Esteemed Colleagues -- We stand at the dawn of tremendous breakthroughs in the field of Metaphysics. Through efforts such as those of this Center and similar projects around the world, new light is shed on the shadows of the spirit world. Much as Quantum Mechanics and Subatomic Physics did not CREATE the phenomena studied, but shed a totally new light on the classical Physics that preceded it, so the isolation and examination of Ectoplasm has opened our eyes to the nature of the Spirit World and Spectral activity. We stand in a world filled with the ghosts of the past, but this is no longer a literary abstraction or a matter of religious or cultural belief, but a scientifically concrete and measurable assertion. Ghosts ARE all around us. And we in this room have seen, and studied them, and in the sharing if this knowledge, we can come to yet greater understandings of the nature of these unquiet spirits, and the astral material that forms them...
«««Block Delete: 13MPu. Dr. Nakagawa spends the usual Academic's loooong time patting himself and the attendees on the back, what can I say? -- GP»»»
But the traits and behaviors of ghosts are not solely determined by the metaphysical properties of ectoplasm, and in many cases are even more individualistic than the living spirits which give rise to them, certainly more so than any other class of Spirits examined by Awakened scientists in the Sixth World. Thus the problem of classification arises. With all due respect to our esteemed Paranaturalist Colleagues, the simple designation of /larva validens/ for both Apparitions and Spectres is extraordinarily simplistic... TOO simplistic to classify adequately the broad range of ghostly entities we have documented thus far, let alone those that will no doubt be discovered and documented in the future, as our understanding of the field grows.
Accordingly, Dr. Meriku Oi has proposed a new taxonomy for ghostly beings currently under review by the International Taxonomic Committee, which is fully expected to pass within the month... and she will be sharing her work with us later in the Symposium, in order to allow you all to take immediate advantage of its structure in your own researches.
Ladies, Gentlemen, esteemed fellow scientists and Magicians. Currently, accepted Taxonomy and identification of "Ghosts" is primitive at best... Paterson's Field Guide to the Awakened, while hardly a scientific journal, sums up the current Paranaturalist's knowledge by giving only a single species designation "Larva Valida" to two distinctly different ghostly entities, while mentioning that numerous great variations exist even WITHIN that single category. While this may be sufficient for a populist work, we as Researchers must have more exact tools at our disposal. Accordingly, I have submitted a proposal for a revision of the taxonomy, and am told that the committee is favorably inclined towards it. That being the case, my colleagues at the Zenshöan have requested that I follow up Dr. Shibanokuji's presentation of his groundbreaking work with the new taxonomy it has made possible. But first, I'd like to briefly discuss the difficulties in the classification of ghostly entities and how my work has addressed them.
The initial knowledge so sought after in connection with ghosts, of course, is the question of their origin: Are ghosts INDEED the "soul's" of the dead? Or are they, as Paterson's Guide puts the issue, "an illusion created by the mind of the deceased, but that... does not actually partake of his consciousness." I'm afraid that, as much as our knowledge and understanding of ghostly nature have increased over the past year, we remain unable to answer that question. Much of the trouble, of course, is that we have yet to achieve a workable scientific definition of consciousness and sentience. If we cannot define it in ourselves, whom we must agree possess it a priori, we can hardly determine accurately whether it exists in an unknown being. Let alone if such consciousness is the SAME consciousness as existed before death. Both evidence and arguments exist in favor of both positions, and [pauses for a small chuckle] while I hold a Doctorate that refers to me as a Doctor of Philosophy, unanswerable issues do not hold my attention. I am a field researcher and, as such, I prefer practical questions. So, whichever belief you yourselves may hold, rest assured, this work will not challenge them. In the end, the ORIGIN of ghosts is a moot point, since we may now study them in much the manner that naturalists studied, and classified, countless mundane specie for centuries while the mechanisms of their origin continued to be studied and debated.
Of specific import in taxonomical classification is the distinct difference in nature between "Normal" spirits (Genus Anima), and Ghosts (currently referred to as genus Larva). Given our current ability to detect and isolate ectoplasm and it's alterant variants, this is no longer a prime issue, as both Nature Spirits and Elementals exhibit NO evidence of ectoplasmic substance. A similar comparative study of the so-called "UnDead" (i.e., victims of the Human/MetaHuman Vampiric Virus), remains more problematic, however, as civilized nations, deploring the means of survival of such beings, have virtually universally outlawed the very existence of such beings, and the Center has thus far been unable to do any extensive study into the composition of the bodies of such unfortunates, so whether HMHVV victims taxonmically consist of a distinct genus or specie within the new system or not will be an issue addressed at a later date.
«««In other words, DawnRider's question a bit back represents cutting edge spectral research... Good Q, Dawn. -- Silence»»»
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