The Hat Of Duns Scotus is an invention attributed to John Duns Scotus, a noted christian theologian and philosopher during the middle ages as well as the single largest influence on christian thought for decades. He wrote the book Treaties On Grammar, Logic, Metaphysics, postulating “univocity of being“, “the formal distinction” and the idea of “haecceity.”

These three concepts were meant to clarify that “things” do in fact exist, that it is possible to examine different aspects of the same “thing” and identify unique qualities that illustrate individual distinctiveness. Sound logic for a period of history known as the dark ages. Although historians generally disagree when this period began, some argue that the burning of the Alexandrian Library in the Fourth Century AD is one of its landmarks.

The cap often made of paper and used for public humiliation, expressed dim wittiness or stupidity, marked with a capital D. Somewhere along the line, its metaphysical meaning was lost. Perhaps it is a tool to funnel the cosmic energy to make one smart, much as the capstone of the pyramid serves as the point of manifestation from the invisible dimension to the seen world.

Although the geometrical model for a four sided pyramid is well known, its true meaning has been revealed only to a few, suggesting an esoteric significance associated with its function. Some mystical orders performed testing rituals and initiations in special chambers energized by the forces entering through the capstone, the power fracturing and enveloping all four corners at the foundation, opening portals into alternate dimensions. Whether that is true, not or just a crock remains to seen or experienced as one approaches the cosmic stream.

Those who understand the nature of the cap have also used the idea to invent interesting and new ways to adorn and care for the head such as this product called the Head Bath Cap advertised on Techeblog. Here is a chapeau that gives your head and your hair a good cleaning: “just place it over your skull and let water run within the boundaries of the cap onto your head, keeping the scalp water logged helping your hair grow faster and fuller by penetrating the pores in your scalp submerged beneath the trapped water.” Another variation of “go soak your head.”

Then there is The Shat (see below), a unique cap advertised by William Shatner (the Shat). It comes in different colors to reflect mood, Andorean Green, Romulan Red and Klingon Yellow. Now you too “can wear your feelings on your head.” Perhaps Mr. Shatner will don the red one after he finally sees the new Star Trek film and realizes that if Captain Kirk had not been killed off in Star Trek VII-Generations, he could have been in the current film. Now, the Shat will become just another variation of the cap of Duns Scotus, which is not latin for Scotty.

The Chupacabra (Spanish for goat sucker) is an animal indigenous to Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Latin American communities that speak Spanish in the United States. The name comes from the animal’s reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed for centuries near Ponce, Puerto Rico and have since been reported as far north as Maine and as far south as Chile. It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.

The first photographs were taken in March 1995 in Puerto Rico by Madelyne Diaz don Diego who lost all of her 150 goats in an attack. Each animal she claimed had similar characteristic puncture wounds in the chest area and completely drained of blood.

In Coleman, Texas, a farmer named Reggie Lagow caught what he claimed was the Chupacabra in a trap he set up after the deaths of a number of his goats. The animal was described as resembling a mix of hairless dog, rat, and kangaroo. Lagow claims he delivered the animal to Texas Parks and Wildlife officials for identification, but reported in a September 17, 2006 phone interview with John Adolfi, founder of the Lost World Museum, that “the critter was caught on a Tuesday and accidentally thrown out in Thursday’s trash.”

Asking a question without expecting an answer is a difficult challenge since the initial inclination for wanting clarification is the basic reason a query is made. A response, perhaps in the form of an Epiphany, divine revelation or emerging creative impulse, is not an unreasonable expectation as long as whatever appears is recognized for what it is.

A nebulous answer is as good as no answer since it’s often so vague and formulaic with liberal doses of unanticipated ironic twists that come out of nowhere to be of any appreciable use, although they are ideal for those who love cryptic responses with symbols steeped in the mystery of occult design.

We also have myths and legends, grand tales of hero’s, instilled with moral struggles of human traits, lurking in literature, art, and philosophy, so obvious they lie invisibly surrounded by distractions. Whatever the basis of conclusions from events, preconceived notions of what is thought to exist can noticeably effect judgment and outcome. Some occurrences such as a rainbow, comet or eclipse, at a key moment, can be interpreted as a sign from some divine source woven by hope and optimism for an unknown future.

