David was raised in a conservative Christian reality that he eventually came to question, without questioning his love and respect for the people around him.
The boundary between subjective reality and consensus reality seems to be fuzzier than what materialist science is comfortable with admitting. Take the phenomenon of stigmata, for example: Orthodox science has to begrudgingly accept that a powerful mystical experience can manifest open wounds in a mystic's body that mimics those depicted in traditional crucifixions, but why stop there? Some time ago I posited in some podcast that the so-called 'alien implants' which were commonly reported by abductees after their alleged traumatizing interactions with non-human entities, might be another type of stigmata produced by the body to 'validate' or 'physicalize' the visionary experiences of these individuals.
Of course, my little theory crumbles when you analyze other cases in which material objects do materialize out of thin air, like the key Dennis McKenna gave to his brother Terence during their epic experiment at La Chorrera, or the 'apports' Stanley Krippner has studied from his research into spiritual mediumship.
Indeed. When I talked about stigmata with Stanley, he pointed out that almost all cases are of bleeding in the palms, when in fact, the nails were driven into people's wrists in crucifixions. So the perceived narrative drives the bodily reaction, not any kind of echo of Jesus' experience.
Part of your intro made me think of this quote from 1 Corinthians 6:12, NIV, which was shared with me recently:
"I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to anything”–but I will not be mastered by anything."
Just because something is permitted doesn't mean it's good or helpful, especially in a moral, spiritual, or communal sense, and true freedom includes not being enslaved by desires or habits.
The intro really resonated with me (haven't listened to the conversation part yet). I miss people like Sagan. Much more compassionate than Dawkins and the like, while still being scientifically rigorous.
I feel like Sagan is the Mr. Rogers of science communicators, but it's a shame he doesn't have the posthumous mainstream presence like Fred Rogers does.
I think you can really see the kindness of Sagan's character in this 3-min clip of him teaching children. Notice he doesn't patronize them. He treats kids like the intelligent, curious creatures they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9_jCLJV24
Weirdo reporting here. Great to find a kindred community. :-) I used to gently caught lagartijos (small lizard, anolis cristatellus) and hanged them to my earlobes, thinking that girls would love my improvised, "natural" earings, but sadly they will flee in horror... If "The first woman I ever kiss was my dead grandmother" were a t-shirt, I would proudly wear it to my weekly bingo games.
Hi Chris, nice podcast. It's like being a Spyder on the wall listening in to cool conversations. I love a guy with two first names, both from the Bible. Was raised same but first Catholic then my dad insisted we go to the Baptist church (bless his heart) that was closer. What a load of people trying to impress each other. The Catholics were a hell of a lot more fun to be around. They even had wine at their parties. Baptist sit around sucking lemons and daring each other to do it too. Who knew if they really believed anything?! Today I too no longer attend organized religious meetings. There is a fact that it is a community but at what cost? Look what's happened to our country?
The boundary between subjective reality and consensus reality seems to be fuzzier than what materialist science is comfortable with admitting. Take the phenomenon of stigmata, for example: Orthodox science has to begrudgingly accept that a powerful mystical experience can manifest open wounds in a mystic's body that mimics those depicted in traditional crucifixions, but why stop there? Some time ago I posited in some podcast that the so-called 'alien implants' which were commonly reported by abductees after their alleged traumatizing interactions with non-human entities, might be another type of stigmata produced by the body to 'validate' or 'physicalize' the visionary experiences of these individuals.
Of course, my little theory crumbles when you analyze other cases in which material objects do materialize out of thin air, like the key Dennis McKenna gave to his brother Terence during their epic experiment at La Chorrera, or the 'apports' Stanley Krippner has studied from his research into spiritual mediumship.
Indeed. When I talked about stigmata with Stanley, he pointed out that almost all cases are of bleeding in the palms, when in fact, the nails were driven into people's wrists in crucifixions. So the perceived narrative drives the bodily reaction, not any kind of echo of Jesus' experience.
Part of your intro made me think of this quote from 1 Corinthians 6:12, NIV, which was shared with me recently:
"I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to anything”–but I will not be mastered by anything."
Just because something is permitted doesn't mean it's good or helpful, especially in a moral, spiritual, or communal sense, and true freedom includes not being enslaved by desires or habits.
The intro really resonated with me (haven't listened to the conversation part yet). I miss people like Sagan. Much more compassionate than Dawkins and the like, while still being scientifically rigorous.
I feel like Sagan is the Mr. Rogers of science communicators, but it's a shame he doesn't have the posthumous mainstream presence like Fred Rogers does.
One of my favorite clips of Sagan (a little over a minute): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDK2chgNPZM
I think you can really see the kindness of Sagan's character in this 3-min clip of him teaching children. Notice he doesn't patronize them. He treats kids like the intelligent, curious creatures they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9_jCLJV24
Fuck dude. The U.S. makes me so sad and angry.
Weirdo reporting here. Great to find a kindred community. :-) I used to gently caught lagartijos (small lizard, anolis cristatellus) and hanged them to my earlobes, thinking that girls would love my improvised, "natural" earings, but sadly they will flee in horror... If "The first woman I ever kiss was my dead grandmother" were a t-shirt, I would proudly wear it to my weekly bingo games.
I enjoyed this one as it has reinforced some learnings from my own meditation retreats and psychedelic use
Great conversation! some bedrock TS material there.
Hi Chris, nice podcast. It's like being a Spyder on the wall listening in to cool conversations. I love a guy with two first names, both from the Bible. Was raised same but first Catholic then my dad insisted we go to the Baptist church (bless his heart) that was closer. What a load of people trying to impress each other. The Catholics were a hell of a lot more fun to be around. They even had wine at their parties. Baptist sit around sucking lemons and daring each other to do it too. Who knew if they really believed anything?! Today I too no longer attend organized religious meetings. There is a fact that it is a community but at what cost? Look what's happened to our country?
Cool intro!! Thanks Chris. "The palace of wisdom lies at the end of the road of excess", that's Food for thought.