The Phantom Horseman of Cairo
While watching live coverage of the ongoing Egyptian revolution on MSNBC, RS reader BarrioLotus116 and his family noticed a "remarkable and eerie refraction of light" that appeared to be a figure riding on horseback. He recorded the clip and watched again but was still baffled by the strange image. It looked like a ghost moving across the screen. He uploaded it to Youtube for feedback:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXLfe6y5aTo
A video editor looked at the video and noticed three small lights trailing behind the "horseman" that were spaced much like the streetlights in the frame and seemed to move with the camera in the same way. You can see his analysis in the image for this post. He surmised that the horseman is actually a flare/reflection of the fire in the upper left of the screen.
While this practical explanation is perhaps the most likely, it would seem that the universe is nevertheless using this manifestation as way of revealing something about this critical juncture in history. The question of whether this ghostly horseman is real or not may be beside the point, as the act of watching this video seems to have a powerful effect on viewers. Perhaps the phenomena is a psychic object speaking to us on a symbolic level about the nature of this historic conflict in the ancient world. BarrioLotus116 says that as he and his family "felt a strange energetic charge resonate inside of us as we witnessed it."
The video editor also reported a sense of wonder while watching the clip, despite his "simple optics" explanation.
- 2-4-11
- Jennifer Palmer's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
Comments
Sorry.
That's clearly the reflection of building rippling across a pane of glass as the camera pans.
If the Universe is whispering anything to us through this ghostly horseman, surely it's something more like "this community and those who speak for it are poorly equipped for the task at hand."
I remember when I was a child my parents used to tell my sister and I that they could hear bells from the reindeer on the roof of the mall. And we could hear them too. Which was charming and magical for a 5 year old.
Why would we want to trivialize something like the revolution in Egypt with nonsense like this? In my mind it degrades any discussion held in this forum that's related. I don't need a ghostly horseman to understand the immediate and historical relevance of events in Egypt.
Totally agree with Glue
This is absurd. Why has the quest for the spiritual totally forsaken reality? Rationality is not a dead end street, meaning we can go beyond it. But it is still the shoulders we must stand on. We can not outright forsake it.
Stuff like this is an active and violent coercing. It's imposing an irrelavant and childish narrative on an event that has such positive and blessed indications in and of itself.
Completely unecessary to make this any bigger than it is because it's already colossal.
had an effect on me
My two cents...
Humanity is still moving through its mythical stage of consciousness, (from the uroboric, through the magic) and on to the more rational stage which reflects the majority of today’s interpretations of such images.
Who hasn’t laughed at the example of a Cheeto’s in the shape of the Messiah? Why is that funny? Because the memory of our previously strong feelings of mythical awareness still creates a powerful tension in us. Our laughter is the apparent release of that tension.
The interpretation someone has of this image of the horseman depends entirely on one’s own worldview and is reflective of their stage of consciousness.
It would be better for all of us to come to understand the evolution of consciousness, and to admit that our interpretations always reflect our worldview; that everyone’s worldview is valid within their particular stage of evolutionary progress; that all stages of this evolution are transcended and their echoes are embedded within the incoming stage.
Such an understanding would encourage respect for everyone’s worldview while further evolution to the next stage could be humorously, yet sincerely encouraged.
Yet here we are in the ‘imperfect world’ where such an understanding is not appreciated and instead of helpful encouraging dialog, all we get, when emotionally charged interpretations of such images are compared, is a sometimes-bitter debate about who is right.
It’s time to admit that we’re all adolescents in the ongoing evolution of consciousness.
On the Other Hand
Who's to really say that "spirit" cannot use any relative medium to appear, ... or even more possibly likely, such man-made descriptions merely parallel the transcendent reality being manifest on other plains ... same with "orbs" and other such phenomenon.
In other words material mechanistic and deterministic explanations in no way negate other simultaneous dimensional realities {again just for arguments sake.}
Like telling someone on an Entheogenic journey of spiritual proportions that such is nothing more than neurons firing .. as if "only" chemical ... and personal experience being sheer imagination only.
