"Katherine Kurtz - Adept 01 - The Adept" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

introducing Adam. Evidently Sir Adam Sinclair was one of their more popular speakers.
"This is intended to be an exercise in creative speculation," Adam warned his listeners, with a smile that
compelled their instant attention. "What I am proposing is that, for the next fifty minutes, we waive all
consideration of empirical methodology, in order to examine the intuition as a prime tool for archaeological
investigation."
"Intuition," he repeated, looking around the room. "It's something that many people think women have more of
than men do." That comment brought a chuckle. "People working in the so-called 'hard sciences' tend to
mistrust it, because it can't be 'proven' by scientific logic. People working in the 'soft' sciences - and
psychiatry is one of them - know that intuition can be a very valuable tool, especially when confirmed by
results. Perhaps, then, the line between logic and intuition is not as hard and fast as the hard scientists
would have us believe."
As Adam turned to the next page in his notes, Peregrine settled down contentedly to take it all in. This was
turning out to be every bit as interesting as he had hoped it might be.
"Actually, many hard scientists do use intuition," Adam went on, "though most of them would squirm, if
forced to admit it. After all, it isn't 'logical.' However, it is no secret that some researchers are infinitely more
adept than others at arriving at correct hypotheses on the basis of slender or confusing physical evidence.
Putting this into an historical perspective, I would like to suggest that intuition may, in fact, play a very large
role in reconstructing history on the basis of artifactsтАж."
There followed a series of factual anecdotes involving a number of eminent archaeologists and their
discoveries. As Peregrine listened, it began to dawn on him that the faculty Adam was describing was, by
any other name, a kind of extrasensory perception. He glanced around him, wondering if any of the other
members of the audience had caught the masked drift of the discourse. Before he could form any distinct
impressions, the presentation took an even more radical turn.
"If we accept that intuition does, in fact, play a vital expository role in archaeological investigation," Adam
said coolly, "we may well find ourselves obliged to modify our definition of physical reality. To that end, I am
going to suspend, for a moment, all consideration of Newtonian physics in order to broaden the concept of
nature to include that elusive field in which the intuition operates."
This announcement generated an interested stir amongst those present. Without pausing to refer to his
notes, Adam continued, leaning forward conspiratorially on the podium.
"All physical reality is traditionally quantifiable in terms of three dimensions: height, width, and depth. But
such an assessment fails to take account of the fact that objects - and people, for that matter - also exist in
the dimension of time. This temporal factor is something that, for lack of a better term, I should like to call
Resonance."
Peregrine sat forward in his chair. He felt suddenly as if he were on the brink of hearing something of vital
personal importance.
"To draw an analogy," Adam went on calmly, "resonance can be interpreted as a kind of existential echo: a
subtle shadow of how things used to be. As a theoretical psychologist, I would submit that the ability to
perceive resonance is a rare function of the human psyche. In antique times, that faculty was the trademark
of priests, seers, and mystics. In these latter days, it is still a factor among those whose livelihood depends
on their developing that faculty of vision: archaeologists, psychiatrists, artistsтАж."
Artists? Startled, Peregrine was suddenly swamped by a host of half-realized implications. Was this why
Adam had wanted him to come along? He was still struggling to untangle his own thoughts when he was
roused from his reverie by an outburst of hand-clapping. He looked up to see Adam descending from the
podium into a crowd of would-be questioners.
It was some time before Adam was free again to join him. By then Peregrine was sufficiently master of his
own whirling speculations to follow along gracefully while friends and acquaintances offered their
congratulations and goodbyes. The shadows were lengthening by the time they pulled out of the car park.
Peregrine held his tongue until they were back on the main road toward Strathmourne, then abruptly voiced
the question that he had been at pains to suppress for more than an hour.
"This business of resonance that you spoke of - is that another way of saying that objects can somehow