BANANACUE REPUBLIC
Vol I, No. 6
Oct 13, 2004
by H. A. de Veyra
PARAPHYSICS:
The Spaces We Create
There is this sci fi /suspense movie called 'Event Horizon', where a science research space ship (from Earth) is built to travel to the "other end" of the universe... or to its boundaries, if you can imagine a universe with a boundary, and a beyond. It disappears for years, and later appears floating "dead" in outer space where a research team is sent to investigate what the ship brought back (a surviving crew? information? knowledge?). There they find, that the ship went through an 'event horizon' into 'hell' and back again bringing with it 'a gateway', an opening back to hell. Unknown to them, the ship wants to bring victims back to hell with it by playing with the researchers' minds and fears.
In quantum physics, an event horizon is 'a point of no return', the path leading to a black hole where not even light can escape from the pull. And once you are drawn in... there is no escape... it is a journey towards eternity, into infinity.
In this movie, the 'event horizon' is a metaphor for what could be beyond the boundaries we have around us, whether these boundaries are self-imposed, or experienced and learned, and it tries to tell us what could happen when we bring back with us that which is from the outside. The spaces we create for ourselves is the inside part of us where we feel safe and secure because it's run by a set of rules. It's organized, it's controllable, and it's good, as God said of his creation. The space which is beyond our control, outside the boundaries, is the opposite of everything inside. Outside is total chaos, uncontrollable, peopled by monsters and all our enemies. We call the outside the 'unknown', which is what we all fear, and the ones in it the 'others'.
Fear is the antithesis of freedom. When you feel fear, you are bounded by what you imagine is 'out there', beyond the safe fence you've built around you. Inside is safe, outside is not. Outside is what you have to fear. Outside is where the 'others' are. If you venture outside the boundaries there is the danger of becoming one of them (for when you leave, you never come back the same), or you simply die outside (and never come back).
Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you not to go 'out there' because you might get run over by a car, someone might kidnap you, a monster will eat you?... those are learned fears meant to control your behavior. When you venture outside their set 'boundaries', you learn (not necessarily from experience) that something bad will happen to you. As you grow older, you do learn that it's true, that when you go see what's out there, you get hurt, or you're never the same. When you're not the same, you no longer belong to what was once familiar. You are changed, you become one of 'them'.
Imagine yourself as part of a community. The community lives inside a fence that it has built to protect itself from the 'others' outside. It's a high fence, it's difficult for the 'others' to come in, and as much difficult for anyone in the community to go out. The elders warn the children with stories about the 'monsters' waiting outside the fence. If they go out, they'll be eaten by the monsters. Imagine the fence as the fear that prevents you from going outside this set boundary. This fear traps you inside, and prevents you from seeing what's outside. Fear therefore is the prison you've sentenced yourself into.
The sad part about the movie Event Horizon
is that it reflects back to us who we are and what we have become.
It's not a pretty picture, especially as it's a suspense film that plays
with our fear of the unknown. What's sad about it is that it makes
us see that it's not only movies that play with our emotions and fears but
everyone and everything around us, especially those who have the power to
do so.
In the present time, our most talked about fears are not anymore monsters,
aliens, technology, nor computer viruses; but terrorism, the economy/stock
market crashing, and our image. Terrorism, so we have terrorist
alert levels (from green to red, which was modeled after the traffic
light, red being the highest alert level). The stock market, so we
have crashes and highs, unfortunately controllable too if you have enough
stocks to dump or sell and put the market into utter chaos. And the
closest to our reality, our image.
Image: how we see ourselves and how we portray
ourselves to others, have become who we are, our identity, and our
definition of our Self. Any sane person knows that these are just
masks we put on; however, the danger sets in when you start believing it. The market out there controls this part of our weakness, plays
with it by manufacturing this fear (although not obviously): use SPF
15 lotion to protect yourself from skin cancer, use this kind of shampoo
to keep your hair shiny and there, wear these clothes to look chic and in,
drive this car to belong to this elite demographic, keep a loaded gun in
the house to protect yourself from robbers, buy more guns just in case
there's more than one, use weapons of mass destruction in case they're a
country.
Manufactured fear is what we have now.
Fear being unreal by itself, has become more of an illusion. It is
now manufactured and packaged and sold. It is the kind of fear
that's not instinctive but plays with our 'fight or flight' reaction.
It is fear that is imposed on you, that plays with your emotions and your
instinctive need to survive. It is fear you've allowed yourself to be
conditioned when you are exposed to media trash like a Pavlovian dog. Fear for your job and home and family (security), fear
for your health, fear for your country's safety, fear for your old age,
fear for your image of self, etc... These are the things you try to
protect everyday of your life and are willing to kill for. When
they're threatened, your emotions take over and reason seems to go away on
vacation.
In the movie, the leader finally gives in to his fears, and starts being controlled by his desires. And his main desire is to know everything and to control everything. He takes on this monstrous appearance because his body is not equipped to contain or absorb the force controlling him. This is certainly a projection of man's fear... that if you journey beyond what is normed by society, then 'evil' will possess you.
So quantum theorists question, what is beyond the black hole? Since it tips like a cone at the end, where objects and even light are collapsed and disappears, what is beyond that point? Some of the scientists/sci fi writers have theorized that after the tip of the cone, starts the beginning of the white hole. It's like an hour glass where sand drips into another inverted cone, where the white hole is the beginning of another dimension. There are so many theories about black holes and white holes that it's sometimes confusing... until you remember they're just theories.
But this is what I believe. I believe that we are in the white hole, that there is no way we can ever fall. There is nothing to fear. There are no 'event horizons', no boundaries to cross. I believe that the mental fences we still build are what keep us from seeing this reality. And that these fences are what divides humanity.
"Manufactured fear
is what we have now. Fear being unreal by itself, has become more of
an illusion. It is now manufactured, packaged and sold."
Cause and creator of fear