Whatever the case, there is too little time to obsessively worry about what a void contains before it appears. There is not enough information to say anything about it except perhaps to convey an opinion regarding what its substance is, since no one who goes there and stays has ever come back to tell about it, so it seems pointless to speculate and simply avoid a void, until it finds you, as the pull of the vortex gravitates closer and closer, until the only option is to surrender.

The problem with being a dictionary worm - reading sequentially the words from the unabridged Oxford volume cover to cover - is that it misses all the words added or changed over the time it took to read it from cover to cover, leaving knowledge incomplete, perhaps the call of a perfectionist who simply missed a page somewhere.

One overlooked word was concupiscence. I first heard it when a colleague was accused by someone else for making it up, trying to imply that they were stupid for not knowing it. I was astonished that I had no clue what it meant either except that the prefix “con” means “with”.

I embarked on a search and what I discovered is a word with many more shades than revealed by the dictionary, including a theological schism profound to fundamental philosophical belief. Con*cu*pis*cence,  n.  1- sexual desire, lust. 2- ardent, usually sensuous, longing.

Christian theology defines it as the selfish human desire for an object, person or experience, and yet Catholics and Protestants have conflicting ideas.  For Catholics, in its widest sense, “concupiscence is any yearning of the soul for good; in its strict and specific sense, it means a desire of the lower appetite contrary to reason.” For Protestants, “concupiscence refers to what they understand as the orientation, inclination or innate tendency of human beings to do evil.”  The word is derived from the Latin word concupiscentia meaning “a desire for worldly things.”

A want for anything corporeal is implied as being innately selfish, according to biblical interpretation. It can also be distracting, especially with original sin and guilt floating around overhead as the search for the inner divine nature consumes philosophy and theology alike, while science aims to quantify or repudiate it all in a neat reproducible package.

On the other hand, if the difference between selfishness and selflessness is understood, earthly desires would not be the temptations they have historically been, suggesting the middle path, where good and evil balances each other is the best place to be, since the desire for good can also be selfish depending on what one considers good.

A sole carried by the body
Heart aching deep to the call
Desire that draws one closer
Into a forest of want
Playing to its hum
Is anything ever enough?
Another barrier
The immoral soul!

One way to encourage a less imperfect future is by creating it from a more perfect present, a seemingly logical task that would require taking time to consider the potential impact of choices and their trends as the effects proceed through time, prepared to re-assess the initial direction and explore more productive patterns assuming past experience allows for that insight or at the very least identify a blind spot defined  by a littered heap of mistakes.

The ability to sense the existence of a blind spot is predicated upon not knowing exactly what it contains since the contents like a black hole are  invisible, inferred  only by the flow of energy and matter surrounding it, caught by the magnetism of its vortex and the weight of its complexity. Proximity to it defines perspective, allowing partial understanding of what is not seen since the only way to observe things fully is by being everywhere simultaneously. Besides, the closer the spot becomes, the more the surrounding space obscures the landmarks that allow successful navigation. On the other hand, as distance increases it will be less likely to see anything more than “the point.”

One can define the  area not perceived in an individual or collective way, recognizing that the hope of making clearer decisions is more likely with a comprehensive assessment including things not previously known. When immersed with objectivity, the result will be satisfaction and possibly a happy moment. When the opposite results, especially if the motives are noble, then that in and of itself should allow any of the resulting pain and suffering to be nothing more than a  spoonful of medicine, while acknowledging that happiness is not a constant level. However if too many spoonfuls appear then one is forced to conclude, ” I must be doing something wrong, even if I cant see it. This is where the  invisible part of the  personality can usually be found,  effected by anger, guilt or denial.

On a societal level, imagining what direction culture might evolve is like shooting  a projectile with an unpredictable path into a dark abyss, a sequence  often moving into the unknown, perhaps capable of being plotted by an algebraic formula, but often stumbling into the realm of science fiction, most effective when advanced technologies lay at the basis for unanticipated change, refining instrumentality so revolutionary in some cases that ethical considerations have trailed consequences, creating never thought of problems.

When viewed retrospectively, public debut is helpful, but only if it explains ongoing conflict that continues to push cultural limits  by marking emerging resolutions that pierce the unknown by consecutively connecting the dots. The most effective way to galvanize public opinion is for an issue to be discussed in a way that can be understood by the greatest number of people across all educational levels, especially when presenting goals that have a clear potential to alter the nature and course of society,  although history is filled with the consequences of mistakes made based on missing collective blind spots, finally realized in a “like duh” moment.

