The Paradoxical Universe
| ______________________________________________________________________ |
BEST VIEWED IN CLASSIC GOO
You've landed at the site
Of the one and only
ZAPHOD
Do not adjust your brain
There may be a fault in reality
Two heads are better than one I say, thus adopting that unflappable, cool dude's name ZAPHOD as my alter ego. I'm just this guy really. That's me in the middle, also third from right.
The 'Trilogy' describes ZB as "the adventurer, ex-hippy, ex-con man, ex-Galactic President, good timer (crook? quite possibly), and manic self-publicist from Betelgeuse Five; often thought to be out-to-lunch (a sandwich short of a picnic or an olive short of a Pizza, etc. though the lift has been known to go all the way to the top on the odd occasion). ZB is also the inventor of the Pan Galactic Garggle Blaster, and once described by Eccentrica Gallumbits as "the Best Bang since the Big One", and recently voted "the Worst Dressed Sentient Being in the Known Universe for the seventh time."
I share some of the above characteristics but not all. (Well, just the ex-hippy bit really - but who's to know). That's what alter egos and subpersonalities are all about, ain't it?
Dedications and Distractions
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm pleased to be a member of the auspicious Alternate Guide to the Galaxy's Galactic Anomalies Group (AGG/GAG for short). We live in interesting times and if you are curious about what the team do then pop along to AGG/GAG's Homepage, where a cornucopia of pleasures and astronomical delights await. The true spirit of DNA shines through our work, and you can taste our comestibles and weigh up our worth in our weekly feature in the H2G2 Post. For further amusement and edification you are invited to peruse all past issues of AGG/GAG in the official Archives.
My interests centre around the peripheral things of life: from the weird and wonderful to more conventional stuff; This takes in Monty Python and its offshoots, Babylon 5, David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky films. Actually, I lied about the conventional stuff, though I guess MPFC is kinda mainstream now (40+ years on).
I also enjoy painting from imagination (having got bored with 'painting by numbers'), as well as sharing our Devonshire home with beautiful and intelligent Tonkinese Cats.
I also support Liverpool F.C..
Other interests include Crop Circles and Earth Energies. The South West of England is happy hunting ground to experience such phenomena, though concentrated mostly in the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire.
I'm a member of a running club called THE TEIGNBRIDGE TROTTERS based in Newton Abbot, Devon, England. This is a superb club and won't find one much better.
For outstanding humour on H2G2 visit So Long, and Thanks For Laughing.
Musically, I dig (showing my age!) all kinds of Folk music including Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior, Sean Keane, The Chieftains, Andy Irvine, Patrick Street, Liam O'Flynn, and the incomparable Dick Gaughan, as well as Roy (and Nick) Harper, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, Tangerine Dream, Enigma, Steve Hillage, Tim Blake.
| I am a member of The H2G2 Queen Fan Club, which is a club each and every Person who has ever heard any Queen Song should Check out! Click to visit The H2G2 Queen Fan Club. |
Another special interest is Dreams and the Dreamworld .
I am an avid reader of C.G.Jung , and also studied Archetypal Psychology (James Hillman et al), I find it more fulfilling to hold a vision of life, the universe and everything beyond the humanistic and anthropomorphic perspectives. Carl Jung's work provides a framework for understanding unconscious and archetypal transpersonal processes taking place in the world, including the role of the shadow, the anima and animus, and the personal and collective archetypes. For more information see my guide entries on C.G. Jung The Man, His Life, Early Work, Late Work, and his Model of the Psyche Part One and Part Two.
Archetypes
Archetypes are patterns that shape and construct our experience, form the structures of consciousness. They are root ideas, psychic organs, figures of speech, typical styles of existence, or dominant fantasies that govern consciousness. Archetypes throw us into an imaginative style of discourse. The archetypal perspective thus provides a common connection between what goes on in any individual soul and what goes on in all people in all places in all times. That is, it allows psychological understanding at a collective, transpersonal level. Though "archetypal" fundamentally means human, archetypes do not belong to one's individual psyche; instead, it is a psychoid phenomenon; standing in part outside the human realm. It is this connection with the cosmos that I find most intriguing.
Following Jung, I developed an interest in alchemy during mid-life. If you would like an introduction to the subject see my Secret Art of Alchemy entry.
Dreams and Dreaming
In terms of dreams, I would advocate:
Respecting the dream and what it has to communicate.
Sticking with its images while hearing the dream metaphorically (not literally). That is, meeting the dream on its own terms, not for the sake of ego ownership, which is a white man's colonisation of dreams.
