(238) What´s IN a name? ( and The Parallels between the explorations of Space and the Spiritual)... Earthrise...

V
On May 18th 2007 I, at long last, received in the mail from Dr Roderick Main a copy of his new book, Revelations of Chance: Synchronicity as Spiritual Experience. (See Entry (192)
An accompanying card was dated May 1st
- Here it is at last! The discussions of your coincidences occupy a large part of the whole - so thanks again for making them available to me...

On May 23rd 2007 I e mailed Roderick that his book had arrived "... with attendant coincidences", and, in response to his inquiry, outlined them -
"... there were two involving people reading my book Coincidences and my name. The first, outlined here by GM Simon Williams was sent to me at the Internet Chess Club where my handle is Parsifal

- Psycho-Cowboy ( 06.17 16 May -07 EDT ) was reaing your book on the train looked up and was passing "J Plaskett roofing and scaffolding in London" ... I read that on May 18th (possibly the 17th).
Later Williams said that it was either precisely my surname, or something which differed from it by ony one letter.
The other was in this e mail from top quizzer Trevor Montague Trevor Montague - Wikipedia , which arrived whilst I was reading Chapter Five of Main ́s book

- 18 May 2007 20:05:55 +0100
... thought you might like this coincidence this evening. ... at about 5.45... I was... reading your book and was up to page 174 (ref: 55 about The Wolfman) and beyond in fact... up to p 179. My phone rang and it was a... friend... from my local church... Ruth... rang to tell me there was a... programme on C5 at 8pm called The Wolfman that i might be interested in... bizarre not just because i had just read your Wolfman coincidence but because Ruth had never phoned... before to tell me of... programmes she thought i might be interested in! In case you think i am pulling your leg... ring Ruth... on 01883 - - - - - - and she will confirm... I have a few more pages to read but am going to watch The wolfman now : )

The Wolfman coincidence is Entry (150)
(150) Wolfram/Wolfman. Further name confusion involving the search for The Holy Grail
I had shortly before sold Simon a copy of Coincidences and sent one as a gift to Trevor.

Chapters Five and Six of Main ́s new book are about my Narrative material. Chapter Five is entitled Multiple Synchronicities of a Chess Grandmaster and includes the incidents involving William Hartston.
Chapter Six is entitled -
The self-revelation of synchronicity as spirit
A Modern Grail Story

Those Appendices are comprised largely of the material upon which Main comments in Chapter Six. 

I had read Chapter Five and then started the next Chapter on May 22nd 2007.
On p. 119 he writes of how he will now be making a kind of "experiment in interpretation of the self-revelation of synchronicity". By May 23rd I had reached p. 123 where he quotes Jung and draws comparison with his methods as outlined in Psychology and Alchemy. There Jung speaks of how he analysed, not isolated dreams of an individual, but rather a whole series of them.

But here we are not dealing with isolated dreams; they form a coherent series in the course of which the meaning gradually unfolds more or of its own accord... Of course the interpretation of each individual passage is bound to be largely conjecture, but the series as a whole gives us all the clues we need to correct any possible errors in the preceding passages.
"Though with somewhat less confidence than is implied in Jung ́s concluding statement, this is essentially the method I endeavoured to employ in regard to Plaskett ́s synchronistic experiences, which likewise seem to form a "coherent series" whose "meaning gradually unfolds more or less of its own accord."

Then he lists four conceptual themes which he detects in my Narrative, also listed in Appendix Three of Part Two: The Narrative, Epilogues and Appendices.

Identity
Transformation
Spirituality
and
Synchronicity.

 -
Identity
The concept of identity is repeatedly emphasised throughout Plaskett ́s material. It emerges first through the highlighting of his surname in the two coincidences involving Plaskett ́s Crater and Plaskett ́s Star.

I paused and, prompted by what I had been reading, entered - "Synchronicity Plaskett" into Google. Although I had several times Googled my own name in some or other context, I had never before entered that precise wording.

