Aletheiometer

[BarbaraN]

Se certainly need a thread for the Alethiometer. I thought I would start it off with this poster of the Alethiometer. Run your mounse over it untill you see a "plus" sign and then click for close-up views.

http://darkadamant.betterversion.org/alethiometer_2000.jpg

Barbara/Elberon

[BarbaraN]

Another good source of information on the Aletheiometer:

http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/information/his-dark-materials-books/the-golden-compass-northern-lig...

[Nadine]

I find the Aletheiometer a very plausible idea. It reminds me a lot of reading Tarot cards. A person poses a question and the cards are laid out in a pattern. Then the symbols on the cards are interpreted according to their suggested meaning and their relationship to the other cards.

I am not a believer in "fortune-telling" but I am in the ability of the unconscious mind to form relationships using stimulus like the cards or the Aleitheiometer to come up with solutions that might not have been obvious. It is a way to stimulate so called "out-of-the-box" thinking. Thinking can be pretty ridged by always returning to tried and true solutions and behavior patterns. By interpreting random but suggestive symbols, the mind then explores new possibilities that may lead to different thinking paths.

Grown-ups need a book of symbols to read the symbols on the Aletheiometer and, to tell you the truth, I would need a book to begin to "read" Tarot Cards and, like trying to read the Aleitheiometer, it would be a very slow and painful process devoid of spontaneity. Adult minds have been too long formed by "logical" thinking and conditioned behavior. But Lyra has an innocence that allows her to see beyond the adult possibilities to situations suggested by the Aletheimometer.

[ConnieAnnKirk]

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BarbaraN wrote, in part:
Se certainly need a thread for the Alethiometer. Barbara/Elberon

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Great idea for a thread, BarbaraN--thanks!

~ConnieK

[Nadine]

Chapter 17, pages 284-286

Now I am a bit confused with Mrs. Coulter's behavior about the Aletheiometer. Seems her daemon could have just stolen it when they were back in London. We got a hint that Mrs. Coulter might be interested in it but we were working only on Pan's intuition. She seems pretty certain that Lyra has the Aletheiometer and really is literally itching to get her hands on it as indicated by her daemon. What I can't figure out is why. She probably can't read it--that seems to take years of study and The Book to do it. Maybe she wants to use it as a bribe to gain power since there are so few of them and they are very useful. I just don't fully understand her motivation here. Anyone have any ideas?

[Kreacherteacher]

I think this is something you will understand when you read the 3rd book. You may just have to wait on this one.

[maxcat]

I was thinking about a ouija board myself, of course tarot cards are a good similarity. It's interesting how Lyra can pick out the right symbols and get a correct answer.

[Eldarion]

What I like most about the aletheiometer is that you have to ask the right questions. This is absolutely essential when searching for truth. For example, if you want to know why evil exists, you don't ask a question that has nothing to do with evil, you ask a question that will get to the heart of the problem. So many people are looking for answers, but they don't ask the right questoins. We all need a 'truth-teller' to make sure we ask the right questions.

[Nadine]

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Eldarion wrote:
What I like most about the aletheiometer is that you have to ask the right questions. This is absolutely essential when searching for truth. For example, if you want to know why evil exists, you don't ask a question that has nothing to do with evil, you ask a question that will get to the heart of the problem. So many people are looking for answers, but they don't ask the right questoins. We all need a 'truth-teller' to make sure we ask the right questions.

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I think asking the right question is the key to the whole thing and not a frivolous questions. Sometimes asking the right question makes the answer obvious and the time spent formulating that question gets us in that direction--with or without an aletheiometer. I'm of the opinion that the "aletheiometer" is already built into us--maybe as intuition and common sense. Also "intention" enters into it as well. Intention focuses on what you really want to know and ultimately do.

[Eldarion]

I like your idea that we all have an aletheiometer in us, because I think that is something Pullman is trying to say. The Aletheiometer is made of dust, and everyone gets dust poured on them, so we have all have dust/truth/knowledge.

[dianaprince]

The aletheiometer, as the author of "His Dark Materials" says, can be read by children but may only be read by adults if the adult in question has studied the aletheiometer's symbols for several years or even a lifetime. It is, as the B&N user "Nadine" says, Lyra's innocence and state of being as a child that allows her to read the aletheiometer so easily. The real questions(s) is: What if other times could be accessed by Will's knife? Would that alter the aletheiometer's conclusions about the future, or could the change in time cause the aletheiometer to malfunction? Furthermore, would the change in time alter the course of the history of the world?

[dianaprince]

   Apparently, no one really cares about the science of the alethiometer. (sigh) Oh well.