Much of what people call angelic inspiration could also be called coincidence, and that is fine by me. The Heavenly Host have not hired me as one of their PR consultants, so far as I know; which does not rule out the possibility that I have taken on the job unwittingly. At least, if we note a coincidence, we’re aware of what is happening. Why is another matter. Let us at least accept that in witnessing angel intervention, we construct our experience into something coherent, just as the constellations in the Zodiac are constructions based on little dots of light spaced out in the sky.
So let me describe a coincidence which you may construct as significant or not, as you wish. There’s a certain spot three minutes’ walk from my place—Crown Taxis’ repair depot, with its oily yard and small workshop. I pass it when I go to the bank or post office. On three occasions now, I’ve found an answer to a deep question whilst passing next to this depot; with a suddenness which hasn’t happened anywhere else. I wrote about the first in my post Personal Knowledge on June 16th last year. I wrote about the second in a post titled All we ever need to know, on Sept 15th. A realisation came in a flash, as if whispered to me: “All we ever need to know is what to do.” I haven’t questioned it since. Perhaps I should.
Now it’s happened again, at the same spot. I was passively brooding on the question posed in Fleming’s post Supernatural on January 1st, about freewill. I was thinking that there was something fishy about the whole philosophical debate: freewill versus determinism. Fishy because there are things which we just know, if we ignore the red-herring trails which philosophy is so skilled at laying. The angels whispered a phrase in my ear: “art of the possible”, an echo of “Politics is the art of the possible.”
“Never mind politics, Living is the art of the possible”, I thought, and linked it with the point on which Fleming and I were agreed: that there is nothing supernatural. Nature encompasses all that happens. To catch the significance of this bland assertion, you must think of the legions of New Age believers who passionately promote vague forces, often emanating from the human mind, which like almighty God, they claim, can “do anything”; and of the ambitious young who proclaim that “anything is possible”. When you think about it, this belief creates quite a harmful religion, and indeed is a main ingredient of what makes existing religions harmful. I’m pretty sure that Dr Alistair will disagree with me here: indeed I hope so because then we can throw some light on current trends of thought. You ask “What’s the harm?” And I reply that surely the whole essence of this earthly life, whose feeling we know so well, is the necessity to live within our limitations. Take that away and we are in “cloud-cuckoo land”, where angels will never be able to help us, for they assist those who are unable to reason, not those who refuse to.
I like to live well within the possible, but observe many who want to push its boundaries to the extreme. Typically they are young, unlike me, but that’s not a sufficient explanation. Those who “push the envelope” are driven to do so by chronic dissatisfaction, a disease so common these days that it’s seldom diagnosed: but one whose effect on behaviour makes the world unsatisfactory.
a wayfarer’s notes 
How about a more creative contribution concept as a social service type motivator (than disatisfaction) to project potential? Is(n't) Arts' role to question?
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Well, I think there is much in what you say, Bradford, but it is packaged in few words. I would like to see your more expanded exposition of this.
I'm glad you came along because I discovered your site, which interests me greatly and makes me keen to link to it!
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But you have helped me see that my own thoughts run ahead of my expression.
Social service can be pretty straightforward at the local level, but on the broader front, a lot of dissatisfactions cancel each other out, as in wars, fought with arms, ideologies, extreme competition and trade.
The potential is not in doubt but I feel strongly that we must individually embody the contentment that we want to socially engineer in the wider world.
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Sometimes, as we grapple with “words of explanation”, we tend to forget that still, small voice. Where it comes from, i do not know, but the first sentence one of my short stories came while prostrate, half awake, in that peculiar conciousness between sleep and wake. (then had to figure out how to manufacture enough words to help it make sense.) Have no idea, Vincent, life is a peculiar journey.