In Sanskrit {Vaisnava Mysticism} there is the term "Acintya-bhedha- abhedha-tattva" ... inconceivable, simultaneous, oneness and difference ... the spiritual and the material working in conjunction with one another, rather than opposed to one another.
Leaving the mythical "Eden" will always and only be limited by self-imposed description {Tree of Knowledge} as is evident in all reductionist and mechanistic speculation on the overall nature of reality.
Even in our more advanced Quantum fields of observational study we are finding out more and more of the inherent limitation of any/all empirical observation.
Even in common sociology, merely seeing any human relevant only to their "suggested" social status is a misnomer of epic proportions.
Seeing is always at the expense of believing . {to some degree}.. and never believing itself.
Believing beyond perception altogether becomes "faith" .. revelation beyond conception it's premise of soul beyond body, mind and emotions .. self revealed from within .. the closest possible sense of cognizance available.
"Wonder is what Mystery would do if it was conscious" ...
"Wandering is for every other possibility"
Pippalayana Muni
Beautifully stated!
Thank you, Pippalayana. This was beautifully stated. In describing this apparition as a psychic object, I'm placing it at the same intersection between "real" and "not real" in which you posit things such as entheogenic journeys and quantum observations, in which the act of observing appears to change that which is observed.
In this square being watched by millions of people around the world at the same time, there's a powerful confluence of intentionality spiralling together which is no doubt further charged by the energy of the enigmatic pyramids. I believe that when the attention of many are drawn to the same place, magical things are possible. This is made more likely when that place is one in which the people are rising up for freedom and a better life--sentiments shared by people world wide, making this a time in which to learn (yet again) of our oneness and interdependency.
Peace,
Jennifer
re: On the Other Hand
Yes, all perception is a gamble (as Husserl said) -- but that's not the most pressing issue here. If I saw this phantom horseman in person, I might consider that it was a holographic projection from my subconscious (which is theoretically an extension of the collective unconscious). But this is video footage, which a video editor checked for accuracy (and furthermore, a video camera doesn't have a subconscious mind).
In my opinion, it might be more useful to consider this "phantom horseman" as symbolic of what's happening in Egypt. But unless someone can suggest the actual symbolic meaning or relevance, we are discrediting the factual events happening in Egypt by relying on simply "mystical" thought constructs.
Is everyone here aware that there have actually been people riding horses through the protests? Police officers in regular clothes and supporters of the president are being paid to ride through crowds attacking people with whips, machetes, etc. I just wanted to make that clear--since it was vague in the story above--that we're not talking about a situation in which no physical horses were present.
I like Leon Night's suggestion that we're all adolescents on the scale of consciousness. But I disagree that "everyone’s worldview is valid within their particular stage of evolutionary progress." I think a worldview is valid until new information becomes available that forces an adaptation of that worldview. If we don't adjust our view of reality based on the facts available, then we experience a delusion that results in insanity (as Korzybski put it).
Personally I'm not in possession of adequate information to conclude that the universe is manifesting a phantom horseman, since that suggests the universe is capable of conscious action. I don't consider Eastern "essence of mind" ideas to be contradictory in the universal scheme--as long as our ideas are formulated based on the universe functioning like an unconscious mind, in which case the manifestation of a phantom horseman would only be meaningful based on our subjective interpretation (as in synchronicities).
right on
Re: right on
Thanks for that. I hadn't heard of his pre/trans fallacy.
Although, I feel I should add to my previous disagreement about everyone's worldview being valid. I do agree that everyone thinks their own worldview is "true." The problem is when people block out new information in order to avoid augmenting their worldview (or reality tunnel). That's why dogmatic thinking is so rampant today, regardless of religious affiliation. Any meaning construed from the above video is necessarily subjective. But if the dominant interpretation is that it's a prophesied horseman sent to Earth as a sign of what's to come, then I have to worry about the sanity of the discussion.
Audio
There's something comical about the audio here, too, that points not only to the "phantom," but our own preconceived disbelief in such a thing:
"Very blurry camera"
"We're doing the best we can to get you a clear shot"
Like the UFO cliche/conundrum of bad camera work: If the videographer had a less shaky hand we might be able to tell whether or not it was a real UFO!
