Psychogeography - the science of everone, everything, everywhere..

Psychogeography

Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals."[

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography

(The wiki article details many of the disparate characters, groups, movements and ideologies in the world of psychogeography, but I won’t detail any of that here).

Also worth a quick look is…

www.mookychick.co.uk/spirit/psychogeography.php

(A more concise and quite irreverent article…)

Firstly I want to say that I am no expert or authority in this subject. I merely find it fascinating from a lay perspective. But I do think it is a very much overlooked area of study for anyone interested in the effects of our physical environment on the mind and more generally the nature of our experience of our immediate physical reality .

I think most of you would agree (to varying degrees) that we create and influence our physical reality with the power of our minds and thoughts, and our actions of merely existing and functioning within a certain physical space - but do we give as much attention to the reverse of that system, I.e. the effects (of any kind) of our immediate environment on our minds, thoughts, choices, actions, habits? It is a reciprocal relationship.

Cities such as Washington DC, Paris, London (bits of..), The Vatican, Salt Lake City, Astana and many, many more have been carefully and deliberately designed, planned and laid out in very specific ways, in order to create an image, a pattern, an atmosphere, an effect in the human mind, and thus to influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviour - individually and collectively. (Research shows obvious Masonic and occult principles and concepts in many of these designs!) ANY kind of contstruction will be designed with some consideration as to the look / style / image / vibe etc on the human mind of the finished object.

I think psychogeography encompasses ideas and theories with which most of us will already be aware of, the purpose of this post is not so much to write “psy-geo 101” rather than to just flag up the subject and hopefully prompt further thought, research, study, enquiry etc in the sharp minds of ATS’ members.. And hopefully prompt a few responses. If anyone has any links to research and info, I’d be most grateful…

For me, the more I think about it, the more interested I get. We all live day-to-day in a physical environment which dictates and determines much of our actions and behaviour.

I have hardly even begun to scratch the surface of this fascinating subject - if just one person who reads this is inspired to look further into the matter, then I will consider this thread a success!

Next time you go somewhere, just have a good look around - eyes and mind open at all times!!

(And thanks to the London Psychogeographical Association for inspiration).

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Maybe this is why the Pentagram was designed into Washington DC's streets?

reply to post by twentythreedom
I was rolling up my metaphorical sleeves and about to open a can of ATS whoopass after reading your comment...

Cities such as Washington DC, Paris, London (bits of..), The Vatican, Salt Lake City, Astana and many, many more have been carefully and deliberately designed, planned and laid out in very specific ways, in order to create an image, a pattern, an atmosphere, an effect in the human mind, and thus to influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviour - individually and collectively.

Nonsense and chitter chatter. Paris and London have been destroyed and rebuilt in reaction to all manner of environmental, social and pragmatic events...not least fires and warfare. That was the gist of any post.

Luckily, I read the wiki link to psychogeography and realised I was taking a butter-knife to a gun fight.

Discussing or arguing the point with Dadaists, surrealists and situationists is a long walk off a short pier. It'd be like intelligent debate with Buddhists, they'll tie a person in knots with ephemeral concepts and intellectual mendacity. It's easier to open a tin of tartan paint with a left-handed screwdriver.

I'm going to flag and star your thread for having the bravery to post it and the intelligence to take something from the concepts of psychogeography. Years ago I studied post-modern historicity at uni and enjoyed it a lot, but if I read the assignments today they'd be like a foreign language. Reading the wiki link makes me slightly nostalgic for when it all made perfect sense.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
Discussing or arguing the point with Dadaists, surrealists and situationists is a long walk off a short pier. It'd be like intelligent debate with Buddhists, they'll tie a person in knots with ephemeral concepts and intellectual mendacity.

At least you realize you can't reason with them. That's only because reason itself has limits. If you disagree with that then you would probably be startled by Godel's proof that even systems as rigorous as Calculus can be forced to produce contradictions that humans tend to find "unreasonable." It's his incompleteness theorem. Essentially states "this theorem is not a theorem" using all the correct syntax of Calculus.

I don't agree with your use of the word "mendacity." Absolute truth does not exist. That's why you see diversions from your idea of "absolute truth" as maliciously untruthful.

Try to prove anything, even the most basic 1+1=2, and sure enough even the very philosophical foundations that mathematical statement are built on, have been discovered to be arbitrary man-made patterns and not dictated by anything in nature. So with calculus, quantum physics, and anything else you can name. "Absolute truth" is nowhere to be found.

reply to post by Kandinsky


LOL, nice use of adjectives!

But I don't see why you had to choose Buddhists for an example.

It is pretty reasonable and logical stuff, unless its being explained through a New Agers point of view.

Anyway, you get a star for the comedy.

reply to post by AquariusDescending

I don't agree with your use of the word "mendacity." Absolute truth does not exist. That's why you see diversions from your idea of "absolute truth" as maliciously untruthful.

I think sophistry was the word I was looking for, but I was rather full of the grape when I posted. I see that I didn't mention 'absolute truth' and don't support the concept...drunk or sober.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy

But I don't see why you had to choose Buddhists for an example.

Thanks for the compliments, and no, I shouldn't have used Buddhists as an example. I just had a certain type of member in mind and generalised. Consider the comparison withdrawn

thanks everyone for excellent contributions. i tried to avoid the dada / situationist etc etc stuff in my post, because i am genuinely interested in the stuff i mentioned, but i suspected the thread (if one developed, which has, just!) would get messy quickly! but it's all good...

i'm gonna read everything here again and come back later with some more in depth drivel...

"reality is indefineable. the proposition "whatever is, is real," although true, does not help us define reality, or to determine it in any oter way, because in "whatever is" the "is" involves being, and being is tghe same as reality. but the proposition, though tautologous, is not, i think, useless, since it brings before us the wide denotation of reality."

yeah, whatever!

23

Reality is at the whim of the observer. Pretty basic and simple to understand.

Try to prove anything, even the most basic 1+1=2, and sure enough even the very philosophical foundations that mathematical statement are built on, have been discovered to be arbitrary man-made patterns and not dictated by anything in nature. So with calculus, quantum physics, and anything else you can name. "Absolute truth" is nowhere to be found.

Aquarius, i have to disagree, there is an absolute truth to be found. That truth is self. By self i mean The self, or the I existing outside of the physical form of self. The self that is telling the rest of yourself to maintain the relationships that allows us to exist. Some call it the father, some say it is the universe, others say it is god, i say it us just ourselves, or us, or more specifically you!

To take advantage of my double post i would like to insert a video for you to laugh at!



However cliche the lesson is real. By changing yourself you change your enviornment

[edit on 15-8-2010 by onequestion]

[edit on 15-8-2010 by onequestion]