From: Rick Knight (rknight@platinum.com)
Date: Sun Jul 20 1997 - 18:52:34 MDT
I wrote:
=20
What if aliens crashed in New Mexico 50 years ago and the govern=
ment knows about it? How does that alter your perception?
John Clark responded:
What if in New Mexico 50 years ago there was an old lady who lived in
a shoe and she had so many children she didn't know what to do. How
would that alter your perception?
Rick replies:
I'm not sure of the nature of your post. It could a) be an unrealised
attempt at humor, b) a cynical yet cryptic way of making a point or c)
an evasive maneuver for the pragmatic mind gone 'tilt' <G>. Perhaps
d) none of the above. If d), please engage in the discussion for you
have had lucid posts of note in this digest in the past and I would so
welcome your opinions of merit.
The nature of my questions is not to advocate believe in UFOs,
government conspiracy or anything else that has sensational zeal. The
point is (I feel) these myths exist in our culture for a purpose, to
work out something that likely exists as an unrecognized undercurrent
within our culture. Beliefs alter our perception. The truth used to
be that the world was flat, the earth was the center of the universe,
epileptics were demon-posessed, that women who did not marry and lived
independently of men were dangerous witches, that homosexuals were
mentally ill. I shall not presume to think that just because we've
presumably aced the laws of physics and come up with hundreds of other
technological marvels that we've got the schematic of the universe
down pat. The next frontiers are much more vast than an ocean or a
continent. They are the far reaches of space and the inner workings
of the mind. (cue music...)
Incidentally, the nursery rhyme you dug up for reasons a or b (c
doesn't seem to apply) is in itself pertinent, albeit not to this
discussion. However, I'm sure someone in the know will pipe up with
the likely political allegory tied to the woman in the shoe story,
although I don't think it's a cold war connection <G>.
Rick
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