Initial Thoughts

At the risk of coming across as a nutcase in my first ever blog, I have to admit that the section that first grabbed my attention was the part on the paranormal in the introduction. I usually pride myself in my reasoning and logic, but I've had what could be considered precognitive dreams before. My logic chalks them up to mere coincidences, but the more fantastical part of my personality wants to believe that people do experience these altered states of cognition that allow them to tap into things we may not be aware of otherwise.

I've also found that almost all of my creativity is a product of my dreams, probably because I turn my overly analytical mind off when I'm asleep! Music is a huge passion of mine, and though I don't play or write as much as I used to, songs usually come to me in my sleep. There was discussion of John Lennon and the walrus, and Paul McCartney said that a lot of his songs came to him in dreams, as well. Maybe this is an example of the "daimons" discussed in chapter 2, but I don't necessarily like the notion of possession regarding creativity. To me it takes the creative power away from the artist and reduces them to a vessel, or a medium, for the art to come through. Some people may find this idea romantic, but I think it sells the artist's ability to use his or her own resources to create short.

I saw that there was a lot of discussion of shamans, and I thought I'd chip in. I loved the comparison between the shaman and the circus. The connection never would have occurred to me. Shamans are something we typically think don't exist in Western society; most people assume that they exist in more tribal cultures, but a huge part of our cultural fabric, according to Taylor, centers around this ancient shaman archetype. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that shaman-like figures are actually pretty prevalent in our pop culture. The most obvious example to me is Doctor Who. Here is this man, well, alien, who travels between worlds, times, realities, dimensions, can regenerate and resurrect in different forms, and whose primary purpose is to "heal" troubles on Earth to keep the planet from crisis. I'm sure there are dozens of more examples one could use. Although I'm finding some of the more technical terminology in the book a bit difficult to follow at times, I do appreciate that already it has inspired me to look at things I take for granted, such as campy British TV shows, in a different light.