Springfield Illinois Ghost Story

Excellent Extemporaneous Blog Posting!

Marie at DisarrangingMine shares her reactions to a recent Discovery Channel presentation. The presentation portrays the story of a ghostly haunting at Springfield, Illinois' Lake Club.

I haven't seen the video, but from Marie Carnes' reaction it sounds very scary, and therefore interesting.

I'm a fairly skeptical guy when it comes to the supernatural. By definition categorizing an event as supernatural forever places such an event above, and outside of nature.


Ghost and Science

A scientific approach to understanding the natural world assumes that no such realm is possible. The supernatural realm, by its very definition, must always fall outside the reach of skeptical inspection, objective analysis, and dispassionate understanding as is demanded by the scientific method.

Therefore, embracing the concept of the supernatural is antithetical to scienfific rationality. I must therefore reject its existence as a rational scientific human being, and remain focused upon that which can be studied, and understood in a scientific manner.

Yet, what are we to make of the stories recounted by people who say that they have encountered phenomena for which there is no currently verified scientific explanation (e.g., U.F.O.s, E.S.P., Ghost, After Life Experiences)?

My personal belief is, that as science advances, many of the ideas about the nature of perception, and reality itself, which have been rejected as impossible by the scientific community, may in fact come to be seen as reasonably possible.

Human beings have only approached consciousness with scientific discipline acting as their guide for an excruciatingly short historical period. In fact today the vast majority of humanity, even in the West, still experience their realities firmly muddled within the embrace of scientfic illiteracy.


Time will tell whether "ghost" find a place in future Physics 101 textbooks.

The human brain is essentially an electro-chemical computer, and perceptions of what we believe to be an outside objective reality may in fact be significantly influenced by quantum forces.

This is not to say that ghost are, or are not, spirits of departed souls, but it suggest that human consciousness may be capable of percieving other times, other places, and other events besides those which make themselves immediately obvious through the five recognized sensory pathways.

This phenomena doesn't need to be frightening, or seen as anti-religious just because it is approached in a rational manner.

While the scientific approach may take much of the fun out of the study of such a subject it would seem the prudent approach from the standpoint of funtionality.

I suspect that much of our fear of ghost is in fact rooted in our conscious, and subconscious fear of our own mortality. We fear death, supress the realization of that fear, yet fear it still. This fear finds expression in our deepest nightmares, and supersticious beliefs.

Our beliefs prime us for percieving, or not, paranormal phenomena - whether those perceptions are based upon actual stimuli or not.


Do We Make Our Own Ghost?

Imagination is a powerful thing. The question which quantum theory is forcing upon a reluctant scientific community is whether by the process of priming perception through imagination if the observer actually shapes (without direct contact) the physical world in such a way as to actually bring events into existence.

As an example, by our very observation of light wave-particles originating on the other side of the "Universe" (light which originated fifteen billion years ago) we change, or guide the nature of the photon's origination, and form.

It is currently scientifically accepted, and laboratory demonstrable, that simply via observation we (the observer) change (or pilot) time-space distant originating quantum events to either produce electromagnetic particles or waves (photons) upon observation, and that the form in which photons reach us (whether particle or wave) is within our control.

Read that last sentence again, and wrap your mind around it because the principle behind it applies to more than just photons, and elementary states of subatomic particles - it applies to everything - including you the reader - at your scale of existence.

By simply observing an event with which we have no direct physical contact (except through observation), even an event originating in a distant place, and time, we shape that event's nature, and origin! This brings into question the very notion of chronology, causality, locality - and the very nature of reality itself.

Confused? Intrigued? Join the club!

The "Universe" of which we are a part is not the safe, and comfortable Newtonian reality "Universe" in which we trust.

Profound questions about the nature of reality, as viewed through the prism of quantum theory, are not new to the twenty first century. What is new is the certainty that reality as we have traditionally approached it is out of synch not only with quantum theory, but with an ever growing amount of evidence gathered from laboratories confirming even the queerest aspects of quantum theory.

Physics laboratories are now delving into the magical world of bi-location. Scientist are bi-locating elementary particles into two places, and two states at once! Imagine placing the very same particle into two locations (time-space) at once, and placing the same particle into two physically opposite states at once!

This isn't theory, this is laboratory validation of the very most basic, and profound rules of reality - a reality of which most people are blissfully unaware.

And there is no proof, no tangible evidence at all, that what takes place at the quantum level doesn't apply at a scale which we humans percieve. The implications are profound to such a degree that it is hard to overstate their importance.


Ramifications?

