TABLE OF CONTENTS

October, 1977

 

 

SPACE TRANSITION   ....................................................................................................             2

PSYCHOANALYZING PSYCHOANALYSIS:   .............................................................             3

OLD AGE: THREAT OR PROMISE?   ..........................................................................             4

U. F. O. DEPARTMENT   .................................................................................................             6

Poet’s corner   ..........................................................................................................             7

HOW CHURCH MUSIC CAME INTO BEING   ............................................................             8

SPEAK SOFTLY   .............................................................................................................             9

Book reviews   ............................................................................................................             11

Bulletin board   ........................................................................................................             12

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT   .......................................................................................             13

 

——— ♦ ———

 

THE STAFF

 

EDITOR ........................................................................................... Dr. DANIEL W. FRY

Associate editor ....................................................................  florence D. Fry

 

 

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UNDERSTANDING

VOLUME XXII                             OCTOBER, 1977                                       NUMBER 8

Dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth, and of those who are not of earth.

 

SPACE TRANSITION

Most biologists are convinced that all life began originally in the waters of the earth, and remained there for thousands of years before any life forms developed that were capable of emerging into the atmosphere of the planet and surviving there. Such an extensive change in environment cannot be accomplished in a single generation, or even in several, as any fish could testify. To the fish, air is an alien and unsupporting element, and to live in it at all, would require extensive changes in basic metabolism. Nevertheless, some forms of marine life did develop the capability of moving into the larger and more rarified environment of air, where they continued to evolve into innumerable varieties of air breathing creatures, although they did, of course still require a certain amount of water for their personal needs.

Now, after thousands of years of development in the environment of air, one specialized form of life, known as Man, is preparing to leave the still limited environment of air, and to move out into the untrammeled and unlimited environment of space. Any animal or bird could, or course, show how impossible such a move would be since, to the

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air breathing creature, space is an alien and non-supporting environment in which no life can exist. In the case of Man, however, technology will solve the problem by taking along sufficient air and water for man's needs wherever he may go.

The realization that man's destiny, in the ultimate sense, cannot be achieved upon the planet Earth, or upon any planet, but rather within the boundless depths of space itself, has been a long time in reaching the conscious-ness of man, and is still fully realized by only a small portion of the public, although their number is increasing each day.

Although mankind has been talking about space travel for several centuries, it has only been about thirty years since the scientific community began to accept it as a possibility, and the idea of living in space has only gained the mantle of respectability' during the past few years. Now, however, hardly a week goes by without at least one television program discussing the possibility and the practicability of building space cities in parking orbits about the earth and, possibly later being injected into independent orbits about the sun. Scientific magazines, both in the United States and in many other countries, have carried articles, written by some of the world's leading scientists explaining the complete possibility of such projects, and the many benefits to be derived there from. More and more motion pictures are being filmed and released whose central theme is the building and habitation of space cities. As science fiction, of course, the subject has been around for a long time, but now the fiction is rapidly approaching the threshold of reality, and mankind is faced with the need to prepare itself for the changes involved in its forthcoming graduation into the environment of space. While man's technology will assure that no great physical changes will be required as a precondition to living in space, there will be considerable change required in the social, psychological and philosophical habits and attitudes of man if space living is to be successful.

(A series of articles on the subject of successful space living will appear in future issues of this magazine.)

OCTOBER, 1977                        3

PSYCHOANALYZING PSYCHOANALYSIS:

A QUICKIE COURSE

by Dr. Ron Anjard

You're reading this because you want a deeper understanding of the thinking processes of life. I have found a piece of wisdom which finally explains psychoanalysis. I suggest you red this rapidly because it's very simple and easy to grasp. "Psychoanalysis, which is easier to under-stand than to spell, tells us what we really think when we think a thing. Without psychoanalysis, we would never know that when we think a thing, the thing we think is not the thing we think we think, but only the thing that makes us think the thing we think we think. It is all a question of un-consciousness. The consciousness enables us to think we are thinking about the thing we want to think about while all the time the thing we really want to think about is being thought about unconsciously by the unconscious. The unconscious is a survival from our barbaric ancestry and has no manners. As the sort of thing the unconscious thinks about is not the sort of thing we care to think we think about, the unconscious takes care not to let us think it is thinking about what it is thinking about. If we are in any danger of thinking we are thinking about what we are really thinking about, the thing we are thinking about is sublimated into something we don't mind thinking we are thinking about. Actually, the unconscious is divided into two parts. The part that thinks the thing and the part that prevents our thinking we are thinking the thing. This preventing of our thinking is called repression. Repression is due to the super-ego which is very