The wide margin of human, technical error--and how certain we are that it can explain away strange things--is probably totally hilarious to the "Other."
Reflection...
Let us not forget there are
Not a Parlor Trick
Hi Feral Thoughts,
A "parlor trick" is an easily executed magic trick done to fool others. That's not what's going on here, as you're right, that would be in poor taste given the gravity of the situation. I'm reporting on a video clip that was sent to me as documentation of a strange phenomenon. A video editor has weighed in on what he thinks might be an optics based explanation, and while I appreciate the that his analysis certainly seems plausible, I'm still not sure what we're seeing in this video. It might be a reflection, but it might be something else. Moreover, the powerful effect that watching the video seemed to have on people made me want to share it with the RS community.
I don't think it's disrespectful to the protestors to say that the revolution they have started might have cosmic elements at work. Indeed, I think every action that takes place, no matter how everyday, is one with the divine, it's just that we're usually too absorbed by what's happening to notice the connection. It's when things change and go outside of the realm of the every day that we take notice of what's been there all along--I think this is especially the case when media is involved--it helps shift our awareness of what we are watching so that we can see things we normally would not.
I liked the way Pippalayana put it in an earlier comment:
"Seeing is always at the expense of believing . {to some degree}.. and never believing itself."
Peace,
jp
I did not mean to come off
Horses
Lens Flare
It's a Lens Flare; Here's a video that demonstrates how it works.
Thank you Lion
Huh?
If a tree falls...
Sometimes we see the same patterns in a massive cumulonimbus, yet not always.
As one with a lifetime knack for patterns, I've noticed fractal movement where some could only detect opacity.
Any number of grandiose displays by dancing tessellations could inculcate entire demographics with abstractions bearing no significance at all, excepting that which we humans inject.
Would our anthropocentric dogmatas impart their profundities to any of our fellow travelers of this great Gaian biosphere?
What would a jittery visage mean to an equine tribe on the steppes of Mongolia, a Bowerbird with his own collection of shiny objects, or a tribe of Mustangs on the grasslands of Turtle Island?
Would it not behoove us to entrance the impressionable with notions of symbiosis to heal the disdain for our giver of Life, our Great, Grand, Mother...Earth?
Where are the great bards of our time? Those to turn the tides?
Who will be our Amergin? To set foot on the soil and feel kinship with the Land, Wind, Salmon and Sea, and the warmth of our Star, without whom we would not be.
What would it hurt?
What would it heal?
We are one.
We are Earth.
Offspring of the Universe.
Another huh?
Another duh!
OMG!! Lookit Ma! Thayrz uh pikchur a Jaaayzuz on muh gurled chayz sammich! OMG!!
Expand your parameters little brother.
What does that irrelevant "horseman of Cairo" have to do with the gookledygobble?
Something Laudable
Why do we have to make conclusions?
I wonder---why do we have to choose between one extreme or the other? Either it's a ghost horseman signaling the Apocalypse or its a technical glitch of some sort? Perhaps it's both? Or neither?
I consider the idea that while it may be something that can be explained by physical things---refraction, lens flare, an actual dude on a horse---that doesn't change the fact that the image that resulted is rather unusual and certainly looks like a ghost rider on a ghost horse who suddenly disappears into thin air.
I don't know what it means exactly, but loosely put think it just points to reality being weirder than we can imagine, as Terence McKenna sometimes put it. In the end, I like it and am glad Jennifer posted it on here.
(And I don't buy that by giving it attention we are somehow distracting from the very real-world, profound implications of what's happening in Egypt. Again, we don't have to be so either/or---we can both appreciate what's going on, and appreciate the strangeness of this clip!).
Balance is best
Hey Nihonbryan,
Thanks for this comment--it perfectly states what it means to come at this event (and indeed, all events) from a non-dualistic perspective. Instead of thinking that something is either real or fake via a limiting, either/or perspective, we can perhaps embrace the openness of an either/AND or phenomenological approach.
