Return of the Trickster
November 27th, 2007 at 11:48 am (interview, Paranormal, Consciousness Survival, Psi, Parapsychology)
An interview with the man behind The Trickster, George P. Hansen.
The paranormal encompasses everything from levitating monks to ESP, from spirits to cattle mutilations—an incredible and unsavory hodgepodge. The mix seems incoherent. But the trickster makes sense of it.
Psi, the paranormal, and the supernatural are fundamentally linked to destructuring, change, transition, disorder, marginality, the ephemeral, fluidity, ambiguity, and blurring of boundaries. In contrast, the phenomena are repressed or excluded with order, structure, routine, stasis, regularity, precision, rigidity, and clear demarcation.
Understanding the role and nature of the Trickster is fundamental to understanding the paranormal.
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LAURA said,
November 27, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I liked this one alot
afterlifefm said,
November 27, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Thanks, Laura. Keep an eye out for that Trickster character. He’s been known to wear a Speedo and talk like an Italian.
:-)
Luis said,
November 28, 2007 at 12:47 am
Happy to see you’re back on air again.
Best regards my friend and mucha suerte con esta nueva etapa.
L.
t'mara said,
December 3, 2007 at 8:37 am
hansen’s book is a must read for anyone who is interested in or hopes to investigate the paranormal. although the trickster and human nature make, according to hansen, honest unhoaxed investigations almost impossible. this book is fascinating. the most curious aspect is the anger stage magicians have toward real psi events like remote viewing. It’s odd that stage illusionists like penn and teller or the amazing randi have appointed themselves “consumer or reality watchdogs.” we get it guys, there are stage illusions and then there is the possibility of psi functioning. Randi’s rants and penn and teller’s put downs are not adequate to “debunk.” it is great to hear mr. hansen interviewed thanks.
afterlifefm said,
December 3, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Thanks, Jocelyn, Luis and t’mara for your comments and support.
Jess said,
January 15, 2008 at 2:37 am
Afterlifefm, congratulations for your blog.
Hansen’s books is a great contribution to serious parapsychology. It shows documented information on many topics. I specially enjoyed the section on so-called “skeptics” (debunkers). Hansen documented the origin, history and agenda of the organized skeptical movement and exposed its religious motivation (e.g. atheism) to debunk any kind of paranormal phenomena. He also discusses some well-known skeptics (e.g. Ray Hyman, etc.). This book is a must read.
It’s hard to find good criticism against skeptics on the web, but I recommend you the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism
http://paginas.terra.com.br/educacao/criticandokardec/criticizingskepticism.htm
http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/FlimFlam.htm
http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/skeptic.htm
http://www.parapsych.org/psiexplorer/blackmore_critique.htm
http://www.nderf.org/NDE%20Rhetoric.htm
http://www.near-death.com/skeptic.html
http://www.suppressedscience.net/skepticism.html
http://www.happierabroad.com/Debunking_Skeptical_Arguments.htm
http://www.orgonelab.org/skeptics.htm
http://www.anomalist.com/commentaries/pseudo
http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/truzzi.html
http://www.canlyme.com/quackwatch.html
http://www.humanticsfoundation.com/barrettvsrosenthal.htm