Friday, November 28, 2008

what else don't we know?

The painting here is called 'After Science' - a simplified reflection on what might come about if our rigid intellectual priesthood of archaeologists was able to follow their own advice and consider some of the evidence that exists before a priori closing the doors to other explanations of human origins. Although strictly interpreted biblical explanations are laughable, so too is the Darwinist theory of gradualism too simplistic.

When the politically correct theories on human origin were first formed, a little over a 150 years ago, they were supported by a relatively few scientific fields of study with a limited range of technical methods. Today, with so many scientific disciplines, specialties and technologies at our disposal, it is an apt time for re-examining the existing theories to see if they really are worth keeping intact, or in need of significant overhauling.

For example, even minimal research into the mathematical, astronomical, and engineering feats of the great pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, supposedly built a few thousand years ago, reveals an architectural masterpiece that required the stacking of one million stone blocks weighing 2.5 to 200 tons (with some interior blocks weighing up to 200 tons) to a great height with a mathematical precision unequaled anywhere in the world. Yet, to apply orthodox theory, one would have to believe that the people who built it were primitive men, using stone tools and a jury-rigged apparatus of ropes and logs!

Even with modern technology, it is unlikely we could reproduce this masterpiece with such mathematical precision. The Japanese actually attempted to build a 20 foot tall pyramid in Egypt in the 1970's using the tools Egyptologists say were the only ones available when the original was built. Not only were they thwarted at every step, reverting to modern tools and methods, but the comparatively tiny pyramid they constructed didn't match up at the apex and they went home defeated. It is interesting that orthodox scholars so often make meticulous demands for proof of advanced technology in antiquity—yet in instances such as this one, their own theories either ignore the current evidence or give absurd explanations.

In fact, the occurrence of knowledge being won, then lost, then rediscovered “for the first time” is far from uncommon even in our documented history. Columbus’s discoveries of America and Galileo’s pronouncement that the earth was round are two such examples. It is firmly established historical fact that Columbus was not the first to discover America, and the ancient Egyptians, Mayans, and Chinese knew that the earth was round long before Galileo’s time.

Alternative historians have paved the way toward a new understanding of human origins that incorporates the early and current research of orthodox anthropology, paleontology and archeology with other scientific disciplines (e.g., archeoastronomy, engineering, geology, mathematics). Even the written and oral traditions, myths and legends of traditional peoples throughout the world are being openly researched and analyzed for further insights.

If any of this interests you I'd recommend: 'Forbidden Archeology' by Cremo and Thompson; 'Shattering the Myths of Darwinism' by Richard Milton; and 'Evolution, Creationism and other Modern Myths' by Vine Deloria, Jr. These three books are intriguing works that put human evolution in its rightful place - as a theory in serious need of reconsideration.

I'm just fed up with so-called 'experts' telling me what is 'true' and since I have the luxury of spending my free time doing and reading what interests me I'll continue doing just that. The world is far older and stranger than the history we've been told and maybe we are too - I already know I am.

26 comments:

  1. I came to swipe your http thingy and stayed to read. And it's a damn good read. I spent my life reading in every spear second I had. During prolonged depressions I could read several books a day (the 24hr reading cycle lets you get a lot of reading done) but once I started writing so often and so much, I lost the ability to read. I seem to have a single minded need to do one thing at a time, until I have worn out that groove. This groove has now lasted almost a year. I started blogging 10 months ago, and haven't read a book all the way through in all that time. I've lusted after a few, purchased or been given them and despite a desire to read them, I can not. I guess I'll have to wait for the writer's block hits or depression, which ever comes first. But I'm completely understand you pleasure and the satisfaction it brings. Not to mention the information, the knowledge.

    And then to top of the pleasure of a visit here is the artwork. I'm about to stop clutching the Heart Mandala to my stingy heart and to pass it out. Kindness almost always makes me cry. Just talking about that kindness makes me cry. So I will take my teary eyes home and let the linking begin.

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  2. That should be spare second, but we now all know I can't spell, so...