Feral Thoughts, just for the record, I didn't take your comment as snarky in the least. I agree with you that the seriousness of this historical moment is not one best served by tricks and optical illusions, which is why I was so adamant in my response.
Peace,
jp
Detraction, not "refraction"
The gumption of assumption
PrimalFlow...
I am attempting to playfully challenge the gist of your comment with my admittedly snarky subject header, but the gist of what I want to say is---how can you assume that people on this thread have NOT "sustained discussion of the people of Cairo taking a stand?" Just because that has not been the focus of this particular discussion doesn't mean many of us have not been engaging in such discussions elsewhere in our lives.
I don't think spending a little bit of time on this weird video means we can't spend even more time on discussing the significance of the actual events taking place. As a matter of fact, this thread is the first place I've stepped out of the "real" and entertained any sort of metaphysical conversation with regard to Egypt. Had the video not struck me on an emotional level, perhaps I wouldn't be doing so, but it did...just as all the reports I've been listening to (Democracy Now! has, as usual, been great!) and reading (Common Dreams website!) have been inspiring me to almost obsess over this profound story.
I do appreciate the gist of what you are saying and am definitely on the same side with ya, so I hope you don't take this the wrong way. Again, I just think it's possible to both be moved by/interested in the strange phenomenon of this video, as well as being a strident supporter of the very real historical movement that is taking place in Egypt, recognizing the very real risks those citizens are taking to stand up for their basic human rights.
And yes, I do like the idea of focusing on a global dissemination of this movement!
In solidarity,
Bryan
The chord you pluck rings true...
...Bryan,
"The gumption of assumption"...I like it. It was not my intention to belittle the pragmatism of anyone or their complicity in the ebb and flow of events. I likewise scrutinized the clip, yet felt no gut sense of significance in any "reflection" , "refraction of light", or the subsequent anthropocentric abstract adjunct to the visage. There are intelligent deductions within this very thread to quash attempts at birthing an inaptly frivolous legend, yet there remains a stalwart insistence in keeping it animated. Do you recall Plato's parable of the cave? Sometimes we're just too easily amazed. Must we conjure portentous evocations from every familiar pattern in the flux? I sincerely appreciate your candor and your vociferous support of that which will bolster our pursuit of equilibrium in these times of transition. Perhaps I, as well, have railed too much over this puerility when I could have just yielded to it's utter risibility with a chuckle. By the way, my wife and I pore over some of the same pages as you in the sites you cited previously.
Esprit de corps...
Keeping a good sense of humor
I have been totally amazed by the jokes the Egyptian revolutionaries themselves have penned as they stand willing to spill their own blood for the liberty they seek.
Sometimes, in the face of such profound seriousness, a little levity keeps everyone from going insane. I think we could place this horseman discussion in the same category.
Aye!
I agree that levity is important
I think it's important to look to the lighter side of things. Lightening up is a part of enlightenment :)
That said, the beautiful way in which this mostly peaceful protest has unfolded is perhaps not light in the sense of levity, but light like the sun itself, as what has transpired has been fiercely bright and awe-inspiring. Whether or not this phantom was "real" or not is beside the point--something magical has happened in Egypt. The appearance of this strange figure seems only to highlight the already obvious presence of the divine supernatural.
Peace,
jp
"GOD" is the stage...
Stretching it far?
And UFO's are more stringent and pain staking to prove, yet a green mist that could easily be animated is held to validity? Here is a country choosing change, the zeitgeist of democracy via freewill without outside influence, yet we have to dull it down to symoblism.
The better, more accurate symbolism is Egypt itself.
I agree with you...
Hey dude,
"The better, more accurate symbolism is Egypt itself."
That said, I'm not satisfied by the answer that this is a green mist or an animation. As news editor of RS I get a lot of wild videos sent my way but something about this one really struck me. Again, I'm trying not to get too hung up on whether it's real in the sense that the table you put your glass on might be considered real. I think what is documented here is a psychic object that straddles real and unreal.
I think such inbetween phenomena is the kind of magic that such an intense, closely watched event can foster.
Thanks,
jp