My Library

In spite of our astonishing qualities, our species is a dissimulating one, chameleonesque in nature. Sometimes what you see is what you get. But often what you see has nothing to do with what you end up with -- and sometimes you get things without at all being able to see where they are coming from. Prior to July 1971, before I ever thought of actively working in parapsychology labs, and before I could even imagine that such could occur, I had studied many topics, movements and their leaders, especially if there were mind- or mental-development issues involved. After all, I came from a generation in which "improve your mind" was still a very emphasized issue -- although this issue seems somewhat alienated today. Very early, though, I found that this "improve your mind" thing actually meant improve it only so far as it does not end up going beyond the syndromic thinking one is born into, going beyond educational entrainment, group thinking or socio-consensus opinion. In my earlier years, if one went much beyond these one was in danger of stepping into the Radical Lunatic Fringes. These Fringes still existed back in 1972 then -- although today they have been largely eradicated. The distinction today is between fundamentalist (or conventional) and non-conventional thinking, a much weaker social palliative. In other words, in my earlier years it was DARING to improve one's mind BEYOND whatever passed for normal improving.