Re: And a couple of other things...
 

Gordon and Steve -

> THANKS for the explanation...it is EXACTLY
> what I wanted to get across...

I'm not knocking what you've done. It's a nice cover. But to be honest, I would have never gotten all that if you hadn't explained it. Assuming I'm a member of the target market, (and I'm pretty sure I am *g*), will others have trouble drawing out all that information as well?

When I first read the title, I read it as Remote Hypnosis. But I do see what Steve Johnson's saying and I believe he's right that it could be a little confusing.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"

Re: And a couple of other things...
 

Hi Rick,

> I'm not knocking what you've done. It's a
> nice cover. But to be honest, I would have
> never gotten all that if you hadn't
> explained it. Assuming I'm a member of the
> target market, (and I'm pretty sure I am
> *g*), will others have trouble drawing out
> all that information as well?

I believe a lot of symbolism can work at a subconscious level.... That's because sometimes, our conscious mind sees or hears one thing, and our subconscious mind realizes something different....

I've seen a lot of Steve's art. His designs are always full of meaningful symbolism (and in fact this is true of many great artists, if you delve into history).

The symbolism must appeal to me on some subconscious level (even when I don't fully understand it), because I've been a long-time fan of his work. :) There is always meaning there behind the images.... :)

Cheers,

Dien

Furthermore. . .
 

Thanks Dien, I was waiting for you to post that sort of comment :)

The subconscious level is where I aim a lot of
my messages, and I think one of the exciting features of Gordon's remote hypnosis is that it
explains it clearly: who is the target ? what subconscious buttons must I push to reach that person ?

Another important aspect to subconsious messaging
is that it has to be, by nature, operating at a subliminal level. If it was blatant and in your face, it wouldnt make its way past the conscious processing mind, with all of its preoccupations.

Granted, this is one of the few times Ive actually stepped out into the open and explained the symbolism which I intended when designing this graphic, I much prefer to let people make up their own stories and interpretations for my "art", because on the whole, to a creative thinker, a picture can be many different stories and I think
each individual should create the story they want to see. When several minds can get together and independently arrive to the same story to describe a picture, then we have another interesting phenomenon of consciousness. But, that is a whole other story.

Each individuals experience is their own. Sometimes we can have and make shared ones.

So, Rick Net Guerilla, dont worry about not having all of the hidden symbolism spring to mind on first, fifth or even tenth look at it. I have come back to some of my pieces after 5 or more years and only then realised what they mean.

One really good way to train up in guerilla ontology and semantic jiggling is to read Robert Anton Wilsons books, they are a really good primer into seeing the world differently, although somewhat hard reading sometimes. Either that or it just twists your thinking...

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Steve

I didnt answer all of Rick's question in 'furthermore'
 

Hi Rick,

Thinking about the whole "book experience", I think your response is a standard one. Its only _after_ reading the book that the front image may make more sense. If I could make you instantly
grok the concepts of remote hypnosis in one cover picture, you wouldnt need to read the book, and I would be Super-Gordon.

And last time I looked, Im not :)

Today i found a picture of one of the '2001: a space odity' book covers, and had an illustrative epiphany quite similar to this present discussion.
...Monoliths, babies, kubrick : what ? ? ?

I do think thoughtforms can be transmitted using media other than alphabetic or phonetic representations, but such communication involves more complex mechanisms than we curently understand or have a vocabulary to describe. Maybe a quantum physicist could shed more light on the matter. . .

steve '' birch

> I'm not knocking what you've done. It's a
> nice cover. But to be honest, I would have
> never gotten all that if you hadn't
> explained it. Assuming I'm a member of the
> target market, (and I'm pretty sure I am
> *g*), will others have trouble drawing out
> all that information as well?

Subconscious symbolism....
 

Hi Steve,

Subconscious symbolism can be a freaky topic. :)

We could go many places.... symbolism in mythology, symbolism in Chinese characters (a very interesting topic, in my opinion), symbolism in deaf hand signals... :)

I think an interesting topic is the symbolism in metaphors.... In fact, many excellent communicators use great metaphors. And what is a metaphor except a type of "symbol"? That's what it is....

And metaphors are linked to subliminal communication, since a metaphor might not be realized on the conscious level, but it could be realized on the subconscious level....

And furthermore, many people would say that many of our dreams are metaphors (that's where all this stuff on dream interpretation comes in, for those who believe in that....)

Taking it back to more marketing/business concepts, NLP teachings talk about metaphors as a means of communication. That's one place to look for those who are more interested in symbolism and good communication beyond the conscious realm.... :) Pick up a good book on NLP and see if it talks about metaphors....

Cheers :)

Dien