A brief introduction…
Hi! I’m Pete, and I’m a pretty weird person.
No, really. By many standards of normal, polite society, I am considered weird or eccentric. Anyone who reads this blog will, without a doubt, come to that realization very quickly.
The older I get, the more I realize that I am very much the square peg that has tried to shave off my edges to slip into the round hole. To quote Roger Waters from his album ‘Radio Kaos’: But I don’t fit, I feel alien and strange, kinda out of range.
At this point in my life, however, I am perfectly ok with this. That certainly wasn’t always the case, but years of beating one’s head against walls has one wonderful side effect:
It feels so good when you stop.
I used to bask in the glow of the fires of a society flaming out of control, that burn white hot and threaten to incinerate any and all that venture too close.
Now, I derive no pleasure from, what I consider, the death throes of our society, belief systems, planet, and ultimately, our species. Those same years of self-abuse have bestowed a perspective I didn’t truly see, nor understand, in my youth.
It would be weird to sit back and, not just see, but understand where we appear to be going off the rails, and grin at our folly like watching the grinding machinations of a circus sideshow.
I’m weird, just not that weird.
Let’s get Funkyyyyy!
It’s 1:11am, and I have been home from work for a little over an hour. I just wanted to get a start on this before going to bed, so this is going to be a bit abbreviated.
I am a big fan of the YouTube channel, The Why Files.
Conspiracy theories, paranormal activity, myths, urban legends – you name it, I love it!
That is not to say that I believe in most of them. Very few, actually. I consider myself to be a skeptic, but I really want to believe. That’s why I love the show.
The host, AJ, goes into each episode telling the stories as they have been circulated for years, then sets out to debunk what he can. He and his team do an incredible amount of research on the topics. That was the biggest selling point for me. He’s entertaining (has a goldfish sidekick named Hecklefish), yet presents the material in such a way as to let you make up your own mind.
…and I’m back!
Well rested (as well as usual, anyway) and starting the day off right, by writing!
So, back to The Why Files…sort of…stick with me 🙂
The reason my first blog post declared me as weird is, first and foremost, to establish that as fact, but also as a segue into topics that reside on the fringe of our societies, beliefs, and consciousness. Thus the title, ‘Let’s get Funkyyyy!’
I have had some strange things happen in my life. I’m pretty sure I saw a ghost when I was a kid. Could have been a very vivid dream, but damn it seemed real. May have seen an alien peeking in my window (it was on the second floor, with a sheer drop to the ground), but that could have also been a dream. In my late teens, a car disappeared while I was following a distance behind (with a corroborating witness). I don’t mean that I glanced away and when I looked back it was gone. It didn’t turn off on a side road while I wasn’t paying attention. I mean it was there one moment while I was looking directly at it, then it vanished. Poof, gone. Without the poof. Just gone.
Probably the most intense and memorable experience, though, was with a Ouija board. I’ve done research since the incident, and can roundly reject the theories suggesting that unconscious tremors and movements cause the planchette to move, making it appear that spirits are controlling the movement.
That wouldn’t explain my stereo stopping in the middle of a cassette, then playing the opposite direction.
Perhaps I should explain.
First, my friend and I had a lot of odd things happen when we were hanging out. He was the corroborating witness mentioned above. We delved into the fringe topics like psychic abilities, ghosts, Ouija, and anything else that seemed cool.
This was long before the internet, so we were limited in the scope of our research. We made some strides, though. In retrospect, we were stumbling blindly in territories it is best to enter with knowledge, wisdom, and eyes wide open. Our minds were open, but we had the daring and foolhardiness of youth to blind us to potential pitfalls.
My friend brought the Ouija board to my house one day. I didn’t know much about them at the time, but he had seen the movie ‘Witchboard’ the previous night and decided we needed to give it a try. Of course, I was game (pardon the pun – Ouija has been marketed as a board game for decades. Goes to show how foolhardy the rest of the our race can be, too).
