>If by "MS Flip phenomenon" you mean the Richard Brodie phenomenon, I think
>you are misinterpreting his intentions.
I don't mean Richard Brodie in particular. In one of my recent posts I
quoted Napoleon who said he was "surrounded by priests who repeat
incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world". This is a good
example of what I call MS Flip. Shamanism (to cause a little stir) is
another good example.
An MS Flip person deals with unknown in a very specific way. I divided ways
of "unknown handling" into 3 categories: (1) those who treat the unknown as
something which can be learned and there is nothing supernatural about it,
(2) those who assume the existence of supernatural but do it, kind of,
privately, and (3) those who insist *they* have some control over the
supernatural: "their kingdom is not of this world", they can heal in
unexplainable ways, they "just happen" to know the future. Many books have
been written about the third group, (Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World
-- Science as a Candle in the Dark" being an excellent example).
The problem is well know, although not much has been done to understand
*why* it happens. What is the motivation of the MS Flip people, the MS Flip
psychology? Certainly there are many con-artists there, but I believe,
there are also many sincere people who practice MS Flip. It is easy to
laugh at superstition, especially if it is someone far away. It is much
more difficult to oppose it when it happens close to you.
This list is an excellent place to watch the phenomenon in action. Of
course Richard gets the credit for the title, the "mind flip", he was
talking about. It is the most succinct characterization of the phenomenon.
If I write a book about it, "The Flip of the Mind" could be a good title :-).
There are more people on this list who practice MS Flip. I am glad we can
talk about it openly. David, your current exchange with Richard is greatly
contributing to understanding the MS Flip phenomenon, thank you.
>As far as I can tell Richard is
>sincere and wants to help people break out of "Level-2" thinking. If his
>responses seem esoteric or Zen-guru-like at times, maybe it is because
>he has found that is the best way to teach people.
Maybe. We can say the same about Catholic priests.
I admire the Pope for liberating Eastern Europe (I am sure he had a great
influence on Walesa and was a source of encouragement for many people to
risk their lives to overthrow Communism). If this is what you mean, I agree
with you. Richard greatly inspired me to think about those problems and I
am grateful for it. Now, why does he condemn the rich and abortion? :-)
>As far as I can tell, Level-3 is "merely" realizing that our whole world
>view is generated by a set of memes we host. Once you know it and believe
>it you have the power to change it, which gives you the ability to look
>at the world the way other groups of people look at, which has its own
>benefits. The thing I don't understand is why Level-3 gives you the power
>to choose any belief system you want, so long as it is *not* the scientific/
>rational/skeptical belief system (in which case you are still Level-2
>apparently).
Exactly.
Regards, Tadeusz (Tad) Niwinski from planet TeTa
tad@teta.ai http://www.teta.ai (604) 985-4159