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Meaningful Debate

November 6, 2010 alan anti intellectualism, debate, paranormal, paranormal investigations, paranormal politics, rational mystic radio, research, the real twilight zone

Meaningful Debate…

Warning – this post contains explicit language in the quotes used !

All hail the Internet… a yottabyte of information growing daily.

There was a time when ‘information was power’ now it is perhaps the leaden weight of information overload that stifles meaningful debate.

I love the idea of free-speech….

I love the idea of sharing and learning from each other…

I love the idea of playing devils advocate in order to sift through what is known, what can be known and what could be know.

All hail the Interner …. An information superhighway …

Now clogged with the flotsam and jetsom of human babblings – from the relevant to the irrelevant; the reverent to the irreverent.

Finding relevant, valuable and timely information on many topics is becoming more and more difficult.

Accessing information from trusted, researched or thoughtful sources is becoming more and more problematic.

For all its potential the Internet, which could provide a platform for intellectual, emotionally intelligent debate on issues that impact upon the human race and the world in which we live seems to be populated with opinionated evangelists who seek not knowledge, or discussion, but the accolades of members of the cult of anti-intellectualism.

Look at the level of comments some articles on the paranormal, esoteric and alternative generate…

From the vehement support of one UFO commentator and the sceptics who dare comment on his thinking…

This guy will most likely end up in history as Thomas Jefferson as a man of great vision and mind. Now these morons laugh at him like the guy that said the world is round. These morons will be remembered by our grandchildren just as what they are TRUE MORONS with no vision.I am surprised they have not accused him of witchery and burnt him.

To responses to the suggestion that UFO’s may be misidentified and have rational explanations…

….venus, the goverment is fucking stupid. do they think we can are too stupid to tell the difference between venus and a ufo? You have 2 eyes for a reason: Depth perception, and pilots cannot fly without it. I know a fucking venus when I see one.

(I won’t make too much of a comment about the final sentence suggesting more than one Venus in the Solar System).

From the advocate who can’t be bothered to defend their position…

u non-beliver burnnnn

To the proposer of an idea….


these aliens are demons of the bible they dont land because people will know what they really are the devil wants people to believ he doesn’t exsist how can you fight an enemy if you dont know who the enemy is.when they do land the whole world will be deceived

To the atheistic scholar who disagrees…

B*tch the bible is full of sh*tty crap
F*ck off
The aliens shud come and F*ck u up motherf*cker

Surely meaningful debate is about sharing ideas and opinions in an open, honest, direct yet respectful way.

Sure we can disagree – but we can still have the integrity to listen to, think about and respond to the ideas we share.

An ongoing Facebook discussion with Pygar, mentioned in an earlier post, has been thought provoking, challenging and I hope he will agree respectful. We may be coming from different perspectives and of course as in any debate we are defending and exploring respective positions. From my point of view at least I will be willing to change opinions in the light of evidence, arguments and challenges that show the flaws, fallacies and factual inconsistencies in my arguments..

This is the spirit of debate and stands in stark contrast to the emotional defence of a personal belief and opinion.

Far too many paranormal discussions end in emotional disarray because the sceptical or devils advocate position seems to attack some personal, sacred truth. In effect many of this kind of discussion is about evangelism and conversion to an idea rather than a meaningful consideration of evidence, exploration and exploration.

Haunted Cornwall FM is one programme that does seek to discuss and debate issues related to ghosts, spirits, mediums and the paranormal and as a presenter on this show I am well aware of how real emotions can overtake the playful emotive challenges made by both the rational and mystical hosts, interviewees and on-line contributors.

In the belief that there is more room for this kind of ‘no flame’, intellectual and challenging debate in metaphysical, scientific and paranormal ideas outside of the immediate Haunted Cornwall remit I have decided to re-view and develop a project idea mentioned in the first few posts on this blog (check the archives).

The podcast idea, as it was then, has moved onto the creation of a radio show with the working title The Real Twilight Zone. It will be going out from Penwith Radio on Tuesday evenings between 8pm and 10pm GMT.

I am in the process of lining up some guests and with the help of a friend from Ghosts-UK (Tim) we should be able to get an on-line chat room, listen again and listen again podcast service set up.

Obviously I will tell you all more in due course BUT I hope that the show will become a place where meaningful debate can happen…

Alan

The Real Twilight Zone – Rational Mystic Radio

 
 

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Empiricism vs Experience

July 12, 2010 alan empiricism, experience, paranormal investigations, rational mysticism, research, understanding

I just wanted to jot a few thoughts down to share following tonights Haunted Cornwall FM. I’m posting from my iPhone so thick fingers and small buttons my produce some typos – apologies in advance.

PERHAPS…….

How we know what we know as people is based upon a mixture of personal experience and empirical questioning and research.

I guess there comes a point for most people when “evidence” from personal experience becomes more important (or relevant) than the contiuned questioning of ‘how do I know this has validity outside of me’.

Whilst we as people are always able to learn and question, for some, formalised learning and questioning is something that takes ‘second place’ to personal experience.

Personal experience, the way in which we see, hear, feel, think and understand the world is special.

It is uniquely personal.

It is real and requires respect, compassion and understanding from others. It may not be the same way they perceive the world but that does not and should not mean that one way is superior to the other. The differences are worth noticing and celebrating – they are part and parcel of our unique, individual natures.

In many ways this kind of knowledge – experiential – is the place where the mystic lives and thrives.

Personal experience is, however, the way the mind makes sense of the world baed upon preexisting patterns of knowledge, experience, expectations and so on. All of which cones from our culture, our learning, our personal beliefs, our behavioural conditioning.

Empirical knowledge is a little different. It is based upon the desire to compare personal experience with that of others. More importantly it is about asking challanging questions about how the interpretation and understanding of an external event relates to what is known about the world, what it suggests about the world and what is known about human perception, bias and beliefs.

This kind of approach requires the individual to be willling to offer their experiences and existing understanding of the world to cross examination, scruitiny, investigation – scientific research. This is the realm of the rationalist.

Without scientific empiricism we would not be having this sharing of ideas – we may not even be living in the homes and settlements we are now – we may not even have the ability to engage in this discussion.

Without the ability to create personal realities from what we experience we would not have evolved or be open to the existence of others.

There is a synergy between both Rational and Mystical approaches to being and learning.

There are closed minded scientists who are biassed and do not think skeptically.

There are closed minded mystics who are biassed and do not think holistically.

Funny how the true skeptic can be far more compassionate than the some spiritual of self-styled gurus.

Funny how mystical experience motivated and motivates some of the most violent acts in human history (Inquisition, Hitler, Holy Wars)

There are experience junkies who think nothing….

There are empirical emperors who feel nothing…..

Where are you on this continuum?

Me I’m a Rational Mystic. a compassionate skeptic, seeking to inspire and be inspired; to challenge and be challlenged; to feel and to think, to sense awe and wonder in both science and magic……

Being holistic – capable of being with my mind, in my body and contemplating my spirit.

Alan

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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