On 1/23/09 Briarcliff Rotary, speaker Don Wilde spoke on the subject, “Things That Go Bump In The Night!” The earliest known example of this phrase appeared in 1918 in the Bulletin of The School Of Oriental and African Studies. “To a people…who…believe in genii, ghosts, goblins, and those terrific things -- things that ‘go bump in the night' protective charms are eagerly sought for.” Around the same time, the phrase was incorporated into a prayer: “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedly beasties. And things go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us.”
Perhaps because the topic "Bump in the Night" was something I could relate to, I found the talk totally captivating. The delivery was superb – the sentences were short; he placed accents on words to get our attention; paused at the right moments… Then, of course, Don is a professional playwright. In addition to enjoying his talk, I also felt that I had a speech delivery lesson that day.
Following is Don Wilde’s “Bump In The Night”
BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Things that go bump in the night. Some 400 years ago, Shakespeare’s Hamlet said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy.” It was true then, and true now. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy.
How much of the world do you really understand? How much of what seems to be happening here on earth do you really honest-to-God believe in?
Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster? Do you believe in ghosts and spirits? Do you believe in Heaven, that there is life --- a life that’s better than ours --- somewhere up there?
Some people say “No. No way.” Some people say, “Yes. I believe!.” And some say, “I-don’t-know.”….What do you say?
What do you say about GHOSTS? Do they exist? Catholic doctrine says ghosts are souls in purgatory, wandering spirits, longing for a home. But are they? Are they lonely immaterial beings seeking a place to rest. Are ghosts real? Many people swear that they are. Thousands upon thousands of people have seen them in the dead of night in backyards, in bedrooms, on staircases, on streets, in dark woods. They swear ghosts exist. That they are as real as—you and me. Are they?
What about PARALLEL UNIVERSES? How do you feel about them? Are there other universes----not other planets, but other universes, with their planets, and stars, and heavens, and millions and millions of beings----very much like our universe? Have you ever thought, if other universes do exist, maybe they’re superior to our universe? Maybe they’re better, more advanced. Maybe Earth and our universe and the people who exist in are low man on the cosmic totem pole. May be we are aeons and aeons behind beings on another planet. And maybe our universe is only one of hundreds. Of thousands. Of hundreds of thousands….Do other universes exist? Maybe.
And what about BEINGS FROM ANOTHER PLANET? Do non-earthlings exist? And is it just a myth that they are malevolent, scary-looking creatures, determine to conquer and wipe out us here on Earth? Is that true? Maybe they come in peace. Maybe they resemble us. Maybe they look a lot like Ernie or Paul. Is it possible that we are the only beings in all the world----that it is only us, floating in space—all alone? I don’t know. What do you think?
This whole question of REALITY---of what exists and what doesn’t exist; what’s real and what isn’t real----is one that everyone on earth—including some of the world’s greatest thinkers—have wondered about, have puzzled over.
Take TIME TRVEL, for example, Is it possible that time is something we can travel over, as though it were a long, long road? Einstein thought it was possible. Is it? Can we build a sophisticated machine that will fling us into the past or the future-or can we, through an act of will, transport ourselves? We can travel through time in our imaginations, can’t we? We can travel back and forth through reading, through TV, though movies. But can we actually travel forward or backward in time in reality—or in what we choose to think of as reality? What do you think?
Then there’s REINCARNATION---the idea that we come back again and again, until our souls are perfected and we find a permanent home in Paradise---in Heaven. That we all are destined to live multiple lives—multiple incarnations. Do you believe that?
Is reincarnation true? Shirley MacLaine thinks it is. I know that’s not very convincing. But there is evidence that the Bible thinks so, too. Do you know there are accounts of reincarnation in Genesis, Job, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Proverbs----accounts that say we have lived before and that we may live again and again, until our souls are washed white as snow, and we at last are granted admission into Paradise----into a never-ending Heaven.
What do you think? Are those sections of the Bible right? Do you think you live only once? Or will you---and I -- come back again and again----here or someplace else—until we earn Eternal Life----Paradise—and never have to die again--ever?
Zoroastrians believed that to be true. Ancient Egyptians believed that to be true. Many Christians believe it to be true today. Do You believe it to be true?
Moving closer to home, what do you think about the LOCK NESS MONSTER? Does it Exist? Is it like some Swamp Creature—weird, dragon-like----lurking in the dark, mysterious, dangerous waters of Scotland’s Lock Ness?
Let’s examine the case of Monster closely. There are dozens of eye-witness sightings, people who swear that they have seen it. . . there are 17 documentary films of the monster. . .there are innumerable photographs and newspaper accounts. . .there are a slew of sonar hits bouncing off some large, moving, under-water thing. There appears to be very, very strong evidence that the Loch Ness Monster does exist.
But does he----or she----or it----exist, really? Or is The Monster in the Loch just the product of strange, odd-ball thinking? Are the people who claim they have seen Nessie imagining it? Have they seen nothing more than a gigantic seal. . .or an otter. . .or an underwater moving wave. . .or a huge boat wake----or maybe a very, very large fish?
Maybe the Lock Ness Monster is the result of mass hysteria, like the sighting of UFOs----we didn’t talk about those, did we? Or maybe it’s just a nice madeup story----like Santa Claus----or an ingenious way to boost the economy of the Scottish Highlands. You know the Scots. It could be just one of their amusing, Scottish money-making tales.
Maybe that’s all it is. A hoax, a way to squeeze money out of gullible tourists. But, still, there is strong evidence that the opposite might be the case—and it’s true. Maybe it is. I’m really not sure about the Loch Ness Monster. Are you?
Are all these things that we’ve been talking about today just dreams----dreams of ghosts, of parallel universes. . .of strange-appearing visitors from another planet. . .of traveling backward and forward in time. . .of reincarnation, the living of multiple, different lives. . .of even the existence of Nessie, the Monster in the lake? Are they truths or lies? Are they just the product of our fevered human imagination----invented stories that, in the dark of night, we here on Earth have dreamed up to entertain and scare ourselves half to death with?
(SHRUG) I don’t know? What do you think?
Shakespeare wrote, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamed of----in your philosophy.”
Maybe there are. . .Maybe.
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