Internet Forums, Spirits and Science

Lately, I've been doing a lot of reading on the internet. What has really piqued my interest is a couple of threads over at IshCon. One thread is talking about what spirits are and the other is talking about the relationships scientists have with the creatures they're observing. Both threads are really good. I highly recommend checking them out.

This picture comes to mind when thinking about the relationship between observed and observer.

And on the subject of Animism. I was reading a few chapters out of Derrick Jensen's amazing book Walking on Water and ran across this small section that I think relates to the living harmonic Shirin was talking about in Daniel Quinn's book, The Story of B.

"Of course not. Everyone knows our bodies aren't really where we live: our bodies are kind of like TV receivers. Imagine if you'd never seen a television before, and you walked into a room and saw it on. You might think the Red Sox and the Mariners are actually a bunch of little people running around inside, as though it's a tiny stage or a tiny world. You remmeber those old RCA Victor ads where the dog thinks a human being is talking, but it's really a record player, right?."

Most remember. Some don't remember record players.

I continue nonetheless, "Maybe we only think our bodies are where the action takes place, but instead our bodies are complex receivers that play out the energy that's everywhere, kind of like the radio and television waves that surround us but do not become perceptible to us until the waves encounter receivers tuned to the right frequency."

"You mean space aliens beam us into existence?"

"No, silly, life itself. It's dancing and exploding all around us, and when the right wavelength meets the right vessel, boom, there you go, instant animation. Instant person. Or tree or frog or rock. All each of us is doing is manifesting in our own particular way the life force that surrounds us all. We don't really think with our brains, anymore than the Mariners live inside a television. That's just where it comes into focus."

Books Derrick Jensen Science Spirituality