In telling a story, some concepts may be unfamiliar to readers,
while an in-story explanation may be inappropriate. And invariably
some readers will be troubled because of its absence. Here, story
considerations dictated that I avoid discussing the
psychome or even mentioning it, though it helps greatly in
understanding Yunnan ogres. This short section clarifies
psychome.
In writing it, I have drawn heavily on the discussion by Alexei
Park in his “Psyche and Humanity.” (In Toward a
Science of Humanity, edited by Mei-Ti Lomasetewa. Star Press,
Deep Harbor, New Home. A.C. 906). The ogre “psyche” is not a true psyche. It is a
pseudo-psyche. On many planets there is what might be called a
common psychome,* or mind/spirit pool, for all of that
planet’s life. This is the equivalent, in the Sigma
Field, of the sum of planetary genomes in the field of physical-biological
phenomena. A useful but very limited analogy for the psychome and
the planetary genetic sum is the head and tail of a coin. A
somewhat closer analogy is the individual psyche of a person, and
the person’s physical body.
For most purposes, the planetary psychome is subdivided into
lesser psychomes that are more or less separate and distinct. These
are the Sigma Field analogs of those gene pools which are capable
of mixing. There is a gene pool for all the species and breeds of
cattle that are able to hybridize with each other to produce viable
offspring; also there is a gene pool for Yunnan ogres. Each has its
corresponding psychome.
When an animal dies, its body, including its genes, loses its
integrity, and through a sequence of decomposition processes
reverts to ions and relatively simple molecules. Much of this goes
on in the alimentary tracts of scavengers, from vultures to
maggots. The animal’s pseudo-psyche, including its life
experiences, also ceases to exist as a separate unit, and is
reabsorbed into the species psychome, but the process is far
tidier.
In understanding the psychome, it helps to contrast it to the
human psyche.
Like all other species, Homo sapiens—humankind—has a
psychome, and each person has a pseudo-psyche. It was the
collective species memories of the human psychome which,
misinterpreted, gave rise to the 20th century concept of “the
collective unconscious,” as defined by the psychiatrist, Karl
Jung. The human pseudo-psyche, however, is subordinate to the
actual human psyche.
The human psyche is a non-biological unit. Its integrity, which
is to say its individual identity, survives body death and
customarily recycles, reincarnates, to play again. This recycling
may be prompt or delayed; it may be here or elsewhere. In an
entirely real sense, therefore, the terrestrial biological
phenomenon known as a human being is possessed by a
non-terrestrial phenomenon, the psyche (or soul). The psyche,
through this act of possession, often loses its awareness of being
a psyche, and ordinarily loses all memory of existence before the
act of possession. It becomes and controls the person it is born to
be. The purpose of this strange arrangement seems to be to play
(often involved) games, to have physical experiences, and in
general to make existence interesting. Homo sapiens has
been a possessed species for a very long time, as have suitable
species on many other worlds. By contrast, most biological species
are not possessed.
*Instead of psychome, I could have used the more
descriptive term “spirit pool,” specifying that the
animal mind is a function of it. I’ve coined and use the term
psychome (psyche = spirit or mind; ome = mass, body or
group), analogous to biome, because the term
spirit carries too much semantic luggage for many people.
Back
In telling a story, some concepts may be unfamiliar to readers,
while an in-story explanation may be inappropriate. And invariably
some readers will be troubled because of its absence. Here, story
considerations dictated that I avoid discussing the
psychome or even mentioning it, though it helps greatly in
understanding Yunnan ogres. This short section clarifies
psychome.
In writing it, I have drawn heavily on the discussion by Alexei
Park in his “Psyche and Humanity.” (In Toward a
Science of Humanity, edited by Mei-Ti Lomasetewa. Star Press,
Deep Harbor, New Home. A.C. 906). The ogre “psyche” is not a true psyche. It is a
pseudo-psyche. On many planets there is what might be called a
common psychome,* or mind/spirit pool, for all of that
planet’s life. This is the equivalent, in the Sigma
Field, of the sum of planetary genomes in the field of physical-biological
phenomena. A useful but very limited analogy for the psychome and
the planetary genetic sum is the head and tail of a coin. A
somewhat closer analogy is the individual psyche of a person, and
the person’s physical body.
For most purposes, the planetary psychome is subdivided into
lesser psychomes that are more or less separate and distinct. These
are the Sigma Field analogs of those gene pools which are capable
of mixing. There is a gene pool for all the species and breeds of
cattle that are able to hybridize with each other to produce viable
offspring; also there is a gene pool for Yunnan ogres. Each has its
corresponding psychome.
When an animal dies, its body, including its genes, loses its
integrity, and through a sequence of decomposition processes
reverts to ions and relatively simple molecules. Much of this goes
on in the alimentary tracts of scavengers, from vultures to
maggots. The animal’s pseudo-psyche, including its life
experiences, also ceases to exist as a separate unit, and is
reabsorbed into the species psychome, but the process is far
tidier.
In understanding the psychome, it helps to contrast it to the
human psyche.
Like all other species, Homo sapiens—humankind—has a
psychome, and each person has a pseudo-psyche. It was the
collective species memories of the human psychome which,
misinterpreted, gave rise to the 20th century concept of “the
collective unconscious,” as defined by the psychiatrist, Karl
Jung. The human pseudo-psyche, however, is subordinate to the
actual human psyche.
The human psyche is a non-biological unit. Its integrity, which
is to say its individual identity, survives body death and
customarily recycles, reincarnates, to play again. This recycling
may be prompt or delayed; it may be here or elsewhere. In an
entirely real sense, therefore, the terrestrial biological
phenomenon known as a human being is possessed by a
non-terrestrial phenomenon, the psyche (or soul). The psyche,
through this act of possession, often loses its awareness of being
a psyche, and ordinarily loses all memory of existence before the
act of possession. It becomes and controls the person it is born to
be. The purpose of this strange arrangement seems to be to play
(often involved) games, to have physical experiences, and in
general to make existence interesting. Homo sapiens has
been a possessed species for a very long time, as have suitable
species on many other worlds. By contrast, most biological species
are not possessed.
*Instead of psychome, I could have used the more
descriptive term “spirit pool,” specifying that the
animal mind is a function of it. I’ve coined and use the term
psychome (psyche = spirit or mind; ome = mass, body or
group), analogous to biome, because the term
spirit carries too much semantic luggage for many people.
Back