These are some of the hits thrown up - http://www.universetoday.com/2007/03/01/the-perfect-crater-for-a-moon-settlement/?1402
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMEYGN0LYE_index_0.html
http://www.colonyworlds.com/2007/03/could-plaskett-crater-be-our-first.html
http://digg.com/space/Image_Moon_s_Plaskett_Crater

In the first hit the Universe Today site (Then) had two ads on it stating that "Your Name Is Not An Accident". They were for a numerology service.
... ... ... 

I note some of the coincidental material and also

The Parallels between Space Exploration and Spiritual Exploration

a) I began with my discovery of the existence of Crater Plaskett on the dark side of the moon on December 22nd 1984.

There were also quite a few other happenings on December 22nd, as listed in Appendix One of Part Two: The Narrative, Epilogues and Appendices -

The crater ́s also to be seen in the ESA Press Release which my Google search of Plaskett Synchronicity threw up.
It was the same photo as appears on my book ́s cover.

Only now in colour and headed

"Earthrise over Plaskett Crater".

The ESA Release is dated March 1st 2007, which was also the publication date of Revelations of Chance. The publisher chose to use the motif of the mantis for the cover of Main`s book, although without consulting Main himself. They used the same mantis motif for the cover of the catalogue in which that book first appears.

It was their SPRING catalogue published by State University of New York.
SUNY.
"The beginning of Spring and of sunnier times".
(See Appendix One of this Narrative. And also Entry (235) 

I learned of the synchrony of the publication of the ESA Release about the future of mankind in Crater Plaskett, and of Main ́s book as I was reading the chapters in Main concerned with the material in my book, Coincidences.

What clearer verification could I receive of Main ́s observation of Synchronicity ́s self-referring tendency, i.e. that coincidences tend to spawn coincidences (?)

And does it not also support - and indeed continue - his insight that
Plaskett ́s synchronistic experiences, which likewise seem to form a "coherent series" whose "meaning gradually unfolds more or less of its own accord." ?
It transpires that some parts of the dark side of the moon are, when reached, not dark at all. In fact, they are permanently illumined. And Crater Plaskett is one such.

The European Space Agency release speaks of "Eternal Sunlight" in Crater Plaskett. 

At Easter 2007 I viewed for the first time a broadcast of the Academy-Award winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_sunshine_of_the_spotless_mind 

In Appendix Five of Part Two: The Narrative, Epilogues and Appendices I mention Rudolf Steiner's book Christ and the Spiritual World and the Search for The Holy Grail in which he writes about the appearance of the sunlight-bearing Grail and how it must make its appearance in the Heavens. 

At Easter.

b) The Williams and Montague coincidences each involve their reading from my book. In one I am addressed via a message sent to "Parsifal", and the other concerns a poem of my wife ́s in which she dubs me "Wolfman" and each coincidence revolves around Parsifal or Parzifal.

c) The ESA release speaks of Crater Plaskett as our new home. On that very date, one year earlier, I had bought my first house. 

And that same evening, March 1st 2006, I had watched on TV some of the Richard and Judy show where they mentioned comic Dave Spikey and his new CD, Living The Dream.
That, of course, the title which I had already decided to give this Blog, based around my WWTBAM? win of Nov 23rd 2005 (the money that bought the house) and the TV documentary about the family of a friend of my son ́s broadcast on that date in 2003. (See Entry 200)
Later, Richard and Judy went on to discuss a book about the men who have walked on the moon, called MoonDust, by Andrew Smith.
http://www.lovereading.co.uk/book/1002 

d) ALSO there was a spectacular lunar eclipse, which a 4NCL crowd of us
http://www.4ncl.co.uk/photos04-guildford.htm viewed late on the evening of March 3rd 2007 -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_March_2007_lunar_eclipse 

This was the first lunar eclipse I had ever watched, and as I did so my wife and child watched it with a telescope from Spain. Just after the ESA release and publication of Main ́s book.