What this says about the nature of reality, perception, the evolution of the brain, consciousness, and the soul is just beginning to be contemplated by western science, but certainly these questions open the door to the possible validation of phenomena which were previously categorized as supernatural.

One day what we fear the most may in fact come to be accepted as just another aspect of nature. An aspect to be understood, and perhaps manipulated through technology as a means of studying distant places, and times, or even utilized as another means of communication? Time will tell.

Note: Under the opinion that all this is the stuff of philosophy, or fringe science? Run a Google search on quantum computer chips. The next round of superfast, supersmall computer chips soon to be introduced by IBM. Study up on the principles, and physics behind why they can be so much smaller, and faster. My suspicion is that the design of the human brain is similarly dependent upon dual quantum states.

Carter Bros. Lumber Delivery to Union Station

Photo: Carter Bros. Lumber Delivers Plywood to ALPLM's Union Station Renovation


Photo: Carter Bros. Lumber Delivery Man Unstraps Plywood for Delivery to ALPLM


Photo: Plywood Delivery for ALPLM's Union Station Renovation Project 02.15.06


Photo: Hydrolic Lift Carries Stack of Plywood for Union Station Springfield Illinois


Photo: Carter Bros. Lumber & Construction Foreman Sign for Plywood Delivery


This series of photos features a delivery of plywood to the Union Station Restoration Project.

Carter Brother's Lumber of Springfield, Illinois delivers plywood sheeting at the corner of Sixth, and Madison in downtown Springfield. The plywood is being used in the Union Station Renovation Project. Union Station is part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM), which is located in downtown Springfield.

About the Photos: A Carter Bros. Lumber delivery man unstraps stacks of plywood. A hydrolic lift is brought in to carry the stacks of plywood from Carter Bros. flatbed truck into the Union Station construction area. Two large stacks of plywood were unloaded. There's no doubt that this delivery is just one of many deliveries of construction material which has been made to this ongoing renovation project.

All Photographs for this post were captured Wednesday afternoon, February 15th, 2006. Wednesday's weather was unseasonably warm for Central Illinois, with the high reaching into the sixties, and not a cloud in the sky. A remarkably beautiful day for the middle of February.

Does Thunder Make It Rain? Revisited

Image: Google Result: Posting Ranks As The First & Only Relevant Result

After a decade of explosive growth in the number of Internet pages (in the billions) not one has the phrase, Does thunder make it rain?


Image: MSN Search Result: Am I the only one to have pondered upon this?

This post refers to a previous posting on JeromeProphet, and now on WeatherProphet in which I ask if shock waves from thunder passing through storm clouds cause water droplets to condense, and then fall from clouds - does thunder make it rain?

After running several Internet phrase searches using MSN Search, Google, and Yahoo, I couldn't find any other pages with this question. Perhaps it's phrased differently. I'll keep searching.


Image: Yahoo Search Result - Nothing Is New Under The Sun?

2006 Lincoln Symposium & Goodwin Book Signing

Photo: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (Interior) - Springfield, Illinois



Photo: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library - Springfield, Illinois



Photo: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library - Interior - Springfield, Illinois



Photo: Doris Kerns Goodwin @ Book Signing - Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library


Doris Kearns Goodwin Visits Springfield, Illinois' Lincoln Symposium

Doris Kerns Goodwin visited Springfield, Illinois February 11th, and February 12th 2006. On the evening of February 11th Ms. Goodwin was the subject of an extended interview held within the Union Theater. Union Theater is located in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The two hour long interview was recorded in front of an audience, and was recorded for telecast on the Illinois Channel.

On Sunday, February 12th, Doris Kerns Goodwin hosted a booksigning in Illinois' historic Old State Capitol, and immediately following within the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

Large lines of history fans brought their copies of Ms. Goodwin's most recent publication titled, Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

I attended the booksigning. My moment with Ms. Goodwin was well worth the hour, and a half it took to make my way through the line to obtain Ms. Goodwin's autograph. She's truly an excellent writer, and historian.

Lincoln Symposium February 2006

Photo: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Etched Glass


Photo:Abe Lincoln Presidential Library Window


Photo:Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Window


Photo:ALPLM Derived Art Work - Springfield, IL 02.12.06

I took several photographs within the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library today while standing in line at a book signing. The signing featured Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

The ALPLM is located in downtown Springfield, Illinois. Photographs presented in this post are from several which I took of etched glass windows separating the atrium, from the research, and reading area.

I was lucky in the sense that most of the lights in the research facility were turned off thus allowing some very beautiful colors to reflect through the etchings. These images are derived from prarie grass etchings, and are very reminescent of Frank Lloyd Wright designs.

I have several more photographs I intend to post of the booksigning so stay tuned history fans.