Numerous mythologies have surrounded the tale of a strange extinct bird, the Ouzelum, a feathered Aves that flew backwards. No one knew the origin of this particular bird, a class of winged, bipedal endothermic vertebrates that laid eggs and was carnivorous by nature.

“Perhaps the reason it flew backwards was because it liked to know where it had been”, asked one of the young students.

“Assuming it had a brain large enough to think, and the ability to remember where it was going or coming from ,” added the Oracle with a wise steady voice.
“Even owls were thought to fly backwards during the middle ages, and they are pretty wise,” beamed an apprentice.

“On the other hand, moving on the wrong path is assured when not knowing where one begins, or is going, even if it leads in the right direction when left reflecting the sum total of events that occurs at the crossroad,” inflected the oracle with a glazed look in his eyes, as if absorbed in solving some great mystery reflected in the fountain of Daphne.

One scholar reported another legend passed down from one generation to the next about the Ouzelum, ” They were also able to fly in ever decreasing circles until it managed to disappear completely. ”

Does that mean it vanished into thin air?” asked the child listening with great awe and wonder.

“I believe it suggests the bird crash landed,” smiled the Oracle with a twinkle in his knowing eye.

Although the Sub-Spacial Hologram sounds like a creation of Star Trek, displaced by a generation or two, in fact, it is not. Holographic images appear in three dimensions, a manipulation of the senses to perceive depth that binocular vision allows.

If the five senses could be fooled into believing that what isn’t there, is, then perhaps they can also be convinced that what is there, isn’t, using science to influence perception.

The concept of sub-space particles has encouraged thoughts of traveling to other planets and far away galaxies, made possible when Time and Space are no longer impeded by the constraints of speed.

The earliest pioneer of Astronautic Theory was Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, a highly educated Russian rocket scientist born in 1857 and who died in 1935, living most of his life in a log cabin outside of Kaluga , near Moscow. He was the first to envision machines that could work entirely outside of Earth’s atmosphere, exposed to extreme conditions such as a vacuum, extra-terrestrial radiation, and temperature variations.

Inspired by the possibility of transcending all the impediments of survival in outer space, made feasible by Tsiolkovshy’s dream, Science Fiction flourished. The sub-space warp drive, a staple of Borg technology, assimilated from numerous species, became steeped in the realm of credible possibility, just one of the achievements projected into the Twenty-Fourth Century.

Now, a Japanese experimental device, The Sub-Spacial Communications Pod, takes a step into that future, first reported by Michael Keferi of  cscoutjapan.com “It’s claimed that the ‘Pod’ projects a 3D character hologram for users to interact and communicate without the need of special glasses. Users can interact physically with the hologram character such as blowing air and watching the character’s clothes move as if it’s the wind.”

According to reports, the pod will come with a “Physical transfer field that allows the user to purchase specially bar-coded cards with item information to be scanned into the characters, who can also eat, get fat, teach English and even give you news.”

My Percepto Rating: Three Of Two

A- Either it exists or it doesn’t
B- Now you see it, now you don’t
C- Can something exist, if I’m not there to see it?
D- The Sub-space trans-warp coil?
E- Three Of Two

Every full moon, somewhere on the plains of the vast Gobi Desert of  Mongolia, Herb, the shrub would appear. His presence was always accompanied by great fanfare, although he was often confused for a common tumbling Tumbleweed.

Animals would seek council from wise old Herb. Even the migrating birds would turn and follow the path of moonlight to where the great sage sat. When all had come, only the sound of the whistling wind could be heard.

“Who is first?” his sharp solemn branches bristled.
“I am,” said the elk, with shimmering antlers that glowed in the silver light.
“The animals are fed up with all those greedy humans who hunt our flesh and sell our skins for profit.”
“What do you propose?” thistled Herb, patiently waiting for a response from the silent crowd.

Along came Ixodidea, the tick who suggested: “We mite seek vengeance by carrying disease to humans, spreading it far and wide”, as his eight legs moved slowly.
“Wouldn’t that mean the innocent as well as the guilty would be infected?” mumbled Herb.
“Probably,” said a crawling fish who added, “but if we don’t do anything, there won’t be any animals in the world left.”
“Then they would hunt themselves,” laughed the hyena.
“How could they do that?” said the dodo bird.