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  3. utah - Being as old as I am, when I was small there was no television and the only radio station in England after the war was the very dry BBC. My parents read to me but never enough for my satisfaction so I learned to do it myself very early and the habit has never abated. I'll read most anything that crosses my path but I have developed some specific interests over the years. I feel sorry for kids today who never get to explore the limits of their imaginations.

    I think it's very kind of you to want to pass on the Heart Mandala.

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  4. Just don't start telling me the Egyptians got their technological know-how from aliens. ;-)

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  5. Oh, and the painting is most groovy.

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  6. First, thanks for the posting the painting Susan. Pardon me for seeing the irony of placing the mammals at the center of the piece.

    As for your comment on evolution and alternate histories, I am so with you on politically correct theories because it belies the mass of knowledge we have accumulated over the centuries. For example, we now know that the first settlers of the land masses we know as the America's came thousands of years ago across a land bridge that existed between Russia and Alaska during a natural Earth cooling period known as a mini-ice age. You'll rarely read that in a history book. That said, the best histories are the ones that are spoken in family circles and oft repeated.

    Thanks for the titles you've suggested. I've been looking for new reading material, especially since Skippy and the kids gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

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  7. dear susan,
    this is a fabulous painting!!! I am constantly amazed by your talent and only want to see more more more....

    and as for what you wrote, I was fascinated by everything you said and also heartily agree...it is frightening how so many want to stay in such a small little cubicle of darkness and misinformation! I am constantly surprised people don't realize the "church" despised and feared woman so took them out of the scriptures centuries ago and on and on and on....they were there in the first place, dammit!! I too took notice of the Japanese "trying" to build the pyramid and someday hope to actually SEE them(the pyramids) and the Sphinx, hopefully BEFORE I die....in other words, brilliant post, my dear!

    many thanks as well for your kind comments on my blog...I truly do appreciate them, especially since I admire your talent so. I can't get enough of your paintings and want more but I do get to blow them up and thus, gaze upon them...I noticed in this one how the paper you used has almost a soft, dimensional quality. The piece and it's subject are truly gorgeous. She is much prettier than my gypsy woman! ;)

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  8. randal - Aliens from outer space? Maybe, but I'm not going there :-)..yet. It's within the realm of possibility that mankind has been around long enough for a couple of high end civilizations to have risen and disappeared. Just because we haven't found their plastic spoon collection is no proof of their inexistence. All it would take is one Shoemaker-Levy event pointed here to change everything again. A small community of people left with the knowledge of agriculture would be like gods a few hundred years later.

    spartacus - It's sad but true that there's so little generally known about how we got to where we are and so little discourse as to where we may be be going. The institutions don't promote personal investigation along with rote facts. If I were going to recommend a book that's completely fascinating on most any page you open it would have to be Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock. You might not believe everything but he's knowledgeable and has a very entertaining way of encouraging further reading.

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  9. linda - I'm happy to know you like my paintings but please understand I've never been a prolific painter - it's just that now I'm an old one :-) I use Arches too and this one one was done on 300lb hot press. It's tricky because it's so absorbent and dries faster than I'd prefer so my usual choice is cold pressed 140lb for it's fine grain.

    As for the churches marginalizing women, of course you're right and that in itself is a big topic as well as good reason to avoid the doctrine while engaging with the spirit. The Gnostics had an enlightened point of view and I presume that's who you're referring to when you say 'they were there in the first place'. There's room for improvement all the way around.

    and I do like your 'gypsy woman' very much :-)

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  10. Huh. The very shallow part of me wants to yell yippee! love the painting and then just run away.

    But the question you ask in the title probably best describes why I don't believe in god or much of anything else. It's quite evident the way I have conducted my life up to this point that I assume that what we don't know (The TRUTH, for example, as if there is just one), far outstrips what we do know.

    I could spend my life reading and never catch up to you and your other readers, but this much I'm sure of - that is, in fact, a beautiful, hypnotic painting.

