by The panel I went to last night, Infinite Worlds: A Journey through Parallel Universes, was so interesting it was painful. At my age, and with zero background in math and science I will always be limited in my understanding of these and a katrillion (infinite) other ideas. I’m sure I have only the shallowest understanding. I understand the metaphor of the thing and not the thing itself. I want a life do-over. This time I’ll pay attention in science class. Sigh.
A brief description of the panel from the program: “The multiverse hypothesis, suggesting that our universe is but one of perhaps infinitely many, speaks to the very nature of reality. Join physicist Brian Greene, cosmologists Alan Guth and Andrei Linde, and philosopher Nick Bostrom as they discuss and debate this controversial implication of forefront research and explore its potential for redefining the cosmic order.”
The audience was mostly young people, and parents, so the good news is they made science exciting to people who still have time. But for me, I was in agony last night trying to reconcile myself to what I can realistically do with the time I have left. I want to write a book about all this, but realistically, I imagine these guys would feel that with my complete and total lack of science education that perhaps I’m not the person for the job. Ha. So yeah. Probably not what I can do.
I did go up to Andrei Linde afterwards, who is officially the most charming and charismatic man on the planet. It wasn’t just me, the whole crowd adored him. Everyone on the panel was magnetic, I couldn’t take my eyes off them and could have listened to them forever.
Christ. What can I do in my time left?? Meanwhile, on my way to the panel I passed these people singing about Jesus in Washington Square Park. There was something, I don’t know, nicer about them than the usual people who come to NYC to sing to us about Jesus. We applauded them. I’m guessing most of the people applauding them were atheists (I’m agnostic) but I applauded them because I like singing and because I feel the need to counteract at every opportunity the idea that we must hate those we disagree with.
But also because the girl I highlight in the second photo looked so sweet, shy and vulnerable. I wanted to buck her up. Wait a minute. I’m projecting, aren’t I? I’m the one who needs bucking up. You and me, girl in the unfortunate brown outfit!
It looks like a group of Hutterites. (sp?) We used to see them sometimes when we went to the lake up near Tannersville.
Hi Stacy, you know, married men like myself don’t have to worry about what we are going to do with the rest of our lives. We understand that we will do whatever our wives want us to do. 🙂
I think you should continue in the direction you started. You have written one book about the cold case squad (which I have yet to read). A very good book on the parapsychology lab.
This has given you an intellectual exposure to a lot of activity surrounding mediumship and the mediums themselves.
It seems to me that the next step would be to write a book that allows you to explore spritualism itself. Most of these mediums come out of a spiritualist paradigm… though of course not every one.
So what do these mediums believe? What cosmological structures have they arrived at? What insights into the nature of reality have they understood because of their gift?
I realize there is a huge amount of fraud in spiritualism. Perhaps more than in any other of the esoteric endeavors, and that’s saying a lot.
Still, much of it is genuine, and they’ve been around long enough to have developed some serious paradigms based on the actual experience that mediumship has brought them. Sounds like a terrific next step for you to me.
I believe “God” is the consciousness, intelligence, and energy, both transendental to creation and immanent in creation. My favorite theologian is Paul Tillich, and you know, Paul Tillich and Carl Jung shared a great similarity in the ideas that they held regarding ultimate reality. I can recommend The Psyche and Sacrement, A Comparative Study of C.G. Jung and Paul Tillich, by John P. Dourly.
Incidentally, I have lectured off and on for many years on these subjects. I’m not trying to be pushy, it just seems to me that you have already sort of galvanized a natural path out for yourself in terms of your excellent literary achievements.
I always like to do something different though. I was thinking someone should do a book about the Psychical Research Foundation. Not me, though!