The depth of the dream image can be quite staggering.
Moving the dream on and seeing dreams within a dream series.
The psychological process of dreaming is paradoxical. For instance, in sleep we are thoroughly immersed in the dream, but on waking we believe that the dream is in us. Joseph Campbell likened the dream to one's personal myth and myth to the collective dream.
I'm a Pisces i with Scorpio e Rising
|
Time Warps
Why is it that the return journey (by car, on foot, horseback, etc.) always seems shorter than the outward one?
I've tried to look more closely at this phenomenon. Metaphorically, the outward journey can be likened to the slow stretching of a rubber band, whereby tension increases, though with an apparent slowing down (inversion?) of time. This largely depends on the nature of the journey and multiple psychological/emotional factors are involved.
Conversely, the return journey (i.e. usually homeward) seems quite the reverse. In the mind's eye, and translated into physical action, it is more direct and straightforward. You're in auto-pilot, the journey better known, governed by instincts akin to that of a homeing pigeon. With better orientation, planning and mapping become less important. . . the elastic band slackens, the mind relaxes, and, paradoxically (and this is the bit that fascinates), time appears to accelerate (or does it?).
How many types of time are there out-there, in-here and in-between. Time, as an entity, flows, drags, skips, hops and jumps and I imagine goes for long walks to contemplate its own future and past. In what other ways does it manifest, I wonder? God, it probably has a sense of humour. It probably is a god, who knows? OK, from a scientific perspective, it obeys the laws of science.
Can we talk of time as archetypally governed, as a phenomenon that ensnares us poor mortals, doomed to live in the realms of linearity (is there such a word?) and materiality? Yes, the local chemist shop can often seem a million miles away, and yet returning to the family home after many years absence can palpably feel like we've never been away. Does anything really change or is it all a sort of Zen-like "changeless change" experience? Time as the ultimate paradox. As the pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus, observed, we can never step in the same river twice.
. . . And finally, my adopted fish 
These are my pet ghost fish, called Porgy and Bess, adopted from the Fish Adoption Scheme. Bess, unfortunately, was found to be slightly backward. The fish on the right(Samson and Delilah) did the stunts in the film "A Fish called Wanda" (still to be paid!) - Thanks for the ghost fish TUMMYFISH and the fishtanks JAVAM.
Think that's good. Take a butchers at this tank!
| ______________________________________________________________________ |
| ______________________________________________________________________ |
______________________________________________________________________
. . .*.** .. * *** . . . ....*
* † . . .* . ****... * * **.. .** *** **.* * .* .. .. . *. * *. ** .*. * .* * * .** * . . * . * *†. ***. * * * *. * * * .. * .** * * * *.. * * * * ..* * . * * * *. * * * .. * .** * * * *.. * * * ** * *. ** * * * * ... * .* * ...* * * . * * * .* * *..* * .*.. * * * *. * * * .. * .** * * * *.. * * * * ..* * . * * * *. * * * .. * .** * *
* *..* * † * *. * *.*.. * * * *. * * * .. * .** * * * *.. * * * * ..* *
|
A dropdown list of AGG/GAG/CAC members:
Chuckler list:AGG/GAG-homepage~jwf~Tonsil Revenge=X Subcom.DeidzoebMartinSpiffBosselHobbesZaphodShazz PRMEThe h2g2PostTeam |
Latest Messages
| Messages left for this Researcher | Posted |
|---|---|
| Hello Zaphod :-)) | Oct 24, 2006 |
| Looking for life | May 2, 2006 |
| Hecate article | Dec 2, 2003 |
| your page | Dec 1, 2003 |
| Where do I go? | Nov 29, 2003 |
Conversations
| Conversation Title | Latest Post | Latest Reply |
|---|---|---|
| Tell Us A Joke | Jul 27, 2001 | 4 Weeks Ago |
| Looking for life | May 2, 2006 | No Replies |
| Pisces | Mar 24, 2002 | Apr 24, 2006 |
| your page | Nov 29, 2003 | Dec 1, 2003 |
| Where do I go? | Nov 29, 2003 | No Replies |
Zaphod II
Researcher U176577
Entries
Most Recent Edited Entries
- Origins of Days of the Week
- Crop Circles
- Madness
- Prurience, Pornography and the Tabloid Press
- The Stages of the Alchemical Opus
Entries
Disclaimer
h2g2 is created by h2g2's users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Not Panicking Ltd. If you consider any Entry to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please register a complaint. For any other comments, please visit the Feedback page.
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."