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gentle. There is friction between the super-ego and the coarse part of the unconscious or the id. The id thinks the thing which the super-ego thinks it ought not to think. And the super-ego represses the thing which the id thinks so that we never think we think it. But unless the id thinks we are thinking it, the id becomes dissatisfied and causes trouble. As what-ever the id thinks we can only think we are thinking the sort of thing the super-ego thinks we ought to think, we have to make the id think we are thinking the thing the id thinks by thinking we are thinking something that is something like the thing the id is thinking. If we can food the id, we are all right. If not, there is no thinking what we may be thinking. It comes to this, the things we think we think are the things that the super-ego thinks are the things to think and that the id thinks are the things it thinks." I think that's perfectly clear.

I am indebted to a very special friend and teacher, Dr. C. King, for sharing this with me. So now we, you and I, know what our thinking processes are all about.

 

OLD AGE: THREAT OR PROMISE?

by Aleta Lister

Old age may be treated as either a threat or a promise and most likely will be fulfilled mainly as one or the other, depending to a great extent on how we "program" ourselves for it. Which it will prove to be - the lady or the tiger to walk out the opened door - is up to us.

OCTOBER, 1977                        5

To "program" is of course a verb associated with computer language. But man, having invented the computer, can see reflected in its operation and in the way it "remembers" a certain parallel with his own brain cells at work.

If we can learn to program ourselves for "future" response half as magnificently as we now program the computer, perhaps we can remove the threat from and even put a bloom on the promise of old age.

"Programming" ourselves would first call for a gathering in and a facing of all the facts avail-able. We would have to collect and name, so that we could sort out, our facts and fantasies and feelings involved. It bears remembering that the computer is only as smart as we are: its response is based upon what we feed into it. We must level with and not deceive ourselves in our self-programming, for what our mind registers comes back to us manifold. If we prefer hearing it in Biblical phrasing, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

So much for the attitude with which we approach our self-programming. Are there now lists and rules to help us out?

First, we should find out specifically what it is that promises and what it is that threatens. If we learn to say yes to what promises, we can rein force that. If we say no to what threatens, we discourage that.

One menace, then, might be the bleakness of isolation. The answer is, say yes to whatever takes us out of ourselves. Yes to opening the blinds. Yes to an attitude of participation. Yes to willingness to respond to others in a group in ways that take account of the needs of others. Yes to sharing our

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being with another, opening up his trust. Yes to associating.

But what if there will be no one with whom we can associate easily? We must communicate enough to let others know of our needs, and hope that someone will help us fill them. Let us program ourselves for some solitude - we indeed travel alone, for mankind is a lone thing - as well as for some association and communication.

Another menace is the great waste of time stemming from the loss of vitality apt to occur when we become older. Here, we can say yes to extending the productive part of life, and thereby retaining more of a hold on vitality. Yes to whatever helps us feel productive and useful. Yes even to wild ideas that would keep us busy.

How about volunteering to teach new citizens English or citizenship or a needed marketable skill? Or recycling scrap by painting metal containers in a decorative way as planters? Or converting old sewing machines into outdoor barbecue grills? Or adopting certain animals at the zoo with the agreement to feed them properly and escort children to visit them?

The above are but a few means which could be employed to help reassure us of an extension of the productive part of life and therefore a better chance of the retention of vitality. This could deflect a very real fear of retirement suffered by some of us and the very real consequences of that fear in our lives.

And especially as we grow older, let us program ourselves to say no to taking our frustrations out on others. No to remarks that would make the world darker, inwardly and outwardly. Let us rather say

OCTOBER, 1977                        7

yes to the slogan, "It isn't necessary to blow out the other person's light to let your own shine."

Now, we can't always be confident, serene and happy at any age. To solve our problems of living requires an enormous investment of time, money and will, with even then no warranty of success. But we can develop by choosing, as perhaps the idea of the computer will serve to remind us.

Lastly, even if we are condemned to inactivity, we can program ourselves not to give in. We will feel buried alive only if we say yes to that inactivity. If our hands and feet are tied, aren't there still our eyes, our heart, our guts, and our mind to be programmed? These are marvels enough, if we can say each day, "We live with marvels and we do know it."

U. F. O. DEPARTMENT

ASU prof has his ear to the stars

CONTACT WITH SPACE BEINGS PREDICTED

 

Tempe - "If you liked `Star Wars', you'll love Dr. Lawrence F. Jelsma's theory.

"He predicts that earth-based scientists will tune into intelligent communications from outer space within the next few years.

