Monday, March 09, 2009

Psychoplasm

Here's something pretty wild.

There exists a re-occurring notion throughout all human cultures and spanning our entire history that concepts can be physically manifested. From the homunculi, to the Tibetan tulpas, to the Greek eidolon...it all boils down to this idea that we can bring something into reality simply through the act of believing in it enough. It's utter garbage, but nevertheless it seems to permeate a lot of human thought and influence our behavior to a sort've alarming degree.
Anyway, one of the countless iterations of this concept is the Thoughtform, which is basically the Turn-Of-The-Century pseudo-science version. The term was created by C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant, two garden-variety academic dabblers in metaphysics. According to them, a thinker could manifest their thoughts either as an intangible radiation-like force or as a physical object or entity. Any idea at all, from profound to profane, could be materialized. Leadbeater and Besant supposedly listened to classical music and produced a dazzling display of light. This, to me, smacks of synesthesia, but the accompanying illustration is both beautiful and bizarre.


Curious about Leadbeater and Besant? Then, why not buy their book?

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