When I viewed it the effect was that the Northern part of the moon, i.e. where Plaskett´s Crater lies, was illumined.
e) On May 23rd or 24th 2007 I spotted an article in The Times which had gone up on the day I read Chapter Five and started Chapter Six of Main`s book. It was about the success of the two Mars explorers, Spirit and Opportunity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rovers The Times piece conceded this was to be contrasted with the complete failure of the ESA probe that had been intended to land on Mars shortly before them,. It was named Beagle2 and it was on Christmas Day 2003, but which failed -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_2

Please note the names ascribed to the probes.
The ESA probe is of course a reference to the ship that took Darwin to the Galápagos. But here´s how the American craft got named -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover#Naming_of_Spirit_and_Opportunity
The exploration of the craft called Spirit succeeds.
But that of the craft named after the vessel which carried Darwin fails.
And then to note which craft confirmed the precious water on Mars...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasas-phoenix-lander-tastes-and-touches-water-on-mars-882609.html

f) On May 26th 2007 we watched our son take the lead role of clown in his school´s performance of El Planeta de la Sonrisa (The Smiling Planet) EL PLANETA DE LA SONRISA | ISABEL GONZALEZ MUA‘OZ | Casa del Libro

He had gained the part when the boy who had been to play it dropped out. Sacha had earlier laughed when someone had slipped during a rehearsal which had led to something of a domino effect as many cast members tumbled over. This laughter was what had led to the gang spitting at my son, as reported in Entry (237) , and the boy, who had both instigated the attack and been one of the spitters, had played the clown and taken my son´s laughter as a personal slight.

But, as I wrote, it was all just a storm in a teacup.
In the play the clown arrives at an unhappy planet but succeeds, despite the malefic influence of a nasty witch, in uniting it and cheering everybody up. 

Quite early on, when seeing my son playing a clown trying to cheer up a planet, I thought about the REM song Shiny Happy People, although I was not that great a fan of that band nor well acquainted with their material. And then at the finale that very song was played. Incidentally, when I looked up this song at YOUTUBE, I found that it had only been uploaded to YOUTUBE on March 2nd 2007, i.e. the day after the ESA Release that Crater Plaskett could be our new home.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YbGSDkvh8B0
... ... ...
Main writes of the symbolic significance of heavenly phenomena -
"... the celestial journey of Dante, and analogously that of Plaskett, consists of a series of progressive transformations into ever higher and subtler states of consciousness and insight.
The idea of transformation from normal psychophysical levels of experience to a spiritual level of experience, and vice versa, seems to be evoked quite often. Plaskett´s Crater, being on the far side of earth´s satellite, the moon, lies at the extreme outer limit of connectedness to the terrestrial and faces into the heavenly, or, symbolically understood, spiritual spaces beyond. Plaskett´s Star, in turn, actually is situated out in these heavenly or spiritual spaces." Revelations of Chance, p.125.

On Sep 3 2006, following its many useful photos, SMART-1 was smashed into the southern part of Luna Incognita so that scientists might study the material thrown up by this deliberate manmade moon crater.
The site chosen for the crash was the Lake Of Excellence.
... ... ...
Sir Laurens van der Post believed there could be no thrust of inquiry into the physical universe without being accompanied, if not preceded, by an equal and opposite thrust into the universe of the spirit.
He is implying something beyond mere symbolic matching: a direct and even causal correspondence between physical and spiritual explorations. 
... ... ...
News articles of late 2008 -http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/30/apollo-8-mission led to my realisation that Jim Lovell had also been part of the crew of Apollo 8 and thus one of the first three men to see the dark side of the moon.
In the early hours of the morning of April 16th 2009 I checked to see if there might be any available affirmation that he had actually been the very first. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/forty-years-since-the-first-picture-of-earth-from-space-1297569.html

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2008/12/40th-anniversary-of-seeing-the-dark-side-of-the-moon.ars

Thus I became aware of more detail of this voyage that brought our first image of ´Earthrise´, e.g. the astronauts had read to the world the first ten verses of Genesis as their craft passed over the very site where, seven months later, the first men would walk on the moon; the Sea of Tranquility.

Several hours later on the morning of April 16th 2009 I looked at The Independent on line and saw a trailer for a film, Moon , that had been directed by David Bowie ́s son, Duncan. The trailer had been up at an article by Tim Walker since April 13th, but this was the first I heard of either the film or his being a director.
It is visible here -
Moon | Official Trailer (2009) - YouTube
And it ends with a view of 'Earthrise' seen from the moon.