"Space colonization is not far behind that, he said.

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" `We are moving into the most exciting, dynamic period in the history of man,' said Jelsma, an Arizona State University professor of electrical engineering.

" `We are going to see the most amazing discoveries you ever heard of,' he added.

"Jelsma not only talks about contact with space residents, he's working at it. For the past two years he's been involved in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

"He has provided design recommendations for a life-detecting antenna system due to be built in the 1980's - and he'd like to see it in Arizona.

" `We already know that there are multibillions of stars out there,' he said. `Newly developed optical telescopes are being built to identify the stars most likely to have planets.

" `Since we can expect at least one life-favorable planet in most systems similar to ours, there must be billions of potential life sites in our galaxy.'

Jelsma said that all of the laws of physics and chemistry that apply to earth seem to apply through-out the universe.

" 'We have found evidence in space of every chemical necessary for life, and I believe it is one of the common properties of matter to organize itself to create life forms. I think life is quite common throughout the galaxy,' he said.

"Once signals are received from outer space decoding them would present minimal problems Jelsma said.

OCTOBER, 1977                        9

" `We would use our current technological, scientific and mathematical knowledge," he said. `Some scientists expect that other life forms may be as many as a million years older than we.'

"Once contact with other forms of intelligent life is established and space colonization follows, Jelsma said: `It will be the start of a new era.' "

Editor's Note

We are in complete agreement with the above article. We have to be. It sounds exactly like a lecture which Dr. Fry has been delivering from' countless podiums over the past twenty years.

 

 

BLINDED IN SKY BY UFO

Bobota - "A Colombian pilot who claimed he was blinded in the sky by an unidentified flying object circled Bogota for two hours yesterday in his single-engined plane before being helped to land and taken to a hospital suffering from shock.

"A local radio station, reporting on the incident, played tapes made by ham radio operators of the terrified pilot's calls for help. `I've lost my sight and don't know what to do,' the pilot, Manuel Lopez, kept repeating.

"Four planes were sent to help guide Lopez to a safe landing at Bogota airport.

"Lopez was taken to a military hospital here where specialists are studying his case."

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Poet’s corner

PRAYER ON ASHES

by James C. Brady

I stood entranced before the fire,

And watched the skirring flight

Of the charred but soaring ashes

As they climbed beyond my sight;

And thought, How like the lives of men

Who, burning with inner fire,

Are lifted by that zeal to deeds

That others but admire.

 

Oh, let the fires of faith so burn

Within this frame of sod,

That I may rise above the world

And so come close to God;

Or let the poet's fire burn high,

And let my purpose be

To point out truths and beauties

That some might fail to see.

 

But let the soul-fires sweep me up,

For I know, unless I fly,

That the fire will cease burning

And like wasted ash I'll he,

For the winds to beat to powder

And the first good rain to churn

'Til it blends me with the mud.

Oh, let me burn!

 

OCTOBER, 1977                        11

HOW CHURCH MUSIC CAME INTO BEING

by Juliana Lewis

Because to the Greeks music had been a popular form of entertainment, the earliest Christian church authorities considered it taboo until they realized that singing was so natural to man that it could not be suppressed. The alternative they therefore adopted was to lead it into different channels in order to make it a part of the regular religious services.

Jewish converts composed the majority of the early Christian communities and a number of their customs and ceremonies were carried over into the newer form of worship, including the reciting of the Psalms of David in singsong fashion. In their synagogues the priest had read or sung a few lines of the Psalms, and the congregation had responded in the same way. The Christians at first followed this example but soon afterwards were compelled to divide the congregation into two groups who responded to each other antiphonally (like we used to sing "Three Blind Mice") as that proved the easiest method of teaching new converts the parts of the service with which they were unfamiliar.

There were hosts of enemies to be reckoned with, however, and in an effort to survive their onslaught, the early Church gradually lost this original democratic character in favor of stricter discipline. The clergy became farther removed from the congregation and took over that part of the antiphonal singing which one-half of the audience had done, and the total audience responded to the chanting of the one officiating priest.

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In order to emphasize the elevated position of clergy still further, their appearance before the altar was greeted with special hymns. But as it proved a risky business to let such solemn moments depend entirely upon the well-intended but often inexperienced efforts of an audience of amateur singers, the custom changed to that of selecting the best from among the worshippers and uniting them into a regular choir, which grouped itself around the altar and led the singing. From there on it was only a step to exclude the congregation completely and have the responses sung exclusively by the priest and official choir.

