Prometheus Rising Chapter 1 "The Thinker & The Prover"

Robert Anton Wilson
Prometheus Rising
Chapter 1
The Thinker and the Prover

William james, father of American psychology, tells of meeting an old lady who told him the Earth rested on the back of a huge turtle.

"but, my dear Lady," Professor James asked, as politely as possible, "what holds up the Turtle?"
"ah," she said, "that's easy. He is standing on the back of another turtle."
"Oh, I see," said Professor James, still being polite. "But would you be so good as to tell me what holds up the second turtle?"
"Its no use, professor," said the old lady, realizing he was trying to lead her into a logical trap. "It's turtles-turtles-turtles, all the way!"

Don't be too quick to laugh at this little old lady. All human minds work on fundamentally similar principles. Her universe was a little bit weirder than most but it was built up on the same mental principles as every other universe people have believed in.

As Dr. Leonard Orr has noted, the human mind behaves as if it were divided into two parts, the Thinker and the Prover.
The THinker can think about virtually anything. History shows that it can think the earth is suspended on the backs of infinite turtles or that the Earth is hollow, or that the Earth is floating in space; comparitive religion and philosophy show that the THinker can regard itself as mortal, as immortal, as both mortal and immortal (the reincarnation model) or even as non-existent (Buddhism). It can think itself nto a Christian universe, a Marxist universe, a scientific-relativistic universe, or a Nazi universe -- among many possibilites.

As psychiatrists and psychologists have often observed (much to the chagrin of their medical colleagues), the Thinker can think themselves sick, and can even think Itself well again
The Prover is a much simpler mechanism. It operateson one law only: Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves.
If the Thinker thinks that the sun moves around the earth, the Prover will obligingly organize all perceptions to fit that thought; if the Thinker changes its mind and decides the earth revolves around the sun, the Prover will re-organize the evidence.

In the long run, we are hopefully approximating closer and closer to the "oblective Truth" over the centuries.
In the short run, Orr's law always holds:
Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover will prove.
And if the Thinker thinks passionately enough, the Prover will prove the thought so conclusively that you will never talk a person out of such a belief, even if it is something as remarkable as the notion that there is a gaseous vertabrae of astronomical heft ("GOD") who will spend all eternity torturing people who do not believe in his religion.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• video
• book
• Prometheus
• Rising
• thinker
• prover
• indie
• ufo
• discussion
• conspiracy theory
• rock
• religion

[ScalerWave]

I "think" this style of video is boring but I sat thru it out of curiosity. I'd much rather hear a narration rather than watching a mangled style of text slooooowwly appear on a screen where it is not contrasted enough to the background to see it properly.

I do agree that people believe what is comfortable for them to believe. Reason, for the most part, takes a back seat in the thought process while Emotion rules the day. Edward Bernays used this bit of understanding to its fullest.



[yawehking]

@ScalerWave I'm not here to feed your endorphins. I provide information from sources I feel say it better than I can, and it is up to you, dear viewer to come to your own conclusions. I thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to drag yourself through such a miserable undertaking, but your commentary not only sheds light on my incapacity for perfection, it also shows that despite my tireless effort to provide the world free information, douchebags will still trash it. Thank you. :)

[ScalerWave]

@yawehking

heh heh why all the drama? Not very philosophical IMO. I don't recall insulting you or trashing your "work". The question was posed "What do you think" ....well? there ya go. It seems that you would prefer empty praise over honest opinions. I understand though, we're all overly emotional beings.

[yawehking]

@ScalerWave No sir, empty praise is simply that, empty. Your words (as you know) have an underlying sarcasm that you avoid with another layer of sarcasm meant to demean, not question.  You know this and yet you cover it with another layer.. Why? I don't know, but I will react the way I choose, not the way you want me to. Dramatic? No, not as I see it, as honest critique is welcome, but as demonstrated in this comment, you are more concerned with delegitamizing than discussing.

In Lak'ech

[ScalerWave]

@yawehking

Well you are entitled to your opinion. I don't agree with it though. Honestly, your video is boring to watch and very slow to get to the point. The text is hard to read because the font style tries to be flashy instead of functional. There is not enough contrast in certain parts making it impossible to even read. I don't usually even sit thru these types of videos. You asked what I thought and I told you, simple. You read sarcasm where there is none.

SW

[yawehking]

@ScalerWave The text I used was to symbolize psychosis (JTHM), and used the text-by-letter to symbolize typewriter. Yes, I know it can often be boring, but that is only when you are concerned over entertainment. So, that critique is legitimate, and I accept it. However, to emphasize your boredom is in a sense hypocritical as you are implying information must "entertain" you. I use a laptop and ride a bicycle around the country, so I am not as you would say "equipped" to do much more. sorry..

[Floorsnarl]

Great music. Who is it?

[caseyspaos]

hard to read



[itsREDONE]

A bin or give it to an artist... Get back on your bike and fuck off you Gorky bastard

[itsREDONE]

Yawehking u sound so pretentious and loathe in your own self satisfaction that by some method to which only you know, you alone should be admired and worshipped like god himself just for presenting someone elses work, plagiarizing is what they call it, wether it's on you tube or not, I think I hate you passionately , more to the point the video is shit , the information is there without your shit video adding to the list of other shit videos on you tube so I suggest you drop the laptop off in

[mikwid]

Enjoyed this vid very much! I will often watch vids debating gods existence and learn from reading the varied comments. Inevitably, it gets to a point where the shit starts flying and I wonder, why do they do this over and over? Argue and push to the point where they feel terrible. I guess I must be a thinker with no inclination to prove anything to anyone. It can be mighty entertaining though! Great share, my friend!!