From: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: Firewalk
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:14:30 GMT

In article <24261@castle.ed.ac.uk> egnr76@castle.ed.ac.uk (A Kashko) writes:
>>Tim.ONeill@english.utas.edu.au (Tim O'Neill) writes:
>>
>>> In article <15523@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>, darsie@eecs.ucdavis.edu (Richard Dars
>>> Well Richard, the group support may have had a great deal to do with
>>> your plucking up the courage to step into the coals, but it had nothing
>>> to do with the lack of third degree burns to your feet. That was due to
>>> basic physics. The coals in a fire-walkers' pit can get up to 400< C,
>
>	I don't think you have explained how the people could play with the
>live coals at the end and not even get warm. I don't think the conductivity
>theory explains that.

Actually, it can.  There are certain materials that are also VERY poor
conductors of heat that can be heated up to many thousands of degrees
and held in the hand with no ill effects.  The space shuttle tiles are
made of an extreme version of this kind of thing.

And, please people, don't pick on Tim.  I didn't think he was doubting
or running down what must have been a very powerful experience, but only
explaining how it could happen.  When you are confronted with something
like this, you are not doing harm by investigating how the effect
actually takes place; in fact understanding it can make it kind of fun.
It's a bit like watching a wonderful magic show and understanding how
the magician does the tricks; you can still allow yourself to be carried
away by the wonderful performance (by willingly suspending disbelief,
which is quite easy to do) AND add another layer of admiration to that
by appreciating the difficult illusions and admiring the magician's
technique.  When you are a musician, listening to Andre Watts play is a
multilayer experience with more depth than any non-musician can
appreciate.  You KNOW which parts are hardest to play, you KNOW how
difficult it is to play a long bouncy succession of octaves with the
right hand, you KNOW how tricky a long and intricate passage in the
left hand can be, and your admiration and the depth of your experience
is increased.

When people do the firewalking thang, I find nothing wrong with it.
WHen they say things that pump people up like, "Modern science still has
no explanation for this; the sole power of the mind is what makes it
possible," they are out-and-out lying.  I am not attributing this to the
original poster's experience, but it has been known to happen.  It can
also be dangerous when people think that just not believing in the ill
effects of a dangerous action can insulate them from danger.  This is
not true.   

There is nothing wrong with explaining a phenomenon; knowing how
rainbows are created doesn't stop any physicist from staring up at them
in wonder.  The wonder is however deepened -- you are not merely a
spectator allowing this wonder to steamroller over you, a passive
observer.  You are in a sense a participant, someone who can see beauty
in the eye, and in the mind.  You can see with equal wonder how such a
carefully law-abiding universe can create such things.

The firewalking is the same thing.  Doing it is allowing your brain to
overcome your instinct.  Your human instinct tells you that the things
will burn you; your human intellect tells you you have nothing to worry
about.  In order to walk across the things, you must trust your higher
judgement.  As Carl Sagan said, "It's a million years of brains fighting
a billion years of instinct."  And finding out that you CAN trust your
mind, your reasoning, is certainly a good thing.  But, not explaining
this to the people who do it is wrong.  They have good and perfectly
reasoning minds, and they deserve to know the truth about what they are
about to do.  It won't make it any easier, but the understanding will
make it a hell of a lot more fun.

Coal-walking can be a marvelous experience even if you understand what
makes it possible; I certainly would walk across coals, but NOT WITHOUT
TREPIDATION.  It's not necessarily the idea that my mind can insulate me
from harm that attracts me or makes the experience worthwhile (for me or
any number of other people).  For me (and again, this can be applied to
other people as well, though not to everyone), the attraction comes from
the power that my intellect has.  My higher reasoning can be trusted.
If I'm uncertain about something, I can use my mind and arrive at the
truth.  (Gut feelings are not devalued here; they are invaluable aids to
scientists when they are looking for the answer to a question, just as
theory is a good guide for what direction that answer is likely to be
found in.) 

Blessings,
Janis
 

Newsgroups: alt.pagan