    Oh, crap. I just yelled yippee - love the painting, didn't I?

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  11. ghost - Perhaps we're some of those left behind.. or were you referring to panspermia?

    dcup - You can do a hit, run and yippee over here anytime, my friend.

    I can't tell you how sorry I am about your financial situation but I do know you got caught in a trap set by unscrupulous people. Ultimate truth gets left til later in our lives and nothing is impossible.

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  12. Another lovely painting and an interesting post.

    I think much of the world of biology today it largely made up of simple discrete elements whose definite rules (which because of that greater structural simplicity) make it possible to identify many new forms of phenomena.

    However what we do know more about today than was the case in Darwin’s time is the ability of nature to recreate complexity from non complex beginnings.

    I think this aspect is also a two edged sword since the ability to recreate complexity effortlessly from non complex beginnings also leads us to discoveries of an endless non patterned rapid evolution.

    Hence we can observe that no discernable pattern can ever finally emerge from non complex beginnigs in some circumstances.

    Is is also true almost all of our great discoveries were counter intuitive, or accidental or as a consequance of following pure science research involving experimentation and observation.

    Hence what used to be popular chaos theories are almost redundant, for we know that even if the initial conditions are very simple (the chaos theory assumed they must originally be complex to create complexity) there are many systems that still produce highly complex behavior arising effortlessly from those simple initial rules in reproduction.

    What is implied then is many some of the wonders of the universe may be captured in simple rules, but in the same breath we also know there is no way we can ever ascertain all of the consequences of these rules, except in effect just to watch and see how they unfold. This does not undermine much of the Darwinian theory of evolution or alter it broad appeal but what it means is there is also a complementary ability to rapidly re recreate complexity from non complex beginnings just as there is the ability for it to be gradual. It remains indeterminate.

    Best wishes

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  13. lindsay - Thanks so much for the thoughtful comment. Your statement about the 'ability of nature to recreate complexity from non complex beginnings' rings very true. The science I've enjoyed reading has been physics and most especially, theories about quantum mechanics.

    It was David Bohm who said that it is meaningless to see the universe as composed of parts, as everything is joined, with space and time being composed of the same essence as matter. I'm unable to do the math but my heart understands the concept.

    Be well.

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  14. What a wonderful read this post is. And your art. So lovely. I'm working on my post for Artist of the Week. :-}

    (hug)

    Pagan

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  15. pagan - I'm glad you liked it - all of it :-) I sometimes wonder if anybody else thinks about the weird stuff that interests me and it's always a nice surprise to learn some people do.

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  16. Your great post made me think of a guy I knew who was a big wheeler dealer in antiquities and when I asked him how the ancient Greeks managed such detailed work in their jewelry his answer was that aliens must have come down and showed them. I am serious. And this guy sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was very well educated.

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  17. lbr - Welcome back! I got to see some very old Greek (incl Minoan and from Crete) jewelry when I lived in Europe. Some of the pieces with the naturalistic flowers, leaves and little animals I could well believe were done with techniques developed by aliens. Marvelous stuff.

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  18. oh that's beautiful susan! absolutely. i love your artwork.

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  19. this is an extremely interesting post. i'm a believer that mankind has slipped back and forth between times of knowledge and untruth, between darkness and enlightenment. what you say makes sense.

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  20. sera - I would like to be able to come up with a lovely cartoon to illustrate my thoughts, as you do.

    It sounds as if we're on the same page with this idea and that certainly didn't all happen in the last 10k years or even 100k. How can we believe an elite who can't balance their bank accounts?

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  21. i gave up balancing my checkbook years ago.

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  22. sera - Checkbook? You have one? Boy, you're luckier than I guessed.

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  23. free checking from wamu. well, it used to be wamu. it'll be interesting when i reorder checks whether they are issued by the us government instead.

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  24. sera - Government checks are always the best because you can count on their reliability.. You can, can't you?

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  25. I'll second Randall's "Most Groovy."

    Yeah, I like that a lot!

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