Further testimony to the effect of seeing our planet from space may be heard here -
http://bigthink.com/experts-corner/seeing-earth-from-space-how-true-awe-changes-you?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=558419f9f3-Sun_2_10_Brainincloud2_9_2013&utm_medium=email

re Apollo 8
At 18:04 on April 17th 2009, my wife was about to send me a thing ́Tweeted ́ by Astronautics on Twitter just as I asked her what things the Greek God Apollo "governed".
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-350/ch-13-5.html
I had asked her something earlier that day about the Greek God Apollo, as I was thinking of her book Journeys to the Underworld and it ́s mention of the Greek pantheon.
The significance of the ́tweet ́ by Astronautics became clearer; April 17th was the anniversary of the successful re-entry of Apollo 13. Fiona then mentioned that just a few days earlier she had begun following a poster on Twitter with the handle ZARG. He had chosen to represent himself by a photo of an astronaut, and, she informed me, had the surname LOVELL.

After all my Apollo 8 inquiries earlier that day I was intrigued and noted his profile -

Name Tim Lovell Location Bristol, UK Bio Science, astronomy, and technology fan

- and later that day I too joined Twitter too began to follow him. Not long before this I had noted the fact that the Jodrell Bank telescope was the Lovell telescope. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodrell_Bank
Two men of such an uncommon name prominent figures in the field of space exploration. I would discover that the telescope had only been (re)named in honour of Sir Bernard Lovell in 1987.
Now here was a third man of that name in the same field. I ́tweeted ́ asking if he were perhaps related (?) 

He replied -
* @JamesPlaskett I'm not related to Sir Bernard Lovell AFAIK. It's not impossible as he's from Bristol but I haven't traced my tree yet.12:05 PM Apr 18th

I'm not related to Apollo astro Jim Lovell either. I have met him though. Top chap.12:07 PM Apr 18th

And not that long after he  ́tweeted ́ this -
@TAMLondon Astronaut Jim Lovell is in the UK on Oct 2nd. Any chance of getting him to speak at TAM London? http://www.wyas.org.uk/4:39 PM Apr 19th from TwitterFon
... ... ...

Space exploration has its dangers and pitfalls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_accidents_and_incidents
As does spiritual exploration.
See Entry (176)
...   ...   ...

Lastly, permit me to mention a few incidents germane to the common themes of space exploration, spirituality and my win on the show which became the very seat of modern materialism: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The day before the first part of my appearance on that show was to air, I saw this article -

Guardian Fri 13 Jan 2006 -
Final answer? Not quite as star gets second chance to play for a million · Quiz show question that floored designer 'unfair' · Changing Rooms host tries again for big charity prize

It was about Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his wife. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen - Wikipedia

... Having breezed... to... £500K... during... WWTBAM? All that stood between the couple and a £1m donation to charity was the question: "Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States?" ... - In God We Trust; One Out Of Many; All As One; or Striving Together - Llewelyn-Bowen ... gave his answer. Sadly, it was the wrong one.
Or was it? Llewelyn-Bowen opted for In God We Trust, only to be told that the correct answer was One Out Of Many.
But fortunately for the Shooting Star Children's Hospice, yesterday, only hours after the show was recorded on Wednesday, Celador announced it would give the Llewelyn-Bowens a second chance as the question did not meet its "usual high standards". In God We Trust is the official motto of the United States, adopted on July 30, 1956. It appears on US currency. But it is not a translation from the Latin. One Out Of Many is another US motto and is a direct translation of the Latin, E Pluribus Unum. It has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782. A Celador spokeswoman said: "We are not satisfied that the question meets our usual high standards of fair game play, so we have invited them back to resume the game with a new question at the same level. The question they answered was ambiguous."
This ruling was supported by the US embassy. "In God We Trust is the motto of the United States, so that part of the answer is right, but it wasn't translated from Latin. So he's right and he's wrong," said a spokeswoman.
The Llewelyn-Bowens, who were appearing in a St Valentine's Day couples special to be aired on Feb 11, welcomed the news. 

