A Man of Two Tales
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:02 pm
There are two stories here for your consideration.
The first is about the sound the hare heard.
In short, it is a story within a story. The Budha tells a tale of a hare who, upon hearing a fruit hit the ground beside him, assumes that the earth is coming to an end. Panicked, he flees without investigation.
Others see the panic, and upon hearing the reason of it, join in.
Panicked crowds are a danger, most of all to themselves.
The lion realized this and gets to the bottom of the situation. He investigates the situation and discovers the truth. Thus the situation is dissolved by deductive reasoning and critical thinking.
Contrast this to the fable of the boy who cried wolf.
The bored boy amuses himself by calling out, "Wolf! Wolf!" Then he laughs at the people who rush to help him. After repeating this routine several times, a wolf actually does come around to attack the boys sheep. This time when he calls out, no one comes to help.
The obvious moral of the story is that liars are not beleived, even when they tell the truth.
The less obvious moral is that, unlike the noise the hare heard, there was a real threat.
I believe that Victor Lazlo could relate to both of these tales. First, he attempted an honest study of the paranormal. For all his lamblasting of orthodox science, he was himself a scientist who sought to explore and understand the world around him.
When the supernatural becomes known and understood, it transitions to belonging to the natural world.
But the supernatural is an elusive subject of study. It comes to the light of knowledge, kicking and screaming and tearing at the ground. For every experiment that shows positive results, there are many more that are confounded.
Add charlatans into the mix and you have a ready atmosphere for a public who are tired of people calling, "Wolf!" or crying, "the ground is collapsing beneath us!" And unless they've seen it for themselves, who can truly blame them?
Do you hear that?
It's the wolf, laughing in the night.
The first is about the sound the hare heard.
In short, it is a story within a story. The Budha tells a tale of a hare who, upon hearing a fruit hit the ground beside him, assumes that the earth is coming to an end. Panicked, he flees without investigation.
Others see the panic, and upon hearing the reason of it, join in.
Panicked crowds are a danger, most of all to themselves.
The lion realized this and gets to the bottom of the situation. He investigates the situation and discovers the truth. Thus the situation is dissolved by deductive reasoning and critical thinking.
Contrast this to the fable of the boy who cried wolf.
The bored boy amuses himself by calling out, "Wolf! Wolf!" Then he laughs at the people who rush to help him. After repeating this routine several times, a wolf actually does come around to attack the boys sheep. This time when he calls out, no one comes to help.
The obvious moral of the story is that liars are not beleived, even when they tell the truth.
The less obvious moral is that, unlike the noise the hare heard, there was a real threat.
I believe that Victor Lazlo could relate to both of these tales. First, he attempted an honest study of the paranormal. For all his lamblasting of orthodox science, he was himself a scientist who sought to explore and understand the world around him.
When the supernatural becomes known and understood, it transitions to belonging to the natural world.
But the supernatural is an elusive subject of study. It comes to the light of knowledge, kicking and screaming and tearing at the ground. For every experiment that shows positive results, there are many more that are confounded.
Add charlatans into the mix and you have a ready atmosphere for a public who are tired of people calling, "Wolf!" or crying, "the ground is collapsing beneath us!" And unless they've seen it for themselves, who can truly blame them?
Do you hear that?
It's the wolf, laughing in the night.
