Eugene Halliday

ISHVAL Archive Material

On my decision to include a Blog with this Archive.

NOTE: There is a link to the Blog at the end of this piece.

Sometime during the period between the mid-1980's and the early 2000's it had become obvious even to me, that the rise of the World Wide Web, together with the introduction of the mobile phone, had taken everyone (particularly those who claimed to 'be in the know') completely by surprise, and we were now clearly living in the midst of a major - what some are pleased to call -'paradigm shift'.... This shift was global - Well how else would you describe a form of social behavior that was being practiced by over a billion people? - and it was 'going viral' (to quote the vernacular) ...

The, "Well! Nobody saw that coming, did they!", aspect of this whole business was, for someone with my particular interests, probably the most important aspect of this whole phenomena by the way ... but I digress ...

Anyway, it was this development of the Web that gave me the idea of archiving the creative output of Eugene Halliday and also provide free access to it for anyone who might benefit from interacting with it.

I believed that the traditional modes of distributing this material would become - sooner rather than later - hopelessly out of date, and I was also concerned that, although it was now 2004, the numbers of people attempting to work with Eugene Holliday’s ideas appeared to me, during the intervening sixteen or so years since his death, to be diminishing yearly - which I thought was a shame.

My position regarding accessibility to Eugene Halliday’s creative output - at least where it concerned his ideas regarding the 'nature of things' - was (and still is) that he did not intend for the dissemination of his ideas here to be controlled exclusively by any privileged group(s).

My major concern when beginning construction here was to preserve the integrity of this archive by restricting its contents - as much as I was able - to unedited copies of Eugene Halliday's recorded talks and writings, together with scans of examples of his artwork. And my only contribution here, during the past eight years or so, has been to provide instructions on how to download this material, and also to ensure that there is a complete absence of any 'interpreting', or 'gatekeeping'.

This archive then, does not contain any information concerning any suggested method(s) on how to process this material i.e. there are no attempt(s) here to present various theories as to the historical; or political; or theological; or scientific; etc., nature of this material; or any opinion ('informed' or otherwise) here concerning the person of Eugene Halliday himself. Indeed, this archive does not even contain any advice on where to start!

As I see it, broadly speaking, any attempt regarding the re-presentation of Eugene Halliday's talks, or writings, initially implies that he lacked the necessary skills to present his own material with the clarity required for it to be understood by an engaged, uninformed enquirer.  Yet 'uniformed enquirer' - I would say - is an apt description for the overwhelming number of those sincere and interested folk who attended his talks (some of them for decades) both in Liverpool, and at 'Parklands'.

I would sympathize though with those who are new to this material, and who find a significant number of Eugene Halliday's metaphors, and perspectives, difficult to appreciate, particularly if these people are under the age of 40. One of the more obvious examples here would be the changing social position, during the passage of the past 50 years or so, with regard to any views concerning gender issues

I see this difficulty, though, as the normal consequence of cultural evolution, or, if you prefer, a natural change in the zeitgeist. And I do not (and have never) supported the idea that Eugene Halliday's work was 'timeless'; or that in the future somehow 'the time will come when he will be believed' - quite the reverse in fact.

I would say, however, that his ideas were 'new' in the sense that, between the time he began 'working', up and until his death in 1987, they were among the 'most recent' in this area of enquiry - and so of significant contemporary relevance, at least as far as I was concerned.

But I believe that it is now the task of others to present their own coherent accounts of exactly how (and if they are able to so, why), Eugene Halliday's work has been of major importance in their lives.

Thus, I am affirming that there is at least this one possible authentic approach available to others where it concerns the re-presenting of this material, and that is (if I can re-iterate) to offer as clear of an account as possible of the affect(s) that Eugene Halliday's material has had on them, when an attempt was made by them to involve this material in some form of praxis - however minimal.

Happily for me also, this approach has the advantage of favoring the 'egalitarian side of the fence', in that it leaves the responsibility here for doing so here with the individual (although there is always the ever present problem of this approach degenerating into a 'hippy-like', "Well ... you listen to, or read Eugene's stuff, and then just do your own thing ... man."); as opposed to the 'hierarchical side of the fence' with, for me, its far more dangerous authoritarian approach, (which can so easily degenerate into an, "I washed E.H.'s underwear for him, so I've been closer to the truth than you, and therefor I get to wear the special hat," position).

The 'existential approach' then, to working with this material, is the one that I have attempted to use in the creation of this Blog.

But why should I, at this late date, begin to attempt something like this at all? ...

Well, in late 2004, I was contacted by someone who told me that he was in complete agreement with what it was that I was attempting to do. And he offered to help me to (as he put it) 'make this material available world-wide' - but only on the understanding that when it was finally made available, I was to help him to 'make it known world-wide'.

I must tell you that, even way back then, I thought that his 'making known world-wide' part of this deal was going to prove a damn sight harder to accomplish than my 'making available world-wide' part!

Anyway - perhaps unwisely on my part  - we shook hands on it, and ...well ... 'a deal is a deal'.

It is now over four years since he quite suddenly passed away, and it is eight years since I first began the construction of this archive. And I believe that, were he still around, he would definitely not appreciate the distinct absence of any effort to move his so clearly expressed wish for this project to move forward in the direction of 'known world-wide'.

However, please understand that it is not without considerable reluctance that I have (finally) been maneuvered (or maneuvered myself perhaps) into having a shot at it here. So you could also say that all this blog represents is a belated attempt by me to finally 'get the ball rolling' and salve my conscience.

Be that as it may, would he have approved of my efforts? ....
Of the attempt? Yes! ... Of that I'm sure...
Of my approach here? ... Well I couldn't exactly say - but somehow I doubt it. ...
That being said ... Sorry, but this is the best I can do (for the moment at least).

So what then, is the exact nature of this blog? Well of course you'd have to read it to find that out, but I can tell you that it's a narrative, or account of sorts if you prefer, of my introduction to this material approximately thirty-five years ago, and my attempt(s) since that time, to interact with it.

If it is the case that you do decide to visit the Blog, I would advise you to attempt to maintain as much critical skepticism as possible. Try asking yourself, "So what?", for example, at regular intervals.

And finally something for you to ponder on... The majority of you who decide to continue here know nothing (or, at most, very little) about me. And in my experience, any half-decent 'con man' (or 'con woman', for that matter) can construct ingenious accounts of a journey that they themselves have never actually taken - particularly if they believe that by doing so, there will be profit of some kind in it for them....
... This being the case, what will be the ground for any decision that you make about whether or not the account I present in this blog is true or false? ...

To 'go to' the blog - click here