He unpacked the board and planchette and we read the instructions. No sense going into this blindly, right? The planchette was a stylized plastic triangle with felt runners on the bottom and a clear plastic window, just large enough for the letters and numbers to be read clearly. It seemed simple enough, so we studied the board, then put the tips of our fingers on the planchette.
Nothing happened for several minutes, long enough for both of us to start feeling a little silly. Then, it moved. Very slightly at first, with no real direction, just sort of drifting. I vividly recall the initial thrill, tempered quickly by skepticism.
We accused each other of moving the viewer. We both adamantly claimed we hadn’t, and had known each other long enough to trust that was truly the case. So, we started to ask if there was anyone listening.
Over the next hour or so, we talked to several ‘entities/spirits/deceased loved ones.’ As an initial foray, it was exhilarating, but I wasn’t completely sold. There were lingering doubts as to the mechanisms involved. And, I have to admit, I felt our minds were probably providing all the information we were asking of the ‘spirits.’
Doubt is no deterrent for someone who wants to believe. So, we tried again. And again. We spoke with an entity we named ‘N’, because it/he/she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) provide their name, and had trouble finding the letter ‘N’ on the board. It became an inside joke.
Seem a little suspect? A bit out there? Maybe too trusting in a bizarre process? Yeah, it did for us, as well, but we were determined to see how far we could take this.
It didn’t take long before we only needed to have one finger each on the planchette to carry on our conversations. It was like becoming adept at a physical activity, where muscle memory takes over to make it seem effortless.
Within a couple of weeks we began to notice that our friend, ‘N’, seemed to be lying to us. Not about anything monumental, and nothing we could really corroborate, just little, inconsequential things that wouldn’t matter by themselves, but piled together made our individual gut feelings ring with warning bells.
We decided to test our theory and try to trip ‘N’ up. We would ask simple questions, one after the other, leaving little time for responses. Not for the sake of the answers, but to see how quickly ‘N’ could think on its feet, so to speak. That night, we laid out the board and started the conversation.
I had a fairly expensive cassette tape deck (Kenwood) at the time, with auto-reverse capability, and was playing a Pink Floyd cassette. I can’t remember what tape was playing – I was a bit obsessed with Pink Floyd at the time and their music was a constant in my life, so it could have been any of their brilliance.
We asked our questions. One after another, alternating between us, slow at first, then rapid fire. Within a minute, the planchette began to circle the board, in wide, slow circles.
It stopped in the center of the board. The tape stopped playing in the middle of the song, changed direction, and started playing the other side. It had never done that before, and never did it again as long as I owned it.
I took my finger off the planchette, looked at my friend, and said, “I’m done!”
I haven’t used a Ouija board since.
Tell me what you really think…
Back to the Why Files…and this time I mean it!
This is last week’s video about a UFO incident over a Welsh village. Very compelling and, in true Why Files style, digs deep to sift through the information to try to uncover the truth. I will post the latest one that was released this morning on Patreon when it’s up on YouTube. It is also very good (really, they are all very good), about an NSA conspiracy.
The big reason I love the Why Files is they leave it to the viewer/listener to decide for themselves, given as many of the facts as they can provide. Much like the host, AJ, it is not my job to tell anyone what to believe. Whatever fits into your worldview is your business, not mine, nor anyone else. But facts help a great deal in deciding what to include and discard.
Which brings me to an interesting theory I’ve been kicking around in my noggin.
A little background: I was watching an Infographics video in which the narrator visits his mother, only to find that she has been actively researching ‘flat earth theory,’ and has adopted it as her own. The man is clearly troubled by this revelation and proceeds to spend hours trying to dissuade her from her folly.
Now, I do not believe the Earth is flat. I’ve seen the curvature firsthand. There’s waaaaaay too much evidence for me to believe otherwise.
BUT!
I have done some research on the subject, and while I believe the vast majority of it is bunk, there are some interesting questions that get raised while sifting through the mountains of information available.
Not least of which is: if you haven’t seen something for yourself, is it actually real?
It’s a fair question, simply because no one can say for certain what reality truly is. Not scientists, philosophers, academics, spiritualists, religious leaders, mystics…..I think you get the point. No one really knows what is real, and the best attempts at a definition are hampered by perspective and bias, and devolve into lengthy diatribes by folks trying to persuade anyone reading or listening to believe in their particular view.
