Phenomenology: Part 2

I was feeling exhilarated, instead of traumatized like my last meeting with Hugo. Don't get me wrong Hugo and his room are awful. Randal came and got me after the meeting, and walked me back upstairs, where I went to the the bathroom and quickly changed back into my sweats. I also decided to call Hugo's room, the creepy room, instead of the odd room. The more time I spend in the room the creepier it gets. Just the opposite of what you would expect, there is no getting used the room. Anyhow, the first thing I did after telling Randal about my meeting with Hugo, was call Paul Kimball. I knew now I had to have the octahedron. I told Paul that the object was called an octahedron, and was one of the five Platonic solids, but left out all the other information, I got from Hugo. After giving him the news, I lied and told him Randal wanted to buy it for the store for fifty dollars. He hesitated and made a counter-offer of one hundred dollars. I pretended to ask Randal, and told Paul that Randal agreed if he would throw in the backpack, you know I had to ask for something. After turning the backpack with the octahedron inside over to Randal for safe keeping, I called my manicurist at the nail salon. You know, I felt I deserved this after my creepy audience with Hugo, it was also celebration for acquiring the octahedron. In a way Hugo also inspired my wanting a mani and pedi. I had noticed in the telepathic image even though his hand and foot claws were gnarled and jagged they matched. Yes even blind chicks like things that match. So I paid extra to get an immediate appointment for the works. While Randal drove me over to the Nail salon I texted Jai, that I wanted to talk to her, but not to call, since I was going to have my nails done. I had barely sat down at the salon, when I heard a very subdued Jai: "Hey Gwen, I also need to talk to you" I asked her what was wrong. She answered in a low tone: "Steve and Monique just got engaged" I told her the usual girl stuff about the guy not being good enough for her, and suggested she get her nails done. I mean we could talk and pampering always lifts my mood. In reply she said: "This place is pricey." I of course replied: "You deserve it, and it will make you feel better." There was a few moments hesitation, and I heard her tell someone: " Give me what Gwen is having, yeah the works." I quipped: "So you decided you are worth it!" I heard her laugh and reply: "No, not really, but I need to talk to you, and since you are considered a police informant, I am going to tell them the only place you would meet is the nail salon, and charge it to the dept. as an expense. No one will question it when they see you are the informant" I laughed at this and and asked kidding: "You mean the blind chick has a bad reputation down at the station?" She replied instantly in a better mood: "Absolutely notorious, girl." We both got a good laugh. What she wanted to talk about was a raid on an illegal brothel, where they found evidence of human sacrifice (bones and such) and snake figurines. There were also some drawings of many sided objects. After some questioning I confirmed what I suspected, the drawings were of the Platonic solids. I told Jai everything I knew. It seems the followers of Yig were interested in the Platonic solids. That they were trying to build a Mystograph. The followers of Yig were not into personal sacrifice as Hugo had said, but were big on sacrificing others to achieve their goals. The other interesting thing about the brothel was it seemed impossible to find the real owner. The supposed owners were fictions. Jai had some leads, she was following up. I know she is an excellent investigator, and would turn up something. There seemed to be real money and power behind the scenes. It seemed all roads led to Yig. After the nail salon Jai dropped me off at home. I spent the rest of the day lounging around and researching the Platonic solids. Actually Kepler had called the his version of the Platonic solids together the "Mysterium Cosmographicum" it had something to do with the orbits of the planets and not travel. It was the occult machine that was called the Mystograph. The only time I went out was to leave some peanuts around trees where I heard crows. I knew better than ignore Yog Sothoth's directions. The rest of the week passed uneventfully. It seemed the reading group was acting as a nisus moving events forward. The reading group had gotten to Husserl's idea of a life-world. The life-world is the world as given to us before abstract thought; it is our most basic feeling of the world. This is one of the conceptions of phenomenology I thought would help me with writhing my book: "The Visual Bias in Thinking". For there is a difference in the life world of in someone born blind like me, and the sighted life-world. That mixture of of experience and presuppositions that the sighted have of the world is both an advantage and disadvantage to me. In being born blind I have more freedom to explore my experience of the world, blind authors have not built up any prejudices and suppositions that I have to disregard. That is one of the reasons my blind vision (my coinage) allows me to see what sighted people miss or are taught to ignore. The disadvantage it the built up prejudices of the sighted world has inherited about blind people. This is why so many sighted people are amazed blind people can think. I know this sounds harsh, but I cannot think of a better way to say it. A good example of what I am talking about is the concepts of space and extension. For sighted people space seems to be static, like an empty receptacle. For me space is dynamic. The idea of space comes to me from echos, vibrations,and movement. It is not something I stand back passively and look at. Space for me is always expanding and contracting around me, when I enter rooms, etc. like a current that goes through my body, instead of a passive gaze. Of course my sense of space agrees better with physics, which regards space as a relation between objects and not as a thing, or a receptacle. As I have often said and thought blindness always leads you to the concrete. The other part of the equation is extension, in other words the bodies in space. As revered figure in philosophy as David Hume said he could not imagine extension without color. Talk about a prejudice. It is too bad Hume did not have a blind woman like Lucy Molyneaux around like Locke. Of course this prejudice is easily exploded even to sighted people. The trick is to just change the sense. If you have trouble iimagining a colorless dot, change the sense you are imagining the dot in; from sight to touch. Like a braille dot. I guess for sighted people it is hard not to think in a scenario of visual scenes.While I have had a lot of practice living in the sighted world trying to imagine thinking in a different sense. Thinking for me is a combination of sensory data: sounds, feelings, tactile sensations; working out in my head. It is like a current of sensory impressions, instead of a passive