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artists are the early warning system of the culture. art
s role is to question in some ways and to entertain, and to alter consciousness.<br />but to my point. anything is possible. i will stand by that statement but i will suport it by suggesting that some things are too fantastic to be anything but highly unlikely. it really comes down to your own nature and your desire. if, as you say Vincent, that desire comes from dissatisfaction then i tend to agree with you. to be dissatisfied motivates people to do many things. the ones who choose the most effective ways of bringing about change are the ones we read abut, for good or bad. certainly choosing to deal with the dissatisfaction is one way to not have to do anyhing and makes the concepts of ability moot.<br />what i am talking about is a way of creating a pervasive mechanism spiritually or psychologically or plainly neuro-chemically choosing to feel good for no reason and then from that position doing what you need to do in life.<br />there is no judgement in this or boundaries or restrictions. the boundaries and restrictions are provided free of charge by the people who built the universe in the first place.<br />the possibilities within this framework are indistinguishable from boundless.<br />heres a statement of technological prediction that i read recently, tying in with ray kurzwiels ideas regarding moores law; 95% of the technology that we will see emerging in the next 50 years hasnt been invented yet. i would hazzard a guess that a fair amount of that stuff would be considered impossible by todays scientific standards.coincidences……..my children and i were out walking yesterday and my oldest boy was recreating the cheese-shop sketch by monty python in his wonderful ten year-old way, and as we walked i noticed the name on the street sign was palin.
i see coincidences as sign-posts to a shift in consciousness. why these things happen i`m not sure but i see it as a recognition that consciousness is a fluid thing.
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I always agree with some of what you say, Alistair, but there is always an element which creates an obstacle. One recurring theme of what you have written on your own blog is a kind of elitism, whereby you are a person who is qualified to teach, because you know, whilst the others are so lost and ignorant. I was in a cult once and so this “more enlightened than thou” attitude was one of the most obnoxious aspects of cult membership, which separated me from others. Also the belief that anything is possible is very similar to the belief system I held then. Now I am happier to be humble, to respect everyone equally and to do without any teacher who thinks he knows, whilst learning from those who don't try to teach and don't think they are special.
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Is it still a coincidence if the similarities go un-noticed?
We are bombarded with stimulous every moment of our lives. So much of what is available from this array of input to our senses is filtered, ignored or blocked from our awareness.
Artists develop their senses to maintain a keen focus on the more subtle and often more profound stimulous in our environment.
In addition, an artistic sense is capable of genuine free association of ideas. A highly right-brain excersise that disdains the logical pigeon holing of such ideas that the left brain insists on.
The rewards derived from this process can achieve what was thought impossible, and in many cases achieve things never imagined.
To deny possibilities based on our still primitive understanding of the universe is perhaps a responsible approach.
However, to deny ones imagination to delve into realms of the impossible, will result in loss of potential.
In this sense, the young in particular, are a constant reminder that the realm of the possible is much grander than the elders would allow.
To retain the belief that “Anything is possible”, for as long as possible in ones life, will keep the imagination at work with fewer restrictions and greater rewards.
If you are still unconvinced, take some time to study the life and the accomplishments of Leonardo Da Vinci.
I suspect he remained convinced that “anything was possible” till the day he died.
His only limitation was the brief time he had, living a human existance, to fully realize all he imagined.
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I remain skeptical of supernatural or perhaps devine inspiration that that some would attribute these leaps in understanding.
The ability to take a concept that one imagines and fully realize it, demonstrates the capabilities of our species.
The fact that we often underestimate our potential and our capabilities does not mean that when we surpass them, that a higher power intervened.
I can imagine the possibility of supernatural beings, but to date, I have no evidence to indicate their existance.
To simply explain everything we do not understand by attributing it to a higher power, is not only irresponsible, it is the recipe for myths.
As beings with overactive imaginations, we are certainly capable of generating mythical beings of all sorts, and we have.
As I said in my earlier comment, it is responsible to deny possiblities we have yet to demonstrate or observe in our universe.
This includes Higher Powers.
It is especially dangerous to use myths of higher powers as a guide for making choices in your life.
To rely on devine intervention as a source of ideas or even a moral compass, denies our own potential and capacity to reason.
To fully realize our potential as a species we need to continue to build on the accomplishments of our ancestors by learning and observing the work of others who came before us and who live today.
We must also recognize and abandon the beliefs and practices of our ancestors that are derived from myth without foundation in reason or rational thought.
It is in this way that we can more fully grasp the potential of what we encounter and what we concieve of on our own and as a society.
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Charles, you have given us in this conversation a great deal to think about. Leonardo da Vinci is an excellent example to discuss. He illustrates, if you will, that “anything is possible” in the realm of creative ideas. On the other hand he was quite a spectacular failure in many practical ways. His experiments in producing new forms of fresco resulted in a Last Supper that has pretty much disappeared – it's mainly a restoration job. His designs for machines of war were never taken up and his employer, the Duke of something or other, was not terribly pleased with him. (The search engine is inviting me to check my facts, but I won't be distracted. Anyone can check them if they have the time, and put me right too.)