Such is the way of humanity.
Throw quantum physics into the mix and things get really fun! I am not a quantum physicist (say that word five times fast!), and only know the rudiments of a few of the theories, but what I have read about the nature of reality is interesting and a little scary.
It has been difficult to reconcile my accepted beliefs – my worldview, developed over the span of my life – with new information that rips apart that fabric and renders it into little more than scraps that fall to the floor in wispy shreds of half-formed ideas with little factual basis.
Bring on the theory, already!
Ok. So, take the example of the mother and son above. The mother has believed the Earth is round for the majority of her life. Suddenly, an influx of new, persuasive information sets her to questioning her belief system. In a big way. And she changes her mind.
The son can’t stand to watch his mother fall for obvious lies, because he knows, without a doubt, that the Earth is round.
What if they are both correct?
In an infinite universe – perhaps infinite universes – anything is possible. By overlapping realities, two diametrically opposed ideas could exist in the same baseline reality, just viewed from very different perspectives.
Think of it in these very, very simplified terms: each of us is made of billions of atoms, like the observable universe is made of billions of stars. Perhaps we’re universes unto ourselves. Maybe by intersecting with other universes in the people we know and meet, we exchange ideas and sometimes change other universes in the process.
This is all conjecture and theory, of course, but if it gets you thinking…
…maybe I just changed your universe 🙂
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
So, yeah, it’s that time of year again. I recently moved North in my chosen state, and we have had more snow in the last three weeks than I remember having all season for the past several years. It’s not a bad thing, though the commute is rougher than usual. Kinda nice, actually. Reminds me of when I was a kid.
This blog is mostly for myself, since there is clearly no one reading these posts. Sort of a diary of random thoughts, that I don’t utilize nearly as much as I should.
Anywho, it’s almost Christmas, less than a week away. I just got hired for a new job yesterday (shorter commute, smaller company, much quieter atmosphere, will start after the beginning of the year), all of my shopping is done (just waiting on deliveries), and I’m sitting here doing what I love – writing!
Life is good.
I suppose I should mention that I am not religious. While I believe Christ was a real person, and had some wonderful advice, I don’t buy into the majority of what Christianity or any official dogmas spout. Perhaps I will go into this in more length another time, but for now, suffice to say, I try very hard to think for myself.
Fun fact: Ben Franklin published a book where he cut out all the superfluous stories from the bible, leaving just the core of Christ’s teachings. It was essentially reduced to the length of a pamphlet.
Kinda hard to control the masses if the rules are that simple, eh? Kinda difficult to justify an entire church, complete with complicated rituals and interpretations, if the simple truth is plainly stated.
Sorry, I digress. I take issue with most, if not all, forms of authority. While I understand the desire for control from an intellectual standpoint, it’s not part of my being, and thus the lust for power eludes me.
Back on topic! It’s Christmas!
This can be a confusing time of year, especially for introverts like me. I have become more socially awkward and reclusive over the years, likely due to getting sober several years ago, so holidays bring a great deal of anxiety.
Just so there is no confusion: anxiety and depression are not states that one can just ‘snap out of.’ It takes a LOT of work to plow through to the root causes – if you even want to do the work in the first place (which I get – they can become so much a part of you, it feels like ripping away a part of your being).
I’ve done a lot of work on myself in recent years and come to one very big conclusion: my biggest joy in life is sitting in front of my computer writing stories that most people will never read, and I’m perfectly happy being alone.
As ‘social creatures,’ this is upsetting to many folks. I have discussed this with my family, and they seem to understand (or at least try to understand). Still, this desire to belong to a pack has been ingrained since childhood, so accepting what makes me truly happy has been a slow process.
To anyone reading this, I just want to say, be the best version of you that you can be at any given moment. If that means barely functional sometimes, do what you need to do. If you can spread joy, do so. If you have the means, help others.
Be the change you want to see in the world. It works, I promise you that.
Tell me what you really think…