looking at scenes. I know this needs a lot of work, I am trying. I do think this is one of the foundations of the visual bias in thinking. It is too bad so many sighted people lack imagination. I feel like thinking is a more dynamic process for me. It just shows philosophy needs more blind women, you know like me, and Lucy Molyneaux. Anyhow, I got mostly silence from the reading group after proposing my theories, beats me if it is a good or bad sign, I will take it as a good one, since grad. students are usually quite happy to correct professors. After the reading group wrapped up Randal came by. Paul had brought the stuff his uncle had left him. It was a box of books, and some figures of snakes in various poses. The figures were made of different materials, like wood, and stone. I was not impressed, but Randal seemed pleased, since he offered what I thought was an overly generous price for the stuff. I found out later that the books were nothing special, but the figures of Yig were authentic pieces from Yig cult, therefore were going into the esoteric collection, while the books were destined for the exoteric collection. Nora asked Randal some questions. Yes she was always curious about me and my affairs. He answered politely, telling her nothing. Well, he did tell her he was a retired accountant, which was true, and that after he retired he started "Hugo's" which was a lie. But, you know no one would believe who the real owner was, well unless they met him. Anyhow, it was further confirmation of my suspicious about her, wanting to all she could about me. Paul was pleased and took the offer. Randal had cash, and played along like he was the buyer of the octahedron, but they seemed to guess the truth, or someone told them. I also noticed the sexual tension between Paul and Nora. Paul was clearly interested, and Nora flirted outrageously. I really had yet to have an opinion on Paul, like I said he did not seem to stand out. Anyhow, Paul and Nora drove me home, and this is when I first heard about a philosophy seminar on economic ethics being held at a rural mid-western university, and that I was invited. It seems both Nora and Paul regarded one of the Professors a Adrian Manafort at the university as a mentor, it was also where they first met.Nora did not even disguise that she had gotten me the invitation. Of course, Paul was going. I did not want to go, not because I suspected anything, but because I find most seminars boring. After I declined Paul told me that the Professor had been a friend of his uncle, and had a cube which seemed to match the octahedron. And he was willing to sell it for the same price, but I had to go to pick it up. So I agreed to go. What a mistake this would turn out to be. Jai stopped by later that night, she was still working on the brothel case. It seemed the bones of the victims all belonged to runaways. She had also come up with some ideas on who the real owner was, but no hard evidence. Her suspect was a shadowy entrepreneur, by the name of Jared Collins. He was known to be involved with new technologies, like exotic alloys. Jai did not even have enough evidence to get an appointment with him much less bring him in for questioning. She asked if I could help. So I took a shot in the dark, yes my sense of humor again. Anyhow my shot in the dark was calling Randal. I explained everything to him,and asked if he knew anything that could help. It turned out Collins was on the esoteric catalog mailing list. To become a privy to the esoteric collection you either had to have a recommendation or lots of money, Collins had both. Randal agreed to help. I knew I needed more information, and was not going back to Hugo. The answer was starring me in the face, as sighted people say. I would ask Yog Sothoth. I had never had the courage before to request an audience. So I prepared my bubble bath, you know it is good to be comfortable when invoking demon gods. After getting in the tub I activated the Monas stone and petitioned Yog Sothoth. I was answered in the affirmative. Again I found myself floating in the dark dimension as one of the pulsating, rotating spheres that compose the great wheel that is Yog Sothoth. I asked: "Tell me about the Mystograph, and Yig?' Again the voice in my head seemed to be the voice when I am reading, but Yog Sothoth was providing the emotions, and feeling, and I the words: "Mystograph is a corruption of the original Atlantean name. This is where the Mystograph that you have some of the parts of was originally assembled. The parts were all forged on other planets. Kepler came across some references to it in the library of Emperor Rudolf II, but misunderstood its purpose. The Mystograph allows the operator to transport herself anywhere in the galaxy." My interest was peaked, so I excitedly asked: "How does it work?" I thought I might have pushed to far with this question, but Yog Sothoth seemed pleased. Yog Sothoth was a way better teacher than me. He answered: "The answer to your question involves the mysteries of space, and time in your dimension. The easiest analogy for your mind is from quantum physics Where an atom seems to be an indeterminate cloud or smear, before collapsing into a particle when it reaches a plate. What the Mystograph does is to make the wave packet that is your body into an indeterminate cloud or smear that is identical with the galaxy. Then the operator can collapse her body anywhere in the galaxy. This is the secret of time, there are three dimensions of time, which roughly correspond with your past, present and future, but humans have the dimensions in reverse order. The future which is better called the indeterminate comes first This is why the human mind is always lives in the future, trying to decide what present to collapse into. Whenever you cross a street your try to judge if is is safe to cross, looking into the future. When you actually do cross you are collapsing a potential future into the determinate: the present. Which become totally determined when you have crossed: the past." I was in awe, Yog Sothoth was a way better teacher than me. He continued: "The cosmic solids (for some reason Yog Sothoth did not like the name Platonic solids, you know he might have known Plato) are the map the map of the vibrations of the galaxy that leads the operator to the desired location." I was floored even though I was floating. "Yig has allied with my enemy Tsathoggoua. Yig"s cult is trying to build a new Mystograph, or reassemble the original Atlantean device in order to transport Yig's children the Serpenoids to other planets. For I have denied Yig and his followers use of the cosmic gates which I control. This is why Dagon and his deep ones sunk the continent of Atlantis. The Atlanteans were going to bring the serpenoids to Earth. The Serpenoids are the enemies of the Mi-Go that honor and revere me.The Mi-Go have become my servants through the honor and devotion they render me. Their empire and existence depends on access to the cosmic portals that I control." I was back in the tub End of Part 2