So when we say “anything is possible” it is certainly true so far as imagination goes. What I point out is the folly of coaches telling this to their clients, conspiring with the stupidity of an already over-competitive world by suggesting that our goal should be a “success” at the very edge or beyond the individual's horizon. For every Leonardo there are many ordinary people like me of mediocre talents who would do better to master the art of being alive and stop focusing on “extraordinary achievement” which in most cases is debased into a desire for material wealth anyhow. They justify the hankering after extraordinary wealth by invoking a so-called Law of Abundance and a Law of Attraction which makes it come to them; conveniently ignoring the reality that they live in a society which permits this, whilst others who pick cocoa or coffee or tea out on the plantations are further impoverished by the inequities of world trade and failure to control the bad effects of rampant capitalism.
Whew, what a rant! Forgive me.
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To take up another point of yours Charles, there is nothing more natural than to create a myth out of what we don’t understand. This is what we do. So when I see the work of angels in coincidences or answers to prayers, I am merely using the one word “angels” as a focal point to assemble phenomena which seem to me linked.
I choose “angels” with care. I know there is a whole mythology about them in the Kabbalah (well I think there is but again I am not going to check, because this is not my main point) but there is also a history of “angel” being used in the sense of something-we-don’t-understand making a benign intervention. In chemistry, you’d call it a catalyst, or perhaps an enzyme or yeast. It’s an agent of transformation.
There may be a psycho-neurologist who could explain all the phenomena that I call “angelic intervention” as some kind of brain activity & this is perfectly fine, but I am not such a scientist and I can describe my own experience any way I like. If I were to package up my experience with a recipe for others to follow, and sell it, then that would be irresponsible, but I am very far from doing that. If I were to give advice to anyone I would say “Trust your own experience, don’t listen to me!” I agree with you that we should do nothing to denigrate reason. On the other hand reason has limitations, and there is a place for Pascal’s famous saying, “The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.”
But I will stop pretending to argue with you because I suspect we are largely saying the same thing.
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to adress directly your concern regarding my “high” position of knowledge regarding things………
i wish to make a distinction here. it is not through knowledge that i take any position. the energy that drives my postings is one of inspiration. the things i have directly experienced are reality shattering and room doesn`t permit clear repitition here, but suffice to say the shock of experiencing pure energy resonating with my dna at points in my life hase urged me forward in my work and in my play.
i can understand your concerns regarding cults and materialism and zero-sum economics but i think the root of our misunderstanding is that i represent any of these things.
i most assuredly do not wish to have a following and in a fair number of my client sessions there has been a decision to leave jobs, sell homes and simplify as a means to claiming health………and regarding economics in the third world………..i don`t pretend to have a view.
the sense of elitism you sense may plainly be a projection on your part……driven by your identification of some underdog possibly.
and wealth isn`t a bad thing either. some of the most effective and benevolent people i know are weathy financially as well as rich in empathy and compassion. and some of the meanest, resentful types i see are flat broke…..i guess what i`m saying is that to generalise about money and spiritualy is a recipe for just plain getting it wrong.
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I love this kind of dialogue, especially when I can engage people who are thoughtful and have plenty of their own related experience to share.
Dr.,I can appreciate what you say regarding Leonardo's success rate. But, I think we can agree he was prolific, and much of what he designed, eventually was either proven to work, or became the seed for someone else's success.
The fact that he himself was unable to fully realize the success of his ideas is not really what I was getting at.
In fact there is a book by Micheal J. Gelb called “How to think like Leonardo da Vinci”, that describes “seven steps to genius every day”.
This book attempts to provide you with a means of reaching your human potential.
I just started reading it, I don't know how effective it is.
Vincent, I can appreciate your use of symbols, such as angels, to represent things you have experienced that you are unable to articulate in other ways.
I too have searched for metaphors when attempting to explain something I cannot clearly describe in accurate scientific or other terms.
I have found that many myths are just that. They are generated when people have not gained the knowledge they need to provide an accurate description for some phenomena they experience.
History is full of examples of this. Many of the events in the Bible have been traced to geological events that took place when the myths were created.
I have no prejudice towards anyone who attempts to understand their experiences by describing them in these terms.
It is the perpetuation of myth in place of genuine knowledge I object to.
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[…] quest of spark-plugs I passed the “oily yard”, scene of inspiration before now (here and here ) which has acquired a kind of oracular significance in my wanderings. I discovered it now has a […]
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