What and how they sang is not definitely known, but it is believed that this part of the service was arranged by each group fairly much as it pleased. Not until late in the fourth century did Saint Am-brose, the famous bishop of Milan, initiate some order into church music, but two centuries later, under the influence of a large number of local choir-masters, there was again so much disunity that under Pope Gregory the Great a definite form of music was prescribed for use in all churches. Modern critics have cast some doubt upon the claim that Gregory was actually the founder of this new form of music, but the name "Gregorian chant" generally has been accepted.

In spite of these efforts on the part of Ambrose and Gregory, however, chaos again threatened to engulf medieval music until a music teacher by the name of Guido hit upon the idea of placing notes upon four parallel lines to which we have since added a fifth, and which he called a ladder or scale. Those notes higher on the scale were to be sung in a higher tone of voice than those lower on the scale. As soon as one knew the height at which the first note was to be sung, the rest followed automatically and the same tune would be sung at the same pitch at every church.

OCTOBER, 1977                        13

The next development was polyphony - the opposite of monophony. Whereas monophony had been a melody for a single voice, polyphony was a piece of music arranged for a number of voices. Instruments were not yet in use, having been very popular in ancient Rome, but when the Church authorities recognized the value of the organ as a mass instrument, it was accepted as accompaniment for the singers.

From this disorderly beginning, over the centuries church music has advanced to become one of the most beautiful and inspirational parts of our services, and one which today offers opportunities for participation by both choirs and congregations.

 

SPEAK SOFTLY

IN THE MORTUARY OF THEIR MINDS

By Rob Dallach

Is the rot which seems to riddle older minds a by-product of biological deterioration, as senior citizens would prefer us to believe, or the natural taking of a snooze of a tired mind which, at last, under the respectability accorded old age, is permitted to be lazy? Could it then be hypocrisy? We are taught hypocrisy from earliest childhood, though our right to exercise it does not generally come until we are adults, when we are free to be hypocritical if for no better reason than chronologically we have earned the privilege. It is the only way a grown-up takes anything.

Earn, earn, earn. We grow up. Ergo we have earned this, we have earned that. So much has been invested in our continuance. We have invested so much. We got up every morning. We went to work

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and worked hard. We never caused trouble in society by making anyone think on our account. And now, our reward, give us our reward. Give us our social security. Give us our status symbols. I'm an old man, so you'll just have to let me have my Cadillac.

Please? If you take it away, how will they be able to measure the success of my life? Please? I am an old man. I have earned the right to sit in Congress and make wars for you young people to fight, as you will earn the right to legislate wars for your grandchildren to fight, as my grandfather legislated wars for me to fight. It is right, for it has always been so. How can tradition be wrong? As my Ohio father used to say, "Poppycock!"

Oh well, the torch of idealism. It is not meant, in any given person, to be an eternal flame. When you get to be my age, you're to shrug your shoulders, heave a sigh as you reconcile yourself to the realistic, adult attitude that what you say won't make any dent in the scheme of life, and why make yourself un-happy by being idealistic when so much joy lies ahead if you play the living game as if it were not a game, that is, by the rules.

How do we become so mature so quickly? Many former friends of mine, younger even than I, were frantically married right out of college because they were afraid they might have to live with themselves (let's forget, for convenience, that they might have been in love), and now are highly placed middle young executives with dog food companies, oil companies, or working their way up the engraved letterhead of a law firm, they are owners of bootiful hoes in the suburbs, have station wagons and lovely dogs and lovely kids.

Though I avoid social intercourse with them now, I was not always blessed to be able to do so, for I too have lived under the compulsion of having to be thought of as a "real nice guy." How many?

OCTOBER, 1977                        15

We sense, over and over, that there is no purpose for life. It only makes sense. But the church will not buy it, and if that does not scare sane thoughts from the heads of adults, then the vacuity of purposelessness surely will, for what could possibly insure a more uncertain, adventurous future? Tempestuous, they would put it, and the strangest, maybe, if the rights they come more and more to feel they have earned is the right to sail a calm sea. The common minds then can only translate calm into the commodity which their comprehensive ability allows, and there is only one such commodity: cash. So the sails of idealism must be lowered in order that the winds will not capsize a vessel less fragile than they will ever suspect it to be.

 

Book reviews

 

From the Glencoe Press, 17337 Ventura Blvd., Encino, Ca., comes a very well-organized book, "A Contemporary Introduction to Logic with Applications ". The author is K. Codell Carter. This is not a book to take to bed with the hope of falling asleep reading its soothing contents. It is a book of profound content and well worth the time and effort to study it. But it must be studied, not just "read".