"We feel as if we've been reprieved from the firing squad. How unusual is it to get a second chance in life?" said Mr Llewelyn-Bowen. "But... this charity really deserves this and we're grateful to Celador for the opportunity."
The couple's performance was the best so far by any celebrity pair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr2rXtYigW4&feature=related
So they were invited back to face another £1m question -

"Who was the first man to go into space twice?" 

They were uncertain and so took the £500K.
... ... ...
Shooting Star Children's Hospice...
A St Valentine's Day couples special
How unusual is it to get a second chance in life?" A couple given a Valentine's Day second chance. And they mentioned that they had actually got married twice, i.e. had had a second ceremony essentially just because they enjoyed the first one so much!

See the plot of the film mentioned in point a) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

And here was I campaigning for Ingram and wife to be given his fairly-earned million.
... first man to go into space TWICE.
I was also in legitimate consultation with my wife; she was Phone A Friend.
At my £500,000 question, "Which of these astronauts has never set foot on the moon?"
(Answer: Jim Lovell)
and also my £32,000 one, "The 2004 biopic "De-lovely" was based on the life of which composer?" (see Entry (224) "Lovel" appeared on screen.

On Aug 31st 2007 I learned of the existence of the film Sunshine -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6516499.stm
That was through a news announcement about what would be the next project embarked upon by its director, Danny Boyle -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6972243.stm

... ... ... ...
Permit me to note that at 22:50 on October 29th 2012 I posted at my Facebook wall

H. James Plaskett shared a link.

October 29

Richard Dawkins just tweeted this - @RichardDawkins
Pete Stark's opponent is ignorant enough to think "In God we Trust" is US motto. Support Pete Stark for Congress http://bit.ly/P85x4n

Dawkins was championing Congressman Stark's ' coming out ' as the only openly atheist member of Congress. He mentioned that "his opponent was using his atheism against him."

That, naturally, immediately put me in mind of the palaver over the Lewellyn-Bowens ́ final question, so I tweeted to Dawkins about that -

Just a few minutes later I was chatting with Deborah Cowley at Facebook and mentioned the film director, Stanley Kubrick -

I had just posted the R Dawkins In God We Trust Tweet + my posting on Twitter of the Llewelyn-Bowen ́s slip at the 1,000,000. I had their performance playing in the background when a coincidence happened as Deborah Cowley and I had this chat - sorry, I'm No Kubrick (He lived in Herts for a decade.... not doing all that much, though...) his last film Eyes Wide Shut Yes, loved that movie. Really sexy. went to see it London when it came out and everyone said he'd lost his touch. I thought it was really good The Shining is one of my favourite films STRONG coincidence less than 60 secs ago I went to Youtube looking for shots of Eyes Wide Shut- Kubrick ́s last film as we were just discussing at the precise moment I uploaded a clip now playing the OTHER clip I had playing which is appropriate to what I have just uploaded to my FB wall had Tarrant ask this question "Which of these films did not feature a married couple? At 14:11 the £32,000 question came up - Which of these films did not feature a married couple? The options were - A Shanghai Surprise B Eyes Wide Shut C Key Largo D Bringing Up Baby Option B, which he announced within a couple of seconds of Kubrick ́s last film beginning to play on my other opened Youtube panel was "Eyes Wide shut" POWERFUL coincidence And here ́s the prior Dawkins Twitter interchange - James Plaskett @JamesPlaskett @RichardDawkins Don't let the bedbugs bite... 11hJames Plaskett @JamesPlaskett @RichardDawkins Christ: is it THAT much of a taboo in the USA!! Frightening... 11 11hJames Plaskett @JamesPlaskett @RichardDawkins A MOOT point, Lord! And mayhap a costly one ... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-373958/Llewelyn-Bowen-blows-1m.html ... @RichardDawkins Pete Stark's opponent is ignorant enough to think "In God we Trust" is US motto. Support Pete Stark for Congresshttp://bit.ly/P 85x4n