Re: knowledge & proof [was "wee people"]

Dave Siemens wrote:

..Mark Twain was given laughing gas for a dental procedure. He thrashed around some, and then claimed that he had wanted writing materials to set down the thoughts of ineffable beauty that had come to him under anesthesia. He demanded to be put under again while he had paper and pencil in hand. When he came out he looked to see what glorious revelations he had written. He read, "My God, what a stench." This is clearly beauty beyond description!"

I think I know the feeling. Long ago when I was feverish from flu I thought I had some great insight and wrote it all down. After recovery I realized it was all foolishness.

However, your apparent suspicion of fasting IMO is misplaced. It's nothing like being drugged. It leads to clarity, not fuzziness.

I completed about half (possibly more, as I wasn't taking notes) of my 42-day fast while a college student, before they kicked me out. At that time my course work in every class was uniformly as high as or higher than it had ever been. (I was always close to being a straight-A student, but at that time the grades on individual assignments were at least as high as ever.) This is potentially verifiable support for the idea that fasting does not lead to hallucinations--at least, not to detrimental hallucinations.

For what it's worth (i.e., once again this is perception, not necessarily reality), fasting cleared my mind as nothing else has.

Try it some time. If your experience turns out to be anything like mine, I think you'll agree that fasting is very far from being a route to hallucination. I recall dreaming of high-protein foods once or twice, but those were obviously dreams, not hallucinations. : )

And then how could a mere 42-day fast profoundly affect the next 20 months? Physical recovery from such a fast was very rapid, as I recall. However, mental recovery from trauma is often slow, so this does not make a very telling argument. However again, fasting causes neither mental nor spiritual trauma; instead, it leads to clarity of thought and perception. Somebody must have studied this. I'd wager he's come to the same conclusion that I have.

Don

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: D. F. Siemens, Jr.<mailto:dfsiemensjr@juno.com>
  To: Joe.Roberts@thecb.state.tx.us<mailto:Joe.Roberts@thecb.state.tx.us>
  Cc: dfwinterstein@msn.com<mailto:dfwinterstein@msn.com> ; asa@calvin.edu<mailto:asa@calvin.edu>
  Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 3:09 PM
  Subject: Re: knowledge & proof [was "wee people"]

  Joe,
  I recently heard someone who believed (claimed to know) that Bush organized 9-11. Earlier there was the claim that the price of oil would drop precipitately just before the election--a conspiracy between Bush and the Saudis to influence the election. No evidence, just firm belief in falsehoods. What evidence do you offer for your belief?

  I recall the claim by many that hallucinogens had a similar effect, plus the claim that it made the doped one more creative. On test they were not creative, just stupid. If I recall correctly, Mark Twain was given laughing gas for a dental procedure. He thrashed around some, and then claimed that he had wanted writing materials to set down the thoughts of ineffable beauty that had come to him under anesthesia. He demanded to be put under again while he had paper and pencil in hand. When he came out he looked to see what glorious revelations he had written. He read, "My God, what a stench." This is clearly beauty beyond description!
  Dave

  On Mon, 8 Nov 2004 13:46:29 -0600 "Roberts, Joe" <Joe.Roberts@thecb.state.tx.us<mailto:Joe.Roberts@thecb.state.tx.us>> writes:
    I believe that fasting loosens our filters, allowing more reality in.
Received on Wed Nov 10 03:08:09 2004