interesting bit of trivia relating to 55

[sooo]

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

 

[pocossin]

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

Have you ever done this? I have heard of it but never tried it. An abandoned silo whose roof is off should work well.

 

[sooo]

Yes, it should. No, I've never tried that. Don't recall seeing silos around here, nor any tall buildings really. I don't know, it may need to be narrower and taller to see that effect. Yesterday I read it from something completely unrelated. Thought 55.3.

My little house is two story, I think it may be be one of the only ones in Golden Valley. It's like a small tower, can be seen from afar and can see afar, like 20's structure. Thought it was going to blow away during last night's wind storm, lol.

I'd like to try that sometime though, maybe through a chimney. I wonder about looking through a tube, like the kind fishing rods are mailed in. I think the key is the eye being in darkness.

 

[myanon0001]

That's a fallacy, according to http://www.snopes.com/science/well.asp -- but even Aristotle is said to have believed it.

 

[pocossin]

More on this topic. The thread was never completed by the person who started it.

http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php?33345-Viewing-Stars-During-Day-from-a-Pit

http://www.livescience.com/34335-see-stars-daytime.html
Can You See Stars During the Daytime?

http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q241.html

The most likely explanation for the old legend is that stray bits of rubbish get caught in the updraft and catch the sunlight as they emerge from the chimney.

The belief that one can see stars may influence the mind to see stars.

 

[myanon0001]

pocossin -- good point about the role of belief. This reminds me of Lowell and Schiaparelli, renowned astronomers in the 19th & early 20th century who repeatedly "saw" and sketched in detail numerous nonexistent "canals" on Mars.

This gives another meaning to the saying that " 'seeing' is believing ". Sometimes, as with an oracle, what we "see" is an inner private reality, whose relation to the outer public reality can be very tricky to ascertain.

 

[sooo]

pocossin -- good point about the role of belief. This reminds me of Lowell and Schiaparelli, renowned astronomers in the 19th & early 20th century who repeatedly "saw" and sketched in detail numerous nonexistent "canals" on Mars.

This gives another meaning to the saying that " 'seeing' is believing ". Sometimes, as with an oracle, what we "see" is an inner private reality, whose relation to the outer public reality can be very tricky to ascertain.

Chris Lofting saw belief as the chief contributor to the oracle effect, claiming our mind is hardwired to flesh out the meaning we seek. This was also the earliest skeptical rationale I'd ever heard, on the eve of my very first IC reading. My enthusiastic friend and I both asked "deep, philosophical" questions, and we were both blown away by the Yi's precise and profound wisdom. The skeptic, a scientist and aerospace engineer for Bendix, designing guidance systems (the irony) received 4uc for his question: "Should I buy a Porche?" I offer nor have any judgement of that occasion but I still find it interesting.

 

[myanon0001]

sooo -- thank you sooo much for that connection to chrislofting. Being a newbie here, I searched his archived posts and found this in his The Species I Ching thread:

Thus the Species Level I Ching is a template of 64 generic *qualities* used to describe reality. [...] Overall, specialisation, our consciousness operating in different contexts, will 'fill in' these generic qualities but these generic qualities appear to be 'hard coded' into our species-nature, IOW the I Ching is part of our species-nature and as such can be applied to any other specialisation - thus we will 'see' the I Ching in all specialisations due to the hard coding of these qualities in the species and so qualities functional in all maps of reality.

Very insightful, I think. Sad to learn here of his passing.

 

[sooo]

sooo -- thank you sooo much for that connection to chrislofting. Being a newbie here, I searched his archived posts and found this in his The Species I Ching thread:



Very insightful, I think. Sad to learn here of his passing.

My pleasure. Some write Lofting and his concepts off as nonsense. I make no claim to understand it all - not sure anyone does - but he sure offered a lot to consider. His emphasis on emotion is another important aspect of his ideas, as you will discover if you read enough of his material. Unfortunately his web sites on the subject are no longer available, to my knowledge. I too see emotions as playing a key role in what the IC responds to, or what we ourselves read into our received answers, being two sides of the same coin.