I really enjoyed and appreciated this episode. I find the "hypothesis" presented to be very thought-provoking. However, I would have appreciated more detail and specificity. But perhaps those aren't available yet.
I'm thinking out loud in an effort to process, corrections/clarifications welcome:
- Individual humans and human social groups are systems.
- Systems seek stability.
- However, humans and human societies go through periods of instability.
- It is during periods of relative instability that individual humans and human societies as a whole tend to report unusual (paranormal) experiences.
- While reported experiences typically appear different on the surface, there is an underlying structural similarity.
- These experiences are not wholly internal, subjective experiences; there does appear to be an external, objective component to them. (But it may not be causal?)
- This phenomenon has been noted since the dawn of human civilization; however, the manifestation of the experiences have changed as human culture has changed.
- Historically, cultures have integrated/accepted these experiences via myth and ritual. (Are the ETH and Science the current myth and ritual?)
I'm not real clear on what is meant by the trickster phenomenon, but it seems that "a trick" is something that happens that may lead to instability of an individual or to a society. Perhaps these "tricks" are personified or assumed to have been performed by an agent, a trickster? Thus, individuals or groups of individuals that cause instability are considered to be tricksters. When tricksters cause systems to become unstable, people and groups often have unusual and/or paranormal experiences.
Now, I'm trying to rationalize something that perhaps can't be rationalized. Maybe the trick is on me, huh?
Anyhow, I'm fascinated by all of this, but in particular I wonder about 1) what underlying structural similarities there may be to current and historical paranormal experiences, and 2) what the nature of the external element to these experiences might be.
I'm also wondering about how information structures such as
memes and
archetypes might fit into this model, if at all. Information structures are substrate independent and flow through a variety of mediums; what role do they play in stabilizing and destabilizing individuals and societies? Once a meme or archetype has manifested, does it every truly disappear -- become extinct, or does it find ways to propagate and evolve?