this comment for being "offensive or excessively harsh", but this is just an account of somebody falling asleep under circumstances which are perfectly normal in every way.
ReplyDeleteIt is suggested here that applying any kind of logic whatsoever to anything is a form of left-brain tyranny that turns some unfortunates into narrow-minded bigots who are practically robots. But I really don't see the merit in switching off your basic common sense. If I did, where would it end?
Many times I've suddenly fallen asleep in a sitting position late at night while doing something trivial because I thought I couldn't sleep, and woken up in the early hours in a befuddled state because I was cold or uncomfortable. Does that automatically mean that space-aliens think I'm tremendously important and are constantly watching me, interfering with my life in ways I've been prevented from recalling, and maybe grooming me to be more special than everyone thinks I am?
By the way, I could tell you a few stories which would be right up your street, but if your standard of "weirdness" is this low, anything said by anybody will do just as well, so why should I bother?
>so why should I bother?
ReplyDeletethe same reason some folks don't bother to post using their names or Internet handles, right? ;)
The post was only meant to suggest that there are odd things that happen to people during their lives that are rapidly dismissed because we're too busy making a living to bother about "such nonsense."
Yes, many of those events would end up with trivial explanations. But all of them? can anyone honestly reach that level of certainty?
Just so you all know - - -
ReplyDeleteThe author of the email that I shared has a LOT more odd experiences in his life than what he described in this excerpt. I have been communicating with this fellow for a few years, and his story is as strange and impressive as any I've heard.
At the same time, he speaks eloquently about how deeply challenging it's been to try and make sense of his experiences.
And he has gone beyond the "why should I bother" stage and he's actively looking into his own experiences.
As the author of that letter, I can assure you that I am in no way suggesting that this was some sort of abduction experience. Red Pill Junkie is correct. There are odd things that happen in our lives that we very easily dismiss. I'm simply saying that we probably shouldn't be so quick to jump to mundane conclusions, just as we should not jump to the equally lazy conclusion that we're being abducted by space-faring doctors.
ReplyDeleteAnd to clarify. I had just started the puzzle game at about 11:00. Which is why I was confused when I glanced at the computer's clock (after playing two or three levels of the game) and apparently more than 3 hours had passed. I did not fall asleep - I know what it's like to do that and I am very familiar with the sensation. This was as if I had slowed down in time while the rest of the world passed by normally. I don't know what to make of it, that's all. Because of the work I do, my computer is set never to hibernate while it is plugged in (which it was), because it wrecks animations that take hours to complete. And the machine's timer is correct.
One of the bits of editing I did on that letter was the exclamation point after the words:
ReplyDelete"But Dammit, it was unusual!"
That sums up two recent posts of mine, one on "waking up simultaneously" and the other about being "compelled to sleep out under the stars".
I could have interjected the line "But Dammit, it was unusual!" into each of these stories.
Anyone who has made it this far into the comments should read this POST from 2009:
ReplyDeletehttp://hiddenexperience.blogspot.com/2009/11/head-vs-heart.html
It fits nicely in this discussion.