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Subject matter is divided into six sections dealing first with the history and nature of logic and proceeding from that to the varieties of logic.

Syllogistic logic is followed by a section on truth-functional logic and proceeding from that point to quantificational, inductive logic and then high-lighting fallacies in argument. A final section of the book is devoted to trial run exercises, both mathematical and geometrical.

The book is a fine text for the serious student of philosophy. The print is easy to read and the conclusions drawn from the exercises given will be valuable to one who is a student of logic. We thank the author and publisher for giving the serious students of this age a book to richly enhance their knowledge.

 

 ♦  ♦  ♦ 

A second book to come to the Book Review Desk is also one of philosophical content but presented in a very different way. The book is The Awakening by Robert James Bearns. Information about the book can be obtained by writing Awakening Productions 1632 Vallejo #5, San Francisco, Ca. 94123.

The book is written in poetic format with pen and pencil drawings to illustrate its concepts. Some thought and concentration must go into the comprehension of this book also, but it will be well worth-while to do just that. There is a profoundness to the verses that will enrich the seeking soul.

OCTOBER, 1977                        17

Bulletin board

 

(A Call For Help!!!)                     SOS - SOS – SOS

 

WANTED!!! Someone in Understanding, Inc. to UNDERSTAND!

To Understand what? That the president and founder of this organization has spent nearly five years, thousands of dollars and countless hours of labor trying to establish a home for Understanding, Inc. And in that time one delegation of Understanding's Unit #15 have visited here one weekend and worked. One member has donated a substantial sum for development of the property. Where is the interest from the rest of Understanding's members? Don't you care about having this desert haven as a home away from home for vacations? For retreats? For gatherings of all kinds? If you don't, there's bruising sacrifices for the sake of keeping it for you, the members. There's no reason to put out a magazine every month for you if you don't care enough even to write and let the editor and the staff know that you appreciate what is going on down here.

Perhaps all this means that Understanding has come to the end of the road and it's time to turn in the Corporation charter and go get lost!

Unless there are some members of this organization who care enough to come here and help with the work, develop the potential that is here, this place will soon go back to the cactus and jack rabbits!

You are shocked at such an angry message? Well, that's a hopeful sign. Maybe there is some life left in the member-ship after all. If this is true, let's hear from you right soon.

In any event we will know that you still read the magazine!

 

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CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT

6c per word per insertion;

3 or more insertions same copy, 5c per word.

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 ♦  ♦  ♦ 

AVAILABLE SOON - Cassette Tapes of the 'Man in Space' convention lectures. AL WRIGHT, (Project Director for the 'Space Shuttle') - "The Age of Aero-Space Transportation."

 

PAT CODY, (Director of Aero-Space Education, Pacific Region, U.S.A.F.) - "Our Aero-Space Heritage."

 

DR. RAY BROWN, (H.M.D., Ph. D.) - "Your Health In Space."

 

DR. DANIEL W. FRY - (President of Understanding, Inc.) - "Preparing to Live in Space."

 

DR. MERVIN STRICKLER, (Chief of Aviation Education Pro-grams Div., F.A.A.) - "Russian Aero-Space Education Training."

 

All Tapes - $5.25 ea. (Postpaid). Send orders to 'Tapes', c/o Understanding, Inc., Star Route Box 588F, Tonopah, Arizona 85354.

 ♦  ♦  ♦ 

PORTABLE PYRAMIDS

Now you can have a pyramid that you can take anywhere! Lightweight for carrying, easy to set up. Larger than 6 feet square, this powerful energiser can be used for meditation or experiments where you desire. $35.00 (Postpaid). Send to Pyramids, c/o Understanding, Inc., Star Route  588F, Tonopah, Arizona 85354.

 

 

 

WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS TELLING YOU?

Solar Series I

by

A La Lansun*

 

Communication guidelines to your Great Self. Learn how to increase and strengthen this great partnership.

Written with exceptional clarity and insight, WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS TELLING YOU? will help you to understand the universal language of symbols that the Self uses.

Your Great Self speaks to you through dreams. Are you listening?

 

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY

Ltd. 1st ed., softbound. . . .only $3.50 ppd.

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AZ 85068

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                   (Please Print)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A La Lansun is a vibratory pseudonym for the author whose regular assignments include free-lance writing and editing technical publications. Lansun deliberately chose to research both the psychological and metaphysical aspects of this fascinating and intensely personal subject since, in her words, "these two paths have much more in common than either will admit."

*Pronounced Lahnsoon

 

 

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