“Being extinct means never having anything to say or a way to say it,” shouted the hiena.
“Now that’s downright loony,” said the duck, who added daftly to the elk, “besides, you’re no Harry Potter Petronas!”
“Beep, Beep,” passed the roadrunner in a cloud of dust.

“Stop bickering,” responded Herb the shrub, sharply “we’d better find a solution.”
“I have an answer,” responded the mushroom shyly, “Suppose all the herbs around the world were given the power to heal. Then nasty humans could be infected by the flies and insects, while plants could save the good ones.”
“Hey, why do we have to be the ones to pass the scourge? What about rats,” cried the tic as the moonlight waned.
“Listen, it’s much more difficult to see insects at night,” quacked the duck. “Besides you’all just a bunch of luna Tics anyway.”
“Now that makes a whole lot of sense!” puzzled the owl.

“And I suppose we could ask the spirits to send visions to all the shamans to teach them how each herb heals,” said Herb, adding, “That’s been done by the Native Americans.”

“Hey,” squirmed the slug, “even though it isn’t exactly original, it doesn’t mean it’s not creative,” before being swallowed by the duck, who added as he chewed, “Besides, something that exists rearranged is just as original as what was in the beginning”, then adding, “and very tasty too.”

Whoever said, “Writing will make you immortal,” is probably long dead. A forgotten sage, who scripted some lines to encourage students to etch their thoughts on papyrus intending them to be read centuries later by civilization reflecting its cultural achievements or possibly lost within the volumes of books that litter the library of forgotten dreams, such as the texts of the Alexandrian Library, destroyed by fire in the Fourth Century A.D.

Philosophy is either a line of reasoning claimed by educated scholars questioning fundamental paradoxes or a result of dementia developed over time from repeatedly observed occurrences, ironic in nature, that mocks insight and provokes questions of sanity.

“Can a dream come true if its premise is thought credible or is it nothing but the hopeful musings of imagination’s ‘romp’?” professed Socrates, who reasoned out loud, “Or perhaps a grand delusion of assumed events, a simple wish fulfillment deep within the sole, just a footstep on the path, the end of which is thought to be death, a doorway to an alternate existence that eludes an immediate perception of a cosmic landscape yet to be revealed, he added defiantly, as his left index finger pointed first to the heavens then earth, holding a chalice of hemlock in his right hand.”*

“How simple life would be if what is there were nothing more than what is there, absent invisible worlds, other realities, a heaven floating in the sky, or hell deep within the brimstone, echoed Plato in a professorial tone. His vision stern, charging the sway of reason by unbalanced emotions adrift within the ’scape of tears.’” *

“A simple place where what you see is what you get, captured by the illusion of form, the consequences of actions that have been set in motion by some unknown force left simply to be defined by uncertainty steeped with conjecture, hypothesis and assumptions, added Aristotle in an odd but dispassionate stance.”*

The Legacy of leaving a written mark depends on whether it is important enough to record and the technology to preserve it exists to outlast the disintegration of time or else to be reinterpreted from oral tradition perhaps altered from its original text long after its say-er penned it in vivid tongue to a marble classroom as the students sat on carved alabaster seats, using quilts dipped in ink made from dyes imported from the East, carried on the backs of camels along the ancient trade routes of Silk, Myrrh and Frankincense.

A genetic pairing, also a legacy, requires no intellect, just the instinctual urge of procreation encouraged by biologists concerned with perpetuating the species and parents who want grandchildren, the continuity of generations promoted by some kind of divine spark never definitively known but referred to in the East as: “That.” Perhaps the same need that motivates bacteria, virus and fungi to reproduce, adapting  without a grand image to create something new or divine out of what already exists since they can’t think beyond survival, perhaps the soul intention of their actions. Socrates might say with a twinkle in his eye, “Are you so sure they can’t think?”

*The Lost Discourses of Plato, reportedly found in the Classical Greek Division of The Vatican Archives, Rome Italy, and reported to have been   released by the pontificate simultaneously with, The Vaticinia Michaelis Nostradami de Futuri Christi Vicarii ad Cesarem Filium D. I. A. Interprete, in 1982.